Community needs more understanding

COEUR d'ALENE - A public relations firm Kootenai County contracted with has recommended the county not pursue a bond proposal this November.

The bond, if it had gone before voters and passed, would have paid for construction of a county building to house new courtrooms and offices on the county's main downtown campus.

Kestrel West Inc., of Boise, determined the public needs to better understand the needs of the county before voting on a bond, said County Commissioner Todd Tondee.

"Right now we don't have that understanding throughout the community," Tondee said Friday.

Kestrel West's research showed additional facilities are needed, Tondee said.

The county will now work on further educating the public how its courtroom and office facilities downtown are inadequate and inefficient.

"Prior to a bond, the county needs to engage the public on this issue and increase awareness of the challenges and associated costs caused by our fractured campuses and aging structures," Commissioner Jai Nelson said Friday. "It's difficult to quantify what those inefficiencies cost the county each year, but the dollar figure is likely to be sizable."

Nelson said that as part of the county's larger strategic planning effort, the Downtown Facilities Master Plan was developed in 2012 and an analysis was conducted to quantify the possible savings of consolidating the downtown campuses.

The county has courtrooms at 501 Government Way, 324 W. Garden Ave., 5500 N. Government Way, and 205 N. Fourth St.

"At that time, the total was nearly $430,000 in annual savings if we were to relocate the departments, courtrooms and judge's chambers located in the justice facility located on Fourth Street into a new facility located on the main campus," Nelson said. "The cost analysis looked at court-related topics such as how personnel are assigned to security screening stations, inmate transport from the Kootenai County public safety building and the juvenile detention facility, and how much inter-campus travel was being done by various county departments, including attorneys and probation officers."

The county couldn't afford all of the construction without bond funding, Tondee said. A two-thirds vote of approval would be needed to approve bond funding.

"We can pick off pieces of it," without borrowing money, Tondee said.

The county has as much as $7 million set aside to help fund the project, which could cost roughly $28 million to $42.6 million. The cost would also include parking for the additional offices and courtrooms.

A termination letter was sent out to Kestrel West last week, Tondee said. The firm provided its recommendation early last month, when the firm's work concluded.

The firm was contracted this spring for work that could have run through October.

According to Kestrel West's website, it specializes in government affairs, public engagement, perception campaigns, crisis communications and media relations.