County buying Odd Fellows hall in Post Falls

POST FALLS — Scratch the major remodel of Kootenai County's existing Department of Motor Vehicles office in Post Falls.

The county is instead buying the Daughters of Rebekah and Independent Order of Odd Fellows building on the east side of the facility on Railroad Avenue.

As a result, the county will shave an estimated $100,000 from what the remodel project was expected to cost, said Shawn Riley, the county's buildings and grounds director.

"We're gaining an extra building that offers extra space, which is hard to come by for the county these days,” Riley said.

The county is planning to expand the DMV office in Post Falls to ease wait times and parking problems at the office in downtown Coeur d'Alene. It also plans to re-open a driver's license bureau in Post Falls for the same reason.

The county is purchasing the 4,015-square-foot Rebekahs/Odd Fellows building and 41 parking stalls on .64 acres for $429,000. The building was constructed in 1996.

"We are hoping to take ownership by the end of June," Riley said.

Barbara Frazey, chaplain of the Rebekahs, said the fraternal organization decided to sell the building due to declining members.

"We just decided that we couldn't do the upkeep on the building," she said, adding the group used to have more than 40 members but that number has dwindled to 12 to 15 who regularly attend meetings.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Post Falls gave up its charter several years.

"We had in our agreement that if they went down we'd take control," Frazey said.

Frazey said the Post Falls Rebekahs group will meet at the Odd Fellows hall in Coeur d'Alene.

"We've talked about (selling) our building off and on for the past year," she said. "We don't want to move, but with so few of us there is too much work to keep it up and pay the bills."

The Rebekahs has rented the Post Falls hall out to the Sons of Norway and for family celebrations and community events.

"It's bittersweet because the Rebekahs have been here for a long time," Frazey said, adding the former hall was on Spokane Street.

Riley said the purchase of the building — or other facility projects the county is working on — will not raise taxes or require a vote of the public because they will be funded with the county's reserve funds.

The original plan was to expand the county's existing building by 2,500 square feet with 1,000 square feet for the driver's license office and 1,500 for the DMV. That space will not be renovated and it will serve as the driver’s license satellite office.

"There should be minimal down times for any of the operations,” Riley said.

Riley said $750,000 was originally allocated for the remodel and parking lot, but, with the purchase of the Odd Fellows building, the amount has decreased to $650,000.

Riley said the new DMV office will have seven, possibly eight, stations to assist customers. The current office in Post Falls has five spaces.

The asking price for the Odd Fellows building and property was $429,000, which was also the purchase price.

"We believe it was listed at fair market value," Riley said.

Construction on the remodel of the Post Falls Odd Fellows building is expected to start this fall.

In other county project news:

• The county is setting aside $12 million to increase the number of "hard" jail cells for felons. The original amount discussed was $14 million.

Riley said $10 million is planned for the expansion itself, plus $1 million for the architect and $1 million for permits and fees.

LCA Architects of Boise was earlier chosen as the lead architect for the project.

"We've asked the architect to break out what the actual cost will be in increments of 100 cells, 150, 200 and 250," Riley said, referring to how large the expansion will be.

Riley said one or two visiting rooms for attorneys, a laundry room and medical beds may also be a part of the expansion if funds are available, but the main focus is on the hard cells.

The current jail near the fairgrounds opened in 1987 with 98 beds. Through remodels it was expanded to 127 beds. The latest addition, which opened in 2002, increased capacity to 327.

The number of inmates has fluctuated between 280 and 400 in recent months.

Other facilities such as in Nez Perce and Bonner counties in Idaho and Idaho and Ferry counties in Washington hold 25 to 50 inmates on any given day who have committed crimes in Kootenai County.

The county spent $477,742 during fiscal 2015 on housing inmates elsewhere and $659,416 in fiscal 2014. Those figures do not include transportation costs and personnel time to transport inmates.