RV park project in limbo

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — The question of whether Kootenai County will administer a grant for a future recreational vehicle park at the fairgrounds has cast a cloud over the project and is pending a legal answer.

The previous county commission board in December accepted the $342,000 Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation grant on behalf of the fair board to construct a 28-lot RV park at the northeast corner of the county-owned fairgrounds site on Dalton Avenue between the sheriff's office and Coeur d'Alene High.

The fair board, which acts as a separate entity than county departments but receives annual funding from the county, will be responsible for a $46,000 match of cash and in-kind services to trigger the grant funds.

Fair board members, Fair General Manager Alexcia Jordan and Kootenai County Grants Management Office Director Jody Bieze said they believed they were simply providing the current commission, which became two-thirds new last month, an update on the grant going into Monday's meeting.

However, the topic became contentious when County Clerk Jim Brannon raised the question of whether the county should administer the funds, a concern he said he also raised in December under the previous board.

"We have no control of the money," Brannon said. "Therefore we shouldn't have control of the administration of it. We're all grateful that this money is coming in, but why do they want us to administer it when it's their money?"

Under the current grant proposal, the county would make payments on the project up front, then would be reimbursed from the grant and fair board. Fair board members said they have the funds to provide their match.

Bieze said it was the direction of the previous board to accept the grant and move forward with the reimbursement process.

"But this is not the previous board," Commissioner Marc Eberlein told Bieze. "This is this board; Clerk Brannon had the same concern before."

Brannon's concern caused enough pause to make the commissioners schedule a continued discussion on Wednesday when Kootenai County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Barry Black can offer his legal opinion on the matter. Kootenai County Civil Attorney Dave Ferguson was called from his office into the commissioner meeting to offer his opinion on the grant administration question, but he deferred to Black on the answer.

Brannon said the county also doesn't administer emergency medical services grants because EMS acts as a separate entity.

Commissioner Bob Bingham said if the county doesn't administer the funds that could kill the project.

"Fast forward your heads there," Bingham told fellow commissioners. "Is that where we want to go?"

Bingham said he hopes the county can do its part to make the grant and RV park a reality because it would be a year-round revenue stream for the fairgrounds.

"I see this project as an improvement to the fairgrounds," he said. "We've involved ourselves and the fairgrounds are on county property. State code outlines that we provide property to hold the fair on."

Fair Board Chairman Gerald Johnson said the fair board wasn't allowed per statue to accept the grant. That had to be done by the county commissioners.

Johnson remains optimistic the grant will become reality regardless of the outcome of the grant administration question.

"We don't see this as a deal killer," he said. "Everybody has been very supportive. It's just a question of running the funds."

Alexcia Jordan, general manager at the fairgrounds, added: "We're going to do everything in our power to make it happen. This is something the fair board has wanted for more than 10 years."

The RV park will be a three-phase project and is intended to generate income for the fairgrounds. The first phase could be finished as soon as July and consist of 28 compact gravel lots. The grant and matching funds would pay for the first phase.

"We are ready to enter into the design phase," Johnson said. "The only thing holding us up, besides this (grant question), is the snow because we can't start surveying."

The second phase would include paving, improved accessibility and sewer. A grant for that phase has been applied for and could occur next year. The third phase would include restrooms and showers.

The RV park would be open year-round and there would be a 14-day stay limit.

"We get a lot of people who are just passing through," Jordan said.

The grant was made possible from RV user fees collected by the state.

The grant question is the latest tension between the fair board and the clerk's office.

The clerk's office performed an internal audit of the Kootenai County Fairgrounds last year and later ordered a forensic audit that was approved by commissioners on the operation's finances. Between the audits, former Fair Manager Dane Dugan resigned after it was noted in the first audit that he had taken 16 advance pay draws.

Although some sloppy business practices were identified in the forensic audit, nothing malicious or criminal was discovered.