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SPACE JAM County to explore Admin Building expansion

by Brian Walker; Staff Writer
| December 28, 2018 12:00 AM

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Steve Meyer, a partner in Parkwood Business Properties, far left, discusses Kootenai County facilities with commissioners Bob Bingham, Marc Eberlein and Chris Fillios in this September 2018 file photo. The county in 2019 is expected to continue to wrestle with facility questions brought on by tight working quarters and a rise in demand for services due to population growth. (BRIAN WALKER/Press file photo)

COEUR d'ALENE — One of the first questions Kootenai County commissioners will likely be asked in the new year will be how or if they should deal with tight quarters in the Administration Building.

Expanding the third floor of the downtown building at 451 N. Government Way has been bantered with the existing three-member commission, but the future board will ultimately decide on how that baton is taken.

Future commissioners Bill Brooks and Leslie Duncan, who will be sworn in on Jan. 14, along with existing commissioner Chris Fillios will decide if the county should proceed with a design of an expansion. Fillios said that design is expected to cost around $200,000.

"The amount has been budgeted but not committed," Fillios said. "We'll see which direction the new board wants to go."

Construction of the 10,000-square-foot expansion, which would be on both the east and west sides of the third floor, is estimated to cost about $1.2 million. The structure was originally built with a future expansion in mind.

Space for the commissioners' staff, the board's regular meetings, information technology and legal staff is tight and prompted the expansion discussion, Fillios said.

The county plans to start televising board meetings and the existing board room is not large enough for the equipment, he said.

"The cameras wouldn't be able to pan," Fillios said. "We can't televise as professionally as we'd like."

There is adequate space to televise the meetings in rooms on the first floor, but that space is already in hot demand, Fillios said.

"Those rooms are booked by various organizations in the county at least a month out, if not a year out," he said.

A larger board meeting room would also help accommodate larger crowds that are becoming more common, Commissioner Bob Bingham said. The existing room can only accommodate a crowd of about 15.

The expansion's design would determine the specific placement and reorganization of the departments on the third floor.

With a growing county, and an increase in demand for services as a result, space for staff has been on leaders' radar. If the state mandates another judge in Kootenai County, for example, space for that extra position would be difficult to find, said Shawn Riley, building and grounds director.

While the idea of moving the county's downtown campus to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds has been debated as recently as this fall, it hasn't gained momentum due to cost factors.

However, developing a long-range facilities plan has been identified as a high priority.