Shoshone County partners with Post Falls for building inspections

WALLACE — The Shoshone County commissioners approved a contract with the city of Post Falls last week for a building inspector while it establishes its own enforcement department.  

Post Falls and the county will split the revenue 65/35 from issuing new building permits until the county’s newly hired inspector can work on his own.  

Previously, the county had shared a similar relationship with the city of Kellogg, but the split was 85/15 in favor of Kellogg. This constituted a reported $80,000 to $100,000 that Kellogg was making doing these inspections for the county.  

According to Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman, moving away from Kellogg wasn’t a simple decision but part of the county making a bigger play toward generating revenue while also providing a missing level of enforcement.  

“We made this decision to bring the building inspector in-house because of code enforcement,” Zimmerman said, “not because Kellogg wasn’t doing their job. We were lacking code enforcement. Our borders, from the St. Joe River to Kootenai County to the Coeur d’Alene River all the way up to Montana, we’ve got a large area.”  

Recently, the county hired James Corning as building inspector/code enforcer. Corning, a longtime employee of the Shoshone County Assessor’s Office, is going through training and certification required for his new position.  

Commissioner Tracy Casady did not agree with the decision. She argued that maintaining the relationship with Kellogg was more important than receiving a slightly larger share of the funds generated through building permits. 

According to Zimmerman, during its annual review of the county, the assessor’s office reported numerous properties with new construction that had not applied for or been issued a building permit.  

“The title companies are starting to search for building permits. The lending companies are starting to search for building permits,” Zimmerman said. “If you don’t have a building permit, later on that’s going to be a factor.”  

The pursuit of additional revenue sources has been a priority for the county due to recent budgetary concerns.