Kootenai County residents and businesses need to show the County Commission they want an 80,000-square-foot multiuse events center at the fairgrounds by getting out their pocketbooks and donating. The Kootenai County Fair Board kicked off its campaign Monday to raise $5 million to prove the interest in the events center. The center is touted to boost the economy, especially in the winter, and keep big trade shows and other events from turning to Spokane where larger facilities, such as the Spokane Arena, are available.
Kootenai County commissioners voted Tuesday to give themselves and six other elected officials, including the sheriff and prosecutor, a 3 percent raise. Commissioner Rich Piazza was the only commissioner to vote against the salary bumps, which for the three commissioners means an additional $2,010 in their $67,000 annual pay. Piazza said he is upholding a campaign promise not to give elected officials raises until they are justified.
The son of Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas was sent to jail Tuesday for violating terms of his probation for prior convictions. As his parents sat in the front row of a Kootenai County courtroom, 24-year-old Jeremy Douglas admitted to a May 2007 incident in which he pulled a gun on another man, then beat the man in the head with the firearm.
Blackwell Hill, a steep forested landscape along the Spokane River visible from Northwest Boulevard, is likely the next high-profile chunk of property to become part of Coeur d'Alene. The hillside on the south shore of the river, off Millview Lane, is highlighted in Coeur d'Alene's newly proposed growth plan as a special area that needs specific guidelines for how development should occur.
Coeur d'Alene has one of the most crowded council elections in recent history as 11 candidates put their name on the November ballot, including five people battling for the one open council seat. Councilman Al Hassell, a former mayor, has three people challenging him for his seat: Jim Brannon, the local Habitat for Humanity executive director who ran for the council in 1999; Jerry Weaver, a retired California law officer; and political newcomer Chris Patterson.
After 25 years on the Coeur d'Alene Planning Commission, John Bruning thinks it's time to use his experience to guide the city as a council member. Bruning, who has been chairman of the Planning Commission since the late 1980s, announced his candidacy Thursday for the seat vacated by Councilwoman Dixie Reid, who decided not to seek re-election.
A Kootenai County planner who erred by signing off on her own development resigned Friday. Both Planner Sandy Young, who had worked for the county since 1997, and County Commission Chairman Rick Currie said the resignation had nothing to do with the permit mistake in which Young was reprimanded and the county changed its policy to prevent similar conflicts of interest.
Boaters soon will have to pay a fee to launch at Kootenai County's 22 ramps and docks at lakes and rivers, including Lake Coeur d'Alene, to help maintain and improve the facilities. The County Commission voted Tuesday to charge users with boats registered in Idaho a $4 daily launch fee or $20 for an annual pass. Owners with boats registered out of state will pay double: $8 a day or $40 a year.
So far only a Coeur d'Alene skateboarder has shown interest in the city's proposed $66.6 million budget, which includes a 3 percent property tax increase and enough cash to hire about 11 new employees. Finance Director Troy Tymesen is encouraging more people to look at the details of the 2007-08 preliminary budget, which would take effect Oct. 1, and learn how their tax dollars are spent for everything from streets to firefighters. The city has made its Web site interactive so residents can ask questions and get answers online. The preliminary budget and question section is at www.coeurdaleneidaho.org.
Coeur d'Alene voters might finally get a glimpse Monday at who is running for City Council in the November election because that's the first day candidates can officially file. Yet it appears that most candidates, including the three incumbents, will wait until the Sept. 7 deadline.
The Panhandle Health District Board of Health will decide next week whether to approve more stringent septic system requirements in North Idaho – a proposal that has drawn fire from some local lawmakers who fear it's a "backdoor" attempt to limit development. On Wednesday, state Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, suggested that the Kootenai County Commission fire the appointed, seven-member health board for potentially taking land-use planning powers from the commission.
The Kootenai County Commission called an impromptu press conference Tuesday to acknowledge that a county planner erred by signing off on her own development but reiterated that she is a competent and valuable employee. Commission Chairman Rick Currie summoned two reporters to the meeting and then kept them waiting for 45 minutes before starting the press conference regarding planner Sandy Young and a stop-work order issued Friday on her family's Greenridge development off Greensferry Road.
An out-of-state investor voluntarily dropped a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the owners of Hayden Canyon, a controversial 618-acre development that could boost Hayden's population by a third. Hayden Canyon spokesman and Spokane architect Glen Lanker wouldn't comment on the suit but said it was part of an effort to "restructure and recapitalize" the property and the project that originally was envisioned to include 1,800 homes.
Kootenai County no longer is getting the home sales information needed to assess property values after the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service discontinued a contract to provide the sale prices of local real estate. That has left Assessor Mike McDowell scrambling to figure a new way to determine the value of property in the county.
For the first time, Kootenai County may start charging boaters a fee to launch at the county's 22 ramps and docks on Lake Coeur d'Alene and at other area lakes and rivers. The county commission also plans to charge an annual fee to commercial boats and barges, including those loading and hauling construction materials to waterfront building sites.
Former New York mayor and current presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will make a campaign stop in Coeur d'Alene next week to raise money at a $500-per-person reception at Kidd Island Bay. Giuliani will appear at the residence of John Magnuson on Lake Coeur d'Alene in the late afternoon and early evening of Aug. 23.
Most Kootenai County sheriff deputies and jailers are getting an immediate raise as the county commission works to fix an inequitable pay system that has caused an exodus of staff. The commission announced Monday – the same day it released the county's preliminary budget of nearly $70 million – that it will use $1 million to put about 127 certified deputies in a progressive pay scale where each will receive an increase each year.
There are more beds than inmates at the Kootenai County Jail for the first time in a long time. After 15 months of overcrowding, with up to 25 percent more inmates in lockup than the jail is licensed to hold, inmate population dipped below capacity in December.
Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin said he was blindsided by a county proposal to build a jail next to a planned new garbage transfer station just outside the city limits. Larkin and Post Falls Police Department officials said they didn't know about the idea to house perhaps 200 inmates near town on the Rathdrum Prairie until they read it in local newspapers Thursday.
Recycling could solve Kootenai County's critical crowded jail problem, extend the life of the county landfill and perhaps save taxpayer money. Sheriff Rocky Watson and Solid Waste Director Roger Saterfiel are pitching an innovative plan to build a new jail next to the county's soon-to-be- built garbage transfer station off Pleasant View Road, just west of Post Falls.
The Kootenai County Commission voted Tuesday to rename the county-owned airport after World War II Medal of Honor recipient and North Idaho native Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, after more than a year of controversy. The new name is Coeur d'Alene Airport/Pappy Boyington Field.
Kootenai County property owners who have land above the Rathdrum Prairie-Spokane Valley Aquifer or in recharge areas now must pay $8 a year to protect the underground drinking water supply. The Kootenai County Commission set the fee Tuesday and voted unanimously that it should apply to all parcel numbers within the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Protection District whether they are vacant land, homes or businesses.
A Coeur d'Alene police officer shot and killed a pit bull named Tank after the animal chased a man up a tree Tuesday. The incident comes as city officials are considering banning "vicious" dog breeds. Michael Bright called the Police Department from his cell phone after the dog bit his sneaker as he scrambled up a tree, Sgt. Christie Wood said. Bright was passing by a home on East Lilly Drive when two pit bulls began chasing him.
Voters in the East Side Highway District agreed to give the ever-growing district more money Tuesday by approving a $1 million tax increase during the next two years. Residents in the highway district also re-elected Commissioner Jimmie Dorsey to another term.
It's safe to swim and pump drinking water from the Arrow Point area after state test results showed no contamination from a weekend sewage spill within feet of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality on Monday lifted a swimming ban and advisory to boil drinking water after tests showed water samples were within water quality limits for E. coli and other potential health risks.
