State Trying To Find Home Fit For Governor Committee Considers Options, Including Buying House Batt Currently Lives In

Rather than buying or building a new governor’s mansion, maybe Idaho should just buy Gov. Phil Batt’s Southeast Boise home.

Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint, threw that idea out to a generally positive reception Thursday at a meeting of the Governor’s Residence Committee.

“Maybe we could buy it from the current governor and he could live in it for free,” Stoicheff said.

But the committee still hasn’t ruled out other options, including buying a condominium unit in a highrise that’s going up near the Capitol, building something, or buying a house that’s on the market.

“We’re going to look at all the options and try to make the best choice for the first family and for the taxpayers,” said committee chairman Rep. Donna Jones, R-Payette.

Idaho has been without an official governor’s residence since it sold the last one in the late 1980s. About a million dollars has been sitting in a fund to build a new one ever since, but lawmakers were stymied from going ahead by former Gov. Cecil Andrus, who opposed a new mansion.

Gov. Phil Batt dislikes the issue so much he won’t comment at all, and won’t say whether he’d move into a condo or mansion if the state provided one.

Batt lived in an apartment when he first moved to Boise to take office. After the Legislature approved a hefty living allowance, he vetoed it and bought his own house.

“I’m sure he had to lay out three or four hundred grand for that,” Stoicheff said. “He at least ought to get something out of it.”

Stoicheff said he thinks it would be unfair for the state to purchase a fancy condo or mansion if Batt will spend his term in his own home, at his own expense.

Batt spokeswoman Amy Kleiner said, “I think he does hope there’s some resolution so there is an answer for the next person, and he’s not put in a similar position.”

Pam Ahrens, chief of the state Department of Administration, said Gov. Batt’s home is roughly 2,400 to 2,800 square feet, with three or four bedrooms, all on one level.

Jones, the committee chairman, said there’s no telling if the home would meet standards for state-owned buildings, like sprinkler requirements and access for the disabled.

The committee also heard a presentation from Mark Clegg, developer of the condominium tower, who said all but two or three condo units have already been sold.

Sen. David Kerrick, R-Caldwell, said the state should keep in mind the possibility that a governor might choose not to live in the official residence. In that case, he said, it’d be nice to be able to rent it out.

“We probably ought to look at something that’s utilitarian enough and functional enough that it would have a rental market,” he said.

The committee decided to survey former governors and their wives and gather more information about the condo project before its next meeting in a month. All options remain on the table, Jones said.

, DataTimes