Single Bid Filed For Jail Excavation County To Review Proposal To Begin Expansion Project

The Kootenai County Commission made a handful of decisions Tuesday that will affect everything from the landfill and the airport to the jail and juvenile runaways.

The commission received and opened only one bid Tuesday for excavation work for the new jail expansion, recreational vehicle dump station and work release center - all located at the north end of the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Riverland Excavating Inc. of Post Falls presented the only bid - $382,400.

County Commissioner Dick Compton said legal staff will review the bid, which came in under projections.

“We’ll start as soon as all the permitting and other issues are cleared up,” Compton said.

Related to that project, the commission voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that will raise the sales tax by a half-cent starting Jan. 1.

That increase, approved by 61 percent of county voters on May 23, is projected to raise the $12 million needed for the jail expansion and staffing and provide $12 million in property tax relief.

The commission also accepted eight bids for the construction of the third phase at the county’s Fighting Creek landfill.

Of those proposals, Adairco Construction Inc. of Post Falls submitted the low bid at $845,562.

The county also awarded a $709,956 bid to Interstate Concrete and Asphalt for a project to improve the Coeur d’Alene Airport.

Some 90 percent of the funding for that project - which will help the airport meet Federal Aviation Administration safety guidelines - will be paid through federal money.

In other business, the county also approved a new ordinance that will make it against the law for juveniles to run away from home.

Barry Black, deputy Kootenai County prosecutor, said the ordinance will make it easier for deputies and parents to deal with teenagers who run away.

Similar ordinances in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene have dramatically reduced the number of reported runaways, Black said.

“Once kids realized that it is a crime and that they could eventually go to jail, they stopped running away,” Black said.

If a child runs away, a judge could decide among a wide range of actions, including a maximum of 30 days in a juvenile detention center and three years’ probation, Black said.

On several calls, county deputies have picked up runaways only to have them run out the back door as soon as they are dropped off at home, he said.

“What it will do is give the deputies some teeth in picking up these kids and tell them what will happen if they continue to act this way,” he said. “Now the parents will also be able to file reports without having to involve a deputy.”

Capt. Ben Wolfinger said the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department supports the ordinance, but it only applies to residents who don’t live in incorporated cities, such as Athol, Fernan Lake Village and Harrison.

Those incorporated towns patrolled by the county must pass similar ordinances for the county deputies to enforce the runaway law, Wolfinger said.

“Until it becomes adopted in all incorporated cities we serve, it won’t be as effective,” he said.