Growth is biggest challenge

Kootenai County Commission Chairman Gus Johnson filled his “state of the county” speech Tuesday with the freshest facts and figures available.

But at the county’s current growth rates, any numbers quickly become stale.

The breakfast meeting and gathering lasted roughly two hours, during which time 80,000 pounds of new trash were generated in the county, 40 new cars and four boats were registered, at least two marriage licenses were granted and two criminal charges filed, according to a rough breakdown of statistics provided by Johnson.

“Kootenai County is growing like a teenager on growth hormones,” Johnson told the crowd of government officials and business people meeting over a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

The upside of 2005 for Kootenai County included the launching of a new public bus service and the opening of a new $5.3 million Empire Airlines hangar at the airport, Johnson said. The Sheriff’s Department also benefited from 32,000 hours of volunteer service, which would be worth $275,000 based on the lowest wage paid to a deputy, Johnson said.

“My definition of volunteers, by the way, doesn’t include an inmate worker,” he added.

The county added a “dark, devastating chapter” in 2005 with the triple slaying and double-homicide of a Wolf Lodge Bay family, Johnson said. Although the crimes were allegedly committed by a North Dakota resident passing through the county, Kootenai County has also experienced a growing number of home-grown crimes because of rapid population growth, he said. There’s now a need for new jail space, he said.

Managing the county’s population growth of 4 percent a year remains the biggest challenge, Johnson said. “We live in paradise, but our growth has produced statistics that paint a picture of a county deep in trash, cars, homes and criminals.”

In 2005, for example, county residents produced 355 million pounds of trash. The prosecutor filed 4,500 criminal charges. The planning and zoning department issued 1,960 building permits. The county also registered 170,000 vehicles and recorded 3,664 marriages, which accounted for a third of all marriage licenses granted in the state.

“We must be like little Vegas up here,” Johnson quipped, offering one of the few variances from a typed speech given in advance to reporters.

Johnson offered few specifics on how the county would deal with the growth, other than saying a plan is needed for a new jail and that the county’s long-term comprehensive growth plan is due for an update.