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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Building local ties


Raul Saldana, of Rathdrum, works at Kimball International in Post Falls on Feb. 7. Post Falls leaders want their new City Hall to be filled with furniture manufactured at the local Kimballl International plant.  
 (KATHY PLONKA photos / The Spokesman-Review)

POST FALLS – The new $8.4 million Post Falls City Hall will be built largely by local contractors, and now if Post Falls officials get their wishes it will also be filled with furniture manufactured at Kimball Office, just across Interstate 90.

Post Falls City Administrator Eric Keck has been working for months with Kimball Project Manager Julie Tilleman to develop the furniture specifications that late last week were put out for bids.

“Our goal is to put together the best proposal possible so our employees can be proud to go into City Hall and see furniture they’ve made,” Tilleman said.

Seating Post Falls employees behind Kimball Office desks and storing city records in Kimball filing cabinets isn’t a slam dunk yet, however.

There is no universal Idaho state contract with Kimball, so Post Falls can’t go directly to the company to buy the furniture it needs. The city must wait and hope that the lowest bid it opens after the two-week deadline is from a dealer who sells Kimball furniture.

“If we put it out to competitive bid, there’s a chance our local manufacturer could not be the lowest bid,” said Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin.

Post Falls must legally accept the lowest bid that meets the product specifications and installation timeline regardless of who makes the furniture. And that bid will come from a dealer, not directly from the manufacturer.

Locally, Kimball Office has a contract with Spokane furniture dealer Contract Resource Group.

“It’s now up to them to come up with a bid we can accept,” said Post Falls City Councilor Scott Grant.

The estimated $225,000 furniture contract is small when it comes to the volume that Kimball Office produces at its bustling Seltice Way plant.

“It’s far less than one day’s normal production volume,” Tilleman said. “It’s not about the money. It’s about the people here and the pride in their work.”

About 420 people, mostly North Idaho residents, work at Kimball Office.

On a recent work day, Raul Saldana was working at a machine that bends metal pieces into components for overhead cubicle storage.

“I’d be excited to build the furniture for Post Falls City Hall,” Saldana said of the prospect. “We love to have local business.”

As much as 80 percent of the furniture could be manufactured at the Post Falls Kimball Office plant, Tilleman said. That plant doesn’t build wooden furniture or chairs, but could make all the filing cabinets, desks and cubicles.

“We do a lot of local business,” Tilleman said, citing the Kimball furniture at the new Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce building and Panhandle State Bank.

Putting contracts for the new City Hall into local hands has been a key goal of both city staff and elected officials, Keck said.

He rattled off a list of North Idaho contractors who’ve been involved in building the project.

Post Falls company Super Grade Inc. did the excavating work. T & T Roofing in Post Falls is also a subcontractor on the project. Other local firms include general contractor Ginno Construction of Coeur d’Alene, Capital Plumbing of Dalton Gardens and Tyko Mechanical of Hayden.

Keck said that his pre-bid work with Tilleman doesn’t give the company an unfair advantage during the bid process.

“Anybody who looks at the specifications and how they’re written can jump on it and drop in their product,” he said.

Still, Keck said he hopes that doesn’t happen. “We want to buy Idaho, but we’re following the law.”