BoCo requests grant extension for fairgrounds RV park

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

The May 16 business meeting of the board of Bonner County commissioners proved to be another contentious chapter in the debate over a state-funded RV campground extension at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, during which Commissioners Steve Bradshaw and Luke Omodt voted in favor of two items meant to advance the RV park’s construction on land between the fairgrounds and sheriff’s complex.

Commissioner Asia Williams, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and a vocal group of regular meeting attendees have long maintained that the land in question has been considered by former boards as an ideal location for expansion and consolidation of both jail and courthouse services under a new justice facility complex. Meanwhile, Bradshaw and Omodt have voted to advance survey and engineering work for the RV park on the contested parcel, stating there could be room in the area for both uses and that a levy for a justice complex would need to be passed by voters at a future date.

Members of the public took to the mic May 16 seeking answers as to why other areas on the fairgrounds weren’t options for the RV park, which would be built with an approximately $473,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Resident Spencer Hutchings asked the board to explain its “obsession” with the land near the sheriff’s office.

“I think I’ve asked this question over the last two, three months probably 30 times and I have yet to get an answer,” he said.

Omodt rebutted that he’d given his answer to the question “repeatedly.”

“We are interested in not putting additional burdens on the taxpayer,” Omodt said, “and making the fairgrounds more self-sufficient.”

In response, Williams pointed to prior comments from Omodt stating that, if needed, the RV park could be demolished to make room for a justice complex should the voters approve a levy.

“It would be, in my opinion, inappropriate to tell the state, ‘Hey, we would like a grant for something that we may potentially have to bulldoze because we are choosing the location because we can, versus making an objective assessment of where we could put [the RV park],’” Williams said. “I have not heard anything more than, ‘We get to make the decision,’ and that isn’t worth having to pay back half a million dollars.”

The board took up a motion May 16 to withdraw from a memorandum of understanding with the Fair Board from 2014 that designated the parcel “exclusively” for fair parking use. This came after the BOCC approved a new MOU in an April 27 special meeting, designating the land for a campground. However, as pointed out by Williams and Fair Board legal counsel Scott Bauer, that April 27 MOU — drafted and brought by Omodt — did not involve the Fair Board.

Chairman Bradshaw said he met with Prosecutor Louis Marshall to verify the new MOU’s legality, and Marshall confirmed that the 2014 MOU would need to be dissolved in a different way. The May 16 withdrawal, which stated that the property “shall not be limited to parking … but may be used for any other legal pur- pose,” was the “fix” needed in order to free up the land for the RV park, Bradshaw said.

Wheeler questioned why other elected officials hadn’t been consulted on the board’s plan for the land’s use, to which Bradshaw replied: “None of this has ever been done in secret. You just never did like the conversation.”

Several public commenters alleged that Omodt and Bradshaw have a “vendetta” against Wheeler, which led to a heated exchange between the chairman and Shari Dovale of rightwing blog Redoubt News.

“Y’all would rather dump wasted money into a sinking facility [Bonner County’s downtown courthouse] than build a proper facility. Why?” Dovale said. “Because everybody in this county knows that you hate the sheriff and want to poke the bear.”

“There is not a man in this county that would lay his life down for that man right there quicker than I would,” Bradshaw retorted, to which Dovale said, “I will.”

“You can say it, but I can actually tell you that I would step in front of the bullet for that man. … I will fight for that man and every one of his deputies with every breath of life I have,” Bradshaw said, before calling for the vote.

The withdrawal from the 2014 parking MOU passed 2-1, with Williams casting the lone dissenting vote.

In the second RV park-related item, Omodt proposed a grant extension request be sent to IDPR and a timeline be set for acceptance of project bids. The extension is needed due to the grant’s original June 30, 2023 first-phase construction deadline.

When Bradshaw called for a roll call vote while Williams was still speaking on the topic, Williams threatened to filibuster in order to be heard.

“No, you won’t, because I will adjourn this meeting in a heartbeat,” Bradshaw said, to which Williams replied: “Then it doesn’t get passed, and I win.”

The vote proceeded, with Omodt voting in favor of the grant extension request before Williams continued to offer an explanation for her opposition.

“I called for a vote, Commissioner Williams. You are done,” Bradshaw interjected, before turning to the clerk and stating: “No answer for Commissioner Williams, I guess.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re breaking the law if you think you can bypass my vote,” Williams said, before wrapping up her statements with a “no” vote.

Bradshaw voted in favor, allowing for the extension request to be sent to IDPR for consideration.

Bouquets:

• Carol Hanson at the Sandpoint Post Office celebrated a happy retirement on April 28. Hanson is the last remaining postal employee who worked with my dad while he was still alive. She’s been a constant at the post office for 37 years and we wish her all the best.

•Sagle residents are seeing changes to the often hectic intersection of Sagle Road and U.S. 95, with the installation of a traffic light to help ease the difficulty of traffic entering the busy highway. Also slated to open May 19 is the median U-turn giving drivers who want to turn north onto U.S. 95 from Lakeshore Drive and other nearby roads an option to turn right first, travel south and use the new pavement to make a U-turn to rejoin northbound traffic. It’s important to recognize that both of these improvements would not have happened without former District 1 Sen. Jim Woodward’s advocacy with the Legislature, Idaho Transportation Department and the governor. This is the result of having a lawmaker who spent his time and effort advocating for nuts-and-bolts issues like infrastructure in our district, instead of our current senator, who gets bogged down in culture war nonsense that only divides people.

Barbs:

• After the dust has settled on another election in Bonner County, it appears the better angels of our nature have prevailed. Here’s a parting Barb for Stacy Rodriguez, whose campaign in the East Bonner County Library District Trustee race employed some of the same low tactics as Sen. Scott Herndon’s District 1 Senate race against Jim Woodward. Rodriguez wholly invented a claim that her opponent, Susan Shea, supported installing stripper poles in the library, then her campaign blasted out text messages and robocalls to the region doubling down on that delusion. Luckily, Bonner County voters smelled what she was stepping in and voted for the candidate who doesn’t support censorship and smear tactics. Way to go, Bonner County voters.

‘Banning books = banning kids’...

Dear editor, Picture yourself as a child starting to realize your own sexual identity. Maybe you’re sensing you are gay, or transgender. And now you learn that books featuring these same kinds of kids are deemed “bad” and ought to be banned. The message you receive: If these books are bad or wrong… then I must be, too.

Bill Borders Sagle

Tennis community thanks city for new Travers sports center…

Dear editor, Wowser! What a wonderful and kind gift to the community — the James E. Russell Sports Center — donated by the RUssell family and administered by the city of Sandpoint. We say — thank you. We are the tennis community, which includes the Sandpoint Tennis Association and Sandpoint Tennis (LPOSD’s school programs). We commend the manner in which the city, and the family, through the city, have dealt with us. By using civil, forthright and collaborative communication, we were able to find common ground to satisfy all parties’ needs; especially gratifying was the city’s understanding of the needs of the successful and competitive high school tennis team.

Being a county resident, I am keenly aware that the city provides many recreational services that are, otherwise, not available. Furthermore, the city provides the court so that 65 students can participate in tennis, a sport of a lifetime.

Recently there have been implications that tennis’s good fortune has come at the expense of the very popular playground. Our fact-finding with the city indicates the existing playground will be briefly down while it is improved and moved to a new location at Travers Park. The city has indicated that this move is of the highest priority.

Additionally, during this entire project, the skateboard park will have a major improvement and there will be an updated bike skills course. Though this means change to the existing park, the positive outcome will be many youth-oriented activities.

In conclusion, we truly wish to thank Jennifer [Stapleton, city administrator], Maeve [Nevins-Lavtar, parks planning and development manager] and Jason [Wiley] of Sandpoint Parks and Rec. for how they have dealt with the tennis community. Their dedicated and tireless work will result in this complex becoming another jewel in the crow that is our community.

Thank you,

Paul Rumore STA president Sandpoint

‘Smoke-screen for city’s bad location decision’...

Dear editor,

The Travers Park playground was chosen by City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton’s office to use as the location for a new James E.Russell tennis facility. Not City Council’s decision, not city residents’ decision. When they shifted from the original location choice at the existing tennis courts over to the playground site, they claimed the soil tests made it necessary. But this is not true, according to a public record request that showed both sites are basically the same and suitable for the large, tall building.

In the city’s own 2020 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and every online survey they’ve offered, the community has expressed interest in a multi-use indoor facility for youth sports and after-school activities. Clearly, this is the “community’s vision” in black and white. And the location for any building should rightly be a public decision, since the building will be sitting on public land and will be maintained with public tax dollars.

The dedication of the Russell family’s $7.5 million generous gift to our community should be within the spirit of both James Russell and John Travers, who played youth sports there as young boys.

Our community’s coaches struggle with finding practice space, especially in wet, muddy spring. A much better choice than relocating the playground with its million-dollar price tag, would be to construct a “James Russell Youth Center” in the Great Northern Park directly north of Travers Park and improve the playfields around it. With a 60-car parking lot there, it makes good sense.

The city’s shift to feature all-inclusive play at the playground is simply a smoke-screen to cover their poor location decision for the new building. Let’s save the beautiful open view, shade trees, and open play areas surrounding Travers Park’s existing playground and simply add some nice all-inclusive play features.

Rebecca Holland Sandpoint