County turns back $640,000 grant

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners decided Tuesday to turn back a $640,000 federal grant to develop a 700-megahertz public safety communications site on Gold Mountain.

Commissioners said their decision was influenced by a tight deadline to spend $128,000 of matching state funds and a lengthy delay in securing permission to develop the site on Bureau of Land Management property on the Sagle mountaintop.

“It’s going to be, they said, probably a year before we will get their approval on the project,” said Commission Chairman Joe Young.

The federal Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant was awarded in 2008 and the county secured an extension until September 2011. However, $128,000 local match from the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security could not be extended beyond June 30.

County officials believed the PSIC time extension applied to both funding sources, but a grant audit a couple of weeks ago revealed that time was running out to spend the state money.

If the county moved to spend the state funding and BLM ultimately decided not to permit development of the site, the county would be required to reimburse the state.

“It’s too risky,” said Commissioner Lewie Rich.

The entire $640,000 grant will be turned back to Idaho BHS for reassignment to another project within the state.

The board briefly considered tabling a decision on the grant. Commissioner Cornel Rasor, who is not sold on the 700 MHz concept, opposed such a move because it would be unfair to other jurisdictions, which would be facing an even tighter deadline because of the county’s delay.

The migration to 700 MHz has divided the emergency response community in the county. Proponents contend it provides a better signal and versatility, although critics maintain it’s too costly and unnecessary in a community where VHF is widely adopted.

The issue has since become political and now consumes large chunks of the rhetorical bandwidth in hotly contested races for the District 2 and 3 commission seats, posts held by Young and Rich, respectively.

“This was a poor planning decision,” Mike Nielsen, who’s challenging Young for the GOP nomination, said during a candidate forum in Sandpoint on Tuesday night.

Nielsen, commander of Priest Lake Search & Rescue, contends the county should have known about the looming state deadline well in advance. Young counters that Nielsen was asked to consult on the 700 MHz project, but dragged his feet, an allegation which Nielsen refutes.

Russ Schenck, who’s competing with Rich for the Republican nod, has advocated for improvement of the existing system.

“Giving the money back was probably one of the smartest thing they could have done with it,” Schenck said during the forum.

Gene Brown, who’s also in the running for the District 3 GOP nomination, said he is not a big fan of grants because they are often viewed as gifts when they’re actually culled from taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

“Be real cautious on grants,” said Brown.