Air quality concerns close courthouse

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Courthouse was closed Monday and will remain closed today because of air quality concerns.

Magistrate court hearings are being conducted at the Bonner County Administration Building at the corner of U.S. Highway 2 and Division Avenue.

Those who need to make payments or file documents in court matters can do so at the clerk’s office in the administration building. Driver’s licensing is being done at the sheriff’s satellite office on Eastside Road in Priest River.

Those subject to court orders requiring drug testing and ethyl glucuoronide monitoring are to report to the Bonner County Jail to provide samples.

County officials expect to know today if the building can be reopened on Wednesday.

The building remained closed on Monday because air quality samples exceeded Occupational Safety & Health Administration standards.

The OSHA clearance criteria is 0.01 fibers per cubic centimeter, according to Kyron Environmental of Spokane.

One of the four samples was 0.12 f/cc and another was 0.14 f/cc.

“Although we do not suspect the fibers counted are asbestos, the building cannot be re-opened until that is verified,” Kyron’s Larry Hagel said in an email to Commissioner Cornel Rasor.

The contents of the samples will be determined using transmission electron microscopy, Hagel said. The results of the analysis are expected by noon today.

If clearance is given to reopen the building to employees and the public, it is scheduled to remain open until April 25. After that date, the building will be closed while crews rid the building of any remaining asbestos and vermiculite.

That closure is forecasted to last at least three weeks or perhaps even longer.

Due to the nooks and crannies in the century-old building, Rasor has likened the mitigation work to “cleaning the engine room of a submarine.”

“They took apart the courthouse,” Rasor said of last weekend’s mitigation and sampling work.

Judge Debra Heise said the temporary closure is helping court officials dial in their balancing act in advance of the lengthier closure.

“Everything today went smoothly,” she said.