Elevator down at admin building

SANDPOINT — The ThyssenKrupp elevator at the Bonner County Administration Building is kaput.

Bonner County commissioners voted on Tuesday to pull $100,000 from a general fund statutory reserve and plug the money into the county’s facilities budget to fix the broken lift. The board also approved a $73,982 quote from the German conglomerate, which manufactured and maintains the elevator under contract with the county.

Commissioner Dan McDonald said the board considered two options — a $40,000 fix or an overhaul. The commission chose the latter option because parts of the elevator are 50 years old and headed toward failure.

“The ROI on the repair was not good,” said McDonald, referring to the county’s return on investment.

The county has drawn up a rotating schedule which stations an employee on the first floor to assist members of the public who are unable to climb the stairs to reach the building’s second and third floors. The employee will summon the appropriate department official to meet with visitors on the ground floor.

“Our employees are being really gracious by volunteering to sit down here for an hour,” commission Chairman Jeff Connolly said.

County commission meetings, meanwhile, will be held in the first-floor conference room for the time being.

Rick Dreier, the county’s facilities manager, said the work will be spread across two phases, the first of which is a survey. The second phase will be installation of the new parts.

The project will take 10-12 weeks, according to Dreier.

“It’s going to be a whole new assembly,” McDonald said of a hydraulic jack and other attendant parts.

Connolly said it’s hoped the repairs will add 50 years of life to the elevator.

“If you prorate that over 50 years, it’s acceptable,” he said of the repair costs.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.