County commissioners approve plot divisions, payments, personnel policy changes
SANDPOINT — The county commissioners meeting ended in under 20 minutes on Tuesday and began with the unanimous approval of the consent agenda.
Approved as part of the consent agenda were liquor licenses for the Bank Barroom and Bistro in downtown Sandpoint (formerly Beet & Basil) and for the Bottle Bay Bar & Grill in Sagle.
Unanimously approved as well were several minor land division applications by Crooked Tree, Selle Crawford Estates, Generations Ranch, and Elk Run Estates, as well as a preliminary plat application for Schoenhall Woods.
Bonner County commissioners then approved the payment of the “claims and demand batch 19” for Fiscal Year 2022. In layman’s terms, claims and demands are the routine costs associated with running the county.
The claims batch came in at $246,972.03 while the demands came in at $105,542.85. The commissioners also approved payment of the EMS claims batch 19 for $22,288.68.
Commissioners also approved the acceptance of a grant from the Federal Aviation Association, totalling $95,379 for improvements to the Priest River Airport per the recommendation of AIrport Manager Dave Schuck.
Schuck said the county is required to match a portion of the grant, “typically in the neighborhood of 7%.” He then introduced the notice to proceed with the “2022 Boyer Road relocation project” for Sandpoint Airport.
While the contracts were inked last May, the project cannot proceed until the reopening of Great Northern Road, which is currently under construction. This project also cannot proceed while BNSF Railway has its crossing on Boyer Avenue closed.
The tentative date for beginning the relocation of Boyer Road is July 18.
The commissioners also approved a new three-year contract for the public defender’s office to lease a Canon printer at $325 per month.
They also approved the public defender’s office’s year-to-year contract with the local Fat Beam Internet Service for access to the county fiber optic network at a rate of $550 per month.
A proposal from county human resources to begin recruitment for two heavy machine operators for the Road and Bridge department as well as for a Juvenile Detention Tech also passed.
Human resources also asked to revise a portion of its compensation policy 600 of the Bonner County Personnel Manual. The policy covers the administration and maintenance of job descriptions.
New policy language was also added to a county policy regarding military leave.
“The request came from several employees,” Cindy Binkerd of the Human Resources department said. The policy update ensures that paid time off or time without leave will not be used for county employees who participate in military reserve duties. Commissioners approved the change.
A contract for up to $5,000 with Skye Consulting LLC, which does human resource consulting for the county, was also approved. This is following the remote employee policy update that was approved at last week’s meeting.
And finally, the commissioners approved a petition by the Sam Owen Fire District for the annexation of six parcels of property into their fire district in eastern Bonner County.