Bonner County to stay open the day after Thanksgiving

SANDPOINT — County commissioners debated closing the county for the day after Thanksgiving during a largely lighthearted business meeting Tuesday, deciding against it for this year.

The commissioners decided that they would reevaluate how to organize the county’s holidays at a later time.

The discussion on taking Friday as a holiday and closing the county was likely sparked by the county treasurer’s concern over light staffing when they have money on the premises, Treasurer Clorissa Koster said during Tuesday’s meeting.

“Yes, I am the one department I think that started this whole thing.” Koster said with a laugh during Tuesday’s meeting. “My department is going to be open. I am looking for direction from the board because yes there are safety concerns. Everybody knows what time of the year it is and now it’s been broadcasted for the universe of YouTube. If I only have three people in my office, it is a safety concern.”

The simple solution to this problem would be to close the building but that solution raises other concerns.

Bonner County Comptroller Jessica Stephany said she was not in favor of taking the Friday after Thanksgiving as a holiday because of the financial impact it would create in overtime pay for the county departments that still need to be open on that day.

Commissioner Asia Williams said the county had a responsibility to be open because the county had already advertised to the public that county offices would be open. She suggested that it was something to consider for next year but felt it was too late to implement this year.

Looking to the future, Commissioner Ron Korn said the closure made sense because so many county employees were either out of town visiting family or hosting family the day after Thanksgiving.

“It just makes common sense to me to be closed that day,” Korn said. “Give the employees a family day and move forward. So, however that has to happen I would support that.”

He also suggested reshuffling county holidays so the county would no longer have Juneteenth off and would instead take the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday.

“Well, if we make Friday a holiday it may eliminate the flu epidemic that usually happens on a Fridays after a holiday,” Commissioner Steven Bradshaw joked during the meeting.

“All right, we no longer need flu vaccines if we take Friday off is what I just heard,” Williams responded, eliciting laughs from those in attendance. “Let’s see if Panhandle Health will buy that one.”

The commissioners — after a confusing series of motions and retractions — finally voted unanimously to approve a motion put forward by Williams to have the county operate a “skeleton crew” to stay open Friday and to evaluate how to allocate county holidays at a later date.

The commissioners made an exception for the Road and Bridge Department to be closed with the understanding that the department is still available if there is an emergency. The commissioners chose to make the decision because the Road and Bridge department does not get to observe holidays the way other departments do during the winter by the nature of their work clearing roads.

During Tuesday’s business meeting commissioners also approved a smaller-than-usual claims batch that included $191,000 for liability insurance and approved final changes to the county’s HSA benefits.

The commissioners also approved a staging agreement between Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections and Bonner County, which allows the Idaho department to stage inmates in Bonner County facilities when necessary. The board also denied a request for a deviation from public road standards as part of a minor land division, saying it would create a public right-of-way that has no connectivity to other public rights of way, resulting in a situation where Road and Bridge staff would be forced to trespass to access the public right of way to maintain it.