Commissioners consider SCSO field residence for St. Joe region

WALLACE — Shoshone County — it’s got some size to it.

Covering 2,635 square miles of North Idaho, you could say that our area encompasses a sizable amount of land.

Of this land, much of it is considered rural or back county.

This may sound like a sweet deal for an outdoor enthusiast or a logger, but to others, it can pose some considerable challenges.

Take the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) for example.

With their main office in Wallace, responding to a call for service in Calder or Avery could be considered quite the task.

For a deputy to respond to the St. Joe River region of the county, they have two options: Take Interstate 90 to Highway 3 and go east on St. Joe River Road past St. Maries, or take Moon Pass south from Wallace though the mountains and drop out in Avery.

The first option is close to a 170 mile drive (round trip) and takes roughly an hour and a half.

The second option is shorter in terms of driving distance (roughly 85 miles round trip), but factoring in rural driving conditions and the pass being inaccessible in the winter, it takes just about the same amount of time (if it is even open).

Not only are these options hard on response times, but they can also be tough on the budget.

To improve on both of these factors, the Shoshone County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and SCSO are considering the idea of setting up a small field office/ residence in Calder.

In a meeting with Sheriff Mike Gunderson on Tuesday, Oct. 24, the BOCC talked about what this field office may look like and how it would be operated.

“If we could set put some kind of residence over there,” Commissioner Mike Fitzgerald explained, “it would provide us with some flexibility on how we staff it.”

The leading idea of what the residence would be is a trailer, purchased by the county, and set up on county land near “the shop” in Calder.

This trailer would then be manned by a deputy on a three day rotation.

He or she would not be stationed there full-time.

Presence would increase though around certain points of the year when calls for service in the area go up.

Fitzgerald said, “we do have some prime times — hunting, summer, and accidents — so there is a definite need to increase our level of service over there and decrease our costs.”

Although there would be an initial investment for the trailer and other costs associated with establishing a residence, both Gunderson and the BOCC believe that it would save the county money in no time at all.

“There are a lot of costs, specifically in fuel, vehicle maintenance, and time,” Fitzgerald explained.

Adding to that point, Gunderson said that deputies responding to the area go “through $50 worth of fuel, easy, a day.”

This is not including fuel burned on patrolling on the area.

“If you tack on a couple hundred bucks for the wage, before you know it, you’re quickly approaching a $200 plus trip,” Fitzgerald said.

“It’s not hard to do that math … it would pay for itself very quickly.”

General dollar amounts were discussed regarding how much money would be allocated to setting up the field office, but nothing was made official.

In case of an emergency in that area currently, Gunderson explained that Shoshone County has mutual aid agreements in place with emergency service providers in Benewah County such as the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), Benewah Fire Department, and Benewah Ambulance.

Even with this agreement though, the aforementioned agencies are based in St. Maries and are still roughly 30 minutes away.

SCSO has had full-time deputies stationed in the area previously, but not since the early 2000s.

The BOCC will meet with Gunderson again on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at the Shoshone County Courthouse to nail down specifics and decide whether or not they are going to put the plan into motion.