BOCC weighs in on North Fork comments

By JOSH MCDONALD

Staff Reporter

WALLACE — Last month, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners responded to multiple complaints about the abuse of facilities up the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.

Following the publication of a Shoshone News-Press article entitled “No easy solution to North Fork dilemma,” a vast majority of local residents responded with outrage on social media to the concept of taxes, levies and flat fees as a way to mitigate these issues, while also providing a few suggestions of their own.

Since the story was met with so much passion, the News-Press decided to take some of these comments and suggestions to the BOCC and see what they had to say. In addition to addressing these concerns, the commissioners also answered questions concerning how the area is maintained now and what they see to be issues plaguing it.

Q. The SNP Facebook page has exploded with ideas that seek to resolve the problems. Is the county aware of and considered these ideas?

A. Yes. And, yes. In fact, the basis for many of the ideas is embodied in the county’s general plan as we move forward — 1) cost effectively provide services and a level of service which matches the needs and 2) have the users of the services pay for the services.

But, more directly, let’s look at some of the specific ideas:

Toll Booth(s) — Toll booths work very well for areas were access is controlled and the number of access points is limited. Toll booth fee structures, cost to build and man are generally low, and most users of a toll booth understand that the toll booth fees support the services behind the toll booth.

The show stopper for toll booths is that there are just too many access points. NFCDA is just opposite to this. Thus, implementing a system in which individuals will simply not “drive around” the toll booths is near impossible. In addition to not having controlled access, other implementation issues create hurdles to providing toll booths: through travelers (e.g Thompson Falls), hours/days of operation, etc. Unfortunately, a situation could be created very quickly where the cost to run the toll booths would outrun the revenue they generate.

Charge Fees/Charge Non-Shoshone County Resident More — Imposing fees are a very effective way of raising revenue to pay for what are considered to be “additional” services provided above and beyond “normal” services. The keys to implementing such fees are to be reasonable and equitable. It goes without saying that the fees need to match in price what the services cost. It is also important, from the county’s perspective that the fees applied to the users of the “additional” services. In the case of the NFCDA River and in the county’s viewpoint, the majority of the users of the “additional” services are due to recreational user and the recreation users should carry the lion share of the costs.

Limit Usage/Access to Select Groups — Historically and into the foreseeable, the NFCDA River area has access to and from public and private lands. In each case, existing laws and policies govern. The county is not considering changing current access laws and policies.

Sticker/Permit Programs — Sticker and permit programs are highly successful for many recreation areas around the country and needs to remain on the radar screen for consideration. Items that would need to be worked through include, but may not be limited to: availability and distribution of the stickers/permits, collection of fees, compliance enforcement and funding.

Place Cameras at the Garbage Bins — Cameras are a useful, modern tool employed quite regularly. As an example, Kootenai County utilizes cameras at the unmanned garbage bins at Rose Lake and I-90 to identify and enforce illegal bin use. The county is considering similar measures and evaluating its logistics and cost.

Write More Citations — The county agrees that writing citations for violations is one of the available tools and a necessary component of enforcing existing laws. As many of the river visitors have experienced, the number of visitors during peak times greatly outnumber the number of law enforcement officials. The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and their staff do an excellent job with the resources at hand. From a county perspective, increasing the presence of law enforcement officers during peak times needs to be included in any plan moving forward.

Use Tax Dollars to Pay for the Costs — Currently, all costs for county services provided in the NFCDA River area are paid for by Shoshone County taxpayers.

Create Mandatory Pay to Park Put-In and Take-Out Areas — Pay to park that align with river put-in and take-out locations are an excellent idea for providing needed services and collecting revenue for recreational users that float the river. The county sees this idea as having great potential. The key will be, as solutions are moved forward, to fully examine and resolve the various issues the idea will encounter: property acquisition, proving staffing, collecting fees, enforcing misuses, commingling implementation with the existing, legal parking where the roadways abut the river and funding.

Q. From the county’s perspective, who do you view are the major users of the NFCDA River during the summer time?

A. Users range from permanent residents to individuals enjoying the recreation opportunities — camping, fishing, floating, etc. Recreational users fall into two general groups: over or multiple night stays and day users.

Q. What NFCDA River problems does the county see?

A. As observed by many NFCDA River residents and visitors, littering, high usage of garbage bins and providing law enforcement coverage. What is more behind the scenes and not so obvious are: public safety in and near the roadways, damage to the roadways, unwanted erosion near and sediment entering the river.

Q. What summer services are currently provided by the county on the Coeur d’Alene River?

A. Regular road maintenance and repair is daily, But, with respect to the additional service to accommodate Shoshone County summertime, the county provides garbage bins, a restroom and additional officers during high volume weekends. Early in the season, the county stripes and fixes “No Parking” signs. These items help keep roadways unobstructed, keep roadway shoulders from being damaged and help stop unwanted erosion and sediment from entering the river due to embankment damage. Also, to be added to the list, the county assists a local business-property owner in the seasonal placement of removable speed bumps to help prevent speeding.

Q. What are the costs of those services?

A. Looking at expenses from last winter through this summer, preliminary estimates that include garbage bins disposal, restroom maintenance, roads department materials and labor are approaching $60,000 per year. What is a bit harder to estimate is the cost of law enforcement. Call outs and incidents widely, ranging from emergency responses to complaints to general patrols. What is clear is that the weekends during the summer require additional man power.

Q. Who pays and what are the funding sources for the services?

A. As it stands today, Shoshone County taxpayers pay for it all, whether it be through taxes or fees — law enforcement through the County Sheriff Fund Road — maintenance, striping and signage through the County Road Fund — garbage bins through the County Solid Waste and Waterways Funds — and the restroom through the County Waterways Fund.

Law enforcement and road maintenance, striping and signage have always been paid for by the county. So, there is no change in how business has been and is being conducted for these items.

The garbage bins and restrooms are products of grant monies to “Keep the River Clean.” Their intended usage was and is for campers, day users and visitors. An overwhelming portion of the costs were covered by the grants. And, over time, local businesses assisted with cost share agreements which helped offset some of the county’s grant match requirement. Unfortunately, for the past two years, the state grant committee that authorizes grant monies for the garbage bins and the restroom has not assembled and the number of participating businesses has decreased. As a result, county taxpayers currently pick up the tab for these two items.

To address the issue that have been identified by both the county and river users, the BOCC has come up with a 4-phase plan which will be detailed in the Wednesday, Aug. 8, edition of the Shoshone News-Press.

To see the original article, “No easy solution to North Fork dilemma,” visit www.shoshonenewspress.com.