Wallace, BOCC discuss annexation

WALLACE — Shoshone County is currently in the process of purchasing the 49 acres of land to the west of Spunstrand.

Last week, Shoshone County Commissioners Jay Huber and John Hansen attended the July meeting of the Wallace City Council to discuss the situation and request that council consider annexing the property into the city limits.

Huber explained that property is currently owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and that they aren’t interested in piecing it out, but instead will sell the entire parcel.

The county’s plan for the land is still the same as it was a few years ago — to build a new public safety building.

“Ours is just not going to make it,” Huber said. “The jail is costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and it is in such bad shape — it will continue to force us to throw good money at it with nothing to show for it.”

According to Idaho Code, a county’s public safety building must reside within the county seat, meaning that it must be part of Wallace’s city limits — and currently the Wallace city limits end just east of the property occupied by the business Spunstrand Inc. In order to annex the property the county is purchasing, it may require the city to annex the property Spunstrand sits on.

Huber also mentioned that just recently that Kootenai County’s jail failed its certification — and he expects that Shoshone County, which is currently experiencing an overcrowding problem, will likely see the same fate. This could consequently result in the jail losing a revenue source from housing state inmates.

Wallace Mayor Lynn Mogensen had one major concern after Huber presented the county’s request, that being the plowing of the street leading up to any potential new building in the area.

Huber curbed those concerns by informing the mayor and council that it would be handled exclusively by the county.

While there isn’t a cost to the city for annexation, the BOCC did inform them that there is quite a bit of leg work that must be done.

There were also concerns from council members surrounding the infrastructure of the new building — would it require the city to build out additional water, sewer, power and other basic needs for a building such as the one the county hopes to construct.

Although Commissioner Huber did say that a new building, “should have very little if any effect on the citizens of Wallace.”

The plan is to have the purchase completed this year.

A motion was made by Councilman Dean Cooper to approve the county and city to move forward with exploring the intricacies of the possible annexation.

No decision has been made by the city at this time.