County to lease Smelterville property

WALLACE –– Last week, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners met with Chris Magart, the manager of Amerifirst Portalet & Pump Service (APP) – known throughout the Silver Valley as Tam’s Traveling Toilets, to approve a lease between the business and the county. 

As per the signed lease agreement, APP will pay the county $5,000 for the year-long lease and plans to utilize the 1.25-acre parcel as a centralized storage area for the business. 

The property sits at the west end of Commerce Drive in Smelterville, lying between SMC Family Medicine and the Smelterville Treatment Plant – it was claimed over to the county by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality as part of the ASARCO settlement in a transfer of property.  

According to Commissioner Dave Dose, the property has never been leased by the county before – despite them owning it for several years. 

Over the years, discussions by previous boards about selling the property have yielded no interest, but the current board did say that the land is still available to purchase.

“We’ve had no interest in land, now we have someone interested in renting with the understanding that we may want to go ahead and put this up for sale next summer,” Dose said. “Which would allow them to bid too, I think they’ve expressed interest in purchasing it to the board.” 

One of the main reasons that selling the property has been difficult is its proximity to the nearby sewer treatment plant, along with the fact that several different utility lines run through the property – Which could make further development on the property challenging. 

“It’s perfect for a use like this,” Dose said. “But it is limited in what it can be used for.”  

Over the coming months, Shoshone County Commissioner Tracy Casady believes that residents will see the board become more aggressive in their pursuit of potential revenue streams for the county – including taking a hard look at county-owned properties. This is due largely to the county’s recent budget shortfall and the potential for millions of dollars worth of budget cuts in the future if the county cannot begin generating more revenue. 

“It’s important that no potential revenue streams be overlooked,” Casady said.