BOCC looking for more office space

WALLACE –– The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners elected to pause discussions about remodeling their office on Tuesday morning.

The board had received three bids ranging from $45,000 to $50,000 to take their currently shared office space and break it into three separate spaces. 

The projects were set to be funded using the county’s ARPA funds, however, the board had anticipated a much lower cost.  

Commissioner Tracy Casady voiced her concerns about the project in light of recent discussions between the board and the county’s employees over potentially freezing wages. 

“It’s a huge expense,” Casady said. “And with what’s going on with employees and the wage freeze, I’m leaning toward freezing all unnecessary expenses that aren’t due to operational expenses for the county.” 

The concern over the shared office space ties directly to issues surrounding potential open meeting violations that could occur in their shared office space. 

Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman has been a vocal proponent of separating the offices – in any fashion – since he took office. He directly correlated a situation in Southern Idaho with what could happen in Shoshone if action isn’t taken. 

“The biggest problem Shoshone County has is that commissioners need to be separated,” Zimmerman said. “This happening in Canyon County right now, there is a lawsuit against the Canyon County Commissioners because they were in a quorum and they made a decision even though the decision was not county business. And I think that our public has looked upon the commission and past commissions that we’re not supposed to be doing county business behind closed doors.” 

The lawsuit the Canyon County Commissioners currently faces stems from the three Republican commissioners sitting on their local Republican Central Committee and helping them choose a replacement candidate for the county’s clerk position. However, they didn’t put the meeting where the decision was made on their regular agenda. 

Zimmerman said that operating autonomously in the shared is difficult because there isn’t privacy – whether it be over the phone or in person. 

“This has been really difficult,” he said. “The office needs to be separated. It was meant to be that way.”

Casady agreed with Zimmerman that something should be done, but not at the expense of county funds that could be spent in other ways. 

She highlighted that there are spaces throughout the courthouse where each commissioner could post up and utilize in private, which wouldn’t cost the county any additional funds. 

Recently, the courthouse allocated an additional office to the Prosecutor, for the new ILET Program, but there is still some space that could be used for at least one office.

“If we can find other space, I think we could manage,” Zimmerman said. 

Commissioner Dave Dose took the middle ground, understanding both the concerns over optics and money, but also the need to break up the three offices. 

“These bids, I think we’re all surprised by the amount of money they’re wanting,” Dose said. “So the question is where could we put a third commissioner. That’s the question we need to put a little more thought into. It’s a serious problem.”   

“We already have employees looking for other jobs,” Casady said. “I feel like if we do something like this it’s going to be a slap in their face.” 

The board ultimately tabled the matter and will take a hard look over the next few weeks at the available space the county has at its disposal.