County stops funding to conservation district

Following in step with Shoshone County, the Kootenai County commissioners sent a letter early this month to the Kootenai-Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District announcing the county will be withholding funds from the district.

Like the Shoshone commissioners, the Kootenai officials deemed the district board hamstrung by squabbling and inefficiency.

"Such turmoil is inappropriate," reads the letter the commissioners sent to the board. "The Kootenai County commissioners will also be pulling future funding until clear direction has been set."

Although Shoshone County provided only a few hundred dollars a year to the district — which partners with outside parties on local conservation projects — Kootenai County provided $8,000 annually.

The district will manage, said Joy Cassidy, the district board chair.

"In the grand scheme of things, it's not (a big deal)," Cassidy said.

The district is already cleaning up its act with a new administrative assistant and a reorganized board, she added, and she hopes the funding will be reinstated.

Her one frustration, she said, is the Kootenai commissioners never contacted the district board about its alleged problems.

"I would have gotten ahold of the Kootenai-Shoshone district board and said, 'What's going on, Joy?' instead of taking the word of the Shoshone commissioners," she said. "This is a bit over-reactionary, if you ask me." - Alecia Warren