POST FALLS - Kootenai County Fire and Rescue will have a new home office building this fall.

The agency, which serves Post Falls, Stateline, Dalton Gardens, Fernan Village, Huetter and Wolf Lodge, has purchased the former Coldwell Banker building on Seltice Way across from Trading Company in Post Falls for $1.3 million.

Chief Ron Sampert said 10 employees on the administration staff will move in this fall after a renovation on the inside.

"It will give us a more professional front for the fire district's administration office, and it's better suited to take care of our constituents," Sampert said. "We should be ready to move in on Nov. 1."

Sampert said the district's current administration building - farther east on Seltice near the Ross Point/Highway 41 interchange - needs updates, is too small for staff and is not optimal for offices with fumes and noise of the shop in the same building.

District voters last year rejected a $2 million bond that would've paid for completing a training facility, an administration building remodel, equipment and station upgrades.

That bond would have paid for half of the project, along with matching money the district had saved for improvement projects such as the office.

The saved matching money was used to buy the Coldwell Banker building.

"When the taxpayers said 'no' (to the bond) we had to step back and rethink the business aspect of this," KCFR Commissioner Keith Hutcheson said.

Sampert said the purchase of the building will allow the district to have an adequate headquarters for years to come at less than was asked of voters last year and without raising taxes.

"We're didn't spend money that we didn't already have," Sampert said, adding that the need for a new or remodeled administration building has been identified as a need for years.

Construction of KCFR's new training tower next to its current administration building was not part of the bond proposal and money had been set aside for that as well, Sampert said.

Bids on the remodel of the Coldwell Banker building are due on Wednesday. Sampert said KCFR initially won't occupy the entire building so sub-leasing that part is a possibility.

The existing administration building will be kept for storage, the training officer and the program's equipment and maintenance. Sampert said it will need siding in the future to be preserved.

Sampert said the new facility will be more user friendly since it's closer to the business community and is more suited for offices.

Hutcheson said the building's proximity to Interstate 90 is nice.

"It will allow for quick access to all of our stations," he said.