The Kootenai County commissioners met with architects on Thursday over implementing a small part of the facilities master plan.

The officials requested Architects West, Inc. prepare a cost breakdown for a new Building and Grounds structure by Foster Avenue, and an additional parking lot on Garden Avenue.

Although the county facilities master plan projected the project will cost $1 million, the commissioners believe it will actually be far less than that.

"We all agree we don't want a $2 million facility," Commissioner Todd Tondee told representatives of the architect firm in the commissioners' boardroom. "We want something that's going to be pretty economical."

The commissioners plan to construct a new parking lot with roughly 65 spaces on the grassy area by the current lot on Garden Avenue.

A new Building and Grounds structure - the size and square footage to be presented with the projected cost - would sit on the northwest corner of the current lot.

"The net gain might be 40 (new spaces)," said Commissioner Jai Nelson, noting that the new building will eat up some spaces.

Expected to be built this year, the new lot would start to address the constant parking demand at the county campus that the facilities master plan has focused on.

"Most days we're at critical mass," Nelson said of the lot facing the courthouse and the justice building.

A new structure for Building and Grounds has been discussed at the county for more than a year, as the department currently operates out of an off-campus structure the county leases.

Department Supervisor Shawn Riley said the county leases the building for $2,550 a month.

There are more costs from inefficiencies, he said, as staff has to go back and forth from the Government Way campus to the leased facility on Third Street and Indiana Avenue.

"We're not on site, so we have to go to a job, see what we need, go back to the shop and get the tools and equipment we need, come back and take care of that, versus just being able to do it all in one place," Riley said. "If something breaks down, we have to drive back over to fix it."

He expects a new building on campus would save the county at least $4,000 a month, he added, including fuel costs and the lease.

The commissioners agreed the new building should be constructed within the next 18 months, when the lease on the current facility ends.

Architects West will present a cost projection and menu of construction options next week.

The commissioners recently reviewed the final draft of the facilities master plan, which recommends over $36 million in infrastructure improvements as long-term solutions to growth and parking needs.

Nelson noted that consolidating operations on the Government Way campus is more efficient.

"That's long-term savings," she said.