By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Proponents of saving an old home on Kootenai County's downtown campus will present their case to commissioners at 4 p.m. today at the Administration Building.

The plea comes the day after the board unanimously asked building consultant Shawn Riley to forward a proposal from Cannon Hill to demolish the building to the county's legal team to review.

"(Cannon Hill) says it will have it done before the snow flies," Riley told the board.

The demolition decision came after the county twice put removal and relocation of the building out to bid — and received none. The second bid process, which ended last month, also included a salvage-and-demolish option. It failed to attract a bid, too. Finally, during the third try, a bid to demolish the home was received. It’s being reviewed by county attorneys.

The 1910 structure at 627 Government Way was once occupied by Judge William McNaughton and Kootenai County Prosecutor William Hawkins.

It was most recently occupied by the law offices of Brown Justh & Romero — until the county bought the land two years ago for $425,000. It planned to use the site for office space to relieve cramped departments. Riley said the county was mostly interested in the property for the land, which is at a premium on its growing downtown campus.

Riley said the county determined early on that it would be cost-prohibitive to remodel the building, even though the house is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Zoe Ann Thruman is among those who have led the fight to save the house. She said there was momentum to save historic buildings in Coeur d'Alene. She said the city is starting a historic preservation commission and a state-level history representative is involved in the discussions to spare the old house.

The county's proposed fiscal year 2020 budget includes $4.5 million for a new office building that will either be constructed where the old home is or next to the justice building.

Commissioner Chris Fillios said the county was paying about $10,000 a month to house the Public Defender's Office in leased space at U.S. 95 and Lacrosse Avenue. He said that expense was among the reasons more county-owned office space was needed.

County officials have said that if the county builds an office building on the land where the old home is located, it would be a government building that wouldn't have traffic on nights and the weekends.

Multi-family housing is another possibility.

In other business, Riley told commissioners the city of Coeur d'Alene has informed the county it will need to hook up the Compton building on the sheriff's office campus to the city sewer system within a year to meet building codes. The project could cost the county about $100,000. The order came as a result of the building permit process for a separate building on the campus, Riley said.