SANDPOINT — Tuesday’s county commission meeting covered a wide range of housekeeping measures, allocating $2,577,070.52 in county and federal funding for various projects, routine expenditures, and excess fund reallocation.

All three commissioners were present for the weekly business meeting. Commissioner Dan McDonald attended remotely due to quarantine protocols.

Here’s a breakdown of the topics discussed:

The clerk’s office asked commissioners to approve routine budget spending of $1,930,929.96 with an additional $36,057.49 for EMS expenditures. Both were unanimously passed by the commission.

$22,803.33 of excess tax sale funds was transferred to the Treasurer’s Office by commissioners. The Treasurer’s Office cited that they found better resources to manage the funds.

Commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding with Idaho Fish and Game acknowledging that Avista Utilities will pay $16,000 for the construction of a new parking lot at Johnson Creek road and Derr Island Road to allow sportsmen safe access to the boat launch at Derr Island along the Clark Fork River.

“We had somewhat of a parking issue on the county’s road. And IDFG is trying to create a safe parking area for boaters and recreators to access the boat launch at Derr Island,” said Pete Hughes, manager for the Recreation Department.

The proposal drew questions from Doug Patterson, he asked why Avista would be funding the project and why the county needed to be involved.

Increased use of the road is among the key reasons the county is involved, Commissioner Dan McDonald said.

“One of the reasons why we’re involved is because it’s impacting the county road traffic,” he added. “Avista is happy to help us out by getting those people their parking.”

Avista’s involvement is part of their licensing, Commissioner Jeff Connolly said.

“They have to agree to do a certain amount of work, and it’s a dollar figure,” Connolly added. “They fund not only that, they fund stream restoration and other things like that.”

Funds from Local Highway Technical Assistance Council are going toward putting in permanent easements to repair issues caused by recurrent slides on east River Rd. The project has three agreements: the purchase of a permanent drainage system, a $5,000 right of way contract that goes toward painting the permanent easement, and an agreement to relocate the permanent easement if the location becomes problematic.

The airport brought three items before the commission. First, commissioners signed a contract that will allocate $542,183.49 of Federal Aviation Administration funding for the Boyer Road relocation project. The project will move a portion of Boyer Rd. outside of the runway protection zone, reconstructing the sidewalk and bike path along the road, and constructing a retaining wall to support the new infrastructure.

Second, commissioners approved a $19,070.64 relocation advance payment for property acquisition near Sandpoint Airport. Details about the location and cost of the property were undisclosed citing the competitive real estate market. The county will be fully reimbursed for the acquisition by funds from the FAA.

Finally, a lease agreement was approved for airport lot 32.

The Solid Waste department requested that the commission approve a construction agreement of $4,707.39 to provide electrical services to the collection site in Laclede with funding coming from the Solid Waste budget. The commissioner’s unanimously approved.

The commissioner’s unanimously approved the spending of $318.22 for IT and warranty services for the fingerprint machine in the juvenile detention center.

The last budget item in Tuesday’s meeting approved the change of compensation policy language in the Human Resources department.

Commissioner’s meetings are held every Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in the Administration building at 1500 U.S. 2 unless otherwise specified. Meetings are always open to the public.