SANDPOINT — It was a relatively quick meeting as the Board of County Commissioners approved several action items in less than two hours at its Tuesday business meeting. Major action items included those from the treasurer’s office, planning committee and fairgrounds committee.  

The shorter-than-normal meeting ran without a hitch, potentially stemming from the collaboration and teamwork between the board members throughout the past several months — something the county had been without in recent years.  

Fair manager Mark Knapp presented the request to purchase fair bleachers, an action item that was originally tabled during a Feb. 11 business meeting due to ADA compliance concerns. Commissioner Brian Domke and Commissioner Ron Korn initially raised questions about the fair bleachers, as there was no direct plan to establish new ADA compliant seats.  

After several consultations between Knapp and Christian Jostlein, Bonner County risk manager, the new bleacher concept was presented to the board. The new bleachers included ADA compliant seating throughout the outside arena bleachers instead of being localized to one area.  

The purchase of ADA accommodating bleachers for $97,694 was approved by all commissioners.  

Jake Gabell, Bonner County planning director, introduced a zoning boundary interpretation. The interpretation request related to a property that was split zoned — zoned both recreational and agricultural.  

The property was originally zoned recreational, however, unknown clerical errors resulted in the confusion of two different zones. According to county code, if a property’s zoning is unclear, it is up to the county commissioners to interpret the appropriate zone.  

After several public comments on the matter, all commissioners moved to approve the land plot to be restored back into a fully recreational zone. 

Clorrisa Koster, Bonner County treasurer, submitted a request to change the county’s current lockbox payment processing vendor. The request stemmed from the current system’s change in flexibility, which forced all property tax payments to go through the lockbox instead of a selected amount of payments. The inability to select payments for the lockbox resulted in a yearly cost of $54,000.  

The treasurer's office uses a lockbox processing service to help process mail-in property tax payments. 

Retail Lockbox Inc, the new vendor that Koster submitted for approval, would cost $16,581 with a one-time setup fee of $2,745.  

All commissioners voted in approval of the action item.