SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners accepted several agenda items for county infrastructure improvements during Tuesday’s business meeting, including approving safety updates and a bridge design contract. 

Commissioners unanimously approved the facilities department to move forward with repairs to the county’s administration building to bring it up to the current fire code.  

The proposed services will be conducted by Patriot Fire Protection for $9,278 and include repacking fire pump packing, replacing obsolete sprinkler heads requiring UL testing with a lift rental and a five-year inspection of the administration building’s sprinkler system.  

Commissioner Asia Williams raised concerns about the line item, noting the repairs were not anticipated in the department’s budget. But Director of Public Works Teddy Lupton said the repairs would be anticipated in the future year’s budget, and that the department has funds to cover the expenses due to moving priorities around.  

Road and Bridge was approved to enter a contract with Keller and Associates for the design and construction services for the Cocolalla Loop Bridge. According to the department, the 12-foot wooden bridge has rotten steel culverts on both sides and is at the end of its lifespan.  

“The Cocolalla Loop Bridge over the Cocolalla Creek has been on our radar for a long time, as the bridge has been deteriorating,” Road and Bridge engineer Matt Mulder said. “In addition to the small bridge, there are three culverts on the sides that are rotting and have no bottoms left in it and are starting to collapse, and we’re seeing that reflected up through the roads.” 

Mulder also said that the bridge is currently load-restricted and needs to be replaced with a larger and longer structure more suited to the road and creek size. As part of reconstruction efforts, the bridge will be opened up to avoid future road flooding.  

“It is currently too small of a bridge, too small of an opening. So, when we’re in flood events, the water is backing up and flooding in the lake, or coming over the road,” Mulder said. “We want to open this up so that the bridge is an appropriate size to handle flood events. But, in doing so, now we’re letting more water go through the bridge faster, which may cause flooding downstream where it didn’t happen before ... We don’t want to do that either.” 

To mitigate flooding issues, the road and bridge department looked at hydraulic modeling and evaluations to ensure that the updated bridge construction would not impact normal water flow.  

Upgrading the bridge will impact the FEMA floodways map due to a potential change in flood elevations. A flood zone re-map is anticipated for the project.  

The scope of work was approved to cost $277,960 and will be taken out of the department’s Bridge Repair Fund.