POST FALLS — Kootenai County Fire and Rescue commissioners recently voted to terminate building inspections for the city of Dalton Gardens. 

Fire Chief Pete Holley said the arrangement has been in place since the 1990s.

“It’s tough; each project required numerous inspections throughout the process," he said. "They'd be inspecting framing, inspecting foundations. It was almost a full-time job for one of our employees."  

Holley said he informed Dalton Gardens city officials of the potential termination of the contract earlier this month. On Jan. 21, the city received formal notice of its dissolution.

“We're just evaluating where all of the dollars are going and this was kind of a low-hanging fruit,” Holley said. “It’s really not even something that’s in the purview of the fire district.” 

The department received $108 per inspection and conducted 218 site reviews in 2025.

Kootenai County Fire and Rescue has 60 days to sunset the program.  

“We’re going to help make that transition as seamless as possible for them,” Holley said. “We do fire inspections and we’ll continue to do that for the city of Dalton Gardens as we do for Post Falls, but this was something a planning department or private contractors do for other cities. It really didn’t align with our mission.” 

Holley discussed the issue with Dalton Gardens Mayor Curt Jernigan. 

“The city has enjoyed a positive and long-standing working relationship with KCFR and will miss them being part of our team and as our building official,” Jernigan said. 

Dalton Gardens officials are currently exploring their options for building inspections.

"As with KCFR, contracted inspection services have worked well for the city," Jernigan said.

It's not the first sign of belt-tightening for the fire district. 

Kootenai County Fire's board of commissioners voted Dec. 15 to discontinue an agreement to provide hazmat services for North Idaho’s Region One. Historically, Kootenai County Fire has been the primary agency responding to truck rollovers, chemical releases, and other major hazmat incidents in the area. 

Holley said that call volume, data and public outreach relay decisions, such as program evaluations. 

Freeing up a staff member who was previously engaged in building inspections will help carry some of the weight the department has been feeling since it has held off on hiring to backfill positions at headquarters.

“We're just evaluating, based off of the need, historic information and data. Is that a program that we’re going to continue to put money into updating equipment?” Holley said. “That one would probably fall down the list because there isn’t a big call volume and the city of Spokane has a very robust, capable team that we can access if we need to.” 

After receiving feedback from residents in their jurisdiction, Kootenai County Fire officials are considering a temporary override levy like the one that failed in November. 

“We haven’t nailed anything down, but we are anticipating putting another levy measure forward in May,” Holley said.