According to Rocky Mountain Corrections, fees paid by inmates at the 60-bed facility, when full, will cover the lease payment. The County will have to enter into a 30-year multi million-dollar lease program and the Sheriff will have to guarantee a full facility to make those payments. That means the county will have to import 56 inmates from other counties to fill the bed space. Bonner County gets the privilege of recruiting criminals from surrounding counties, easing jail crowding in neighboring jails. Aren’t we nice! Since we will have bed space in the main jail, we can house State inmates for a profit. Bonner County should not suffer the consequences of this poorly made decision. When the 60-bed facility is not full, taxpayers will have to pay the large lease payment on this “unnecessary” building. I firmly believe every decision the Commissioners and the Sheriff make, should add value to the lives of their constituents in return for the precious tax dollars with which they are entrusted. I think that I can make a case that with only four work release inmates, the need for a new facility is not “ordinary and necessary”.

The main reason this new project needs to have the oversight of the people is because when this proposed facility is up and running it will change the very character of our community. The Sheriff wants to import felons from around the State. With an increase of felons and their associates moving into our community, we can also look forward to an increase in crime. I know this because I’ve lived in a prison town. This is a “big city” idea, which will not benefit our resort town.

Absent from the discussion at Tuesday nights meeting, is the need to radically increase the Patrol budget to accommodate the “big city” problems that will ensue.

If adjustments to our current jail need to be made then let us come together as a community to fix the problem. Let’s not run to a Judge for an emergency that does not exist!

Daryl Wheeler