Director of Facilities outlines FY27 Buildings & Grounds budget, proposes panic-button upgrade and meeting-room refresh

Jeff Bowler, director of facilities, presented the Buildings & Grounds and reprographics portions of the Kootenai County FY27 budget and described capital and operating priorities the department is seeking to fund.

Bowler told commissioners the department has no A-budget personnel requests and that the small net increase in the A budget reflects higher health-benefit costs. He said staff removed one part-time operations-maintenance position, reduced fuel and janitorial supply lines based on multi-year trends, and shifted some equipment and repair costs to other categories. "We do have three different budgets to present to you today," Bowler said, opening the review.

Security and jail systems topped the department's capital priorities. The department proposed a countywide panic-button/call system as a joint capital project with an estimated first-year cost of $32,000 and a recurring annual support cost of about $12,000. Bowler said the existing panic buttons are "archaic" and that the new, largely digital system would provide more reliable coverage for courts and other campus locations.

The presentation also flagged a planned increase of roughly $16,848 tied to elevator service contracts covering multiple county elevators (admin building, courthouse, juvenile detention center and justice center installations). Bowler said the elevator contracts are expiring and that full contract proposals will appear at the upcoming business meeting to ensure continuity of service.

On juvenile detention maintenance, Bowler said the department included a quote just under $7,000 to replace worn gaskets on a baffro valve identified during the annual fire inspection and argued the work is needed to meet inspection standards. He also identified a $24,893 software/hardware upgrade the jail replaces approximately every five years for the control room.

Bowler asked to keep $1,700 in the non-capital budget for an on-site washer and dryer used to launder mops (the county currently uses the juvenile detention laundry). He also outlined miscellaneous non-capital refresh items for meeting room 1B including about $8,500 for table replacement, $900 for county logos and $3,000 for backpacks.

Staff presented a vendor quote of $18,000 from a Spokane firm to "color-change" and refresh meeting room 1B (doors, trim and related surfacing). Commissioners questioned the cost and discussed lower-cost maintenance alternatives — including simple repairs and staining — and expressed willingness to defer or cut the refresh given other budget pressures.

Bowler said some larger juvenile-detention capital projects will be funded from restricted juvenile-detention-service-act funds already held by the county (staff cited roughly $400,000 in that account). He said one restricted-funds project — a re-roof — was on the business meeting agenda and a generator-related upgrade serving the south annex gym was being priced, with a preliminary estimate of about $15,000 pending a load study.

On reprographics, Bowler said the budget is essentially flat after the department moved some direct-admin charges into indirect admin; the unit requested one small software increase (about $225) and an additional electric stapler to improve throughput, and said prior reorganization has produced personnel savings.

Commissioners had no further questions on the item and moved to the next agenda item.

The board did not take any votes on these operating or capital requests during the discussion; staff said some contracts and capital proposals will be presented separately at the business meeting for formal action.