Bonner County commissioners deny Verizon lease to place cellular equipment on courthouse

During an 11:01 a.m. meeting, the Bonner County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to deny a proposed lease from Verizon Wireless to install cellular equipment on the Bonner County Courthouse building.

County legal counsel Bill Wilson told the commissioners he had reviewed Verizon’s standard lease and flagged several provisions he said the county could not accept, including an initial five-year term with four automatic renewals (a 25-year duration as written), a requirement for 24-hour access to equipment on a secure courthouse facility, an open-ended indemnification clause and a right of first refusal if the county ever sold the property. "Open ended indemnification clauses violate that portion," Wilson said, referring to constitutional limits on creating obligations beyond the current budget year.

Wilson and other commissioners said the lease language would bind future boards and could create unknown long-term liabilities. Wilson cited an opinion from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office about restrictions on commitments that extend beyond the current budget year and said the county must avoid provisions that would obligate future governing bodies.

Andy, a Verizon Wireless representative, described the document as a standardized, negotiable draft and said the company seeks protections because tower construction is costly. "These are really expensive to build," he said, and suggested Verizon would prefer a longer guaranteed term — "at least a guaranteed 10 years" — to justify its investment. He also offered examples of accommodations used at other secure sites, such as an exterior locked ladder on a jail building in Longview, Washington, and said indemnification language could be removed in negotiation.

Commissioners said the county’s statutory and constitutional limits prevent giving the guarantees Verizon sought, and they raised concerns about public-safety and property-planning implications if the county later relocated the courthouse. Commissioner Donke said the lease would be an "encumbrance for our future planning," and Commissioner Williams said he shared Wilson’s legal concerns. Commissioner Corn also said she did not see a way to make the draft contract work.

With the item listed as "action, discussion, decision," a commissioner moved to deny the proposed contract. The motion to deny the lease was approved in a roll-call vote: Commissioner Williams — yes; Commissioner Corey — yes; Commissioner Croy — yes. The board adjourned at 11:15 a.m.

The county did not adopt alternative language at the meeting, and Verizon indicated it may pursue other sites or return with a revised proposal. No dollar amounts, damage estimates, or a revised draft lease were presented at the session, and the transcript indicates this was a follow-up presentation to a prior discussion with a previous board.