Council adopts ordinance easing some child-care licensing requirements

The Coeur d'Alene City Council on Jan. 21 adopted Council Bill 25-1002, an ordinance amending municipal child-care regulations to reduce some provider requirements and align renewal background checks with state practice.

The ordinance, described to the council by Carrie Settlers of the city’s Child Care Commission, removes a local requirement for TB testing for child-care providers and nonproviders, changes the volunteer/parent-visitor licensing rule to mirror the state’s approach, allows supervised 16- and 17-year-olds to hold a provider license, and replaces an annual full background check at renewal with an annual Idaho court database name search while retaining a full city and state background check every five years.

Settlers told the council the TB test elimination would save providers about $45 to $60 per test and that the state’s infectious disease specialists indicated Idaho is not currently at risk for tuberculosis. She said the parent-volunteer change would allow people who volunteer up to 12 hours a month to avoid the full provider license and its associated requirements. She explained the proposed annual check would be an Idaho court database name search, with full name-based background checks every five years “consistent with the state code.”

Council members asked for coordination across departments on background-check operations and whether existing tools could be used; Settlers said the city’s licensing staff already runs offender checks and that the Coeur d’Alene School District uses a commercial system (Raptor) that would be costly for local facilities to adopt. The council also heard that adopting the ordinance will have some codification cost for the city but would reduce recurring costs for providers.

Council members dispensed with the rule and read the bill once by title and then voted to adopt the ordinance. Roll-call votes recorded Wood, Evans, Miller, Gabriel and English as voting yes; no no votes were recorded in the transcript.

The ordinance amends Coeur d’Alene Municipal Code sections 568.20, 568.30, 568.50 and 568.110 and includes severability and publication provisions. City staff will codify the changes and implement the new renewal and volunteer-check procedures.

Council members framed the changes as intended to reduce costs and administrative barriers for child-care providers while maintaining safety checks through court database screening and periodic full background investigations.

The council took no additional amendments after discussion and moved to the next agenda items.