Kootenai County commissioners hear buildings and grounds update; Justice Building HVAC to shut down Oct. 6

Kootenai County commissioners Eberlein and Metari heard a buildings and grounds briefing Sept. 30 from Director Jeff Fuller that included a schedule to shut down the Justice Building HVAC beginning Oct. 6 to install a delivered air handler, work on a jail holding‑pod project, completion of exterior ADA concrete, and newly identified foundation and water issues in the old courthouse basement.

Fuller said the delivered air handler is large and will be disassembled and reassembled inside the mechanical room; contractors will shut down the existing HVAC so the replacement work can proceed. “We will shut down the existing HVAC system in that building so that we can remove the old 1, bring the new 1 in. I will be sending out some impact notices to staff…we'll be down without [an] HVAC system in that building for probably 2 weeks,” Fuller said.

The timing matters because the work is scheduled for an off‑peak “shoulder” period between heating and cooling demand. Fuller said a crane will later set a new rooftop unit and a chiller sited at a corner of the building.

Why it matters: the Justice Building shutdown will…