Kootenai County commissioners approve grants, contracts, purchases and four-property annexation

Coeur d’Alene — The Kootenai County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 9 approved a slate of routine and budgeted actions including Federal Transit Administration grants and amendments, contract renewals in juvenile probation, equipment purchases for the sheriff’s office and the annexation of four properties into the Eastside Fire District.

The board met at 2:01 p.m. and voted on more than a dozen items spanning grants, procurement and treasurer certifications. Several items drew brief questions from commissioners and staff about funding sources, grant match requirements and personnel pay structure; none of the items requiring formal approval were rejected.

Why it matters: the votes authorize federal transit funds and local matches needed to keep transit service and planning work moving, renew contracts that support juvenile probation programming, and permit equipment purchases and property actions that affect county operations and adjacent property owners.

Grants and transit Chad Engel of the County’s transit department told the board it had several Federal Transit Administration (FTA) actions before it: an amendment to an existing operations grant (ID 2023-022-02) adding $1,506,600 and extending the performance period through Dec. 31, 2026; a planning grant amendment (ID 2024-032-01) of $25,920 with $6,480 cash match from local jurisdictions; and a separate grant award (ID 2025-023-00) for fixed-route and paratransit operations of $30,446 with a 50–50 in-kind match from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Kootenai Health.

Engel explained differences in in-kind match percentages: “Part of the grants is 80–20 match, and the other part is 50–50,” referring to federal match rules that apply to different line items within the transit portfolio. A member of the public had earlier asked for clarification about why some items showed a larger…