Lewiston City council directs staff to seek designs, fund urgent repairs from building fund

LEWISTON, Idaho — The Lewiston City Council on Feb. 3 reviewed an updated inventory of deferred maintenance across municipal facilities and, by consensus, instructed staff to begin design work on top-priority projects and to pay for several immediate repairs from the city—s assigned building fund.

Councilor Mike Forsman introduced the discussion, saying his intent "was to see what projects we finished, what projects still need to get done, how much money do we need to complete all of those projects." Community Development Director Shannon Grama told the council that staff compiled a master list of needs and pared it to an urgent subset for the meeting, and warned that "the main list is $12,000,000 worth of repairs." Grama said the city currently budgets $130,000 a year for facility maintenance and that the council added an extra $250,000 in each of the last two years, but the community center heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) replacement alone would consume much of that funding.

The council agreed that staff should pursue design estimates for the highest-rated (Priority 1) projects and seek formal bids for larger work once designs are complete. Mayor Johnson and multiple councilors described design work as the next essential step to move cost estimates from broad, rough orders of magnitude to construction-ready figures.

Council action and near-term spending decisions

- The council directed staff to pursue design estimates for the Priority 1 projects on the deferred-maintenance list and to seek bids for larger projects once designs are complete. That direction was recorded as a council consensus, not a formal roll-call vote.

- The council agreed to pay for the community center HVAC replacement from the assigned building fund. Grama said earlier that recent low bids for that HVAC work were about $212,000 and that "this 1 HVAC unit with the design and the construction is just about 250,000." The council indicated it would use the assigned building fund to cover that expense.

- The council also authorized using the assigned building fund to pay for a sinkhole repair at the Orchards service location (estimated about $20,000) and to purchase the Orchards pool liner (staff cited an updated figure during the meeting). Those two items were described by staff as immediate repairs to be funded from the assigned building fund.

- Councilors agreed to set aside Fenton Gym from the immediate funding list pending further information on usage and potential partnership with the Boys & Girls Club; councilors said they would seek additional revenue and usage data before deciding on large repairs there.

Fire-station contamination and replacement planning

Fire Chief Greg Raymeyer briefed the council on contamination and mitigation work at the city—s stations, saying the airport station previously tested positive for diesel particulate contamination and that industrial-hygiene testing of other stations "found that all the stations still had contamination in them." Raymeyer said an engineering report provided a "rough order of magnitude" for remediation and modernization work and stressed that the design phase is essential because alterations to ventilation and building envelopes can require changes to ducts, sprinklers and other systems.

Council President Claiborne cautioned that the assigned building fund had at one point grown to about $7 million and had been intended to cash-flow a new fire station; she said, "I firmly believe that station needs to be replaced." Several councilors discussed the trade-offs between spending now on repairs at an existing station and saving or bonding for a replacement if the location will change.

Scope, costs and next steps

Grama said the city—s compiled list includes both construction (CN) and design (DN) estimates; staff presented subtotal figures in the meeting packet with roughly $900,000 shown as a combined construction snapshot for the urgent items and about $758,000 shown as design estimates for those same items. Grama and other staff recommended funding design work first to refine costs. The council instructed staff to return with design estimates, to proceed with bids on projects when appropriate, and to alert the council if final bids are "way out of line" with the packet estimates so the council could decide whether to proceed.

Several councilors suggested hiring or adding access to a structural engineer or facilities project manager to speed review of designs, vet contractor proposals and manage phasing. Grama said staff would explore options and that the topic could be addressed in the coming budget cycle.

Public-recreation and library facilities

Councilors asked for usage and revenue details on Fenton Gym and the Carnegie Library building. Grama reported that Fenton Gym was used about 7,204 times in 2024, including city programs and joint use with the Boys & Girls Club and the Lewiston School District. The council asked Parks & Rec and the Boys & Girls Club to meet and report back on joint-use options for Fenton Gym before committing to major repairs. Councilors also highlighted a leaking roof at the Carnegie Library and directed staff to move ahead with design work to better define the needed repairs.

How the council described the outcome

The meeting produced no formal roll-call votes on the deferred-maintenance list; instead, councilors expressed consensus direction: pay for three immediate repairs (community center HVAC, Orchards pool liner and a sinkhole repair) from the assigned building fund; pursue design estimates on Priority 1 projects; seek bids on larger projects after design; and defer full funding decisions until design and bid numbers are available. Staff agreed to begin the work and return with updated design and bid information.

Why this matters

The city is balancing long-term capital needs and immediate safety and operational repairs. Council members noted that deferring maintenance increases future costs, but also that the city—s assigned building fund has been drawn down and that a future bond or other financing could be required for large projects such as a replacement fire station.

What—s next

Staff will begin design procurement for Priority 1 items, seek bids for larger projects when designs are complete and return to the council with refined costs. Council members said they will consider including engineering or facilities project management capacity in the upcoming budget discussions to improve the city—s ability to manage deferred-maintenance work.