The Bonner County Board of Commissioners will hold a special meeting with representatives from Panhandle Health District on Monday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. to discuss a recent audit of the district’s clinical services and begin developing the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. It will be a continuation of the controversial Jan. 14 meeting covering the same topic, which addressed the clinics’ focus on women’s health.
Interested parties can attend in person at the Bonner County Administration Building (1500 U.S. 2, in Sandpoint) or online at bonnercountyid.gov/meetings.
The commissioners initially met with PHD Board of Health Chair Thomas Fletcher and Medical Director Gregory Pennock — who conducted the audit — on Jan. 14, when Pennock reported that women account for 70% of PHD’s clinical patients.
Panhandle Health District Board of Health Chair Thomas Fletcher. Photo by Soncirey Mitchell
“For Panhandle Health — to some extent — that is the niche,” he said. “It’s female patients, women’s health care, gynecology, family planning that is the niche that we’re currently serving, whether we should be or not.”
Commissioner Ron Korn expressed his concern over those services at the Jan. 14 meeting, saying he didn’t “want to be responsible at a county level to look like we’re funding a Planned Parenthood service.”
The commissioners briefly touched on potential alternative services to prioritize, but had to continue to Feb. 23, as the meeting had already gone over the allotted time. Other “foundational purposes” Korn recommended PHD focus on included monitoring air and water quality.
The commissioners will also discuss how much money to pay into the multi-county organization, which received $2,496,906 from Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone counties combined in FY’25. The BOCC renegotiated funding during the FY’26 budgeting process, dropping the county’s contribution from $513,798 in 2025 to $472,317 in 2026.
As yet, no budgets or services have been negotiated for FY’27.
For more information, visit panhandlehealthdistrict.org.
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