BoCo commissioners will hear from Fair Board on preferred RV park location

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

The April 4 meeting of the Bonner County Commissioners, which lasted a remarkable four hours prior to executive session, saw two split votes on matters related to the proposed RV campground expansion at the Bonner County Fairgrounds: the first voting down a contract for engineering work on a contested piece of land between the fairgrounds and sheriff’s complex, and the second voting in favor of a grant extension and request for input from the Fair Board on where the RV park should be located.

It was the first Tuesday quorum since the board adopted a new meeting schedule, which sets aside an hour for public comment at the top of the 9 a.m. agenda then launches into regular business items at 10 a.m. The public used up every bit of its allotted hour on April 4, which heard comments from citizens concerned about alleged election fraud, the hiring of outside attorneys and, from several constituents, concerns about the ongoing Bonner County Fairgrounds RV campground expansion fight between the commissioners, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and the Fair Board.

Bonner County Commissioners Luke Omodt, left; Asia Williams, center; and Steve Bradshaw, right. Photo by Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey.

The campground’s placement has been a long-simmering debate, with recent attempts — spearheaded by Omodt — to do a boundary line adjustment bringing into question whether placing the RV park between established fairgrounds land and the sheriff’s complex would infringe on the sheriff’s future ability to build a new justice facility. 

Grant applications for the campground expansion, submitted to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation over the past several years by late-Fair Director Darcey Smith, state in writing that it was the Fair Board’s intent to have the RV park on fairgrounds property, and yet, those applications feature a map showing the proposed construction taking place on county land not technically designated fairgrounds — land which Wheeler claims former commissioners had intended for justice expansion. 

Due to this alleged discrepancy, party lines have formed between elected officials and members of the public weighing the costs and benefits of building the campground southwest of the fairgrounds, or finding a new location. While Williams proposed an advisory question for the May ballot to ask voters about their preferred use of the contested property, Omodt and Chairman Steve Bradshaw voted March 27 to abandon that measure and instead review a 2014 memorandum of understanding between the BOCC and Fair Board designating the space for fair parking. As of April 5, that MOU was yet to be reviewed in any official capacity.

Tensions remain high surrounding the campground’s possible location, with many seeing the issue as one pitting Commissioners Omodt and Bradshaw against Wheeler. A March 29 Fair Board meeting featured three Bonner County Sheriff’s officers, who were reportedly in attendance to ensure Omodt did not attempt to stay for the board’s executive session after Fair Board Chairman Eddie Gordon sent an email to the BOCC stating that the Fair Board no longer desired a liaison commissioner at its meetings. Omodt told the Reader that he had a conversation with one of the law enforcement officers, but he left prior to the executive session and had no further interaction with them.

At the board’s regular business meeting April 4, Omodt motioned to engage with engineers Sewell and Associates for boundary line adjustment and replatting work not to exceed $25,000 — an issue that’s come before the board four times in the past month, and centers on Omodt’s desire to place the RV park on land currently straddling the existing fairgrounds property line. The first two times the additional Sewell work came before the board, Omodt and Bradshaw voted in favor while Williams opposed the contract, arguing it wasn’t necessary. The third time, Bradshaw flipped his vote, opting instead to support the proposal for an advisory vote before work commenced on the contested property.

When he pitched the contract for reconsideration on April 4, Omodt said it was because he was “not interested in raising taxes” in order to support the Bonner County Fair, and claimed that the campground expansion was a step toward financial solvency.

Williams pushed back on that notion, calling it a “misrepresentation” to say that the land had to be replatted for the project. Bradshaw said he preferred to review the 2014 parking MOU before moving forward with the Sewell contract, and stated he’d like to see it on next week’s agenda. Ultimately, the engineering contract was voted down 2-1 with Omodt voting “yes” and the other two commissioners voting “no.”

Later in the April 4 meeting, Williams motioned to request a grant extension from IDPR on the grounds that she believed spending the funds to build the campground on “encumbered land” — that is, the space allegedly suited for future justice facility construction — would violate the terms of the grant and possibly require Bonner County to pay the grant money back in the future. The extension would also allow time for the Fair Board to select a new preferred space for the RV park, she said.

This motion also saw a split vote, with Omodt against and Williams and Bradshaw in favor. That decision — to welcome a recommendation on park placement from the Fair Board and request an extension from IDPR — was met with applause from the April 4 meeting audience.