You got the bull by the horns. Yes sir! But, I think you are being a little coy with your question about taking care of business.

Tex, that rascal of an insider, tells us that the county planners, are funded by the developers, “not by taxpayers”, and that they do all sorts of things, tinker with ordinances, revise the comp plan, and lord knows what all. That falls a little short of being news, but, like a trail of feathers leading from the chicken coop to the fox den, finding the culprits in this mess is as easy as following the money trail.

In this hand’s estmation, before we can expect anything better out of the county, DS and a few other calves need to be weined from special interest group teets.

Correct. However, NOT including the Meridian campus or the retail space being taken through the use of eminent domain, the County has ALREADY ADDED about 200 thousand square feet of space. Enough is enough!

Tex wrote: “I don’t disagree that space could be used more efficiently, but the Building Dept. and Boise City lawyers shouldn’t have to share office space either.”

I didn’t know that they were sharing office space. Perhaps you will be kind enough to clarify your comment? When the new courthouse opened, Boise City approached Ada County, seeking a small amount of space in the courthouse in which to house their legal folks when they were working there. The two entities signed a lease agreement, the City paid to finish the then-unfinished space, and I haven’t heard that the agreement has been altered since that time.

Murphy wrote, “If there was any long range planning, DS wouldn’t have been allowed to spend, what $1.4 million within the past 1+/- years, then move to a new location.”

The cost of remodelling Development Services was a minimum of half a million dollars, although that might have gone up by the time the project was complete. I couldn’t agree with you more about the need for better long-range planning.

Curious George wrote, “As an Ada County resident, I would like to call for an audit of how existing space is utilized.”

I believe there were claims that an audit was done. If it did not report that the commissioners’ individual offices (which grew by a factor of perhaps four times when the County moved to the new digs) are significantly larger than necessary, figure the rest of it is questionable, at best, as well. It seems to me that oftentimes paid consultants find what they are “expected” to find, rather than what they ought to find.

Just because the department employs planners doesn’t mean that anyone in the department was consulted by County Administration before concocting this farce.

And why would they?

Why rely on staff with advanced degrees and professional experience in forecasting & planning – when (obviously) real expertise comes from selling Melalueca, running a five ‘n dime, and working for a city parks department.

As an Ada County resident, I would like to call for an audit of how existing space is utilized. Along with a solid comparison analysis of similar county facilities in the US. Without either of these it is near impossible to assess how efficiently the county is using its existing resources.

How much do you want to bet that neither effort has been done by County Administration?

How many of you would like to have seen this done before the county opted to exercise Eminent Domain?

What was the tune the Commissioners used at their State of the County Address, “Takin’ Care of Business”?

How about taking care of county business for a change?

I don’t disagree that space could be used more efficiently, but the Building Dept. and Boise City lawyers shouldn’t have to share office space either.

Have you been in the new courthouse and looked in the courtrooms? Much of the time, they are empty. It is time to better utilize the space that is already there and stop the costly expansion.

A move that doesn’t seem necessary now that 10 people will not be hired. If the money has just been budgeted, then unbudget it. If it’s been paid for, then an investigation needs to happen regarding why it was paid for in advance.

I despair of ever seeing a government official care about the bottom line and maybe saving taxpayers some money.

EDITOR NOTE–The Daily Paper also claims some of the planned community boys are behind in their payments…what does that tell us?