Today there was a meeting of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, Government Affairs Committee (GAC). At that meeting we learned that someone is not telling the whole truth when it comes to the Education Corridor. This should not come as a shock to anyone observing this folly.
At the meeting, Dr. Priscilla Bell, President of NIC, revealed that Rolly Jurgens, NIC’s Vice President for Administrative Services, recently had contacted a real estate agent in Post Falls. Mr. Jurgens inquired about how much money NIC would make if it sold the Workforce Training Center (WTC) located in Post Falls.
Now recall this tidbit from the CDA Press article “Education Corridor Raises Concerns,” published February 16:
NIC president Priscilla Bell said there had been no discussion about selling workforce training center property.
Huh? Is Mr. Jurgens out there apparently running amok, operating without the authority of the NIC Board of Trustees or with the knowledge of Dr. Bell? I don’t think so. At the GAC meeting today, Dr. Bell confirmed that Mr. Jurgens had indeed asked the very question she denied was being discussed in the CDA Press.
Mayor Larkin was more than justified in his concern over the future of the WTC in Post Falls. He took a lot of heat over this issue. Dr. Bell and NIC Trustee Christy Wood appeared at the Tuesday, February 19 Post Falls City Council Meeting. They repeated that the would not “abandon” the WTC.
There were talks in the press and elsewhere about how Mayor Larkin was wrong and, golly, “Where did he come up with the notion that NIC is trying to sell the WTC?” But Mayor Larkin assured the GAC today that he does not fabricate things. In fact, he was more solid on that issue than any other local politician I’ve ever seen!
Mayor Larkin provided some interesting math at the meeting:
$4M for NIC to sell the WTC
$2.6M in NIC’s foregone property tax collections (extra taxes for you and me)
Complete the picture with $2M in “fund balance” (profit) kept by NIC from year to year. Add in another $1.5M from the LCDC and presto! You have the Education Corridor purchase! Thank you for playing.
Among other tidbits learned today:
* The mill site will be cleaned up, and the site environmentally remediated by the lumber company. Dr. Bell alluded to some type of agreement that makes this stipulation. The agreement is one that the NIC Trustees have obviously signed but which apparently is not readily available to the general public.
* Grant money will be obtained by NIC and the University of Idaho to construct the buildings on the Education Corridor property.
* Mayor Bloem, also present at the GAC meeting, said that there is an Education Corridor Master Plan. I’ve not seen it, so I don’t know whether it’s available to the public. I will be doing a document request with the City for a copy and then share it with you here.
* Dr. Bell mentioned some type of economic benefit study that NIC would be completing next month or early April. Again, I will request a copy of this document when it’s available.
* Apparently the grant application for the $1M Federal “earmark” has been turned down by Senator Crapo’s office. (Obviously the Feds are wise enough not to step in this pooh.)
* No word on impact studies for Northwest Boulevard, downtown, sewer, water, and so on.
* And finally, as you’ve come to expect, no word on public hearings or votes or any other input allowed from the citizens and taxpayers who foot the bill. Heck, I was lucky to discover that this meeting was taking place. It was in a small room in the District 273 offices. About 20 people were packed in the room. Poor Larry Spencer had to stand!
Ever feel like you’ve been invited out to dinner, fed food without getting to choose form the menu, and then gotten stuck paying the bill?
Update. Senator Crapo’s office has not denied the $1,000,000 earmark. It was mentioned today that the request was denied, it’s not true.
Comment by Dan — February 28, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Is NIC pulling the old “inflate the budgets and create a fund balance to be brought forward for the slush fund” trick? Did it pick that piece of prestidigitation up from the City?
Comment by Bill — February 28, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
Other way around, Bill. “Fund balance” has been a tool for the education business for a long time. The cities are learning this from education.
Comment by Dan — February 28, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
I read the above at another blog posted by Christie Wood.
This is what really disappoints me is when ‘public officials’ brand the public/citizens with negative labels. Who do you think she was referring to?
Comment by Stebbijo — February 29, 2008 @ 11:38 am
Ms. Wood is welcome to come here and discuss this important issue. Obviously this is a regional issue and keeping it out of the public dialog is having consequences that make the powers that be uncomfortable. Good.
Comment by Dan — February 29, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Stebbijo, The quote you posted from Christie Wood is disturbing. She’s a public official who sits on both the School Dist. 271 Board and the NIC Board, as well as working for the CdA Police Dept. It seems totally inappropriate for her to call Clay Larkin “The antiCDA Mayor”. What an insult!
Comment by mary — February 29, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
Mary,
I was not too impressed – certainly sounded biased and hardly PR friendly and yes, very “disturbing” for a professional community representative to communicate to the public in that style. Very unprofessional and it gets worse, now she uses this anology concerning questions asked by the public – I won’t be asking her anything anytime soon. Gad!
Comment by Stebbijo — February 29, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
So I read what Christie Wood wrote on a different web site. Amazing. She compared the City of CdA/NIC’s unilateral, stealth planning for the NORTH IDAHO Higher Education Corridor to the City of Post Falls buying the Mazda land for expansion of the Post Falls utility system. Here’s that section of her comment: “I do not recall Mayor Larkin or the PF Council contacting the NIC Board of Trustees or forming a regional task force when they purchased the PF Mazda site within a few days after it went up or sale.”
Please allow me to respectfully point out, Trustee Wood, that the Higher Ed. Corridor is REGIONAL in its mission, its impact and is funded by the taxpayers of the whole COUNTY. Taxpayers of the entire state are involved as well with funding of the 4 year colleges.
The REGIONAL Higher Ed. Corridor is totally different than LOCAL Post Falls making a decision about Post Falls that will impact and be paid for by Post Falls. In fact, Post Falls already had the money for the utility expansion because they went to the Post Falls voters in 2004 with a Public Bond Issue which the voters approved. Gee, that sounds pretty responsible to me!
Comment by mary — February 29, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
I might add that Mayor Larkin mentioned at yesterday’s meeting that the City of Post Falls obtained something called an appraisal for the Mazda property. He asked Dr. Bell whether NIC had done an appraisal for the mill site. Did Dr. Bell answer that question? Regardless, an appraisal would be a good idea, ensuring that the taxpayer is fully represented and isn’t getting ripped-off.
Does Christie Wood represent the taxpayer? Does she favor getting an appraisal of the DeArmond mill site? These are not “beat your wife” questions. They are legitimate and demand an accountable answer, not mindless blather on some pro-status-quo pandering blog.
I invite Ms. Wood to answer questions in this forum. She has a responsibility to the public.
Comment by Dan — February 29, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
Here is a little local story about local EDucKation.
At the age of 40 I was forced back into the work pool after managing a logging business for many years out of Bonner County and at that time it was affiliated with several logging entities in CDA that had ties to NIC. I was wife to business, which earns nothing. The divorce was very bad and I lacked any updated education after that or work history to gain decent employment. It was a grueling experience and I would not wish it on my worst enemy. I was locked out of programs that I had qualified for – for no apparent reason from NIC. My own income suffered for years -still does. A deliberate design? Probably. Some years – all I could earn was maybe five or six thousand dollars and less. I did not qualify for anything – displaced homemaker, vocational rehabilitation, absolutely nothing. So, I accepted, what I could get at $4.95 cents an hour – minimum wage as a nurse aide because I had no other choice. My nurse aide certification of which I took a written test and a manual skills test by a R.N. was fought at the NIC level because they wanted some more bucks to put me through their curriculum of which I did not have a dime to pay for to earn $4.95 an hour at – let alone pay for gas. But, my standing from Boise held it’s ground as a former nurse aide there, when I was about 18 yrs old – so I was now ‘certificated’ to work two weeks days, two weeks nights, and two weeks evenings on a biological clock that was not only tortuous but should have never been expected with an injured back. But desperate does as expected.
I also remember resistance at that time that the WTC would compete with NIC and possibly hurt their bottom line. WTC was just a baby. NIC did not want to take my original credits from Boise State University as well – that way I would have to retake the courses and they would make more money when I tried to get the courses for the nursing program. However, eventually, locally – my job schedule was changed after the legal withdrawal period from school – even after I told my employer at hire, I was going to school (I thought I wanted the nursing program because that was the only ladder from a nurse aide to take). I was forced to drop out, and I am now left with a bad student loan from NIC and no education that I will be paying for well into my retirement years with my social security check -IF I can find/keep work and hopefully earn enough to get a decent check at that age because of very poor employment and educational opportunities from this area. – 500 bucks a month if I am lucky. At age 55 – this September, I qualify for the Older Worker’s Program and can be retrained by perspective employers at minimum wage. Without a decent education it’s tough to get a decent job to pay back a loan that originated from this area through – really – no fault of my own.
My advice? If a person is wealthy or if you qualify for some sort of training program – you might be able to get some sort of degree from this area, but you are better off going out of state and know that you will. Don’t risk your financial aide opportunities here. That was my mistake – I thought the area was decent, honest, and wanted folks to succeed. ‘They’ do – but only if you play by their rules. Ask Shawn Keough who is now a senator and a graduate from NIC – associate political science degree, I believe. I needed her recommendation and two others just to get a job in this area. One was also from a deceased Idaho Congressman. No irony there, huh?
Comment by Stebbijo — February 29, 2008 @ 7:38 pm