The Wallace Senior Drop-in Center needs new flooring, windows, tables, chairs and a television, according to a request for some of Shoshone County's American Rescue Plan funding submitted by the senior center's board President Denise Nelson.
The thing is, Nelson says she never submitted that request for more than $24,000 of the pandemic-related funding to the Shoshone County Board of Commissioners.
In fact, she says the senior citizens who rent the North Idaho drop-in center for bingo nights and pinochle games don't have any problems with the floor, tables or chairs, and they don't have issues with the space getting too cold. They're fine putting some plastic over the windows in the winter, she says, but the heat already works well whenever they need it. Really, the only upgrade Nelson would love to see their landlord make is putting in a taller toilet that doesn't need the handle jiggled to work.
So, who did ask the Shoshone County commissioners for the money?
That would be Shoshone County Commissioner John Hansen, whose wife, Sue, owns the 1940s-era building, at 619 Cedar St. in Wallace, where the senior center is located.
In May of this year, Hansen was the commissioner who signed the paperwork officially accepting $2.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on behalf of the county.
In total, the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress in spring 2021, included $1.9 trillion for a variety of pandemic-related recovery efforts, from rental assistance for people who lost their jobs to the $1,400 checks that went out to individuals making less than $75,000 per year. In the act, $350 billion was directed to states, counties, cities and tribal governments as "local fiscal recovery funds" they can directly spend on "water, sewer and broadband infrastructure" and to help people and businesses impacted by the pandemic. The money must be allocated for projects by the end of 2024, with spending completed by the end of 2026.
Shoshone County's $2.5 million was a fairly small piece of the $347 million pie allocated to individual counties throughout Idaho. Nearby Bonner County received more than $8.8 million and Kootenai County received more than $32 million.
The nonprofit senior center was closed for most of the last two-plus years due to the pandemic, and only started hosting public game nights and events again this fall. Nelson says that the organization receives grants to pay utilities and $350 a month to rent the space, which has hosted the senior center for 37 years.
Nelson says that Hansen did, in fact, talk to her about the possibility of getting some ARPA grant money for upgrades to the senior center, but she also says he never made it clear that he would apply for federal funding in her name.
"I didn't sign anything," Nelson says. "I didn't see any paperwork."
By the time Hansen spoke with the senior center's volunteer board about the possibility for upgrades, Nelson says, he'd already submitted an application to the county.
Hansen, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, recused himself from the Oct. 19 vote on whether the county should provide upgrades at the senior center; but he didn't say that he was doing so because he owns the building, according to a recording of the commission meeting.
Fellow commissioners Tracy Casady and Jay Huber approved giving the center about $20,000, noting that they didn't think it was appropriate to pay for new tables, chairs or a TV, but that it would be OK to pay for the building upgrades.
As members of the Silver Valley community found out about the vote, they took to social media to question how an ARPA application could have been made in someone else's name, whether the commissioners should spend taxpayer money on upgrades to a privately owned building, and what other decisions may need more scrutiny.
Since the backlash, the funding for the senior center has been put on hold, but it's unclear why, as the matter was not discussed at a public meeting.
"This has nothing to do with politics. It just has to do with the fact that I never even saw the application," Nelson says. "We never asked for any changes. The only thing we asked for was a high rise toilet."
NEW WINDOWS OR NOT
During the Oct. 19 meeting, the three Shoshone commissioners also considered three other ARPA funding requests.
A similar request for $56,693 for new windows for Cascadia Healthcare's Kellogg nursing home was met with some skepticism.
"Now, if we say yes to this, are we setting the precedent that every business in the valley that wants new windows we've got to say yes to [them]?" Commissioner Huber asked. "It comes up to like $1,300 a window."
Staff said approving the request wouldn't necessarily set a precedent, noting that the nursing home serves an underserved population and the proposed windows are energy efficient.
The commissioners decided to table that request in order to get more information before voting. The three also tabled a request from the Nine Mile Cemetery Association for $45,500 to replace metal plaques with granite grave markers.
When it came time to discuss the senior center application, staff asked about the state of the current windows in the building. Hansen, who had recused himself before the discussion, explained that the windows are all single pane and some have broken seals, so the upgrades would help with utility costs.
After some more discussion, the three approved a $164,000 request from the Shoshone County Horsemen's Association to install a new well at a private equestrian park, and then Commissioners Huber and Casady approved the roughly $20,000 for the senior center request made in Nelson's name.
"[Hansen's] intentions may have been good, all their intentions may be good, but you don't do that, you don't use someone else's name and do that," says Jennifer Sieg, a 75-year-old retiree in Pinehurst who learned about the senior center funding after the vote.
Sieg was also concerned about the large spending approval for the new well. "Everything that they've done just does not pass the smell test and the ethical test," Sieg says.
Multiple Shoshone County residents who spoke with the Inlander say they're concerned about how the county board operates in general. The three commissioners share one office in the courthouse in Wallace, raising questions about whether they have conversations about county business outside of public meetings, in violation of Idaho's open meeting law.
"We have county commissioners that are clearly breaking the rules on them sitting in an office together," Sieg says. "When you listen to the meetings, they're not even asking each other questions."
Dawn Wiksten, who ran for Huber's seat on the commission this year but did not get enough votes to move on after the May primary, says she is also concerned with how the recent ARPA applications were handled. She, too, questions the legality of the commissioners sharing an office.
"It's very concerning because everything gets decided before they've ever walked into the meeting room," Wiksten says. "I'm certain [Hansen] could use some upgrades, but that's not what this money is for. That should be coming out of his pocket." ♦
