Panhandle Health District

                                                             8500 N. Atlas Road         Hayden, Idaho  83835

www.phd1.idaho.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                      Date:     July 17, 2007                 

Contact:                                                                                  Released by: Jeanne Bock, Director                     

Cynthia Taggart

Public Information Officer

(208) 415-5108

(208) 818-7288 (cell)

No Charge for New Health District Building

              Savings and the sale of two properties have enabled the Panhandle Health District (PHD) to build and partially finance its new facility in St. Maries without increasing client fees for building payments.

              “With our savings from the construction of our building in Hayden, we decided it was time to remedy the overcrowded conditions in St. Maries,” says Jeanne Bock, PHD director. “This was an opportunity to improve our services in St. Maries without raising our fees to pay for it.”

              PHD paid $1.6 million of the $2.6 million project in cash acquired from the sales of its former Coeur d’Alene property and St. Maries property and savings from the construction of its office in Hayden, which opened in 2006.

              Panhandle Area Council (PAC) financed the balance for 20 years, meeting PHD’s requirement that payments fit within the health district budget. PAC, a non-profit organization, has made low-interest loans for economic development to small businesses and governmental agencies in northern Idaho for 36 years.

              Idaho’s health districts are special purpose districts with no access to state building funds, which is why PHD went through PAC. About 13 percent of PHD’s budget comes from state funds, but those funds are designated for public health services.

              The new St. Maries facility at 137 N. Eighth Street is nearly twice the size of the building it replaced. It will enable PHD to serve clients more expediently, reduce client waiting time and increase client comfort.

              It includes 42 parking spaces on site and on the street that will solve a parking shortage that forced clients to risk injury on icy sidewalks during the winters. Two parking spaces by the door are reserved for people with disabilities. Added and improved sidewalks on Eighth, Ninth and Center streets increase pedestrian safety on the St. Maries downtown corridor.

              The new facility includes a backup generator and the space and infrastructure to serve as Benewah County’s Emergency Operations Center.

              Designed after the historic Kootenai Inn that formerly sat on the property, the PHD building returns to downtown a fond and familiar landmark where the public is welcome.

              The grand opening is Thursday, July 31, at 2 p.m.