County, college reach agreement on fees

Lincoln County and Flathead Valley Community College have reached an agreement on past and future fees applied to the school’s Libby campus.

In a 3-0 vote on Sept. 26, the County Commission approved waiving 13 years of back fees up to 2013, and splitting with the college a $11,662 bill for the past five year’s worth of trash, lighting and street maintenance fees.

“[The fees] have just been accruing,” County Administrator Darren Coldwell said by email Thursday. “This not only looks bad, but it wasn’t right for the City of Libby, and for the Sanitation Department.”

Moving forward, FVCC will be responsible for paying 100 percent of the maintenance fees for the property, Coldwell wrote.

The commissioners acknowledged that the decision sets the stage to formally lease the building to FVCC.

Commissioner Mark Peck suggested the lease could be for as little as $1, noting that the college has made about $250,000 in improvements to the county-owned building over the years.