The Statehouse grounds will be quiet for another weekend.

Lawmakers and Gov. Butch Otter still have not resolved their disagreement over expanding the Capitol.

On Friday, one week after Otter ordered work to stop on the Statehouse renovation and expansion, he and legislative leaders met for more than an hour in Otter's office.

"We didn't even discuss when we're going to meet again and if we're going to meet again," said President Pro Tem Bob Geddes of Soda Springs. "We expect that he'll probably have more questions."

Otter's spokesman, Mark Warbis, said the meeting was "informative" and went a long way toward making sure Otter had the same facts as the Legislature.

Lawmakers passed the $130 million project last year to update the aging Statehouse and expand it with two underground wings. Proponents said the expansion would keep the Legislature within its walls and offer the public more accessible state government. Hearing rooms already overflow almost daily, and legislators expect more and more people to get involved as the state grows.

Otter ran television ads against the wings during his campaign, but he had never met formally with any legislative leaders until this week — after he surprised the lawmakers Jan. 12 by ordering all work stopped on the project.

On Friday, Otter listened to how the legislators arrived at their decision last year and looked at the information they used to decide.

Among the points the legislators made:

• New estimates show that remodeling the Borah Post Office and the old Ada County Courthouse will cost about the same as building the wings. The state has purchased both buildings in the past few years, and both are just across streets from the Statehouse.

• The costs of the wings will increase dramatically if they are delayed. Otter's budget would hold the expansion "in abeyance" while the Statehouse renovation is completed. But along with the ever-increasing costs of materials and labor, contractors say doing the expansion work after the Statehouse is renovated and reoccupied would create new costs and obstacles not in the current cost estimate.

• Idaho spends $13 million a year renting more than 900,000 square feet of office space in Ada County alone — so lots of state tenants could move into the courthouse and post office to save money, even after the Statehouse expansion.

Otter didn't offer any response to the case made by the Republican lawmakers, their staff and some of the contractors working on the project. And his staff was tight-lipped, too, about where Otter wants to go from here.

The move raised questions about whether Otter had the power to single-handedly stop what the Legislature had already approved, but lawmakers say they're not concerned about that right now. They just want the expansion work to continue.

"That is an underlying question, but it's not one the Legislature is concentrating on, because we think suggesting that may aggravate the situation," said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner of Lewiston. "We prefer to try to reach some agreement."

The Senate has yet to confirm any of Otter's appointees, causing some to speculate whether they would use that power to influence Otter in this battle, but the first major one, Agricultural Director Celia Gould, moved a step through the process Friday. She now awaits a vote on the Senate floor.

"It's no secret that the Senate has at their disposal the confirmation process," said Sen. Tom Gannon of Buhl, who chairs the committee that endorsed Gould's confirmation. "But it was decided that was one they didn't want to hold up. I guess it was a peace offering."

Democrats, meanwhile, met in a caucus and decided not to weigh in on the battle.

And the Republican legislators are still comfortable that the week-long delay since Otter's order hasn't drastically hurt the 30-month schedule for the complex project. "I don't think we've gone past any significant deadlines," Stegner said.

No "drop-dead" deadlines were discussed, he said.

Senate GOP Caucus Chairman  Brad Little of Emmett said contractor Jack Lemley told him the project still has some leeway, but lawmakers who want the project will have to speed the conflict to resolution.

"He said we can do five days no sweat," Little said. "But we can't postpone this very long."

Contact reporter Gregory Hahn at ghahn@idahostatesman.com or 377-6425.