County Commission Meeting, Caribou County June 10
Kevin McClain
One of the summer workers for the city ended up breaking both of her wrists.
One of the six wheel drive plow trucks is having suspension problems. It’s an old army truck. Should be about 2,300 to rebush the whole suspension in house.
$14,073 will be needed for a replacement engine on one of the county’s trucks. A new Tradesman is $57k.
Dwight Lloyd—Weed Control
Dyers Woad month was reported to be going well. The weed department is combating the problem, and has been commended for its work abating the problem so far. Some areas near the train tracks were reported as potentially problematic with the effort. Across southeast Idaho counties, DW is a massive problem as the invasive weed is easily spread by birds, wind, and other vectors.
Mosquito Abatement was also discussed. The abatement district for the city was voted out during a bond election, and the county is looking into starting it up. The topic was added to the agenda for the upcoming 4 county meeting in Malad.
Rowdy Larkins
$32,150 for the back half of the cinderblock building at the Fairgrounds was requested. With county providing some work. This will make the building into shape hopefully for the summer. Insurance will recoup the costs. Hamilton masonry will be putting walls back up on the cinderblock building at the fairgrounds. $5,800 for other preparation for the building. Both motions approved.
Quotes for paint and potentially replacing doors on the ends will be forthcoming. Insulated doors were suggested by the commissioners.
Event Center
Reactions to the concrete is taking a little longer. Should be starting right before the fair. Larkins proposes starting the project right after the fair.
Main Street project starting July 8th. Hookups for the courthouse may have to be redone during the process.
Eric Hobson
ICRMP insurance increase this year has been proposed to be around 20%. The projected total was $264,000, and the year before was $218K. Insurance is increasing in cost across the board. This is for county emergency workers.
Radios need to be upgraded for the county. Motorola and Kenwood were up for discussion.
Everyone is working turaround this month.
Moving into fire season, the year is projected to be busy. A hotter and drier summer is predicted, starting in July. Although this specific region is not predicted to be as bad as other places, Hobson is skeptical that it won’t be a bad one, especially if there are a lot of lightning strikes.
Tyler Kelsey
Kelsey and his father run Intermountain Insurance Services, which brokers health plans. They are affiliated with carriers such as Blue Cross, and wanted to show the County some bids for plans. They currently carry the city’s insurance.
The County is on the Gem plan. Bryce Somsen and the commissioners all think the Gem plan has been quite good. Somsen is on the board.
Kelsey says that there is no cost for taking a look. He can’t answer specific questions about pharmacy plans without knowing exactly what is involved. Kelsey works with mostly cities, though he does cover some counties in Utah, such as Morgan.
Aaron Cook, Assessor
Assessor Aaron Cook reported that mailing out assessment notices through a third party saved the county around $1500 in postage.
Due to a reappraisal of the value of property owned by Lumen, the county is required to remit the difference in the collected taxes against the reappraised value.
Bryan Fuell
Caribou-Targhee National Forest timber sale is scheduled. The Forest Service is in need of 10K yards of crushed gravel, and offering the county funds for it. Looking at 2025 as the start to the project. Timber Creek is currently closed. Stewart Road will be closed through June. An agreement will be put in place for the Forest Service to pay for a gravel supply for the project, which will be given to the county for future projects after completion.
Nellie Askew, Planning and Zoning
An Alexander Reservoir Grant has been received for $137,399. An archaeologist needs to be scheduled for July before moving forward to survey the site. Matching shares $54K in hours. The major expense is a new bathroom for $110K with ADA approved. Picnic Tables and a new park with 12 or so spots for camps will be created. The grant is strictly for RVs.
Aly Schwulst
Schwulst raised the question of what would happen if the licensing agreement switches software ESRI part way through. If the county switches, it will cost $10K for this year, and $16K next year. The server is too slow to function, and the IT support is not available, so a switch will be necessary. Software renewal up to $11K was approved.
Schwulst reported that she felt the county needed more IT support than is currently available. She requested hiring a full-time IT person. The commission suggested contracting two days a week as a possibility. The IT employee is only available on Tuesdays. Outside of then, the cost is $85 an hour. The employee is contracted in order to save money over keeping an in-house IT person. Schwulst stated that there are a number of people in the county who have concerns about needed IT support. The commissioners advised department employees to keep track of issues they are experiencing, and there attempts to arrange IT support.
Some potential methods for making the process more transparent and responsive were discussed by the commissioners and members of the county departments, including Rowdy Larkins, and Nellie Askew. The bottom line was that county employees feel that they need more time and availability from IT.
Doug Wood, County Attorney
Wood will be using Morgan Hill as an intern for a semester. Hill is a student at ISU currently. This fall she will be assisting Wood.
The issue of incentives for PZ members was discussed. Fire and ambulances are staffed by volunteers.
Jill Stoor, County Clerk
Stoor reported that two certificates of residency needed approval. These were approved.
Century Link Volume Line plan was approved.
Tina Turner has been selected to be the deputy coroner. IAC will send Casey Batterton to Las Vegas for the IACME conference.
A webinar about the US Census of Agriculture has been scheduled.
IAC conference is in Sept. 23-25. June 19, 4-county meeting.
DPS/BPS has been contacted about line agreement.
Event Center. If it’s starting in August, it should be completed in the spring time. Jill wonders when it will need to be dealt with in the budget in terms of employees. Will someone be fulltime? Scheduling and Maintenance. Things like cleaning deposits, event rentals, etc. need to be discussed. Stoor wanted more details about what the future intent of the building was. Will it be used daily? The issue was scheduled for discussion at the 4county meeting. Where will the EC be placed in the budget? Will it be a line item for the FB under PILT?
Alexander Park. Some funding will need to be added to budget for maintenance. What about a camp host? Chairman Mathews says it can go under Parks and Rec.
Mark Sternberg—PacifiCorp
Alexander Reservoir Shore Erosion.
Sternberg spoke to the commission about erosion on the shore of Alexander Reservoir. Since 2007, the shoreline has been improving. But now wakeboats have become an issue. The boats throw a 3-4 foot wake that impacts the shoreline. 15 feet or more of shoreline have been lost in some areas. Sternberg suggested that he would continue speaking with people and begin working on a proposed ordinance for the county to deal with these sorts of motorized vehicles. Somsen suggested that in order to determine what the effect of the wakes were on the shoreline, the commission needed a “before” image. He asked Sternberg to attempt to locate an image displaying what the shoreline had looked like before. The commissioners weighed in on various observations about the shore around the reservoir, and other locations in the county with regard to erosion.
Sheriff Mabey stated that he had been told by the state that it was worth looking at feasibility for enforcement of any ordinances. The sheriff explained that he would need to have a boat on the water in order to effectively monitor the situation.
