Caribou County Commission Meeting 3/10
The Caribou County Board of Commissioners met for a regular meeting on March 10.
Kevin McLain—Road and Bridge
Director Kevin McLain reported that people and business have been calling about spring work and opening roads within the county. McLain says that it’s probably still a bit early. “I just don’t know if winter is over yet,” he noted, further explaining that there should be another storm coming in later in the week. “The longer we hold off, the easier it is on the equipment and the roads. The roads are kind of soft, so I’m trying to get them to lighten their load,” McLain said. BLM is changing rates on gravel for the roads, which was upped to $1/linear cubic yard. A lease agreement with Idaho Dept of Lands was approved for gravel at that rate.
Oil tanker trailers for the county were discussed, at 25K$ for one which had come out of an oil field and was offered by Nationwide alongside another model.
A purchase of $61,500 for Road and Bridge from Smith Chevrolet for a Silverado was authorized. The department is short on vehicles, so there is not an offsetting trade.
The RB crew went down to the Johnny’s Hole location and there appears to be a need for culvert repair. There are natural gas lines in the area, so they will need to deal with that in order to make repairs. The roads will need to be dug up, but Chairman Mathews noted that the roads in those areas were currently in “the best shape I’ve seen in a long time.” A 12 inch culvert needs to be put in. McLain will look into the cost difference to bore, rather than go from the road surface.
McLain reported on a number of roads in the county that are “falling apart” and in need of repair.
New hires started this week, and the department is currently at full staff.
Eric Hobson
Hobson reported that last week was a BLM refresher.
In terms of vehicles, everything is operational, just in need some possible rear-end rebuilding.
Hobson reported that House Bills 206,207,208 made it into Senate, and were on their second reading. The bills that relate to EMS funding were reported to be “doing well” and Hobson will keep the commission apprised of any issues that come out the the legislature related to EMS in the county.
TMobile is talking about Starlink on T-Mobile, which ATT and Verizon are potentially jumping on it as well. The ambulance phones are currently TMobile.
Rowdy Larkins
Larkins presented a change order for the Event Center to the commission. This one involves the fill for the site. The price is around $30K.
Larkins thinks there will likely be a change order regarding the electrical connections. He will ask for an additional quote for power to supply the fairgrounds down the road.
Materials for the cabinet work in the Event Center were discussed. The commissioners and staff commented on the various options for the finish on the cabinets.
Larkins raised the issue of yurts within the county. “It is currently a gray area in the building code,” he said. Because the structures don’t have bathrooms, and aren’t permanent structures in theory, they don’t easily fit into the code. There are people interested in using them for AirBnBs, which means they will need to be regulated by the county, and there are many features of them that don’t match with the dwelling ordinances. Some counties classify yurts as “accessory dwellings,” which have different requirements. The commissioners advised Rowdy to first see how other counties deal with the issue. It was noted that there were many counties in Utah that specifically cater to recreation tourism with them. Caribou has restrictions against, for instance, living in camp trailers for long periods of time, and so the yurt represents an active issue. There are a few yurts on Pebble, which are being used like cabins for private use. The concern is when the structures are rented out, as it will bring access issues into the discussion.
Jackie Barthlome
Grace Mayor Barthlome spoke to the county about its landfill fee resolution. She began by clarifying how the fees were allocated. She wanted to know why the fees were assigned to the landowners, rather than the trailer park managers. Under the resolution, the owners of the park are charged based on the potential lots, rather than the active users. If the fees were assigned to the people actually living in the trailers, the mayor thinks that it would be fairer to the landowners. “The landowners are going to pass it on to their tenants.”
Mayor Barthlome noted that Grace puts the agenda out on Facebook, which she advises the county is a good idea. She noted a number of lots throughout the county where the property owners are being charged for empty lots.
County Attorney Doug Wood asked whether the county knew what other jurisdictions do. “I can see the arguments from both sides,” he said. The problem of doing micro petitions for pro-rated fee assignment was raised.
“I can see an apartment building as one thing. But in a trailer park, those people are paying property taxes on their trailer, and they are allowed to use 5 tons at the landfill.”
Chairman Mathews suggested that the change would require a separate policy for apartments and trailer parks. “A lot of the trailer parks, the owner owns the trailer and rents them out.”
Jackie Barthlome asked “Do you treat an RV park different than a trailer park?”
There was no immediate word on how the county’s RV park operates with regard to the landfill fee.
Attorney Wood suggested that he would look into the issue further and report back.
The commissioners agreed that it was something that should be looked into and probably changed to shift the burden to the right people.
Chairman Mathews noted that there was a section in the ordinance that allowed for a reduction to $25 if there was nothing on the property, though the language may need to be modified to clarify that with regard to trailer parks.
Chairman Mathews noted, “Every lot that makes garbage needs to be paying something to use the landfill.”
Public Hearing—Hubbard
A public hearing was held on a conditional use permit for a shed within the county. Because he is a neighbor of the petitioner and received a certified letter, Mathews recused himself from the hearing. The construction of a CUP to make a storage shed for storing RVs passed. The hearing was closed.
Doug Wood
Attorney Wood recently had a jury trial on a DUI that ended on a hung jury. He later recieved a report about how one of the jurors may possibly have been a citizen of Franklin county, which turned out to be the case. This was fortunate, since the outcome of the case would have been a problem had it resulted in a verdict. It turns out that the juror believed that he was a Caribou resident based on a number of factors. This is an issue that arose in the Thatcher area.
Jill Stoor noted that the juror system in Idaho uses P.O. Boxes, and the individual has a PO Box in Grace in Caribou County. This is a very rare issue, and the individual expressed a clear unawareness of having made the error. Prosecutor Wood was convinced that the individual was honesty confused. The trial will need to be retried in any case, due to the hung jury.
Sheriff Mabey asked whether the county had a marine advisory committee. The county does not.
Funeral Director Brad Horsley has an indigent case for cremation. There is a bill from November in the county for the service. In 2009, the indigent rate was upped to $1500. Doug Wood suggested passing a resolution to raise the county pay out.
A motion to pay the cremation costs for the indigent cremation for $2539 to Horsley was passed. These costs will be evaluated on a case by case basis going forward.
Angie Mendenhall from the Treasurers Office spoke to the commission about a property in Grace. Attorney Wood suggested that the legal description for the property needs to be redone in order to clarify the exact property boundaries. This is county property that will be sold in the form of an auction, with the starting bid as the appraisal price plus costs to make a “declared minimum bid.” The county can lower to price if there are no offers received.
Alana Burns—Friends of the Park
Alan Burns of the Friends of the Park reported on progress toward the shade structures to the commissioners, and presented a funds request. “We have been working for the last 8 months to put shade covers in the park,” Burns said. They have a bid from the company that installed the red hot pool covers in lava. The bid was $45K, and covers everything. They are within the $10K zone of finishing the goal. “We’re getting to the point where action is actually taking place.” “We’re in the last lap of this race, and are wondering if we could get the support of the county commission. You guys donated $5000 to the park for the last project, and you’re on the top tier of the placard.” The city was going to contribute labor, but since it was included in the bid that city is determining some sort of in-kind contribution for the project. Burns noted the contributions of Advantage Plus and the Chadwick Foundation. “We’ve had your support before and we’d love it again if possible.”
Burns stated that “We’ve tried not to tap the community that much. We’ve really tried to focus on businesses. Car dealerships, industries, etc.”
A motion to contribute $3K to the Maverik Caribou Community Playground for shades, from out of PILT for Misc Donation fund was approved.
“We’re going to have a ribbon cutting when we’re all done,” Burns noted.
Helen Barker
Planned building projects in the Chesterfield area were discissed. The Chesterfield Historical Society will visit the location from the viewshed to determined whether it can be approved. They will provide a recommendation to the commissioners, along with PZ.
