Caribou County Commission Report 5/12
Kevin McLain—Road and Bridge
The potential of replacing some of the windows in the county shops was discussed as a means of reducing heating costs and improving insulation.
Members of the crew are out in the community patching roads and working on spring repairs and maintenance.
Grace will be hosting the three day district rodeo competition next weekend, and has requested a water truck to be on site during the event.
Eric Hobson--EMS
14 people will be attending the advanced EMT class in Pocatello.
The county is part of the “Offset Agreement” for Mutual Aid with the BLM, Fish and Wildlife, and Forest Service, though the federal government has decided to change the arrangement’s terms. The county will now be treated more like a contractor during times when employees are called in to assist on issues on federal land. This would largely apply to fires, where the county resources might be called in to assist, and would be compensated directly.
Oregon Trail Marina MOU with the State Historical Society has not been finalized yet, regarding the preservation of the historic wagon ruts on the property.
Commissioner Somsen asked Hobson about progress on EMT classes in the schools. The issue is potentially finding a certified educator who would be able to staff the hours during the school day when the instruction has been requested. Franklin County and Oneida County use EMT teachers who are also currently school instructors for those classes.
Rowdy Larkins--Building
Change orders from the Event Center project were discussed. Some of the issues were related to requests from the Extension Office related to the specifics of some of the appliances and infrastructure planned for the building. The cost of stairs was discussed, and some means of designing and building the stairs at a lower cost were presented.
Windows, floor drains in the bays, grease intercept, and other items resulted in change orders of up to $50K. A full total for the building will be presented as the project comes closer to completion.
Dwight Lloyd
Lloyd spoke to the commissioners about the watershed.
The city’s water fill station and the county’s have both been available, though there was discussion of a sign to explain that the county water station should only be used for county purposes only, but if it is locked, the city station should be used. The fill station is at the county weed building. The signage was discussed, and the phrasing was largely agreed on.
Lloyd asked the commissioners how they would feel about making a county ordinance concerning Russian Olive trees. Along the ditch banks, rivers, and canal banks were suggested as the primary problem locations. Lloyd would like to see them eliminated, as they cause a number of issues with regard to water consumption. He says that the Portneuf gap is one example of the trees drying out the areas quickly.
Commissioner McCullough asked how they would be gotten rid of. Lloyd explained a process for killing Russian Olives and making them inert.
Lloyd would like signs to be placed at the entrances to Caribou Counties from surrounding areas that would alert visitors to the issue of invasive weeds.
Although he was personally not excited about it, Lloyd felt that it was probably time for the county to get a drone for weed spraying. His new employee in Grace is interested in piloting it. A license is required to operate a drone, which can be used to apply weed chemicals in an efficient manner, and to reach areas that are difficult to reach on foot.
Simplot
Representatives of Simplot spoke to the commissioners. Dan Darlington, manager of Smokey Canyon Mine Pipeline, and others were in attendance.
Darlington said that this summer’s work on the pipeline should be less disruptive and out of the public eye. “It’s another fairly large project. They’ve been fighting some snow, but the project is moving very well and quickly. Everything is without incident.” Darlington said that any road closures would be limited to less than half a day at Stewart Canyon road. “We’ll be out in front of it well ahead of time, so now surprises there.”
Commissioner Somsen mentioned that the county was involved in projects taking place in the forested areas. Darlington said that there is definitely restoration efforts going on, so the county representatives were welcome to visit it and see what is going on there in terms of restoration.
“It’s coming along very well,” Darlington said. June 26th is the date the group will be touring local sites.
Morgan noted that Simplot had lost a cooling tower. It hasn’t shut down operations other than a short time, but they are working with the state to get back up to full rates.
The Smoky canyon mine will be putting on a Safety Day in Montepelier for fifth graders to discuss safety issues. They are interested in making that available to the students in Soda Springs as well.
Doug Wood
Attorney Wood was contacted by law enforcement about a permit given by the county within the city limits. It was for the fundraiser for Autumn Bitton. Clerk Stoor felt that the process was completed; however, a city permit was not obtained. It was determined to ensure in the future that both the city and the county will be involved in the process in the future in order to verify that the process has been completed.
The confusion may be related to the need for both a city and county liquor license.
“Anywhere you sell alcohol, you should see three permits. In the future, bring it to the city first, and then us.” Clerk Stoor will verify that a catering permit has also been signed by the city in the future.
Wood noted that last Wednesday there were 60 court cases between the hours of nine and three. Of them, many were DUIs.
“We have so many drunk driving cases in our counties,” Wood noted. He would guess that the county is proportionally higher than surrounding counties. “It’s an epidemic,” Wood said. Clerk Stoor added that large number of the cases involved underage drivers and passengers. “It’s something we need to be aware of. It’s something that concerns me.”
Wood stated that the court day itself was bad, but “That wasn’t as bad as being woken up at 2 in the morning to be told that we had a fatality” in reference to the fatal accident two weeks ago.
Commissioner Somsen suggested that a digital billboard is something they might also explore.
“The statistics themselves are shocking enough,” Angie Mendenhall said.
ShaLayne Bartschi
Bartschi spoke to the commissioners about the senior center. The center had a leak over the winter, though experts who had observed it felt that it was from condensation. Bartschi got bids for more insulation to go in the roof.
Commissioner McCullough noted that blow-in insulation would create a big problem if it turned out that there was a leak in the roof.
Bartschi discussed the quarterly budget for the center. The spring months are the slowest for the thrift store and other services. The building can be rented out for $95 a day.
The contents of the No Name cookies were briefly discussed.
“They make good cookies. Dang good cookies,” Larkins said.
Public Hearing
Variance Application for a residence in the viewshed in Chesterfield. They are asking for permission to build a full basement, rather than just a crawlspace. The PZ board voted in favor of allowing the permit. The Chesterfield Historical Society was also in favor. The variance was approved to increase the residence size to 2,370 feet. It was determined that it met the requirements, and the variance was approved.
Audit
Searle Hart and Associates spoke with the commissioners about the county audit.
The auditors found that the county did not have any concerning negative trend lines as far as funding. He cautioned that ARPA and other federal funds which constitute an important part of the county’s funding may be less available under the current administration. PILT funds will be down in the coming year. PILT is being used to fund the Event Center project at present.
The Justice Fund is also seeing positive trends.
The auditor’s summary found that the county was in good financial shape, and thanked Angie Mendenhall for her work at keeping the county’s money accumulating interest.
DEQ--Katie Bergholm and Melissa Gibbs
Katie from the DEQ spoke to the commissioners. “Sometimes it’s nice to connect when there isn’t an emergency going on.”
Melissa Gibbs is an Air Quality Manager with the DEQ, who was also in attendance.
They are working on closure of the Caribou County Landfill with Idawy.
Katie has been working with EPA and DOJ on the Conda plant.
Melissa Gibbs answered questions from the commissioners about issues related to air quality and how the DEQ handles them. Burning was the main topic discussed as an issue for the DEQ intervention in the area.
