Caribou County Commission 7/28
A regular meeting of the Caribou County Board of Commissioners was held on July 28
Kevin McLain—Road and Bridge
McLain reported that he has been getting a lot of calls about gravel road conditions throughout the county. “We need mother nature to help us out, and put some moisture on the roads,” McLain said. The dry temperatures are creating a lot of dust, but he noted that blading is not advised as a result of fire danger.
The Fair is in need of a water truck and a skidsteer, as well as someone to run it during the fair. Someone will be on hand to provide the assistance.
The Queen contest is this Saturday, so the arena needs to be soaked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The Gentile Valley project is all milled, but is waiting to be oiled.
McLain reported that Oneida County has purchased equipment for shoulder work, which he thinks would also be a good fit for Caribou County. It involves mix coming off on apron on the back of a ten wheeler from Utility Trailer in Boise. Workers walk behind the vehicle with rakes and work the material. An invoice from Oneida Road and Bridge was noted as $11,888 or so. This would be one of the more cost effective solutions to the need for hot mix on the shoulders in the county. This was recently done from the top of the Malad summit down to Devil Creek reservoir and McLain thought it seemed to work very well for fixing shoulders. The commissioners thought that it seemed like an excellent idea, and motioned to approve the purchase of a Monroe Side Chute Asphalt Spreader for up to $12K.
McLain talked to the Extension office about delivering sawdust to the Event Center.
He received a call from a landowner who would like to put a long range recreational shooting range on the BLM land near Fish Creek on the upper end of the Cove. McLain was not sure what the permitting process for such a thing would be. Helen Barker of the PZ commission thought that because it was on BLM land it would likely need to be permitted through the state.
A tool allowance for county employees who use their own tools was discussed. The allowance allows for replacements and repairs for the tools used in the service of county needs.
County will be helping the city with oiling on August 8.
Grant Simons wants to put a culvert through Kelly-Toponce road to prevent main line from damage. A permit was signed. Simons will put the culvert in.
Change order for Bridge project will take it to $1.9 million. The project is supposed to start on the 8th and take 35 days.
Sheriff Mabey
Some AC units in the office at the jail have gone down. Some of them are older and the parts are harder to locate. The jail is governed by strict regulations with regard to conditions for the inmates, so the repair is somewhat urgent.
Mabey noted that there were some problems with the servers, which may be in need of replacement or repair. There may be an available server in the courthouse that could be used. The situation will be looked at by TJ with the IT office.
The Idaho Sheriffs and IDOC met with Mabey last week, and made it clear that Caribou County was committed to providing beds to IDOC. There was some discussion of raising jail fees, though it would be likely less to the state than the cost of inmate contracts being taken out of state. The fees are a legislative issue. A bigger gap between contracted and uncontracted fees might also benefit the county.
A recent robbery in the county was solved, but the DEA is holding the information for present.
A large fentanyl and meth bust in the county was also recently announced, with more details to come.
The number of people coming in for drivers licenses has gone “through the roof” as the Star Card deadline has come and gone.
Aaron Cook
The purchase of two custom built computers for up to $3400 for the office was approved. The Assessor’s Office requires up to date computers capable of handling current software suites in order to keep the county’s information secure and managed.
Helen Barker
Grouse Creek improvements were discussed. A culvert has been put into the road at the entrance of Grouse Creek. The culvert is “at least double the capacity” of what was there before, and should improve road flooding. An MOU with the location was discussed.
The Oregon Trail Marina has sent an update on what is needed to fulfill state requirements. One thing needed is an educational event of some sort that provides information on the Oregon Trail itself. A guest speaker with the right qualifications will be sought to meet this requirement. The specifics of what are needed are being explored. The ribbon cutting would be an ideal time for this, the commissioners and Eric Hobson agreed. An RV park/campsite was proposed earlier this year, and has been in the works for a number of months. The project completion is potentially a year out still at this point. A survey to determine that there were no artifacts or culturally significant historical items will also need to be completed.
Some of the infrastructure, such as picnic tables and fire rings, will need to be ordered soon in order to prevent paying more for a predicted cost increase in those items expected within the next year. Storage locations for the equipment to allow for an earlier purchase (to save up to $4000) were discussed.
Some concerns about the distance from the RV spots from the road were raised.
Helen Barker expressed her belief that because people would be driving past the park every day, it was very important that its visual appearance was very important. The existing park at the location, in her opinion, will need to be repaired/replaced or otherwise improved in order to create an overall better facility.
A camp host will likely help to improve some of the issues that are currently creating eyesore elements at the park. In order for a camp host to remain at the location, power will need to be brought into the location. This would also allow for bathroom lighting, as well as potentially a primary outdoor light.
According to Eric Hobson, the revenue generated through RV/camp fees will be around $9000 a year as a rough baseline, which will not cover any large expenses.
Rowdy Larkins
The initial plans for two water meters have been scaled back to one, as it was determined that two were ultimately unnecessary.
The heating is primarily gas, so the question of whether two gas meters were needed was discussed. It would allow separate billing for rentals of the building as a component of the cost.
The Event Center building is being pushed to be in mostly completed shape by the time of the fair next week for the Event Center side. An open house will be scheduled for after the Fair. A ribbon cutting and other events will be planned for after the fair. The large, rentable area of the building will likely be used during the fair, however.
Jill Stoor—Clerk’s Office
The election process starts in August, so Jill Stoor requested that the election location be changed to the Caribou County Event Center. Rowdy Larkins believed that the building would have its ADA and bathroom accommodations ready in time. There was some discussion about whether that might be “jumping the gun,” though Larkins felt that it would be safe to move the location to the Center. A motion to change that location was approved.
The contracting situation for Event Center rentals and the related deposits for cleaning were discussed.
Scheduling for the building was also discussed. It was tentatively determined that the scheduling could be done with existing county employees, including members of the Extension Office. The Extension Office will be occupying space in the building on a fulltime basis.
How fees would be assessed for rentals was discussed as well. Some events will be county or non-
profit based.
