Caribou County Commission

The Caribou County Board of Commissioners met for a regular meeting on August 25.

Kevin McClain—Road and Bridge

A service call which was billed twice on a single day turned out to have been caused by a tire going flat twice, as the universe will allow to happen sometimes.  

The commissioners discussed the Alsco uniform contract.  McLain was advised to note the end of the service contract and potentially look into another vendor.

The chipping is done as of Wednesday for the year.  “Now we’ve got to catch up on a lot of other stuff,” McLain said.   Apparently, for some reason, a lot of traffic signs have gone missing in the west area of the county.  Rowdy Larkins reported that they are often found at the bottom of Black Canyon bridge, and that some of them have definitely been hit by passing combines.

There were some change orders on the Blackfoot River Road project.  Just past Hall road, there are some trees and willows near a culvert, which has bad drainage.  The culvert will have to be extended to create room for drainage.  Currently, the water is pooling in the location.

Jake is dealing with Bayer.  It is not clear who will be paying for reconstruction in the area.   Commissioner McCullough expressed the opinion that it should be done.  

McLain noted that there were not any conditional use permits for the mines, clarifying where the right of way ownership responsibilities rest for snow removal and other road issues.

Compensation for the use and wear of tools for the employees was discussed.  McLain felt that a monthly allowance was a better deal than paying for the many of the specialized tools that are required on the job.  

Culverts on Steele lane will be put down soon.

Fire extinguishers were recently inspected as part of an annual check.

Change order to increase $10k+ for Hall Road intersection and for increase of $9K+ for other materials was approved.

Sheriff Mabey 

The Sheriff raised the issue of National Guard participation with the commissioners.  The policy says that any reservists gets time off without pay.  Mabey reports that tin many places this is at the discretion of the county.  He thinks that it should be possible to pay the individuals if they would like to serve.  

Retention was also discussed.  “I’ve been dealing with the generational aspect of retirement,” Mabey said.  “They [employees of different ages] have different ways of looking at how they want to work.”  

He reported that one neighboring county gives retirees the option to stay on county Healthcare.  “This may help us recruit.  Seems to be working for Bannock county.” 

The Sheriff also reported on the commotion in Montpelier over the weekend, when a standoff occurred as a search warrant was executed.  “To be on the safe side, they called out the STAR team,” Mabey said.  “That payment we make to the STAR team is cheap insurance.  We’re in a world of safe and sorry lately.”  

The commissioners noted the recent shootings of offciers in Tremonton, Shelley, and Idaho Falls.   

Grace Mayor Barthlome

The mayor reported that the bridge will be gone by the 15th.  She will be in meetings on the issue soon, and will know more.  There will be no access on Center Street.  The project should be completed by April.  In the meantime, Mayor Barthlome is looking at what access will be closed in town.  This will affect the county’s access for plowing.  

Electronic Recycling

A regional company which recycles consumer electronics spoke to the commissioners.  

R2B3 crushes, logically wipes, and degauss devices and disposes of them safely if they cannot be restored for use.  The  service makes sure that no harmful or other materials from electronics make their way into the landfills.  

Chairman Mathews asked the representative whether he had met with Jayson Lowther from IDAWY, which he advised. 

A meeting with IDAWY was scheduled soon.

Stan Christensen

Flood control was discussed with the commissioners.  Christensen would like to get a culvert installed near the Mathews brothers farms to prevent runoff from putting chemicals into the groundwater.

The top of the culvert has to be two feet off in order to have space to drain.  

There is another location where Christensen would like to have a culvert put in to the east of the location.  The area is reported to flood every year in the spring.  

The Commissioners and Kevin McLain will look into the locations and the culverts.

The issue of motorcycles driving past his home at 70 mph was raised.  “Nobody has gotten killed yet, but I’d like to see a sign up advising people to slow down, etc.”   

He had been lightheartedly advised by someone to get some chickens, which might cause people to slow down as they drive past in order to avoid an accident.  

He described the passing bikes as like SR-71 Blackbirds and asked that they simply “slow down.”

Rowdy Larkins--Buildings 

Larkins is looking at trying to switch over the water contract to Culligan from Primos.  One of the issues is billing.  

City Council in Grace met with Rowdy last week.  The county is working with the city to determine how best to go about dealing with stormwater issues at the Event Center.  

Because the city has already passed its budget, Grace does not have flexible funds to help the county with that part of the project costs.  

Larkins is in communication with Jake Wright from Grace to determine the best approach forward.  

Other issues related to the Event Center included key fobs for building access, costs for the external bay doors, data costs for the building’s IT infrastructure, and more.

The location of the servers within the building was also discussed.  

Signage for the Event Center was nearing its final form.  The presence of the U of I Extension office logo branding and the exact nature of the building name position were discussed.  

Justin Hatch

Extension Educator Hatch reported on the recent Market animal sale for this year.  Averages and totals from years past were presented.  The total increased about $90K from last year.  “It amazes me how much that sale keeps growing and growing.”  It took in $70K in 2020.  “If you look over the last five years, it’s amazing how far it’s come,” Hatch said.  “If you look at the averages by species, they are just continually going up.”  The average process for buy back were around $3k.  Goats floor price was 3.10/pound, “which was a lot.”

“We felt like the fair went really smooth this year,” Hatch said.

Marnie Spencer  from UI

Eastern Extension Office director Marnie Spencer accompanied Rachel Hamilton and Justin Hatch to the meeting, and spoke with the commissioners.  “I won’t be able to see you at the IAC meeting this year.  It’s the same day that all of the district educators get together in Salmon,” she said.

This is her ninth year in the position, and she expressed appreciation to the commissioners for their support of the program.  

She specifically mentioned the 4-H bus.  “This is the only county in the district that has one, although everybody wants one!”  

When they are fully staffed, they have 22 Extension Educators.