Caribou County Board of Commissioners 9/8
The County Board of Commissioners met for a regular meeting on September 8. The meeting was less hectic with the budget season mostly over and the next round of weather headaches not underway yet.
Kent Loosle and Dillon Liechty
Loosle spoke to the commissioners with an update from CMC. There has been a new Nurse Practitioner added to their roster, which adds to “a good balance of male and female providers.”
“I want to talk about orthopedics,” Loosle said. CMC recently recruited Dr. Nelson from Logan. “It’s a big deal to have full coverage in orthopedics. That’s one of the things that keeps people here.”
Kellen Hansen is a sports medicine and Family practice doctor who will be moving here full time with his family. “It’s an upgrade for our community!” Loosle said.
CMC is also working on the “Ambassador” program at the facility. “We decided that the best form of communication is word of mouth,” Loosle said. Over 100 people have signed up. You have to be willing to show up at a community health event, talk positively about the facility, and positive things in the community. Anyone who is interested is welcome. “We think that since there’s been a lot of change at the hospital, we need to get the word out.”
Commissioner Somsen asked how much the staff has grown over the year. Loosle said that it was about 25 people they had added over the last year. The new sign should look good at the roadside entrance soon. Dillon Liechty is getting electricity set up.
Hospital survey tools show that those who use the service respond positively at the 75th to 80th percentile.
With regard to the new clinic in Grace, Loosle said that the architectural survey is done, and the groundbreaking should be set for October. The commissioners advised them to make sure that the architect is thorough at the civil engineering/drainage/etc side is done. The county did not do a soil analysis, which led to a lot of excavating and backfilling that was not expected at the Event Center.
The clinic will be open M through F. Of the 230 hospital employees, 38 live in Grace. “The more we keep people in our community, the better capacity we have to provide service.” “There are only a few difficult to recruit positions that we need, like ultrasound tech. We’ve worked hard to be able to recruit local.”
Wellness Center. A Wellness and Longevity Center will be where Doctor Housley was. The old building is being renovated. It will have staff fulltime, as well as two other providers to do wellness, lab work, weight loss, aesthetic services. Planned opening is about the first part of October.
Melissa Gallegos
The Center for Hope, represented by director Melissa Gallegos, spoke to the commissioners about the center. She reported that the success rate in the program was 12 percent, which is much higher than the national average. She brought impact statements from those who had been affected by the center.
The Center has received $5K from the county in the past, which was increased to $7500 this year, both in recognition for the center’s benefit to the community, and as a result of the Opioid settlement the county is a party to following a class action suit against drug manufacturers. Funds from the settlement account are restricted to programs combating or mitigating opioid abuse.
Kevin McLain—Road and Bridge
Permit from Silver Star for right of way work in the Freedom area. They need to bore under the highway, which require signatures from the commissioners.
The blade for Dwight is still being sought. A G series is the same as an H series, except that it has a steering wheel rather than a stick. Everything that he has been able to find is over 15K to 20K hours, which is probably too unreliable.
The bridge that crosses the Chesterfield road has 18 inch on center concrete I-beams, and has developed a hole as a result of wear. The department hopes to replace the wood with metal.
They are beginning to work on the process of making the S-turns less dangerous on Government Dam road.
They are working out a source for winter road salt, and believe that there may be a good cost supplier in Utah. The drive is to Tooele, but will result in a net savings on salt.
Peterbilt trucks are being finished in Aberdeen, and should be available in about a week or so for use.
They are still out blading roads throughout the county.
McLain would like to purchase a grapple for the skid steer.
Eric Hobson—Emergency Services
Hobson reported that on the fire side of things, the season pretty well as it draws to a close. “All the big stuff has decided to go around us,” Hobson said.
The Willow Creek is mostly contained. On the second day of that fire, the county was up in Miller Creek.
The commissioners expressed surprise that the forest service has dropped the fire restrictions. Hobson agreed, saying that everything still looked quite dry.
The new station in the Event Center building in Grace will be ready soon. Some paving remains to be done and other final elements with the drainage system.
6 of 14 EMTs are through testing. In related news, the next EMT class is October 14 through January on Tuesday nights.
Now that they have Advanced EMTs on staff, they need a new pay schedule. Ambulances will be over budget for the year, but that’s because they added a position after the budget was set.
A motion to add a pay scale for Advanced EMTs of $11/shift and $18 per call was approved.
Rowdy Larkins—Buildings
A quote from High Desert to replace generator and transfer switch for a total of $117K+ was received. The lead time puts this out to February. It would be big enough to run the full courthouse for 72 hours on emergency power. The current generator could be auctioned. There have been more issues with it—the load bank test failed at high temps. Batteries weren’t changing. The radiator is plugged, etc. A new generator is needed long term. The issue was not an action item at present.
Larkins has had some issues with his computer, which is somewhat outdated. $1287 for an HP desktop. The purchase needs to be finished soon on this year’s budget.
Drainage on the site of the Event Center was discussed. Ideas for how to most effectively keep the location from filling with water were discussed. Larkins will be meeting with various people on the issue on the location.
“This was the first year we didn’t have rain at the fair,” Larkins laughed.
Dwight Lloyd
Lloyd noted some good and bad with the Weed department. “A couple of firsts this year—we were never rained out, not one day. Roadside were done in the month of July. But Dyers woad was a complete disaster.” The Dyer’s woad issue has to do with pay out for weeding, including to the football team and others. According to Lloyd, the Weed dept has to retrieve cash up to several times a day when it is being paid out (for collected material). During the heat of the season, the amount paid out can be fairly large, and the county discussed ways that they could make cash available for payout more easily.
Signs were approved by IDOT for Weed Awareness, but not on their right of way.
With reference to the recharge pond on North Lago, Lloyd noted that “we got to that just in time.” They got it treated, but Lloyd doesn’t see an alternative way to get in there until after the alfalfa is cut.
There’s spot of spotted knapweed in the city pit. “We’re going at it pretty vigorously. Everybody is aware of it now. It’s a big concern as far as the gravel pit.”
The department has helped the junior high get a start on their weed control.
They are speaking with a drone operator about some more remote areas of the county for spraying.
The weeds on the river banks are becoming an issue, and Lloyd discussed the potential for looking into a boat to deal with it for next year.
Sheriff Mabey
No crashes at the bike race this weekend were reported, though there were complaints of various kinds.
The antenna at the Black Mountain repeater is only transmitting a couple percent and the computer is shot. They are going to rebuild it, but it is in need of major repair. A quote for $8K was received for the antenna repair. “That’s an expenditure I’m going to have to do so that we have communications in that part of the county.”
The Sheriff would like to raise the jail fees up to 75$ per bed, from the current 65$.
Helen Barker--PZ
Oregon Trail Marina. Barker has spoken individuals about a dock at the marina, which was damaged by a vehicle and extreme winds. The dock will be retired for the season and repaired.
A public hearing on designation. Barker proposed the adoption of an administrative parcel for lending purposes. “It’s the risk we take to allow people to build on their property.”
A resolution to create the 2025-03 adopting a new section establishing administrative district was approved. Commissioner McCullough voted nay.
Aly Schwulst—GIS
Schwulst spoke to the commissioners about a proposal for a new laptop. Her current laptop is no longer able to run necessary programs. It is primarily used for work outside of the office. A cost of $2555.99 for everything needed was presented. She was directed toward devices around 5k, but found a better deal online. The GIS software is demanding. A motion to allow the purchase of a Dell for 2555.99 was approved.
The old laptop will be returned for use in the county.
