Caribou County commission report 12/8
The Board of County Commissioners held a regular meeting on Monday. Among the items discussed were urgent response situations involving flooding at the county firehouse and a replacement server for the Sheriff’s office.
Sheriff
Sheriff Mabey spoke to the commissioners about an after action summary put together by the department concerning IT issues. On Dec 4 at around 1:40 pm the Spillman system went down. During troubleshooting, it was found that the primary server for the office had gone down. A spare server at the courthouse is not suffiecient to work as a replacement, as it needs to meet the required Motorola specs. Sheriff Mabey jokingly referred to the IT room as “The Spaghetti Jungle” and summarized the response to the outage. Once the server went down, they lost the ability to operate computers as a dept. The office briefly went back to paper records for a while. The ability to book people into the jail was affected, though the system used to keep track of inmates stayed functional. Cameras were briefly out so they increased face to face observation to compensate.
On Friday, there was a secondary system failure which affected a number of parts of the system. Spillman is an integrated data management software system used by EMS, Police, Fire, etc.
The department replaced a motherboard and now they are back up to speed and “fully operating,” according to Mabey. But, he noted, they are sitting on an old system that he doesn’t “have any faith in any more.” The department requested a server refresh, and wondered about possibly putting a backup server in the building in Grace. They would like to distribute the critical virtual machines across the network. Motorola has quoted a new server at around $50K. Commissioner Somsen questioned whether the old server will be used as the backup.
Capital outlay in the SO is mostly devoted to vehicles. The commissioners requested numbers from the SO about what kind of funds they might need to cover these costs, and what was in the various budgets.
The sheriff clarified that there was no data loss as a result of the server failure.
The Commissioners agreed that the issue was an emergency, and that the sheriff should proceed with moving forward with a new server purchase, especially as there will not be another commission meeting before the next year.
A motion to approve a primary server for SO contingent on emails with the hard cost numbers passed.
Eric Hobson—EMS
Another urgent issue was presented to the commissioners by Emergency Services Director Hobson.
On Friday, there was a break in a water line at the county fire station, which flooded the building. It is not usable until it is fixed, which Idaho Fire and Flood is working on, The potentially due to a pipe weakened over time by Muriatic Gas.
A radio purchase was made for an APX radio. The MSRP is about $13K. He was able to get it for $5K. “We’re still buying radios, and when we can get a deal like that we have to.”
The department also bought cameras for buildings on Black Friday at a large savings.
Hobson attended an ambulance billing seminar last month, where it was observed that the county is billing much lower than average on rates. The average in state is almost $800, while the county bills $350. The rates have gone up through insurance companies. “We’re might look at time to increase our rates, where we are so much lower,” he said.
The county provides as much emergency service to residents as it can, but there are some services that likely need to be increased to be responsive. Hobson and the commissioners agreed that the ambulance service is not designed to be profitable, and just needs to be sustainable.
The opioid funds were used to replace the supply of naloxone for around $1000, which has to be approved by the commissioners, and was.
Caribou Historical Society
Galen reported that the CHS has met with organizations that have grant funds available. In order to qualify for the grant funds, they would need to have a historical preservation commission created through ordinance.
A draft ordinance was given to the county as an example to use to create such an entity. Doug Wood examined the draft document and the surrounding titles, and felt that there shouldn’t be any problem.
Jill Stoor asked whether the grant would limit the ability of the CHS to operate in certain ways. Wilson noted that for some projects above a certain figure might involve some addition regulation, but otherwise, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Commissioner Somsen noted that sometime boards are created that don’t necessarily persist. He suggested having a commissioner on the board to help keep it going. The CHS members will discuss the issue and bring an ordinance to the commissioners.
Kevin McLain—Road and Bridge
The new road grader is still en route, and should be here by the end of the week.
The crew are still hauling chips, which has been able to go on longer due to the weather.
McLAin reported that the county is still having stop signs vandalized throughout the county. Multiple signs have been stolen, and not always recovered. Each sign and post is worth about $500. They often end up in the river.
LHTAC grant for fiscal 2027 needed a signature to apply. A formal motion to accept signature was made. The grant would help double chip seal the Blackfoot river road.
Snow Removal for Bonneville county. Agreement was entered into and approved. This is an agreement that is done every year.
Corey Hopkins—Blackfoot Reservoir
Resident Corey Hopkins spoke to the council about snow removal at the Blackfoot reservoir, which is open all year to fisherman. “The only access is really at the dyke area,” Hopkins said, asking the county to increase access to the area through plowing during the winter. He said that the access is not good, and it is difficult to get into the location, which is a perfect spot for many purposes. “It’s quite a place out there. There are people that go out there to look at eagles, moose, even the lake. People go out there to walk dogs, just for walks. It’s the darndest thing you’ve ever seen. There’s lots and lots of people that want to go out there to ice fish.”
Kevin McLain talked a bit about how he approaches it. Some of the difficulty comes from the vehicles that can work in the space. Other issues come from the nature of the BLM and county’s ownership of the land. “We just basically go across the dike,” McLain said.
“I’m in favor of trying to keep it open as long as we can,” Chairman Mathews said.
The boat trailer parking area was discussed. Hopkins asked that the county go across the dike and clear off the parking area. Access to the water itself is part of the issue as well, in terms of where people can access it.
Commissioner Somsen noted that because the land itself is BLM land, there has to be an agreement in place with them in order for the county to plow that area. Written permission from the BLM will be needed to do that.
Helen Barker—Planning and Zoning
A public hearing on changing an ordinance was held. The ordinance pertains to driveways in the impact zone. A motion to approve 2025-04 which allows for exceptions to driveway construction in the county passed.
Residential uses aren’t permitted in commercial zones, which is the reason that a rezone was discussed. There was some discussion about zoning within the county, and how the county viewed commercial, residential, and agricultural zones with regard to growth and development.
One of the underlying issues is the relatively recent explosion of the AirBnB and short-term rental sector of the market. Looking forward, the specters of Star Valley and Lava Hot Springs were raised with regard to some of the commercial designations throughout the county.
The two locations in question were the main intersections on Highway 30. The existing zoning has created some issues with small commercial zones inside other zones.
Rowdy Larkins noted that the areas were possibly anticipated as places where gas stations or other facilities might be located, though there are no current plans to do so. Barker noted that it would make more sense to revert to Ag and then wait for a request to build something to rezone.
There is no documentation as to why the areas were labeled commercial initially. It was speculated that this was done during the creation of the comprehensive plan.
Barker was also concerned about what is currently zoned as Industrial, and reconciling the property lines. The designations need to be in line with the comprehensive plan.
Barker also spoke to the commissioners about the RV Park. She had some concerns about the best way to use the funds for the park, so that the facility would be improved in ways that would make it most suited for residents. Past parks that have been created with grant funds have not necessarily been maintained as well as they could have been, and have fallen into disrepair.
Right now, the county has outlaid around $30K for the project, with the engineering, design, historical survey, and some materials.
Dwight Lloyd—Weed Dept
Lloyd listed a number of weeds that he would like to see listed as “discouraged” as an extremely invasive weed within the county. It is not possible for the county to add them to the Noxious weed list, but there are other ways to make the public aware of the issues and have the weeds discouraged. Bonneville county has a list of their own that they work at discouraging.
Lloyd would also like to work at getting rid of “No Spray Zones”. Doug Wood noted that here was no way to supersede that state law, but if individuals are not adhering to the state statutes regarding No Spray Zones, the exemption is voided. There are specific requirements for said signage that need to be met, and some of the weeds that become issues in the county as invasive weeds are spread this way.
Rowdy Larkins—Buildings and Maintenance
Mendenhall cleaning company, which works the fairgrounds, has asked for $85/day for four months, which could go up or down. RL prefers three times a week. The extension office cleans daily, though not as thoroughly as the service would.
Eventually, the building needs to be sprayed down with an epoxy seal, the commissioners thought.
A discussion about a place to add a cleaning/supply room in part of the bay area was had. This would allow for a more efficient way to allow for a supply closet area to help facilitate the cleaning of the building. This would allow storage and a sink for floor cleaning. The room where the tables and chairs are stored is sheetrocked, which caused some concerns about the walls and whether some sort of additional protection was necessary to limit any damage. “It needs something,” Mathews said.
The election supplies are one of the other storage needs for the building. Once a place is finalized for the cleaning closet, the allocation of the storage resources can be clarified.
Rocky Mountain Power
Transmission Maintenance Project
A Zoom call with RMP and the commissioners was held on the transmission maintenance project.
The intent is to construct the project to increase capacity to meet the demand in the local area. The project will be two phased.
Reliability, Capacity, Public Safety, Efficiency are the primary reasons for the project from Franklin County into Caribou. “It’s lived a good life, but it’s in need of replacement.”
Phase 1 is a substation near Downey. Phase 2 is from Treasureton through Oneida and into Grace. And then to Threemile Knoll area.
The Phase 2 structures are the typical type that are similar to what is in place currently.
Right of Entry contacts with local landowners will be initiated soon. 23 miles of the line are in Caribou County. It follows the original transmission lines.
Jill Stoor
Commissioner assignments and next year’s calendar were discussed.
Commissioner Somsen suggested that it might be a good idea to assign a commissioner to city council meetings. He will be assigned as “City Relations” and “Treatment Court,”
The calendar for the next year will be 2nd and 4th Mondays, with the exception of January and December.
A contract with Ada county for autopsy services was approved. Caribou County is not in a position to performs autopsies itself, and the nearest location is in Ada County. Services are not any closer in Wyoming or Utah. A plan to create a forensic facility for autopsies in Pocatello was floated but then scuttled due to cost.
The SWCD(Soil and Water Conservation District) requested a commitment for funds for 2027.
The Event Center rental agreement was in a final draft form, and had been reviewed by Doug Wood. Further discussion of the rate schedule was had, with some minor points to be tweaked.
