Snowpack among issues at County Commission meeting

Last week’s meeting of the Board of County Commissioners was busy, with several public hearings on zoning issues, additional work at the Event Center, a look forward to fire season, and a number of other topics.

Road and Bridge

Road and Bridge is working on a number of projects throughout the community.  They are putting a new culvert in on Fish Hatchery road to fix a hole that had appeared.  

Kevin McLain noted that there may be some “sticker shock” on preventative maintenance on vehicles.  Commissioner Somsen stated that he would rather spend the money that way than on emergency repairs.

McLain noted that potholes along the flats are filling up with water.

The year end financial report shows that the department has excess funds accumulated through the state, but that they should not expect that to be the case going forward as the state budget contracts.  Somsen stated that the governor was looking to eliminate 3% from the budget that would potentially come in for infrastructure excess.  The funds that have already been received by the county are secure, but McLain and the commissioners discussed the best ways to maximize those funds.

Re-graveling, oiling, and packing in the roadways were discussed as priorities, including oiling roads outside of Grace along the mountain.   

Emergency Services

Hobson presented a fire mitigation MOU with Sicog.  They are up to 70 treatable acres.  Phase 2 will be starting at Bailey Creek soon.  Other areas will be included in the project scope.  The grant will pay management costs, through the Idaho Department of Lands.

“Luckily with Sicog, they’ll come in and manage it for us,” Hobson said.  They will write the grant for the county, up to $5,000 of their time writing and processing it.  If the grant falls through, the fee would still be owed to Sicog, but it has been a great cost-savings value to the county in the past.

Kya Simmons is putting in another request for a grant with the STATE EMS grant.  That goes toward $230K for the ambulance, and $40K toward a gurney.  The county would end up paying $60K in the difference, but would acquire a needed, $350K ambulance and gurney.

Hobson discussed the outlook for the upcoming fire season.  “With our weird winter, we’ll see,” he said.  There are multiple factors involved in determining water supplies for the upcoming fire season.  While the snowpack is historically low, the aquifers are in good shape, he noted.

Hobson showed the commissioners the Starlink phones they been had acquired.  They have been testing them in trucks, and they have been working well.  “You plug it in, it does its thing, and it takes about a minute.”  Even in the low speed mode, the phone is able to perform emergency tasks and maintain service.  This is critical for communications across the county in emergency situations that need to be responded to in the field.

The unit for the device was around $200, with around a $50/month charge for full use access.  Using unlimited data would increase the cost to around double on monthly billing.  

Building and Maintenance

“I feel like I’m getting to where nobody wants to see me, because of what I bring you,” Rowdy Larkins laughed.  The Event Center is mostly up and running, but various minor issues still occur as the building is being fully utilized.

An estimate from Rocky Mountain Fencing for the Event Center to install fencing to protect the area around the side between the two doors was discussed.  A bid for a 6 foot chainlink fence around the HVAC system for $4,540 was approved.

Scott’s Lock and Key has also bid on a system for the Event Center exterior doors in a similar setup to the courthouse.  As the traffic flow and access to the building becomes more familiar, there are some changes to the keying that have been requested.  The commissioners agreed that changes were needed, but wanted to look at the most affordable options.  Ultimately, it would be the case of being able to separate out the various parts of the center to their own discrete security, so that event access could be controlled more efficiently and easily.  

A bid for welding ($21,205) to build stairs from the fire station to the attic was discussed.  

Valances were another item that remains to be completed for the Event Center, and bids were being sought.

The orientation of the location of an additional cleaning/supply room that would be created at the end of the hallway where the public restrooms are located was discussed.  Hobson and Larkins discussed the relative trade-offs between the different potential locations.  

Dally Smith—Event Center

Smith, who handles scheduling for the Event Center, brought up the issue of the county employee policy for building rentals.  

The Sheriff’s Office has also reached out about holding training in the building.  Smith thought that an agreement should be written.

Clerk Stoor and Commissioner Somsen felt that county agencies or departments should be able to use the building as needed, since the county owns the building.

As far as the employees (outside of their roles as county officials), there was some discussion of the issue.  It was generally felt that a deposit needed to be taken in that case either way.  

Clerk Stoor liked the idea, but expressed some concerns.  The commissioners suggested that they continue in the same way as present, and adjust if they need to.

The issue of what 4-H’s priority for the large room availability was raised.  Clerk Stoor explained that the understanding was that the 4-H always had precedence for the classroom, but that event center main area should be scheduled the same way across the board for everyone.

Cleaning hours and services were also discussed. 

The issue of parking was raised.  During recent large events, it was noted that due to a lack of immediate on-site parking facilities there have been cars parked on the grass areas and in front of the EMS bays.  The location is such that a planned parking accommodation will be necessary to handle large events.  The northeast corner of the block on which the Event Center sits is the most likely location for a parking area, along with marking perimeter spots around the block.

Whether the roads were wide enough to create angled parking on the widest sides was considered.

The Fair Board has discussed moving the gate opening to create additional parking access.

“The Parking is a disaster over there,” Commissioner Somsen noted.

Clerk Stoor advised that a mobile TV/projector provided for laptops to plug into was needed.  Justin Hatch suggested that the Extension Office had one that they would be willing to let people use.  This would be especially helpful for large meetings.

Vacation of Roads

The requested road vacations on block 1-8 and 12,13 in Chesterfield were presented prior to a public hearing on the matter.  The PZ board met and voted to recommend approving the request.  

A public hearing was called to discuss the matter, on Ellingson/Barker Ag Road.

Essentially, the county and Barker Ag are switching ownership of the roads in question in order to make the routes more efficient.  Doug Wood clarified that a road vacation with a deed swap should have all the components done at the same time. 

Barker Ag and the commissioners, along with Wood and other interested parties, discussed the process as a whole, and came to a mutual understanding about the upcoming process.

Wood noted that when a road is vacated, it results in an even split between the landowners on either side.

After the public meeting was closed, a resolution to vacate the road in question was passed.  2026-02 to provide for the vacation of roads across several blocks in Alexander township.  

Extension Office

“I had a neat opportunity come across my desk,” Hatch told the commissioners.  The University of Idaho had some funds available for counties, and Caribou was awarded $9k to hire an additional summer help person.  They way the funds are operated, the funds would come from UI, but the employee would be a Caribou County employee.

The funds will need to be allowed, as they will be over expected revenue, but as long as its spent and under the part-time cut off, it should be fine.  The position would officially be “Seasonal” and could not go over the dispersed amount.  

Public Hearing

Clerk Stoor presented ordinance 26-01, which regards the provision of a Historical Preservation Commission.  Galen Wilson, of the Caribou Historical society, has been given a copy of the ordinance.

During the public hearing, it was discussed that the ordinance establishes the commission, but that the commissioners will need to determine the scope and mission of the commission as it moves forward.  The establishment of the commission allows for the county to pursue a number of grants and other opportunities which require an official historical organization of such type to coordinate materials and locations.  The wording calls for five members with five year terms.

The public hearing was closed and the commissioners approved the creation of the commission.  

Treasurer Angie Mendenhall

A home in the county was owned by a resident of Bailey Creek who passed away.  Water damage resulted from frozen/broken pipes recently.  The status of the home with regard to the mortgage, and administrating the property is currently unknown.  Without family members who are willing or able to take over the estate, no one is quite sure what the next step is.  The home potentially has a reverse mortgage on it, which complicates the situation.  Ultimately, the Treasurer is likely to be the public administrator called in to resolve the situation.  

GIS—Ally Schwulst

Schwulst spoke to the commissioners about the GIS system.  She created a dashboard, which works with the ARC system.  The site features an interactive map, which allows a user to access information/data from IDWR and other resources.  The dashboard also provides access to Caribou County’s traffic cameras, road construction alerts, fire reports, and other information.  

The data is publicly available, but the intention is to bring a number of different data streams to one place, especially for use by county emergency officials to be able to easily get a comprehensive view of situations which require immediate monitoring.

“The goal is to give it to every county agency, and cities as well.  The goal is situational awareness for us and our partners,” Hobson.

Attorney

Attorney Doug Wood reported on the Idaho Prosecutors Association meeting.  Possibly gloating after the Superbowl, he showed off his Seahawks socks.  

Clerk

Rowdy Larkins reported that the heat for the building is back to working.  He noted that system will need to be upgraded in the future, however.

Casey Batterton has asked about space for the coroner’s office.  The future of the Annex building is something that needs to be worked out before too long.  Currently, refrigerators owned by the county are at Sims.  Using some of the classrooms for 4-H classes in Soda is one possibility, although there are several entities interested in using the space.  

An issue with a voter on the Franklin/Caribou line has emerged.  The county has established that the voter does live in Caribou County, based on the jury duty system, as well as a number of other means.  The address should not have been in the Franklin county system, according to the clerk’s office.  The county border is very close to the county border.  At one point, a state statute held that the location of the bedroom determined which county the voter could vote in.

The county received a quote for a Meals on Wheels vehicle.  Because the repair cost is higher than $1000, Stoor brought it before the commissioners.  The commissioners approved the repair for $1,161.  This is a 2005 Colorado. 

The county needs someone to take over maintenance of the county website.  Ally Schwulst suggested that she did not have the time to do it, but it was clarified that there are regulations which essentially require work on the website within the near term with regard to ADA compliance.  

A Tricounty snowmobile board was discussed.  Commissioner Somsen is on the board.  Stoor needs a list of all the county boards available in her office.  

Soda Springs

Mayor Paul Gritton of Soda Springs spoke with the commissioners about several issues.

An agreement with the county for a donation of silica sand was discussed.  The approximate date for hauling and the amount were discussed.  Kevin McLain felt that the process would not take especially long.  This is for the Ledger Creek trail system.  Roughly 100 truckloads will be involved to get the trail set.  What the ongoing supply of sand following this year remained to be seen.

Gritton believes that the material will be loaded, and that the city has vehicles to contribute to the effort.  

The city and the county discussed which start dates would work best, and agreed to enter into a contract with the city and Rubion for sand supply.

A draft MOU regarding building inspections was presented to the county.  Wood noted that the language allowed for termination on the part of the city, but not the county.  This would allow the county’s building inspector to be contracted by the city to provide building inspection services.

Larkins suggested that if the city ended up hiring someone to do residential inspections, he would be willing to continue on with commercial inspections in either case.  The commissioners passed the MOU contingent on the addition of language giving the county the ability to terminate the contract in a clearly designated way. The agreement was signed in that way.