Caribou County Commission Meeting 1/13
The Caribou County Board of Commissioners met on January 13 for their only scheduled meeting of the month. Due to conflicts with other scheduled meetings, the second meeting in January will not be held.
Following the approval of the minutes and payroll from the last month, the meeting turned to the swearing in of county officials. County Coroner Casey Batterton was sworn in later in the afternoon.
The first order of business following the swearing in was the approval of a resolution establishing the board and member assignments. Resolution 2025-2 appointed Chairman Mark Mathews to the position, and Bryce Somsen as the Vice Chairman. The resolution was approved.
A list of the commissioner responsibilities was presented for review and approval. It was determined that Mathews would be the liaison on matters related to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. A motion to accept the assignments as they had been drawn was approved.
Chairman Mathews is over Weed Control, the TV Translator board, IDAWY, Parks and Recreation, and the Fair Board/Extension Office. Commissioner Somsen is over Public Safety, the Caribou Loop Trail, Idaho Transportation Department, Juvenile Detention and Justice, Tri County Snowmobile Association, Caribou Forest Initiative. Commissioner McCullough is over Health, Mental Health, SICOG, Planning and Zoning, and Senior Citizens.
Kevin McClain—Road and Bridge
A snowplow had been in need of being towed back onto the road on two occasions. This was due to the way the vehicle is constructed and the road conditions at the time.
Cutting edges for the snowplow sweeps were also purchased.
McClain met with a business called New Rock in Utah recently. They are a competitor for local asphalt companies, including Idaho Asphalt, for the provision of road oil. $595 per ton is the current bid for oil. The county uses about 1000 tons of oil a year on the roads, and the Utah company can offer $537 per ton.
Somsen got a call from an individual in Star Valley asking whether County workers could open a road generally cleared by the mine. The road would affect no more than three people, and the cost was discussed as potentially not justified. McClain will keep his eye on it to see if it becomes an issue.
There were reports of a vehicle stuck near Big Springs campground as a result of gates being left open to access the area. Another car who had attempted to assist the first also became stuck. It was clarified that the area is under Bannock County’s jurisdiction as far as the roads are concerned.
Potential areas for a long-range shooting range in the county were discussed. A citizen had queried the department about the possibility for doing so, though the property was adjacent to BLM land. The issue will require more research.
A position for a mechanic with the county is in the hiring phase.
Eric Hobson—EMS
EMPG money from Homeland Security to pay for salaries needed to be signed for by the commissioners. The 2024 Emergency Management Performance Grant was accepted for just over $20K.
ISU offers an online Advanced EMT class. This will upgrade the qualifications of EMTs with the county. The class is one day a week. The increased licenses will allow the county to upgrade certifications for the trucks. “We’re not going to make a lot, but we’ll break even and keep things going,” Hobson said. The training and other requirements should be covered. “It’s a win-win on it.”
Last year, the county fire rating scores were re-evaluated. It used to be a 7W 1-10. 10 Is remote from a station. The county is now on a 6-10 scale. Overall, the number dropped by one, which represents an insurance savings. 3% of property claims went to fire, according to a report cited by Hobson. The county is hoping to get everyone in the county to within a 5 mile range of a station. The new station in Grace should help to this end. Property owners will benefit from the rating change, although the county won’t necessarily see the direct benefit.
Rowdy Larkins
Larkins presented the final report for 2024 to the commissioners. There was some slow-down in building across the county. He noted that there was some skepticism about the economy.
The number of solar permits was reported to be down.
“Land is still selling, but I don’t have a prediction,” Larkins said, in regard to anticipated building demands for 2025.
Larkins also discussed a number of change orders for the County Event Center. Number 8—cabinetry for the 4-H/Annex bldg. Some of the desks were determined to not be useful for the needs of the staff who will be using them. The change order added $4300 for those changes. The printer room cabinetry was unaccounted for in the plan, so one wall was reconfigured to add them, which added around $17K. The issue was deemed to be related to the blueprints themselves. A motion to deny the change order passed.
Change order 9 for winter condition ground-thawing for $14K was approved.
A potential change order for the HVAC system was flagged by Larkins as likely to come across the desk before too long.
Some of the charges related to site administration were discussed. The county feels that some of the contractor fees are perhaps unnecessary.
Dwight Lloyd—Weed Dept
Lloyd spoke to the commissioners on behalf of the Weed department. Damage to one of the trucks was discussed. The truck swerved to avoid a deer on the road and ended up in a snow bank. $4200 was quoted as repair work. Lloyd does not think that the repair should cost that much, so he’s getting a second opinion. The commission approved repair up to that amount, pending a second quote.
Eric Hobson suggested that Twisted Metal would be a good local business to contact for another bid.
Lloyd mentioned that on the north end of the county near the Bonneville border might represent a problem in the future. Some of the houses in the Grays Lake area might be hard to access during winter months, despite efforts to keep driveways plowed. Eric Hobson stated that EMS could utilize helicopters to access remote areas in the case that a snow sled would not be a good option. The county EMS goes up to a mile south of Paradise cutoff. “If we have a serious medical up there at this time of year, we’ll launch a helicopter. If it’s not a critical thing we’re able to transport by ground. We have options that we pre-plan for.”
“There are not a lot of water sources out there as far as fire,” Hobson said.
Angie Mendenhall
Landfill fees were permanently discontinued at one property in the county as a result of a landowner request. Mendenhall suggested looking at the landfill fees for businesses that are not industrial and don’t have employees, as she saw a certain amount of inconsistency in the way that the county applied fees to some types of locations in its jurisdiction.
Overall, Mendenhall expressed the opinion that landfill fees needed to be more carefully examined in the county in order to create more consistency in how they are applied.
The county is required to assign a landfill fee to every address in the county. The shops or storage containers in questions have addresses, which is why they are subject to these fees.
“I think that there needs to be some clarification. If you read the code…it doesn’t address shops or ag ground,” Mendenhall said.
County Assessor Aaron Cook agreed. “The things that aren’t residences are a little unclear,” he stated.
A resident spoke to the commissioners about his fees. Several years ago, the landfill fees on his property were waived. He is on a fixed income, and feels a landfill fee is excessive. According to the language of a meeting in 2016, his property was given a permanent exemption from the fee, which he feels should be honored.
Another question was that since the property is not generating any solid waste, does is meet the terms under which the fee is applied in the first place?
The exact logic behind the assigning of the fees was determined to be in need of further examination.
The fee to the property was waived for the year, though Aaron Cook, along with Angie Mendenhall and the commissioners felt that they needed to more fully examine the issue and make the process and regulations more consistent across the board.
Planning and Zoning—Helen Barker
A finalized proof for the recreational zone signs was presented to the commissioners. The signs clarify what the building restrictions are on properties in the recreational zones around the county.
Barker also discussed a bid from MR&E for maintenance of the docks and the storage of the trashcans, as well as maintenance of the porta potties. $32K was the cost for taking care of the grounds and the porta potties. $19K was the cost of just the assembly and maintenance of the structures.
Kaylee Peck—Bayer
Kaylee Peck spoke to the commissioners on behalf of Bayer. The Caldwell Canyon Mine project was updated for the board. In May 2016 the plan was submitted to BLM. In August a note to proceed was issued. In April 2021, a group filed a suit to block the mine. EIS was vacated in 2023. A settlement was reached last September to proceed. The settlement was agreed to not be challenged (the new EIS). $5.1 million of conservation and rehabilitation funds will be spent as part of the settlement. Rail won’t be used until April, and noise limitations will be in place during operation. The suit was based on concerns about the sage grouse on the land.
The mitigation will include sage grouse habitat restoration and conservation.
Bayer hopes to have project back underway by the end of 2025. Bayer would like the county to provide comments during the comment period by Feb 3.
