Caribou County Commission
The Board met for a regular commission meeting on Feb. 10. Commissioner McCullough joined the meeting by phone.
The first County Commission meeting for February included some change orders for the Event Center project, various department requests, funds allocated to businesses on Main Street in Soda Springs, a public hearing on the Impact Zone, an Update on the Public Defender’s office, and other issues.
Dwight Lloyd—Weed Dept
Dwight Lloyd spoke to the commissioners about expanding the county shop building.
The addition for Kevin and Dwight’s stuff was presented with a cost of over $325K. County Building Inspector Rowdy Larkins asked whether that represented a “whole barn style” or not. Commissioner Bryce Somsen told Lloyd to meet with Larkins to talk about what might be possible. Attorney Doug Wood said that it would need to be put out for bid at the amount, even with capital outlay used.
The bids will need to be advertised and posted. The new building would replace the existing trailer.
This would create place to store expensive equipment in order to keep it as well-maintained as possible.
A traffic study determined that there was not enough traffic at the area of the county shed to warrant the implementation of a turn lane.
Kevin McClain—Road and Bridge
“Mainly it’s a wish list,” McClain started. He discussed the need for a new vehicle, explaining that while he had a problem going through the port with equipment before, the trailer they have has a lot of stress fractures, especially on the beaver tail element. There is one at Diesel Depot that would work as a replacement for $121,700. The existing trailer still has value for hauling locally, but the port does not want to see it go through again, as it needs welding repair.
The road grader is still on the way. The county has the option to lease it, or lease to buy.
McClain also noted that snowplows for the county were in need of replacement. One of the snowplows, which has had three transmissions, might need engine repair. The chassis was cited at over $150K, with a total of over $250K for the vehicle. A proposal was made to purchase two trucks and keep one for reserve, though McClain said they could probably get by with one if they had to. The commissioners asked for a firm bid, which would ideally include the trade value of the current truck. The issue will be discussed at the next meeting.
The BLM required an extension on the lease for land at the center pit on the govt dam road.
Out of the materials discussion, a motion to approve a Road grader and trailer was made, with buyback option and trade $323K. Trailer from Diesel Depot 2025 XF110 Low Boy trailer for $121,700. Both were approved.
McClain reported that there were quite a few job applications for 2 positions within the department. The positions are a mechanic and a general worker for the department. There were some applicants that were interested in both. McClain would like to hire one of the mechanics first.
Rowdy Larkins
Larkins once again discussed change orders for the Event Center project, including bringing current elevations up to finish footing work so they can bring in material, with county providing fill.
Chairman Mathews questioned the fact that the fill should have been part of the original bid.
The commissioners discussed various ways to save costs on the change order issues, and the project elements.
Some of the changes came through discussion with the Extension office, who pointed out some changes that needed to be made in order to make the space functional for them.
“Building is coming along. Got some framing going up. It puts the size in perspective,” Larkins said.
Helen Barker—PZ
“I just wanted to talk Parks and Rec this morning.” Regarding the RV park, JUB might be contracted for a landscape architect, at $5K for the cost. “Especially where it’s right there at the entrance to our community, it would be nice to have it be good looking, etc.”
A Bid from Craig’s Backhoe regarding porta potties was discussed. “I don’t think it will be much more than we were paying prior, and we will be paying for service, and it will be a good service.” All of the toilets are tagged and tracked on the computer system as far as service/maintenance. “What we try to do it keep it clean,” a representative said. “The toilets I have are quite an upgrade from the ones you have.” A cost of $125 an hour for using the equipment to empty the toilets was cited.
Angie Mendenhall--Assessor
Assessor Mendenhall spoke to the commission about the Idaho Power assessment changes, which involve refunds to Idaho Power from the county as the result of a settlement, at a total of $12,951.17 which includes interest. The county owes those funds to IP as a result of the value being reassessed. Mendenhall recommended just paying the amount and getting it over with, rather than trying to levy it. The best source was the commissioner contingency fund, according to Clerk Jill Stoor.
Move to pay this credit out of PILT was approved.
Aaron Cook
Cook spoke to the commissioners about an error that was discovered from two years ago. There was a parcel that had been paying city of Grace taxes when it shouldn’t have been. The difference that the resident overpaid was $5600 and $389.27. The resident does not get a tax bill, and had not noticed that the taxes were being directed to a place they shouldn’t have been. The money has already been collected in escrow. The easiest solution was determined to be to have the county issue a check for the difference as a refund.
The commissioners voted to issue a check for $5,989.64 on a W99, which is non-taxed.
Dave Martinez
A significant budget change for Public Defense resulted from legislative action during the last session. The Whole State Public defender’s office had been operating on a budget from 2021, which included COVID. The budget has been increased for this year, as proposed by the governor. “We’ve made the transition smoother in the Sixth District, mostly because the attorneys working in this area are outstanding,” Dave Martinez, representing the office said.
“We had 13K cases dumped on us right after we took over. Now we’re traveling all over. We will start to right our ship. One of the concerns was that district managers didn’t have enough time to manage…but In Caribou County we’re doing it right. We’re working on trying to streamline the process.”
Clerk Jill Stoor noted “It looks like Boise is taking that over and not letting the districts handle the case assignment.” “We would like to see it more local.”
“So would I,” Martinez said.
Molly Besaris
Molly from SEICAA spoke to the commission about the GEM grant which will be used to defray costs to main street businesses. In the recent City Council meeting, the City suggested that the county GEM grant would be used to that end. Each individual would end up with $1K off their bill from the city.
Commissioner Somsen said that the County could pay the entire $18k. It was on record that the intent was to help the other property owners. Could they bill the county a total of 3$0K or so for the county costs plus the $1K per business?
Wood said that he couldn’t be sure how the audit would work, but he thought they would be ok. Molly wrote two GEM grants—one for county and one for city. The city one was denied, but the county one was approved.
Clerk Stoor stated that she will work with City Clerk Andrea Haderlie on the wording, but that the county funds needed to be earmarked for the businesses. “The grant was to assist the city, the county was helping with infrastructure, so it has to go to them.”
Cody Brower
Cody Brower spoke to the commission about county property in Grace.
Brower owns property in Grace, which is potentially also listed in the county’s inventory. The property description from the 1922 does not include survey marks. In 1932, Bannock county deeded their portion of the property to a Satterfield, at which point the properties come into conflict with one another. The property is on North Mingo. The GIS follows the canal, more or less.
Brower thinks that the property was improperly deeded at one point.
The property was taken for tax deed in 1942—Satterfield lost the property that way.
Brower wondered if the county would be willing to put the prop up for bid. Commissioner Somsen would like to run the issue through the title company first.
The issue will be on the agenda for the next meeting.
Kevin Smith, spoke in front of the commission about how he felt that the appraised value of the property was too high. Smith owns the neighboring land. It has been taxed in the past as dry graze/pasture. He feels it should be re-appraised.
Pipeline
Jacob from Lower Valley energy spoke to the commission about a pipeline. They are looking to install a 10-12 inch poly line from Montpelier that may go through Caribou County. A county road permit has been submitted. This project has been going on for about 9 years, with environmental groups filing lawsuits to prevent it.
The county gave a greenlight to the project.
Attorney Doug Wood
Doug spoke on behalf of DYW, and requested funds for the program. The last two years, the county has given $1000. The county approved a motion to donate $1K to the DYW program from the Commissioners contingency fund.
Angie Mendenhall has served on the Board of Guardians. Wood needs direction as to where to take those kinds of costs from. Mendnehall suggested setting up a line item for the Board. Wood’s budget can cover it this year, but going forward, a more complete solution was sought.
