300 N 5400 W Road

As part of the ongoing discussion about the road from 5400 to 5800 on 300 N, Dianna Dredge spoke to the commission about the decision regarding the road’s status.  County Attorney Cody Brower explained that in order to vacate the road from the county’s inventory, a public hearing would be necessary.  The concern on the part of those who would like to have the road vacated is safety.  The hill at the bottom of the road is said to obstruct vision, which makes vehicles more difficult to see.  The condition of the road was also noted as being a cause for concern.  Dredge explained that fully repairing and widening the road will be a longer term project, but some steps can be taken in the meantime to improve safety.

Senior Center 

budget request

The commission was approached by Dave Colton, representing the senior center, about the current budget.  Funds for the senior center meal programs have been reduced by the state, which has severely impacted the local funds available.  The state legislative representatives have pledged to try to restore funding at the state level, but will not be able to tackle the issue until the next legislative session.  The senior center provides a wide array of services to seniors in the community, including classes, activities, and other essential outreach.  The center requested an additional $5K from the commission, in addition to the amount conventionally outlaid to the center.  According to Colton, the $5K should help the center make it to the end of the year.  

TV Translator district exemption request

Dave Colton also raised the issue of the TV translator district.  Because Colton is unable to receive a TV signal due to the location of his property, he requested an exemption for the $30/year TV Translator district fee.  A motion to exempt Colton from the TV Translator district fee was made and approved.  Cody Brower suggested that exemptions to the fee should be narrowly limited to those who are unable to receive signals from the county’s repeaters.  

Grant Acceptance

The commission was asked to approve a resolution to allow the airport to accept a grant to cover sealcoat costs from the ITD for just over $127,000.  Resolution 2023-06-01 was approved and signed.  

Financial audit papers

The recently presented county audit from Searle, Hart and Associates was accepted and signed.  

Election ware 

computer contract

Lon Colton spoke to the commission about a software update for the election software used by the county.  The software provider will install the updates and upgrades, using funds from the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) and/or the election budget from the county.  This will also cover additional training to be held in Cassia County.  $5,485 was approved for the upgrade to the system.

SRS Payment 

election

Secure Rural Schools requires an election statement on the direction of the funds on the part of the county, who felt that at present they did not have enough information to proceed.  County roads and bridges divide the funds with schools, based on the proportion that the county determines.  

Discussion—weed spraying with drone

The commission discussed the potential of spraying for weeds with a drone device.  According to information provided at a recent meeting of county governments, several counties, including Bannock and Fremont, are currently using drones to apply weed abatement chemicals.  The initial costs for a drone capable of performing the job would be rather high, but eventually would be offset by savings in efficient application of chemicals and wages for conventional employee application.  There are also some areas of the county that present terrain challenges for employees that could be more safely and easily accessed by a drone.  

In the course of the discussion, it was noted that observing the operation of drones in other counties would be an important step before formulating any decisions.  It was also noted that the drone might also be able to serve other useful functions within the county, such as disaster reconnaissance and other activities.

Event Center 

rental

The county has been working on policies related to the rental and use of the Event Center.  Specifically, the issue of renting the center to entities which were either non-profits or connected to the county was raised.  Currently, those entities are not charged for Event Center rental.  Chairman Lewis suggested that a more equitable situation across the board would be to apply a 50% fee to those events which are fundraising in nature.  Commissioner Jeppsen suggested that the because the events were raising money that also might be requested later from the county, the cost should continue to be waived.  The subject of cleaning fees was discussed as well.  Commissioner Eliason also felt that the fees should be waived for qualifying county and non-profit entities.  

A $250 cleaning deposit was agreed upon for all groups, regardless of status.  The idea of formalizing a checklist for cleaning the facility after events was discussed as a way to clarify expectations for cleanliness.

Chairman Lewis related a recent incident in which the drain in the mop room had been clogged by grease dumped into the cleaning room drain, which resulted in a $750 service call to remedy.   

Department budget request

Sheriff Arne Jones spoke to the commission about his upcoming budget.  The sheriff requested additional county funds to assist with the maintenance and replacement costs for county vehicles.  Some of the older vehicles are beginning to require windshield replacements and other ongoing maintenance costs.  The idea is to build those costs into the budget so they do not need to come out of contingency funds.  A new budget line for computer licensing costs is now a part of the budget to keep Microsoft suites current, which comes to about $1500.  A seven county SWAT team, composed of Oneida, Bannock, Bingham, Fremont, Bear Lake, Power, and Franklin is a budget outlay that provides access to a SWAT team for $2500/year.   The line items in the sheriff’s budget were discussed and explained to clarify the need and utility of the expenses, which were deemed to be largely in line with the commissioners’ expectations. Payroll issues were not discussed at this meeting. 

Road and Bridge

Dianna Dredge spoke to the commission about the Road and Bridge budget for the upcoming year.  As with all the departments during this request phase of the budget cycle, the proposed budget for the next fiscal year was discussed, as well as the expenses to date during the current budget cycle.  The standard expenses were more or less in line with those incurred in 2021 and 2022.  Fuel costs were anticipated to be higher in the upcoming year, based on the fluctuating fuel prices over the last year and the expectation that those might continue to rise overall.  Other costs related to fuel, such as tire replacement were also anticipated to be somewhat higher.  Some additional funding for maintenance of the office was requested.  A hydrant will be installed outside the R&B office.  Requests for increases in funding for crushed rock and gravel, as well as chipping were also included.  Costs for replacement signs were above average during this year, as several digital signs were stolen or vandalized.  The potential for placing cameras on the signs was discussed.  Dredge mentioned that some of the county’s older trucks needed to be phased out and replaced with newer, more reliable vehicles.  Although payroll itself was not discussed, Dredge did raise the potential need for an on staff mechanic to minimize repair and labor costs which are currently contracted out.  

Weed Department

Cody from the Weed Department also spoke to the commission about his department’s budget.  Some increases in funding for things like office supplies were requested, though also some reductions in the budget line for phones offset that.  The electricity cost was noted as having increased.  Like Road and Bridge, the Weed department requested an increase in the tire budget to account for the general increase in tire prices in general.  The Weed Department has a grant totaling $100K that needs to be used by the summer of 2025, so some discussion of how best to use those funds was had.  The need for an additional spray truck was raised.  The commissioners briefly discussed the potential for a drone chemical sprayer sometime down the road.