Public hearing for Ben Naylor

Ben Naylor spoke to the commissioners about the scheduled public hearing for a variance.  Naylor wants to split off 5 acres from 35 for a residence and 9.2 for a church.  The request went through a minor subdivision process in August.  A water study was performed as part of the fulfillment of the request.  Two community meetings were held.  Naylor had been advised that the process could be handled with a one time split, due to the history of its division.  PZ had recommended denying the rezoning as not necessary.  A conditional use permit was sought.  PZ requested a letter stating that the rezone request had been dropped.  The conditional use public hearing was canceled and the application was considered incomplete.  Naylor felt that he would like to keep the option of the rezoning request open, and was interested in having the hearing scheduled.  Naylor requested an additional 60 days in an attempt to reschedule the original conditional rezoning request.  Rhonda Neal stated that the conditional use permit was still underway.

County Attorney Cody Brower advised that allowing for a continuance on the issue would most likely not be a problem.  Ben Naylor requested a 60 day delay, until December 18.  A motion to accept the proposed delay of the hearing for the rezone request was approved, contingent upon final recommendation of Cody Brower.

Boundary line agreement—Assessor’s Office

Kathleen Atkinson spoke to the commission about a boundary line agreement.  Property adjacent to the court house parking lot was under discussion.  A fence on the property was under consideration, and the neighbors requested a check of the deed’s boundaries.  It was discovered that the property had an incorrect legal description.  This resulted in a request for a new boundary line agreement.  The existence of a potential city road on the property was discussed.  The commissioners felt that if the property owner wished to pursue a survey, it would not assume any costs for the survey.  Chairman Lewis moved to support a boundary agreement with the property in question.

Sam Carter—Minor subdivision request

Rhonda Neal spoke to the commission a about a minor subdivision request from Sam Carter.  Neal reported that the Planning and Zoning Commission had given a positive recommendation for the request.  The request was determined to be within the scope of the Comprehensive Plan for the County.  The minor subdivision is within the residential zone of Holbrook.  No new streets or developments will be involved, other than two new driveways.  The commission approved the minor subdivision request.

Hess Pumice—Road agreement

Mike Hess, Jr. spoke to the Commission about the county’s road agreement with Hess Pumice.  In the spring, Hess was asked to take over a road within county boundaries.  The contract to take over the road was being finalized, but not quite completed yet.  

Idaho Public Communications Commission Grant award

Sheriff Arne Jones spoke to the Commission about the IPCG Grant applied for by the Sheriff’s Office.  The grant goes to pay service fees and maintenance on the 911 system.  The Office needed the commission’s approval to accept the grant for $44,461.11.  A motion to do so was passed.  

Sheriff’s policing policy renewal

Commissioners were required to sign the document approving the budget item related to the policing policy subscription.  The cost is associated with a policy manual specifically for law enforcement employees in addition to the county policy manual.  A motion to sign the policing policy manual subscription for $1,500 was passed.

Phone room 

security

The sheriff reported that the communication room in the basement of the courthouse had been accessible to construction workers and others over the past year.  The elevator construction in the courthouse requires access to internal communications and electrical systems.  The sheriff was concerned that changes made to the infrastructure during the process have had a negative effect on the efficiency of the communications system in the building.  The sheriff suggested placing some sort of security on access to sensitive areas, such as the comm room downstairs and the server room in the clerk’s office.  It was determined to provide a lock to each facility, with keys to be kept by a consistent person.  County Clerk Lon Colton suggested also creating a logbook to keep track of who has been inside each of the rooms.  

Security camera for hallway in courts

As a part of a future courtroom remodel, security cameras will be added in the hallway of the top floor.  The sheriff pointed out that the new layout of the courtroom will require an additional camera, which is already needed as traffic flow through the building has changed.  Tory Richardson will be consulted on the matter before it is approved.

Comp time for dispatch

The sheriff reported that 3 fulltime employees are averaging about 56 hours a week due to understaffing.  As a result, they are unable to use PTO.  The commission supported paying out comp time over 150 hours.  Lon Colton raised the issue that the pay out process for hours over 150 was not clearly laid out in the policy.  Commissioner Jeppsen suggested several approaches to how the pay outs might be handled, but the commission agreed as a whole that a written policy needed to be created.  A new fulltime dispatcher has been hired, and should be trained within a month or so, relieving the pressure on hours for the rest of the staff.  Commissioner Lewis felt that the matter needed more study before taking any action on the immediate concern in the sheriff’s office, and recommended having the issue placed on the agenda for the next commission meeting on October 9.  Several new deputies are in the process of being hired, though they will need to complete POST training after hiring.  Commissioner Jeppsen suggested that he planned to work on proposing a policy at the legislative level which would compensate counties whose officers had been hired away at the completion of their commitments.

Engineering firm selection for R&B Safety grant

Lisa Baker addressed the commission about engineering firms for the Safety grant applied for by the Road and Bridge department.  A study needs to be conducted to determine the county roads’ suitability for rumble strips.  Civil Science, Forsgren, Keller, and JUB will be asked to bid on the project.  

Court room 

remodel

Chairman Lewis discussed the planned courtroom remodeling project.  The courtroom needs to be made ADA compliant, which will involve moving some of the infrastructure within the courtroom, and some remodeling of the lobby area.  The project is estimated at $280,000 to $300,000.  Chairman Lewis motioned to set aside $330,000 as possible courtroom remodel expenses from the contingency fund.  The remodel has been under consideration for a number of months, and will make the courtroom ADA compliant.  The elevator will also satisfy ADA compliance for the building as a whole.

ICRMP Joint 

Powers

The commissioners needed to sign the insurance renewal policy with ICRMP.  Idaho County Risk Management Program.  A motion to sign the annual document was passed.    

Water and gravel from Forest 

Service land on 

county roadway

Lisa Baker discussed an issue with material on county roadways.  At the last meeting, the accumulation of gravel on the roadway near 2 mile was raised.  The water has been changed from its normal course at some point in the last twenty years.  

Another issue on the north end of old highway 191 with the altered course of a natural waterway was raised.  Baker suggested that she felt that the county should not have to assume the responsibility of dealing with issues created by the alteration of waterways on private land that affected county roads.

The commission recommended that the department draft a letter explaining and outlining the responsibilities and liability of waterway alteration, following consultation with the county attorney.

County Attorney

Cody Brower submitted a resignation letter, in conjunction with his accepting a judgeship in the sixth district.  The next steps as outlined in section 2 of the regulations regarding the position will involve the Republican Central Committee (due to Brower’s  declaration of party affiliation for election) will provide 3 names to the board, and interview the candidates.  The board will then interview the candidates and select one of them for the position.  

Commissioner Jeppsen asked Brower about the potential for sharing a Prosecuting Attorney with another county in the meantime while the transition was underway.  Attonrey Brower suggested that such a course was not a preferrable longterm arrangement, though if there were any delays in hiring a replacement, it should be possible to arrange for someone to temporarily manage cases until a fulltime replacement is named.  

Brower’s official last day will be after the first week in November.  

Chairman Lewis asked what the commission should do if they did not agree to hire any of the candidates.  At that point, the Central Committee would make the selection.  

A motion to give Chairman Lewis the authority to negotiate with the RCC and discuss the hiring process further was approved.

Vehicle insurance

The cost of replacing windshields under the current insurance policy was discussed.  It was hoped that some sort of exception to the deductible for windshields could be obtained.