Tax Exemption 

Request

The Property tax exempt status of the Oneida Crisis Center, the American Legion, and the Presbyterian Church were discussed.  The Crisis Center and American Legion’s requests were accepted.  The Presbyterian Church is requesting tax exemption for the house located on the property, which is currently rented out.  Cody Brower, after reviewing the relevant documents, believed that the property does not qualify for a tax exemption under the current statutes.  The issue at the heart of the matter is that the property is classified as a rental property, which is not covered under the primary designation.  The rental property has never been taxed in the past, as it has been inhabited by the pastor of the church.  Without that being the case, Attorney Brower’s legal reading was that the property does not qualify for the exemption.  Commissioner Jeppsen suggested that the community would likely support a fundraiser to cover the tax burden for the church’s rental property.  Brower suggested that the commission’s decision could be appealed to the district court.  The commission voted to extend the tax exemption to the church itself, but not to the rental property in observance of Idaho code. 

Road and Bridge

Dianna Dredge spoke to the commission about a number of issues related to the Road and Bridge department.  

Dredge reported that the number of hours required for snow removal during this especially heavy winter has led to more labor hours, fuel consumption, and expenses in tires and maintenance than were initially budgeted for the year.

The Commission approved the rental of $10,625 and transportation costs of $2,424 for a grader to be used for the remainder of the season.  A road maintenance agreement with Hess Pumice was also approved. 

All Hazard 

Mitigation

Dan Williams spoke to the commission about the All-Hazard mitigation Plan for the county.  The plan, contracted to Daiko Abe of Intermountain Solutions, has created a final plan for the county’s hazard mitigation plan.  The plan has been approved by FEMA, and after it is signed it will go into effect on April 19.  The plan is necessary for the county to qualify for federal disaster mitigation funds.  2023-04-01 is the number of the resolution the plan will take when approved.  The commission voted to accept the resolution to adopt the mitigation plan.

Dan Williams noted that the Fire station still had plenty of sandbags for anyone who may need them as the spring thaw continues.  Additional sand will be brought into town in the near future, though there is still sand available.  Dan suggested that Pumice materials might also be delivered to Holbrook in the near future.  Williams advised that an earthquake assessment team would be coming through town soon to evaluate buildings.

Swimming Pool

County Clerk Lon Colton spoke on behalf of the swimming pool managers regarding several issues related to the pool.  The swimming pool staff would like to switch to an online registration system for scheduling swimming pool lessons and events.  The subscription fee in total for the year was cited at just over $200.  The system should create a more efficient and manageable method for organizing the pool over the summer and through the offseason.  Commissioner Jeppsen offered some suggestions for other options for updating the county’s website.  The commissioners agreed with the need for such a system but decided to look into the options available before making a final decision.

Beer License 

Transfer

KJ’s has sold its property to another company.  The new ownership needs to have the beer license transferred into their possession before the renewal process later in the year.  The commission approved the transfer.

Election Precincts

Larry Oja spoke to the commission in his capacity as the Republican Committee liaison to the commission.  Oja requested that his statement and letter to the commission be recorded as part of the minutes of the meeting.  Lon Colton indicated that the minutes do not include full documents as part of the official record in general.  Oja had initially spoken to the commission as a result of the topic of precincts being put on the agenda for the previous commission meeting.  Oja suggested that any changes to the precinct makeup would be out of line without input from those affected parties.  The point of precincts is to facilitate access to voting.  Lon Colton indicated that there were no problems with voter access across the county.  Attorney Brower spoke to his reasoning for raising the topic.  Brower spoke first as an attorney with regard to the legal issues, and then as a private citizen.  He had drafted a memorandum on the topic, which has been circulated.  

Brower stated that under the law, the current precincts were neither inappropriate nor illegal.  Brower presented his argument for potential changes to the precinct arrangement.  Mail in precincts can only be established in areas without physical polling places, and less than 150 registered voters.  Brower argued, as a private citizen and not the county attorney, that the disparity in participation between the mail-in precincts (over 60%) and the in-person precincts (just over 30%) created a system with disparity.  His feeling was that the disproportionate percentage of voter participation in Holbrook and Curlew represented a disadvantage to rural voters in other precincts.  

Brower suggested realigning precincts to be more numerically consistent, establishing polling places in the western valley, if possible.  He also suggested that the central committee system governing precincts was also disproportionately advantageous to individuals in the smaller western valley precincts.  Because the 6 precinct chairs represent the county at the state legislature on behalf of the Republican party, two of the six represent around 200 people, while the other 4 represent over 2000.   

Larry Oja responded by expressing the idea that the smaller precincts selected to visit the legislature represented a unique and important voice, that served an important role in state government.  

Lon Colton spoke in his capacity as the election director.  He suggested that the precinct arrangement was entirely designed to facilitate election access, rather than any political motive.  Colton reiterated his belief that the burden on remote residents in the western valley to come into a polling place would be excessively high, and not worth the potential benefit to equalization.  

Commissioner Eliason commented that in his experience Holbrook and Stone have historically always had higher voting percentages, even before mail-in ballots.  He further suggested that in his conversations with people in the west valley, no one wanted to eliminate mail-in voting.  

Commissioner Jeppsen suggested perhaps increasing the number of precincts to further facilitate voting for people in, for instance, the Pocatello Valley area.  

One Time 

Expenses

$600K was set aside for one-time expenses from PILT funds.  LATCF funds provide a potential additional funding stream for county projects.  A motion to acknowledge that funds from this account, which became available after the original budget was passed, was approved.  $45,000 from the LATCF was designated for use on county projects.

Event Center 

Improvements

Tory Richardson spoke to the commission about several improvement projects for the Event Center.  A smaller bid for the construction of a fence around the generator has been received.  The commission discussed various possibilities moving forward for bidding out a generator.  It was determined to discuss the purchase of generators with other counties who may have recently acquired them.  Additional gravel for the parking lot and other projects were also discussed.  $2,010 for gravel was approved for five loads spread on the parking lot.  A private citizen donated funds to help support the cost.  An additional motion to approve up to $4,500 for gravel around the building was also approved.

Richardson also raised the issue of panic buttons for county buildings, as well as the rain gutters on the building, which have been affected by ice.  One candidate has so far applied for the Construction Manager position currently open with the county.

Capital for a Day

Malad City has been selected to be named “Capital for a Day” on April 27.  Representatives from the state, including Governor Brad Little, will be in town on that day for a variety of events.  During the morning, the governor will be at the Event Center to host invited guests, and at 1:15 p.m., the delegation will be meeting with the youth.  The commission approved a motion to provide up to $1200 to support the event.

Airport Fuel 

Agreement

Chairman Lewis asked for approval to sign the sales tax exemption certificate for airport fuel.  The motion was approved.

Part-time help with Weed Department

Part-time help is being sought for the weed department heading into the summer.  The rate will be $14/hr. for non-certified help, and $15/hr. for certified workers.