The Board of County Commissioners assigned the department heads to report on their 2023.  As a result of the fact that the county’s budget is on a fiscal year cycle from October to September, some of the details relate specifically to that timeframe, rather than the calendar year.  Language in the reports has been left as originally sent, with some minor changes for clarification.

Board of County Commissions

ELEVATOR PROJECT

To enhance the opportunity for all citizens to conduct County business within the Oneida County courthouse a ramp and elevator have been installed. This elevator gives access to all three levels of the court house without using stairs.

Counters are currently being installed in county offices to comply with ADA requirements.

ANNEX

The County Annex was experiencing weather damage on its exterior, so it's getting a complete face lift with new fascia and exterior siding being installed.

LANDFILL IDAWY SOLID WASTE DISTRICT who runs our landfill is working hard to fulfill our current landfill requirements as we move toward a regional landfill.

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY

With the departure of Cody Bower to serve as a District Judge, the prosecuting attorney from Franklin County acted as Oneida County Prosecuting Attorney through December 2023 to finish out the year. The Commissioners interviewed three attorney's with law firms outside our county and hired Fuller and Fuller from Preston Idaho.  From Fuller and Fuller, Lyle Fuller will handle our Civil needs and Ethan Rawlings will handle the Prosecuting needs.

BACK UP GENERATOR FOR THE EVENT CENTER

With the assistance of Emergency Management Grant funds Oneida County is working toward

installing a back up generator for the Event Center at the Fair Grounds. In case of a power outage or

disaster this will be a location within Oneida County that could house many of our citizens.

VETERANS SERVICE OFFICER

We salute Gene Caldwell who has served Oneida County as our Veterans Service officer for many years Gene kept track of veterans and provided information about their benefits, set up veterans

military rites for their funerals, ordered grave site military markers, and organized the Veterans Service

Program at the cemetery on Memorial Day. Thank you Gene.

With Gene’s retirement, we welcome Bob Stokes as the new Veterans Service officer.

Clerk’s office, Lon Colton County Clerk

The county finished the year in sound financial position with a small reserve going into 2024 in the event a disaster should strike. Searle Hart and Associates, our outside financial auditor, gave us a “clean” audit rating again this year. A rating we have achieved for many years thanks to my clerks and past elected clerks. 

With time comes change and unfortunately, we said goodbye to Lola Bott. After 13 plus years of dedicated service she made the decision to move on to other opportunities and I wish her well. To keep things running smoothly we welcome into the clerk/auditor office, Shanci Dorius and Mandi Armstrong. A restructure of duties and assignments has been made as they learn the day to day duties in the office and cross train on financial processes over the next several months. 

The elections department, led by Natalie Murphy, held three elections in 2023. In March we held a general obligation bond election for school district #351 where 1465 voters came out to vote giving us a 51.6% participation. Joint Cassia school District #151 in Juniper participated in a plant facility levy election. Of the 21 registered voters in Oneida County, 11 responded giving us a 52.4% average participation. The city of Malad held a city council election in November. This election had an average participation of 22.9% with 299 voters of the 1305 eligible voters participating. Looking to the future we find ourselves preparing for a busy election year with a primary election in May and the general election in November. We anticipate a lot of interest in our local, state, and federal races in 2024 and welcome any questions you may have regarding the election process or any other process that is handled in the clerk’s office. I anticipate a voter participation of 80% or better for both of elections so come out and vote.

My court clerks, under the direction of my chief deputy Diane Skidmore, continue to serve the public in a professional manner. They have spent many hours this past year, digitizing old records while maintaining new cases that come through the justice system. Their diligence in keeping accurate records is vital and much appreciated.

2023 was filled with many great events, most notable the completion of the elevator on the east side of the court house. This addition, made possible due to the America Rescue Plan Act initiated by the Federal government, allows citizens the ability to access the Sheriff’s office and driver’s license department on the bottom floor and gives access to the courts on the upper floor of our historic building. Local Area and Tribal Consistence Fund also call LATCF funding was also awarded to counties across the nation. This money has been used by the commissioners to initiate improvements in many county facilities. Some of these improvements include a new filter system at the swimming pool, new lighting system in the parking area of the event center, a land purchase adjacent to the fairgrounds for future expansion, backup generator for the road and bridge maintenance shop and extrication tools for the ambulance department. Other projects in the works include new ADA counters in the various offices and a remodel of the court room and court clerk’s reception window. 

I appreciate the diligence of our commissioners and their forward-thinking actions to keep our county healthy and our facilities updated as we move into the future. 

To all my clerks, both in the courts and in the auditor/recorder office, I would like to say thank you. They are the reason that my office runs as smoothly as it does. And I would be remiss if I did not give a huge shout-out to the great poll workers that come out each election giving us the opportunity to cast our ballot. Their efforts should never be taken lightly. 

Thank you for allowing us to serve you and for your support and suggestions that improve the county.

Office of Emergency 

management 

Director Dan Williams

The office completed the All-Hazard Mitigation Plan for Oneida County.  This plan was completed with a special grant from FEMA for the amount of $21,435.  There are copies of the plan online or in leaflet binders at the Emergency Service Office located at the Fire Station.

During the months of February and March we held weekly Ham Radio classes at the Fire Station for those interested in obtaining Ham radio licenses.

In the spring, we had significant flooding due to the high snowpack.  We had to acquire additional sandbags.  These sandbags and sand were provided at the Fire Station free of charge for anyone needing them.  Three of our reservoirs were filled to capacity and going over their spillways.  A special meeting was held with members of the water resource board for the state of Idaho, the Army Corps of Engineers, Oneida County and City officials, State, County, and City crews, and members of irrigation boards for each reservoir.  There was considerable concern that the culverts crossing roads and going through the city would exceed their capacity, so we continued to monitor these culverts and reservoirs until the threat was passed.  Approximately 6,000 sandbags were used this year.

On October 19, we held an exercise with the local Ham radio club at the Search and Rescue Building in conjunction with the Idaho Great Shakeout.  Communication was tested for our area and neighboring states.

I attended an emergency manager workshop in Pocatello, and also attended the Idaho Office of Emergency Management workshop for Cybersecurity in Boise for a week in October.  We are currently working on grant money available to purchase radios for the Sheriff’s Office and a generator for the County Event Center.

Oneida County Sheriffs Office

The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office continues to be busy with the many services and criminal cases that we receive heading into 2024.  

The Office received 3,824 911 Calls in 2023, which averages 74 calls a week.  The office received 33,267 Service and Investigative calls, which averages 640 a week.

We are currently staffed with 4 full-time dispatchers.  Our newest hire in Joe Gregory.  We have 2 part-time dispatchers; our newest hire is Holly Kelley.

We are currently hiring part-time dispatchers.

The number of civil documents prepared and researched was more than 828.  The number of documents served in and out of the state was more than 276.

We are currently staffed with 1 full-time civil deputy.  We have 1 part-time driver license examiner.  Our newest hire is Rachel Hawkes.

The Deputies provided the following numbers: 955 traffic citations; 112 misdemeanor citations; 1943 investigations; 715 criminal cases filed.  A total of 18% of cases were dismissed by the prosecutor and court.

We currently have 7 full-time deputies.  Our newest hires are Carlos Sauyun and Luke Zitting.  They will begin Post training in January.  We have 4 Reserve Deputies.  Our newest hire is Mat Donnan.

We are currently hiring 1 full-time deputy and reserve deputies. 

Oneida County Extension Office, Sawyer Fonnesbeck, Kelly Sorensen, Lacey Clark

2023 was a great year for the University of Idaho Extension office for Oneida County. Our 4-H coordinator, Sherry Moeller, retired after over 20 years of dedicated service. Lacey Clark was hired to fill that position and has been doing a great job maintaining and building up our local 4-H youth program. Numerous Extension classes/events were held in 2023 with topics including: irrigation management, proper care and feeding of livestock, grasshopper and Mormon Cricket control, Freezer meal preparation, Beef School, Farm/Ranch Succession Planning, tree pruning and grafting, Cereal Grain School, Pasture management, and Elementary School Ag Day. 

The youth of Oneida County were also provided many opportunities to learn a variety of skills within the 4-H Program. At our annual livestock day camp, over 100 youth from our county participated! Livestock projects at our fair were also a success with 83 sheep, 27 hogs, and 14 steers. Miscellaneous 4-H projects entered into the fair also increased and the quality was something to be proud of. The enrollment of horse 4-H also increased with the Working Ranch section being offered as an opportunity again. 

One of the highlights for this year was the amount of grant funding that our 4-H program applied for and received. Over the last 18 months or so the program has received nearly $25,000 to purchase supplies to be used by the Extension office and associated 4-H clubs. Numerous Oneida County 4-H project groups benefited from this grant funding, including: horse club, cooking/baking clubs, all the species of our livestock clubs, art and other STEM projects, dog club, Clover-bud club, leather club, and the sewing club. This 4-H year (Oct 2022- Sept 2023), with this additional support for our program, 4-H enrollment increased to 234 4-H youth and 40 volunteer leaders.

Looking ahead to 2024 we are excited about the events and opportunities that will take place. The Extension office is in the process of planning more classes related to cooking and home health. Additional livestock seminars and classes will also be provided. Our 4-H program is looking to expand the number of opportunities provided to our youth in all areas of 4-H programing.  

Oneida County R&B – 2023 Fiscal Year Accomplishments

Oneida County Road & Bridge’s fiscal year 2023 year began with a very busy 2022-2023 winter.  With 9-foot banks in many areas of the county, it was determined that to keep roads open for travel there was a need for a rotary.  A rotary was located, purchased, and kept busy being moved around to various areas within the county.  

As soon as the snow season ended, blades were changed over, 240 miles of road were bladed, and 85.24 miles were dustguarded.  

The road crew then moved into preparing roads for chip sealing.  265 Tons of asphalt patch material was put down, 23.64 miles were chip sealed and 4.2 miles of road in the “Narrows” of Old Hwy 37 was fog sealed to fill any voids that may have been found in the recent chip seal done over the new asphalt mat. 

A 3” mat was placed on 500 South between 5400 West and 5800 West using the Franklin/Oneida shared laydown machine.  

A lift of gravel was placed on sections of North Canyon, Secret Canyon, Old Canyon and Monson Canyon.

A low-water crossing was installed in Pocatello Valley.  Two culverts were replaced on Depot Road and one on 500 South, Old Hwy 191, Samaria, Stone and 4700 West.  Along with the installation of new culverts, many were cleaned out and exploratory work was started on a major culvert replacement project on N. Old Hwy 191.

Work began on the awarded $770,000 Safety Grant received for center-line rumble strips and the $100,000 LHRIP grant to repair the Woodruff Bridge.  Many hours have been spent by the County Road crew doing data collection such as road rating, culvert location, signs, and traffic counts for the $30,000 grant received for their Transportation Plan update.  All these projects are in the works and should be completed within the next several years.

It has been a very busy year, but many things have been accomplished and we hope that the coming year will be as successful.

Assessor’s Office/DMV

Between all of the sales and the new homes being built, the Assessor’s office has been extra busy the last few years.  We put 35 new homes on the roll in 2022, and 46 new homes on in 2023. We have had some really great people move in to our county, and it has been fun getting to know them through our office.  We are also going digital.  We will no longer have paper property packets and are no longer going to be updating our regular plat maps.  They have been well used, but are falling apart.

You might have noticed some changes in the pricing of your Motor Vehicle registrations.  The state has made it very convenient to go online to do your registrations.  With that being said, we are not bringing as much money in to the county to pay for the employees.  For that reason, the Administration fee has increased for in-office transactions.  The title fee has also increased.  Our share of that fee has not been increased in 30 years. Those two fee increases help us to cover the cost of employees so that the property tax dollars are not spent on a state-run program.

Probation Office, Gabe Jimenez

It is widely agreed that the first probation officer or “Father of Probation” was John Augustus who was a resident in Boston and established business owner. The story goes that Mr. Augustus went to court to bail out a known  alcoholic “The first probationer” user in 1841. Mr. Augustus was able to convince the judge to place the drunkard in his care until his next court date three weeks later. Mr. Augustus returned to court with his sober ward and to the amazement of all in the court room the alcohol users’ demeanor and appearance had changed.   Soon after, Mr. Augustus began his18-year voluntary probation officer career. 

Here in Oneida County, we serve all the citizens of our county. Our probation officers are responsible for holding individuals accountable while simultaneously providing them support and tools to help them succeed. 

Treasurer’s Office, Leigh Love

Oneida County we “BANKED” 2023 in the Treasurer’s Office!

My office has been busy investing funds in the Local Government Investment Pool, Bonds, Certificate of Deposits, and accounts at banking institutions, and we have collected $229,369.93 in interest.

When I took office, it was my goal to at least cover my office expenses, including wages, and we have surpassed this amount and almost doubled it. Our investments for 2024 are looking like we are going to have a great year ahead.

We have collected $2,208,251.39 for the first half of 2023 tax year. Outstanding taxes for 2023 first half are $138,188.56, outstanding taxes for 2022 are $72,134.03, and outstanding taxes for 2021 are $23,926.31. The total outstanding is $234,248.90. It is our wish to have all taxes collected and current; however, the total outstanding for Oneida County is impressive. We also are please to announce that there will be no tax deed sales this year. I would like those who are delinquent to know my office is willing to help set up payment plans, and will accept payments daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Really, I will accept payments however it is convenient for you. Also, if you would like to prepay your estimated taxes early, you are welcome to do so.

Oneida County Planning and Zoning 2023 year in review, Rhonda Neal

Oneida County Planning and Zoning had a very busy year!  With thirty-nine conceptual plans presented to the PZ staff and seven public hearings.  Each concept plan requires a review for completeness and then sent to other agencies for comments.  This action starts the application process in motion.  Seven of the thirty-nine concept plans were complete enough to be set for public hearing.  The Oneida County Planning Zoning Commission is comprised of 7 members of the community that have resided in Oneida County for two years prior to serving on the commission.   The PZ Commission are not compensated for their time.  The PZ Commission is another example of why Oneida County is a great place to live.  Happy New Year!  We look forward to assisting you.  

Building Inspector, Tory 

Richardson

In 2023, there were 105 building permits issued in Oneida County. The permits issued were for five commercial buildings, 61 outbuildings, 25 single family dwellings, 0 multi-residential buildings and 14 miscellaneous permits. The number of permits in 2023 slightly decreased from the 113 permits issued in 2022. The trend for single family dwellings in 2024 could possibly increase due to the drop interest rates. The number of outbuildings has continued to increase over the last two years.

Senior Center, President Dave Colton

 During 2023, the senior center served 4,788 in house meals and 2,633 home delivered meals. In connection with our home delivered meals, our drivers check on the well-being of homebound patrons. The senior center offers exercise classes on Wednesday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 11::15 a.m. The senior center held game days on Thurday afternoons for anyone that wanted to join. 

Throughout the year we have talented people come and share their talents with us; whether it be playing the piano or other musical instrument, singing, or telling stories. The second Wednesday of every month we celebrate all that month’s birthdays with cake and ice cream and singing songs. We rent the building out to anyone needing a place for receptions, bridal or baby showers, meetings, etc.

Our center is the meeting place for Quilt Club every second Thursday of the month. The center is also home for the Lions Club of Malad City, the oldest Lions Club in Idaho.

The center has sponsored ATV trail rides for any of our patrons that wanted to enjoy the outdoors. WE have participated in the 4th of July parade on ATVs, bikes, scooters, etc.