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Gooding County

Regular Session of Board of County Commissioners

minutes meeting date 2026-04-20 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 6049 characters · official file · plain text

REGULAR SESSION, APRIL 20, 2026
Commissioner Bolduc opened the meeting at 10:00 a.m. Commissioner Buhler, Commissioner Eames, Prosecuting Attorney 
Misseldine, Mike Elliott, Chad Hoeft and the acting County Clerk, Jackie Fuqua was present.
ASSESSOR BALDWIN- TAX CANCELLATION
Assessor Baldwin presented a tax cancellation for 2025 tax year due to an error on his office’s part. Commissioner Eames 
made a motion to approve the tax cancellation in the amount of $722.00 for parcel #RPW2000074001A. Commissioner Buhler
seconded the motion. Motion carried.
MINUTES
Commissioner Buhler moved to approve April 13, 2026, minutes.  Commissioner Eames seconded the motion.  Motion 
carried. 
Commissioner Bolduc recessed the regular session and opened the Ambulance District meeting at 10:06 a.m.
AMBULANCE DISTRICT
Director Kepler presented an estimate of costs to restock one of the old ambulances for fire deployments. Commissioner 
Eames noted the estimate was quite a bit lower than what they previously thought it might be. Director Kepler said Lincoln 
County was going to donate a stretcher, and Gooding Fire has one that they can reclaim if needed. The estimate consists of a 
used defibrillator monitor, but Director Kepler says it would be fine to use. The cost to restock the ambulance is not in the 
current budget, but the commissioners believe it will pay for itself this budget year. Commissioner Eames made a motion to 
approve the estimate for $27,750.00 to restock the ambulance for fire deployment. Commissioner Buhler seconded the motion.
Motion carried.
Commissioner Buhler asked Director Kepler why an ambulance crew was at the Republican candidate forum that was held in 
Wendell this past week. He said he didn’t know about it and agreed they should not be using the ambulance for anything other 
than active calls out.
Commissioner Bolduc adjourned the Ambulance District and reconvened the regular session at 10:22 a.m.
CORONER CURTIS- EXPLAIN WHAT A DROUGHT DECLARATION MEANS
Coroner Curtis explained what a drought declaration is. It is for farmers, and this makes the water rights easier to be 
transferred where needed. He said the water users contacted the State Idaho Department of Water Resources and they declared 
a state-wide drought. Since the state declared a drought, and it covers all 44 counties, there is no need for the Gooding County 
to declare even though some counties had already done so. The State Office of Emergency Management stated there’s nothing 
beneficial for the counties to declare once the state has. 
BOBBIE WYLIE- ENTERPRISE FLEET
Bobbie Wylie with Enterprise Fleet Management, gave a brief synopsis of the lease program agreement for six 2026 Ford 
F150’s pickups for the Sheriff’s office. The vehicles will be police packages equipped with upgraded brakes. The monthly 
lease payment will be around $2,000 per unit and half of the total cost as a downpayment. Commissioner Eames asked if we 
paid one time per year would there be savings and Bobbie said yes, in interest. Commissioner Eames made a motion to 
approve moving forward with the program for the six vehicles. Commissioner Buhler seconded the motion. Motion carried.
CORRESPONDENCE
There was no correspondence today.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Commissioner Bolduc reported that SIRCOMM will be giving 4% pay increases this year. He presented the CFS call totals for 
the FY2027 budget.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Commissioner Buhler moved to go into executive session pursuant IC§74-206(f) and to allow Mike Elliott to be present. 
Seconded by Commissioner Eames. Roll call vote: Eames-Yes, Buhler-Yes, Bolduc-Yes. The Board recessed the executive 
session at 11:30 a.m.
Commissioner Bolduc adjourned the meeting at 11:30 a.m. and reconvened at 1:30 p.m.
SCPHD- BUDGET PROPOSAL FOR FY2027
Logan Hudson, District Director with South Central Public Health Department, presented the FY2027 budget. They are giving 
a raise of a .50 cost of living plus a 2% merit raise. Overall, it would be an increase of $428 for Gooding County’s allocation 
from last year’s budget. Cody Orchard, a health education specialist on tobacco, vaping and mental health, spoke about the 
Narcan boxes that have been placed around with Opioid funds. Commissioner Buhler says he’s heard there is a lot of vaping in
the school bathrooms and wondered what is being done about it. Cody said some schools have installed vape detectors that 
send a signal to the principal, but the cost is expensive at around $1500.00 per unit. If a student is caught vaping, they offer a 
vaping class and if they refuse, they are fined. Cody suggests giving Opioid funds to Juvenile Probation to use for testing and 
education. Tanis Maxwell, Family and Children’s Health Division Manager, say they offer immunization programs once per 
week. They also offer home visitation for early child development and there are currently five families participating in 
Gooding County. Josh Jensen, Environmental Health Director, gave a shout out to Gooding County Planning and Zoning staff 
for always being good to work with and easy to collaborate with. There is one active case against a resident in the county, and 
there should be resolution by May 1, 2026. He works with farmers’ markets with guidelines for food protection. The City of 
Gooding has a contract with SCPHD to inspect and regulate the public swimming pool. He discussed legislative bills of 
consequence, such as SB1283, dealing with cottage foods, HB555 for solid waste and SB1222 concerning domestic wells. 
SCPHD’s budget committee will hold their public hearing regarding the FY2027 budget on May 20, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. and all 
are welcome to attend.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.

Commissioner Bolduc adjourned the meeting at 2:05 p.m.
/s/Mark E. Bolduc ________________      /s/Vern Eames____________           /s/Ron Buhler______________
Mark E. Bolduc, Chairman                         Vern Eames, Commissioner               Ronald Buhler, Commissioner
Attest:/s/Jackie Fuqua
Jackie Fuqua, acting County Clerk

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