Gooding County | minutes | meeting 2026-04-20 | Regular Session of Board of County Commissioners source: https://www.goodingcounty.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04202026-879 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