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minutes meeting date 2025-11-03 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 10599 characters · read by OCR, check numbers against the source · official file · plain text
Monday, November 3, 2025
Page 1 of 6
JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Monday, November 3, 2025
PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Commissioner Howell was absent.
Meeting convened at 9:01 am.
Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins stated that he attended the rotary meeting. He
attended the appeal hearing to help with the decision of the hearing. Then he attended the Tri-
County Weed board meeting.
Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch stated that he attended a legislative meeting for
the Idaho Association of Counties. During the meeting they went over all of the topics that they
are looking to focus on during the upcoming legislature. He also attended the appeal hearing
regarding the SWIP North power lines. Then he attended the rotary meeting. There was a
discussion there about the attendance from the principal at the school. Later he met with HR
regarding the employee handbook and some personnel matters.
Dishwasher Installation for Jail Kitchen
Brent Culbertson was present.
Brent stated that a dishwasher and two garbage disposals need replaced at the jail. The county
has all of the equipment but needs to pay for someone to install it. Brent stated that the
dishwasher keeps breaking and it is now obsolete. He can no longer buy the parts to replace what
breaks. The two garbage disposals are not functioning correctly, and the cost quoted to replace
them is equal to what the county would be paying in employee wages to replace it, so having a
company replace both is the best option. He stated the total cost for all labor and parts to replace
the equipment is $3129.
Commissioner Crouch made a motion to approve expenditures of $3129 for the
cost to install a new dishwasher and two disposals to replace old, outdated
equipment. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a
unanimous vote.
GIS Monthly Report
Mark Reyes was present.
Mark presented his monthly report to commissioners. He stated that he recently attended a GIS
conference in Boise. He also flew over the equestrian site to take images of the area to be
developed. He also visited the offroad trail site at the canyon park and took pictures of that area
Monday, November 3, 2025
Page 2 of 6
as well. In the last month he worked on many in office projects, including updating maps and
surveys.
Personal Property Taxes Discussion
Abelardo Coronado, Mark Swenson, Nina Lagle, and Natalie Leon were present.
Abelardo attended the meeting via zoom. He stated that he purchased a home and forgot to file
for the homeowners’ tax exemption. He is asking the commissioners to allow him to be placed
on the homeowner’s exemption backdated to when he first purchased the home over a year ago.
Nina Lagle with the Treasurer’s office stated that the amount could be added onto his property as
a discount for next year’s taxes, and the total missed from not filing was $2171.15.
Commissioner Crouch made a motion to approve the homeowner’s exemption
with a credit of $2171.15 on taxes. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Energy Ordinance Discussion
Kacie Buhler, Ryan Christensen, Julie Arroyo, Jerry Holton, Aaron Menenberg, and Lyle
Johnstone were present.
Kacie presented a list of definitions for the commissioners review and discussion. They are
definitions used by other counties in their energy ordinances. After review and confirmation
from commissioners they can be added to Jerome Counties’ energy ordinance as well if
approved. She gave examples from Gooding, Lincoln, and Twin Falls Counties. Jerome County
could use these existing definitions or create their own. Definitions included terms like solar and
BESS systems. As well as the definitions of electric vehicles and prime farm ground.
Commissioner Crouch asked if the planning and zoning staff had recommendations on the
presented definitions, and Kacie stated that they would leave the recommending up to the
commissioners to provide. Commissioner Watkins stated that he would like more time to review
the presented definitions in order to make recommendations. Commissioner Watkins also asked
if there should be other terms defined that were not provided in the list. Including the definitions
of types of energy production like geothermal and wind. Kacie agreed there could be additional
definitions added.
Next Commissioner Crouch read aloud a draft of the proposed amendment to the County COMP
plan in regard to large scale energy plants. The plan was further discussed later in the afternoon.
Finally, Kacie asked the commissioners to provide her with the next directive her office should
pursue to continue working on the policy. Continued work on the definitions of terms was
discussed.
Meeting recessed at 11:49 am.
Meeting reconvened at 1:15 pm.
Monday, November 3, 2025
Page 3 of 6
Employee Work Hours Discussion
Kirsten Hartley was present.
The Board stated that they wanted to revisit Kirsten’s work week. The Board is working with HR
regarding everyone’s work week hours. The Board also wanted to discuss the potential of
moving to a four-day work week. Kirsten stated that she does a five-day work week currently.
When she did a four-day work week it helped her to get some extra things done, but that she
doesn’t really prefer one way or the other.
Idaho Surface Water Storage Support Letter
The Board received information that there is an interest into looking into potential expansions
and new project areas for surface water storage. There are no specific projects listed as of yet.
The Senators and Representatives for Idaho wanted to see if this is something that would be of
interest to groups in the Southern Idaho area. The Board drafted a letter to express the support of
expanding surface water storage in the area.
Commissioner Watkins moved to accept the letter for the Idaho surface water storage
support letter. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous
vote.
Administration Offices Building Security Printer Purchase
Matthew McGregor was present.
Matthew stated that brought in a quote for printers. He stated that the treasurers printer was
replaced with the old court clerks printer. The old printer is being leased through Great America
Financial Services. He has also been working with the new building security office regarding a
new printer.
Commissioner Watkins moved to keep the printer and let the new security use it with the
buy out of the machine in the amount of $1,305.33. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch.
The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Matthew also wanted to discuss the internet outage that took place on Friday. He stated that the
main fiber line for sparklight was hit and led to a large outage. This led to some other issues with
the internet being moved over. There were issues with the payroll portal and the election
software. He stated that they were able to fix the issue with the election software and that it
won’t be an issue going forward.
Monday, November 3, 2025
Page 4 of 6
Sign and Approve Claims
Commissioner Watkins moved to approve claims as presented by staff. Seconded by
Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
To see an image of the report please see page 6 of the minutes.
Indigent Matters
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the indigent claims as presented by staff.
Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Comp Plan Amendment Sponsorship to Add Energy Policy and Review
Kacie Buhler, Ryan Christensen, Julie DeWolfe Arroyo, Jerry Holton, and Lyle Johnstone were
present.
Kacie wanted to go over the reason for the section for the sponsorship for the comp plan
amendment. Under current ordinance there is a requirement to have at lease one member of the
Commissioners board sponsor it to continue forward in the process of updating the comp plan.
This will allow staff to continue to work to update any language in this section. Then the
language would be taken to public meetings and would start with the planning and zoning board.
Commissioner Crouch moved to support the amendment to the comp plan regarding
large-scale renewable energy projects. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion
passed with a unanimous vote.
The Board wanted to discuss whether there would be room for renewable energy projects to be
built in industrial areas. Kacie stated that they can go into this further and decide whether to
allow these projects in these regions. She stated that there is not a very large area in the county
that is zoned as industrial, but they could look into how to allow projects in those zones. The
Board stated that they may also like to see something about building on BLM land so close to
other areas, that they can work to prevent projects in those areas too. The Board also mentioned
having dairies included as part of ag in the comp plan.
Meeting adjourned at 3:06 pm.
Monday, November 3, 2025
Page 5 of 6
________________________
______________________________
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner
BUDGET TOTALS
DEPARTMENT
PAYROLL ACCT PAY
GRAND TOTAL
1|CLERK
aassessoR
TREASURER
UMAN RESOURCES
OMMISSIONERS
ORONER
11
m
XTENSION AGENT
ATA PROCESSING
LECTIONS
CHARITY
$ 70.40
ee ee
rs
$ 400.00
UILDING & GROUNDS MAINT. $ 870.59
MERGENCY MANAGEMENT $ 460.15
ee eee
$7,530.26
79.0]
$ 70.40
685.00
400.00
870.59
460.15
7,530.26
350.00
$ 115,500.00
GENERAL
PLANNING & ZONING
21
$115,500.00
$ 9,603.95
$ 9,603.95
<A
on
—
ho
22/GIS
$ 5.12
$ 1,870.62
$
$
1,870.62
VETERANS
ub Total eneral Fund
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52,7897
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$
22,976.64
7|/PROSECUTOR
$22,976.64
$ 940.61
940.61
207.92
$
$
PUBLIC DEFENDERS
UVENILE PROBATION
GENERAL JUSTICE
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$ 207.92
$ 211.63
$ = 10,204.73
211.63
10,204.73
$
$
AIRPOR
DISTRICT COURT
|_|
5
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|__|
|_3|
|_6|
ee eee
6077.09
Sub Total (Justice Fund) $ - $87,331.25 | $ 87,331.25
$ 6,077.09
£4) 69
7|FAIR -
9/CAPITAL FAIR -
11|HEALTH DISTRICT
15|ELECTION CONSOLIDATION
4
4A) 69) 64) -69
REVALUATION $ 282.25 282.25
SOLID WASTE -
2
27
29| AMBULANCE
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£69
Sub Total $ - $ 6,359.34 | $ 6,359.34
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$ = $ 231,036.68
$ 23
1,036.68
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