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Commissioners Meeting

minutes meeting date 2026-08-03 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 11839 characters · read by OCR, check numbers against the source · official file · plain text

Monday, August 3, 2026
Page 1 of 6
JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Monday, August 3, 2026
PRESENT: Charles Howell, Vice Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Commissioner Crouch was absent.
Meeting convened at 9:00 am.
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins reported that he attended the rotary meeting.
The presentation was on health issues. Then he attended the South Central Community Action
Partnership annual board meeting.
Commissioner Howell – Commissioner Howell reported that he had a call come in from Roth
Dairy about having their employees be involved in the community. Then he attended the Mid
Snake River water resource meeting. There was a presentation from the Burley water district, on
the history of water spring levels, for the Burley district. He also attended the Southern Idaho
Solid Waste meeting. He also worked with Kirsten Hartley to work on helping schedule
counseling after the shooting on Saturday.
Final Budget Walkthrough
Staff present: Cy Lootens and Tracee McKim
Tracee wanted to discuss the upcoming raises and what percent would be put towards cost of
living and what percent may be put towards merit. Cy stated that there are a few departments that
want to ensure that there is a part of the raise that is merit based. The Board decided to have two
percent be for cost of living and the other two percent for merit. The merit raise can be
distributed by supervisors or elected officials based on evaluations. Tracee also wanted to go
over the HSA plans and how much the county would be adding into those accounts. She
suggested that there could be $100 put into accounts for each employee per month if they go
with the HSA option. She stated that there were some other budget adjustments made to the
Sheriff’s section of the budget. The changes were due to not having promotions included and up
to date on current wages.
Fair Budget Discussion
Staff present: Amanda Worthington, Cy Lootens, and Tracee McKim
Amanda stated that she wanted to go oversome sections of the budget and asked to go into
executive session as this would also pertain to personnel issues.

Monday, August 3, 2026
Page 2 of 6
Commissioner Howell moved to go into executive session per Idaho Code 74-
206(1)(b) for personnel. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion
passed with a unanimous roll call vote.
Executive session started at 9:45 am and ended at 9:58 am.
Amanda noticed some errors in her budget worksheet after submitting her proposed budget and
wanted to have the Clerk’s office look it over before the budget is finalized in the afternoon.
Tracee stated she will investigate possible issues and have updates before the tentative budget is
signed.
Extension Office Monthly Report
Staff present: Steve Hines
Steve gave a report on the extension office. He wanted to discuss some issues that are coming up
regarding late submissions for 4H projects. He attended several meetings during the previous
month. He has also been working on several things to help get ready for the fair. Then he sent in
a grant request regarding cover crops. The other members of his office attended meetings as
well. There were events held for kids regarding nutrition and trying new fruits. His employees
also held several cooking events for local 4H kids.
GIS Monthly Report
Staff present: Mark Reyes
Mark gave a report on the GIS department. He has been working on updating the parcel maps
and parcel data. He met with 05 Customs to discuss the signs for the overlook park. There were
several public requests for information on maps or surveys. Later he attended a conference to
learn more about the software he uses for the GIS department. Then he started to work on
relabeling the plats that have been scanned in previously. He wanted to discuss the vehicle that
he has and if he can get a car wash subscription. There are also some items on the truck that need
to be serviced so he wanted to check if the Board is ok with him proceeding on the work for the
truck. The Board stated that they would be ok with Mark going forward with the repairs or work
that needs done.
Jerome City Fire District Budget Request
Staff present: Tracee McKim and Cy Lootens
Public present: Mike Harrison and Lane Sickles
Mike stated that he has prepared a report on the calls over the last few years. He stated that the
calls for the last two years may be skewed since his software is not great. They are getting ready
to move to a new software. He is also getting ready to place a new fire station in town and is
working to see where the best place would be. There are some issues with some of their engines,
and they are looking to replace one during the upcoming fiscal year. He stated that he is asking
to have the same amount provided to the fire district from the county as last year.

Monday, August 3, 2026
Page 3 of 6
Rock Creek Fire District Budget Request
Staff present: Ryan Treanor, Cy Lootens, and Tracee McKim
Ryan stated that Aaron Zent from the Rock Creek Fire District was out of town and was unable
to meet in person for their time. Aaron sent an email to Ryan with a description of the amount
they are looking to request. He read: “Our call volume continues to be steady in Jerome
County. We are good with continuing our services at the same rate as the past year. I think that
we have been receiving $60,000 from Jerome County for QRU. Please pass on our sincere
appreciation for the Commissioners' support.”
Meeting recessed at 11:27 am.
Department Head Luncheon
Staff present: Tracee McKim, Cy Lootens, Mario Umana, Mark Reyes, Matthew McGregor,
Mark Swenson, Gary Taylor, Sam Beus, Rick Bohling, Amanda Worthington, Jesse Vallez, Dan
Chatterton, Kacie Buhler, Angie Bridge, and Steve Hines
The Board thanked everyone for being at the luncheon. The Board discussed that the budget has
been completed and will be discussed more later today. This has been one of the hardest years
that they can remember in trying to balance the budget for an upcoming fiscal year. There will be
raises in the amount of four percent for employees, two to cover cost of living and two based on
merit. The county health insurance was then discussed. Blue Cross increased the cost so much
that the Board felt the only right choice was to switch to SelectHealth whose quote was so much
cheaper that the county is paying about $500,000 less than if they would have continued with
Blue Cross. There will also be an HSA option included for employees. Tracee and Cy discussed
what the HSA is and how it will work for county employees who sign up for it.
Cy stated that there will be a local pharmacy coming on September 14th to offer flu shots to any
interested employees. The Board also reminded everyone about the upcoming fair parade on
Saturday as well as the fair during the coming week.
Meeting reconvened at 1:15 pm.
Final Budget Review and Tentative Budget
Staff present: Cy Lootens, Tracee McKim, Mark Swenson, Mark Reyes, Steve Hines, Kacie
Buhler, and Matthew McGregor
The Board stated that they are meeting to go over the tentative budget. The Board asked if there
were any questions regarding the budget. There were no questions. Tracee stated that there was a
small adjustment to the budget that she had. She adjusted the fairs budget by $26,000 to fix the
error in her spreadsheet that was discovered by Amanda in the morning. To make sure that the
budget overall stayed the same after the error Tracee reduced the building fund budget by the
same amount. She also went over the increase of the overall county budget compared to last year.
The overall budget increased by 4.07 percent, but the net from property taxes was by less than 3
percent, and the ambulance budget increased by .04 percent.

Monday, August 3, 2026
Page 4 of 6
Commissioner Watkins moved to accept the tentative budget for the county as
presented for the fiscal year 2026-2027. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Commissioner Howell moved to accept the levy ambulance district tentative
budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Tax Cancelation
Staff present: Mark Swenson and Cy Lootens
Mark stated that he has a tax cancelation for the Board to review. The cancelation is regarding a
mobile home that has been removed off of the property. The total amount to be canceled would
be $268.19.
Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the tax cancelation for parcel
MHH3725001015A at 110 Railroad St in Hazelton. Seconded by Commissioner
Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Mark also wanted to discuss the coloring contest that was done for America 250. He wanted to
know what the process should be now that the winners have been chosen. The Board stated that
the best option would be to wait until he could discuss this with Commissioner Crouch who has
been on the America 250 board.
Sheriff Office Fire Suppression Recharge Quote
Staff present: Matthew McGregor
Matthew stated that he has a quote for the sheriff office fire suppression system and one to install
a fire suppression system in the new data center in the Administration Offices Building. The
quote for the recharge at the sheriff’s office is $9,200. The installation of a new system is quoted
at $39,750.
Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the charges for the recharge of the
sheriff office suppression system in the amount of $9,200. Seconded by
Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Commissioner Howell moved to approve the installation of a new suppression
system for the data center in the Administration Offices Building in the amount of
$39,750. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a
unanimous vote.
Sign and Approve Claims

Monday, August 3, 2026
Page 5 of 6
Commissioner Howell moved to approve the claims as presented by staff.
Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
To see an image of the report please see page 6 of the minutes.
Read and Approve Minutes
Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the minutes from 7/28. Seconded by
Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Employee Paid Time Off Payout Requests
Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the PTO payouts as presented.
Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
________________________
______________________________
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner

BUDGET TOTALS

DEPARTMENT PAYROLL ACCT PAY GRAND TOTAL
Pa[CLERKSSCSC*dSS 2,307.14] $ ——«3BHGH[S 42,746.79
T2|ASSESSOR.—SS~—S AT SSCS

4[HUMAN RESOURCES [$5,062.30] ———id

COMMISSIONERS | $ 7,950.001$ 4,760.61

DATA PROCESSING $ 7,841.60 | $ 24,380.43

H
1(GENERAL__———~—~=~d' 21,980.74

cs SCS

ENERAL FUND RESERVE

ETERANS
ub Total (General Fund
HERIFF-DETENTION
DULT PROBATION
ROSECUTOR

UBLIC DEFENDERS
UVENILE PROBATION
ENERAL JUSTICE

ub Total (Justice Fund)

8,328.00

ee
$12,619.69
$ 49,742.94 [$ 7,555.87

99,321.05

AIRPOR
ETERANS MEMORIAL
ISTRICT COURT

APITAL FAIR
EALTH DISTRICT
LECTION CONSOLIDATIO

= =) =
im > On| fe =

23|SOLID WASTE

AIRPORT 02.10 | 3

$ 288,505.81|$ 10,815.24
ee eee
$8,560.55 3853.91
$13,034.15

ee
ee
$2,346.75 188.30

12,414.46
13,034.15

2,535.05
15,794.64

24
27

TORT
WEED

1 1

29) AMBULANCE

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55 | 59 F
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23/30

69) -69

$ 56.99

AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN

BROADBAND GRANT FUNDS |
BOND REDEMPTION

Sub Total

GRAND TOTAL

$ 44,638.19 | 2,291.71 | $

$ 92,291.
$ 471,708.74|$ 145,323.51 | $

136,929.90
25

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