Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2026-08-03 | Commissioners Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08032026-1690 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) ~~ q 8,328.00 ee $12,619.69 $ 49,742.94 [$ 7,555.87 Bc 99,321.05 AIRPOR ETERANS MEMORIAL ISTRICT COURT APITAL FAIR EALTH DISTRICT LECTION CONSOLIDATIO = =) = im > On| fe = 1 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 = za|m|/zlo|nlol< s|é fi s/s = 55 | 59 F =|= S >| > = ~<|< = 03] 3 2 a m 23/30 nO Tl 69) -69 $ 56.99 AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN BROADBAND GRANT FUNDS | BOND REDEMPTION 1 Sub Total GRAND TOTAL $ 44,638.19 | 2,291.71 | $ $ 92,291. $ 471,708.74|$ 145,323.51 | $ 136,929.90 25