Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2026-05-04 | Commissioner Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_05042026-1657 1 | P a g e JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Monday, May 4, 2026 PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman Charles Howell, Vice Chairman Art Watkins, Commissioner Cy Lootens, County Clerk Meeting convened at 9:00 am. Commissioner Reports Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins reported that Tuesday he attended the Rotary meeting, County Sheriff Taylor spoke. Camille Barigar with Jerome 20/20 also spoke at the meeting. Wednesday he attended the candidates forum at the Jerome Library hosted by the Civics Club. Thursday, he went to Idaho National Laboratory on the field trip to visit the facility. Highlights of the field trip were the test reactor and the fuel complex. Friday morning, he spoke to Bill Colley on KLIX about the county, Sheriff Taylor attended the radio show with him. Commissioner Howell – Commissioner Howell reported that on Monday he spoke to the Farm Bureau at a banquet about protecting farmland from energy development. Tuesday, he attended the ribbon cutting at the new St Lukes rehab center for physical rehabilitation. After the ribbon cutting was a community board meeting for Jerome St Lukes. Fund raising and donations to the community were discussed. Wednesday, he attended the Mid Snake River Water Resource Board meeting and the Southern Idaho Solid Waste meeting. And he attended the meet the candidate’s event at the library. Thursday, he went on the field trip to INL. He stated the business part of the tour was the most interesting. They discussed the costs of running the facility. Friday, he attended the Lincoln County high school rodeo, and Saturday he attended the Boots and Bling fund raiser event for St Lukes and Jerome High School. Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch reported that on Tuesday he attended the Rotary meeting and the ribbon cutting at St Lukes rehab. Wednesday, he attended the meet the candidates night at the library and streamed the event on the Northside Journal Facebook page. He said the video had many views. Thursday he also went on the field trip to INL. And on Saturday attended the Boots and Bling event. Reappointment Ballots for Mid Snake River Water Board Commissioner Howell moved to reappoint Tanner Johns and Arlen Morgan to the Mid Snake River board. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. 2 | P a g e Extension Office Monthly Report Steve Hines was present Steve was present to give his report. He stated the report is for the months of March and April. He gave a report of the activities of his office for himself, and others in his department. Highlights of the period included: 4H shooting sports training, attending the annual conference in Moscow, meeting members of the fair board, the color me healthy event regarding healthy foods, planning the 4H health cooking club, teaching nutrition classes to third grade students at Horizon Elementary, leather craft projects and Beef weigh ins for the fair. To see an image of the report please see page 8 of the minutes. GIS Department Monthly Report Mark Reyes was present Mark Reyes was present to give his monthly report to commissioners. Apart from his normal duties, Mark stated he took drone photos of the canyon park last month. He also presented the website clicks for certain maps and web pages related to his work to show the commissioners how often his data is viewed on the county website. The most visited page is the Jerome County parcel map. He shows that it had over 60,000 visitors last month. To see an image of the report please see page 10 of the minutes. Run Hide Fight Class, Fire Extinguisher Class, Stair Chair Discussion Eric Jackson, David Lacille, and Matthew McGregor were present Deputy Eric Jackson presented to the commissioners a recap of the Jerome City Fire’s work at the admin building. Including using their ladder trucks to access windows in the building in case of an emergency. City Fire also trained the security deputies on how to use the buildings elevator in case of an emergency to evacuate people on the top floor. Eric stated that there will be another active shooter training course for employees on May 27th. Deputy Jackson also discussed the best places for employees on the top floor to evacuate the building in case of emergency, and what windows to use for evacuation now that the city has tested the best access points with their ladder truck. Jackson also asked the commissioners if there was interest in having the city train employees on how to use fire extinguishers. Overlook Project Update Bill Bridges was present Bill was in attendance to update the commissioners on the overlook project at the Snake River Canyon Park. He stated that they have received two bids for the cost to pour a concrete platform overlook. The bids are higher than the original approved amount, so he has asked the commissioners to review the two bids and make a motion to accept one. After discussion the commissioners decided to accept the bid from Hayes Construction. 3 | P a g e Commissioner Howell moved to approve the bid from Hayes Construction for the overlook at Snake River Canyon Park in the amount of $144,312.00 as the low bidder. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Later Bill discussed the building permit requirements from County P&Z for the buildings going to the overlook project. He also informed the commissioners that the parks board meetings will be moving from 11am to 9am on the first Thursday of every month at Blue Lakes Country Club. Meeting recessed at 11:50 am. Meeting reconvened at 1:13 pm. Memorandum Decision for Danso LLC, Two Zoning Map Amendments Ordinances 2026-5 and 2026-6 Kacie Buhler, Ryan Christiansen were present Kacie Buhler presented to the commissioners a copy of the rezone for Danso LLC for a zoning map amendment from residential to recreation. Legal counsel reviewed the amendments for a decision to be made by the commissioners. Commissioner Crouch reviewed the amendment and stated that it reflects their previous discussion. Commissioner Crouch made a motion to accept and approve the memorandum of understanding for Danso LLC along with ordinance 2026-5 and ordinance 2026-6. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous roll call vote. Point of clarification: Kacie stated that ordinance 2026-5 is the amendment for the Danso LLC rezoning, and ordinance 2026-6 is for the Simmons zoning map amendment where property was de-annexed and a zone had to be re-assigned. 63-602C Charitable Exemption Application Discussion for Crossroads Point Recreation and Exposition Center Mark Swenson and Blair Crouch were present Commissioner Crouch recused himself before the meeting began and left the room at 1:28pm Mark Swenson stated that at the Board of Equalization hearing last year the commissioners granted a provisional exemption for the property in question at Crossroads so that they could apply for a charitable property tax exemption. Mark presented the application to commissioners. Commissioner Watkins asked Blair if the building is ready to be built. Blair informed the 4 | P a g e commissioners that the 56,000 square foot facility is in the works. It will include a recreation center, expo center and courts for various sports including basketball and pickleball. Commissioner Howell asked if there were other uses for the building. Blair listed the intended uses for the space including an event center and recreation center for the sports he mentioned. Commissioner Howell stated: Based on the letter provided by the IRS and the completed application presented “ I move to approve the property tax exemption application from Crossroads Point Recreation and Event Center.” Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed. Commissioner Crouch returned to the meeting at 1:44pm Executive Session Per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(a) – Consideration of Hiring an Employee Matthew McGregor was present Two candidates for an open position for the IT department were present for job interviews. Commissioner Howell moved to go into executive session per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(a) for hiring of an employee. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous roll call vote. Meeting went into executive session at 2:02pm and returned at 2:39pm IT Conference Matthew McGregor was present Matthew informed the commissioners of a conference for Idaho county IT leaders taking place in Boise on June 4th. He asked the commissioners for approval for himself and one employee to attend the conference. After discussion the commissioner approved of the request and Matthew will sign up for the conference including related fees such as hotels and will present it to the commissioners in the future. Coroner Office Discussion Dan Chatterton and Brent Culbertson were present Commissioner Howell was briefly excused for a personal matter. 5 | P a g e Dan and Brent discussed with the commissioners the updates needed, and cost associated with the updates in order for the coroner office to begin working out of the old public defenders building. Dan is requesting a large cooler area for storage. Brent asked if a wall or fence needs to be erected for privacy. Dan stated only a fence with privacy slats is required. Other needs like drains and updated fixtures and plumbing to the building were discussed. Brent estimated that the cost to update the building for the coroners’ needs will be about $40,000. Commissioners asked Cy Lootens the County Clerk if that was in the budget this year for the county. Lootens stated that based on that estimate and the other potential projects he is aware of for this year that there are sufficient funds in the county building budget to cover the costs. Commissioners asked Brent to reach out to get bids on the project. Commissioner Howell returned and was updated on what was discussed. After the update commissioners continued to discuss. Commissioner Howell will be reaching out to the mortuaries in town to find out the severity of the situation related to their assistance and the needs of the coroner’s office to help determine the scale of the project needed. Commissioners will continue to discuss this at a future date. Airport Lease Review Marty Luhr was present Commissioners reviewed the lease presented to them regarding a hangar for Mark Doer. After discussion: Commissioner Crouch moved to sign the Mark Doer hangar lease that switches it from his company name to his personal name. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous roll call vote. Executive Session Per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(b) for Personnel Jesse Vallez and Sam Bues were present Commissioner Howell moved to go into executive session per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(b) for personnel. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous roll call vote. Executive session began at 3:34pm and ended at 4:46pm Sign and Approve Claims 6 | P a g e Commissioner Crouch 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 7 of the minutes. Read and Approve Minutes Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the minutes. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Meeting adjourned at 5:12 pm. ________________________ ______________________________ Cy Lootens, Clerk A. Ben Crouch, Chairman ______________________________ Charles M. Howell, Commissioner ______________________________ Art Watkins, Commissioner 7|Page BUDGET TOTALS DEPARTMENT PAYROLL ACCT PAY GRAND TOTAL FE 2IASSESSOR.——SSC~SSCSSCSCSCS SSS SC 3|TREASURER———Ss|SSSSCSC~idT SSS _4|HUMAN RESOURCES | _———~*«(|S<~ SSCS [sleQMMIssIONERS Pg “6|CORONER -O|BUILDING & GROUNDS MAINT.______|S__51446|§ 514.46 -TilEWERGENCY wanacemeNT [3 HS|EXTENSION AGENT [seas iba -14|DATAPROCESSING_|_—~*+(| SSS HS|ELECTIONS | ——[s —"a5.85 [sa] Me|CHARITY | |$ 17,000.00 |$ 1,000.00 Mig|GENERAL______—~+(| —-*(|$ 2.641.903 |§ 2,647.93 | 2I|PLANNING&ZONING | —~+«(|~ ——SS—~ SSCS —C*? mies TSTCTCSC~wSSCSCSCSCSS '29|GENERAL FUNDRESERVE| ———~*«('|—SCS—S SC —~™ S0\VETERANS Tg |__|Sub Total (General Fund) __ [$< a/SHERIFF -SISHERIFF- DETENTION ——[ Ts e586 [S853 6|ADULT PROBATION | ———~*«('S-—S~« BATTS —~884.19 | T|PROSECUTOR | |$ 398.00|$ 398.00 | 8|PUBLIC DEFENDERS | —~«|~ Ss—