Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2026-04-06 | Commissioners Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04062026-1639 Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 1 of 7 JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Monday, April 6, 2026 PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman Charles Howell, Vice Chairman Art Watkins, Commissioner Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk Meeting convened at 9:03 am. Commissioner Reports Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins attended Rotary Tuesday. He stated the guest was a biology teacher. He presented on DNA, and DNA in food. Later in the week he spoke to the Secretary at the City of Hazelton. The City is getting a new financial program. Commissioner Howell- Commissioner Howell stated that he attended the Central Committee meeting to interview Sheriff candidates. He did not participate in the meeting because of being a county commissioner. Instead, he assisted the candidates and helped in the lobby outside of the meeting to help organize the candidates. He talked with Suzanne Hawkins regarding the veteran affairs officer in Twin Falls County and the cost of that agreement. Commissioner Crouch- Commissioner Crouch stated that he attended Rotary. He took all 4 members of Jerome County’s IT team as guests to the meeting. He stated he did not attend the Central Committee meeting regarding Sheriff candidates. He spoke on Bill Colley’s Radio show on Friday. And later Friday he worked on preparation for the interview process for the three sheriff candidate finalists that will be meeting with the commissioners April 16th. He went out to the overlook project site to see how the project is progressing. Sherrif Applications and Interview Process Cy Lootens and Connie Kincheloe were present. The Board wanted to discuss the process for the interviews for the Sheriff position. The Jerome County Republican Central Committee held a meeting and recommended three candidates to be interviewed for the position. The candidates that were recommended were Robert Rausch, Gary Taylor, and Matt West. The interviews will take place on the 16th, and each candidate will get 30 minutes for their interview. The Board discussed that they would like to have a list of questions that they will ask in each interview to make them uniform. The Board discussed that they would like to see each candidate wait outside while the other candidates are interviewing, but that the public can be present for all the interviews. They are also interested in getting questions from the public to ask the candidates. Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 2 of 7 Door Access to Security Office Matthew McGregor and Cy Lootens were present. Matthew stated that he wanted to discuss the badge access for the security office. This would be for the door just behind the security officer’s desk. He was able to receive a quote for the projects from New Tech Security. The total amount would be $1,484.77. Commissioner Howell moved to approve the expenditure of $1,484.77 for the project of security office door badge access. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. GIS Monthly Report Mark Reyes was present. Mark gave a presentation on the GIS department. He stated that he created a tax code map for the elections staff. He has continued to update maps and make sure they are up to date. He worked with the Snake River Canyon Parks board regarding the permitting for the buildings at the overlook. Another thing that he has been looking for is for more training regarding GIS responsibilities. Car Repairs, Slides for Evacuation, Building Architectural Plans Eric Jackson, Cy Lootens, and Tevian Kober were present. Eric stated that he wanted to know if the Board wanted to do training for active shooters with the rest of the county. The Board stated that they would be in favor of doing another round of trainings for the rest of the county employees to attend. He reached out to the Jerome fire department and found out that there is a way that the fire department can help with getting people out of the building in the case of an emergency. Cy did some research and found a chair device that can be used to help with getting individuals down the stairs. Eric stated that after finding out about the fire department options and the chair to go down the stairs he decided to not look any further into the slides. Eric stated that he worked with the fire department regarding the best options for breaching a door. This way the security can have the capability to open a door in case of emergency. He had done some radio checks for the radios in the building. There were some issues previously, but the radios are working now. He’s not sure what led to them working, but he is glad that they are. He also reached out to the fire department and learned that they have a smoke machine that can be used with fire drills as well. The fire department does not make you pay to use it, so he would like to have it for the next fire drill. He wanted to discuss the vehicles that are being used in case of emergency, and what he can have approved for repairs. The Board stated that there would need to be approval for larger expenses over $500, but that there would also need to be somewhere from the budget for the repairs to come from. Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 3 of 7 Fiscal Year 27 Airport Aid Grant Agreement Cy Lootens was present. Cy stated that he received an email from the transportation department regarding a grant for the upcoming fiscal year. He stated that he reached out to JUB Engineering regarding the paperwork and was told the paperwork looks ok to approve. Commissioner Watkins moved to approve resolution 2026-15, the matching grant for the Idaho airport aid program in the matching amount of $4,855.26. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Meeting recessed at 11:42 am. Meeting reconvened at 1:17 pm. Tax Cancelation Mark Swenson was present. Mark stated that he has a tax cancelation. There is an aircraft hangar that the county owns. It was put onto the county rolls by accident. With the mistake the property needs to go through the proper process to cancel the taxes. Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the notice of cancelation for a county owned hangar that was mistakenly put on the tax rolls, in the amount of $1,364.14, for parcel LRJCAPJ000026B. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Tax Cancelations Tevian Kober was present. Tevian stated that she has some tax cancelations. The first is regarding a mobile home. One of the assessor’s office employees found out that the mobile home is no longer there, so it will need to be cancelled. Commissioner Howell moved to approve the cancelation of taxes, $638.74 in tax balance, $10.78 in interest, and penalties, and $94.92 in fees and penalties, for a total amount of $743.94, for parcel MH0816E324802E, per the recommendation of Tevian Kober. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 4 of 7 Tevian stated that the second one is regarding a refuse fee that was placed on an exempt property. The property should not have had this placed on there and it needs to be canceled to remove the outstanding balance. Commissioner Crouch moved, per recommendation from Tevian Kober’s office, that we remove the refuse fees that were incurred by error, in a total amount of $1,089.40, for parcel RPJ1370064027B, and to pay Flying S Title $200 for the service of litigation guarantee. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Judicial Complex Interoffice Protocols Cy Lootens, Angie Bridge, Andrea Gonzalez, Sam Beus, and Gary Taylor were present. Sam stated that there was a situation at the annex last week. There was a discussion with some members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding future interoffice work procedures at the Judicial Complex. There is now a plan in place to be able to work better together and make sure that everyone is on the same page. He stated that he feels that now there is something put into place so everyone will be prepared in the future and be able to work through any issues that could come up. Government Relations Consultation Tess Molitor, Cy Lootens, and Connie Kincheloe were present. The Board stated that they have been interested in finding someone that can help to get information out to the public. The Board would like to get information out to help with informing the public on what is going on. Tess stated that she is excited to share a proposal to the Board. She is a government relations consultant located in Boise. She was born and raised in Boise, went to law school, and then returned to Boise. Once she passed the bar she went right into lobbying. A large part of what she does is help with informing individuals on what the government is doing and the purpose behind it. She does a lot of reporting currently, so she is very familiar with those options. She has been lobbying since 2003 and has loved the opportunity to be involved with government. She stated that she has done some work in Jerome for some of the companies in the area. Another thing that she has enjoyed within her position is to rub shoulders with different individuals whether it is someone from government or members of the communities involved. The Board wanted to discuss the services that would be required, including sharing information from the many different departments in the county. Tess stated that she wanted to go over the proposal that she sent to show that she would do anything that would be asked of her from any department. She would also like to focus more on the media and public relations side of what she offers for services. The Board wanted to discuss the pricing of services that would be provided, regarding the minimum and maximum hours for a project. Tess stated that it would be hard to estimate. It would depend on the request and what all would need to be done for the project. She stated it could be up to $300 per hour, but that she doesn’t feel like per hour is a good way to Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 5 of 7 show the rate for her services. She does a monthly fee based on how many hours are used to cover services for the county. She stated that the contract is just one that she has used in the past. She is willing to do some edits to it too if there are some things that the Board would like to see changed. Another idea she wanted to discuss was the idea of mileage reimbursement. She stated that there would be some things that she would want to do in person rather than just remoting in every time. The Board also brought up that there may be some meetings that they will ask of her to attend to be able to understand the feel of it so that she can provide a more in depth update on the issues being discussed. Tess stated that she would like to do this as well and be able to have a good relationship with the Board if there is approval of the contract. Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the signing of the contract with Molitor and Associates, barring any further requests from other companies. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Sign and Approve Claims Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the 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 7 of the minutes. Read and Approve Minutes Commissioner Howell moved to approve the minutes with the requested updates. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Employee Paid Time Off Payout Requests Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the PTO payouts as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Indigent Matters Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the indigent matters as presented by staff. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Meeting adjourned at 3:06 pm. Monday, April 6, 2026 Page 6 of 7 ________________________ ______________________________ 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 $ 31.50 | $ 31.50 2IRSSESSOR 3|TREASURER a ee | £A| 69 4|HUMAN RESOURCES $ 926.67 5|COMMISSIONERS 944.72 6|CORONER 750.00 | $ 750.00 10|BUILDING & GROUNDS MAINT. 77.63 |$ 77.63 l= up 3| ma Z'0) Ol mn olz le QP nie m = A> o m F-4 m = = 6A) 69! 64) 64 240.83 | $ 240.83 114.55 | $ 114.55 14 (S|ELECTIONS |S 881A |S 8,731.54 | fF 4) £9 16|CHARITY - 18|GENERAL 7 A67.12 7,467.12 21|/PLANNING & ZONING N N @ nv nT <=] Bi nw > 5|=|= r,t) . ! O ty a F"] oO e = oO = 29|GENERAL FUND RESERVE 30)/VETERANS ub Tota eneral Func 6A) 69) 64/69 S$ 10,872.4 20,004.23 260.00 4 : 0,872.4 5|SHERIFF-DETENTION 20,004.23 6 260.00 7|PROSECUTOR - 8|PUBLIC DEFENDERS 2,144.00 | $ 2,144.00 9| JUVENILE PROBATION 15,110.00 | $ 15,110.00 18)|GENERAL JUSTICE $ 142,365.91 |$ 142,365.91