Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2026-03-17 | Commissioners Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03172026-1625 Tuesday, March 17, 2026 Page 1 of 3 JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Tuesday, March 17, 2026 PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman Art Watkins, Commissioner Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk Meeting convened at 9:01 am. Comprehensive Employee Handbook and Policies Review Jesse Vallez and Cy Lootens were present. Jesse stated that the entire handbook has now been gone through at this point. The main thing that still needs to be finalized is the PTO and ESL policy. She stated that in the past there was the idea of moving to one time bank, but that it would be very costly to do so. She wants to discuss the policy to see if there are any better options that would be easier for tracking employees’ time. Her suggestion include the following: She would like to see the accrual change to be updated each pay period. The accruals would be changed to be one day every month for employees for sick leave. Cy stated that the easiest way to handle this for current employees would be to move ESL to sick leave and put no cap on the time. Tracee stated that she agreed because there could be a payroll issue if there are three banks instead of just two. Jesse wanted to discuss the use of sick leave time after holidays. She stated that under this policy that there would be the potential to ask for a doctors note if someone calls in the day before or after a paid holiday. If the individual is not able to provide a note, then there may be a penalty of losing holiday pay. Then she discussed the use of hours if an employee is out on FMLA. The employee would be required to use their sick leave, comp time, and PTO if available before the employee goes on FMLA. She also wanted to discuss the use of sick leave and also making sure that employees are not always calling out on sick leave. If an employee continues to call out there should be an option for write ups or up to termination of employment. Another thing she discussed under this new policy is that there would still be the option of donating sick leave time to another employee. There would be a cap on how much can be donated to an employee within a 12 month period. Jesse discussed the accrual rates for employees for their sick leave and PTO. She stated that the accrual rates would be based on how many hours that an employees works. Tracee stated that there would be an issue with the accrual rates if it is done this way. If an employee accrues only when they work then they won’t be able to reach the yearly amount they should accrue, because they should be taking PTO throughout the year or may be out on sick leave and then would not accrue during those days. Jesse stated that this would create an issue, so there should just be an accrual based on percentages as long as the employee is being paid. If an employee is out on unpaid leave then that employee would not accrue time. The Board agreed that the employees should be accruing on a percentage on hours they are being paid to make sure that employees do continue to accrue time. Tuesday, March 17, 2026 Page 2 of 3 Jesse wanted to discuss the on call policy and how that will work for pay. She discussed the idea that those on call would be paid a flat amount per hour that they are on call. The Board suggested that it be changed to have something added to the employees salary during that time that they are on call. Jesse stated that this could be done and to have the employees wages increased. She suggested that if this is the process that the department head could identify the extra amount that is paid on the times that employees are on call. Commissioner Howell was present. Legal Counsel Bill Bridges, Sam Beus, Cy Lootens, Tracee McKim, Matthew McGregor, Eli Bair, Nina Lagle, Tevian Kober, Jesse Vallez, and Jody Revai were present. The Board asked about the energy ordinance and renewing the temporary ban on energy facilities. Sam suggested to put an ordinance into place. The Board asked if there were any applications that have been received. Kacie stated that there are no applications that have been accepted as of now, but that there are some applications that are really close to finishing the process. Sam stated that there should be an ordinance put into place rather than just something banning them temporarily. The Board asked if there should be a junk ordinance that is created for the county. There have been some issues in the area of people dumping items, but there would need to be something created that could also be prosecuted. Sam stated that there was a list of ordinances that the sheriff’s office wanted him to work on and that a junk ordinance might be on there. Discussion on Scope of County Involvement with Snake River Canyon Parks Bill Bridges, Sam Beus, Cy Lootens, Tracee McKim, Matthew McGregor, Eli Bair, Nina Lagle, Tevian Kober, Jesse Vallez, and Jody Revai were present. The Board wanted to continue to discuss the overlook project as well as the payment process for the overlook and RV parks. Bill stated that he had not received an update on the employees for the park. Matthew stated that there had been an update for the payment system. He stated that the payment system Premiere Security uses and the county’s programs do not work well together. but that there would need to be something to keep track of visitors and money collected regardless of what payment is used. Jody stated that there could be an option of creating an account that his employees could use to have the money go into before moving it over to the county to verify. Nina stated that handling the payments in a similar way to how the county handles the landfill payments is the best solution. Money would be deposited into a county account and a check would be written from the account weekly that could be delivered and deposited with the county. The Clerk’s office will be checking with the outside auditors to verify that this is the process they would prefer in order for it to be transparent and auditable. Bill stated that the overlook project is looking to do a grand opening on May 11th at 11 am. Meeting adjourned at 10:55 am. Tuesday, March 17, 2026 Page 3 of 3 ________________________ ______________________________ Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk A. Ben Crouch, Chairman ______________________________ Charles M. Howell, Commissioner ______________________________ Art Watkins, Commissioner