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minutes meeting date 2026-02-24 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 5091 characters · official file · plain text
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
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JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman
Charles Howell, Vice Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Meeting convened at 9:01 am.
Personal Property Taxes Discussion
Melisa Harris and Nina Lagle were present.
Melisa stated that she is here on behalf of her mom. She just found out that her mother has not
been paying her taxes for the past four years. She went into the treasurer’s office to get some
things handled. She has helped to create a plan to have the taxes paid. Nina stated that Melisa
came in and took care of the taxes owed for 2022 to prevent any jeopardy to the home this year.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the cancelation of penalties and interest
in the amount of $357.48 for parcel number RPJ17580010050. Seconded by
Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Discussion: Melisa has worked to pay $1,121.88 for the owed taxes from 2022.
The Board felt ok to waive the remaining interest and penalties to help with
paying the remainder of the owed taxes.
Comprehensive Employee Handbook and Policies Review
Jesse Vallez and Cy Lootens were present.
Jesse stated that she wanted to go over the alcohol and drug free workplace policy. She went
over the policy for random drug testing and what positions that can apply to. Then she covered
workplace violence. Jesse wanted to update this to have anyone notified if there is an imminent
threat. She stated that she had a suggested update regarding absences for health-related issues.
The change was suggested to update the language to include that a department head may request
the employee to get a note from a doctor after three days of absence due to health issues. This
way if the department head knows the person is sick they may not need to request this. She also
discussed the policy for disclosing relationships between employees. She then covered the policy
for the use of county owned computers and what is allowed to be done on a county computer.
She discussed adding a section regarding the use of AI by county employees.
Discussion on Scope of County Involvement with Snake River Canyon Parks
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
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Sam Beus, Cy Lootens, Matthew McGregor, Eli Bair, Nina Lagle, Windy Jay, Jesse Vallez, and
Bill Bridges were present.
Cy stated that there needs to be a discussion regarding the snake river canyon parks board with
the overlook project opening soon. There are a lot of things that need to be addressed before the
park can open. One is regarding who would be hiring the employees and overseeing the day to
day operation. The online payments that the parks board is looking to do with the overlook park
and the RV park need to be addressed as well. There may be ways to do this but he needs to
know if it is up to the county to oversee the payments or for the parks board to. He also stated
that they needed to discuss how the employees for the overlook would be paid and how that may
need to be added into the budget in the future. He stated that all of these questions needed to be
resolved before the parks could open and charge patrons to enter.
Bill stated that he is hoping the park’s profit will cover for the employees wages going forward
and that it wouldn’t necessarily need to come out of the county budget. He is hoping that the
online payment option would help to make things easier for patrons as well as prevent any
potential issues with theft by employees. He is not sure how the employees would be hired and
who would be in charge of the hiring process.
The Board wanted to ask Sam if the maintenance department could be expanded to add the
employees to the Shoshone Falls overlook. Cy stated that one issue he foresees with these
positions would be that part time employees be hard to keep employed and it would strain the
county to continue to hire so many part time people year round. Bill stated that Premier Security
can help to collect the money and then take care of the money daily before giving it to the county
treasurers office. Commissioner Crouch stated that there could be an option to have individuals
volunteer to help work the park. Bill stated that he would like to have the option to pay online for
both the RV park and the overlook park. The Board asked that the online payment options be
explored further and to see if a quote can be obtained from the security company.
Legal Counsel
Sam Beus was present.
Commissioner Crouch moved to go into executive session per Idaho Code 74-
206(1)(b) for personnel. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed
with a unanimous roll call vote.
Executive session started at 11:12 am and ended at 11:25 am.
Meeting adjourned at 11:34 am.
________________________
______________________________
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
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Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner
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