Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2026-02-24 | Commissioners Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_02242026-1610 Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Page 1 of 3 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 Page 2 of 3 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 Page 3 of 3 Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk A. Ben Crouch, Chairman ______________________________ Charles M. Howell, Commissioner ______________________________ Art Watkins, Commissioner