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minutes meeting date 2026-02-09 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 19073 characters · read by OCR, check numbers against the source · official file · plain text
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 1 of 8
JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Monday, February 9, 2026
PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Meeting convened at 9:00 am.
Commissioner Howell was absent.
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins stated that he attended the rotary meeting.
There was a presentation from the company Hempitecture. He attended the Tri County Weed
board meeting. Then he attended the county luncheon for the super bowl. He also attended a
meeting at Valley school district.
Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch stated that he attended the rotary meeting. He
was sergeant in arms for the rotary meeting. The presentation from Hempitecture was really
good. He attended the job fair at the high school. Then he attended the county luncheon for the
super bowl. Later he met with Mike Yurak regarding an individuals property near the Hazelton
airport, and the future growth of the airport and potential hazards. He also took some calls
regarding the workshop session that will take place in the afternoon.
Maintenance Monthly Report
Brent Culbertson was present.
Brent gave a report on the maintenance department. He stated that he is working on helping the
clerks office with mounting a screen to do passport photos. The security station is now complete.
He is just waiting for IT to set up a computer out there. He stated that elections has reached out
to have some of the counter being updated to make sure that wheelchairs could be accessible to
the voting area. IT reached out to him about having their lighting updated from a motion sensor
to a normal switch. The DMV would also like to have a pamphlet display hung out near the
windows. Then he is going to be out at the airport to work on having the threshold of the door
will be more friendly to anyone who needs to go in and out of the building in a wheelchair.
IT Internship and IT Purchases
Matthew McGregor and Eli Bair were present.
Matthew stated that he had some quotes of items that they are looking to purchase. He stated that
the switch gear that is at the sheriff’s office is from 2018. He worries that when IT changes these
that the switches may burn out. He is looking to purchase new switches to replace some of the
older switches. He would also like to have some extras on hand in case some of the other
switches do burn out. There will be some down time with the change over, and so the changes
will be made either after hours or on a weekend to try and limit downtime of crucial services.
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 2 of 8
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the expenditure of $7,284 for the switch
gear buildout for the sheriff’s office. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Matthew stated that the state of Idaho has been pleased with the intern that IT currently has. The
state has offered to have another intern given to the county. The Board stated that they would be
approving of the offer if IT feels like there is enough work to continue to guide two interns.
Matthew stated that he feels like they would have plenty of work to help keep them busy. The
other concern that he has is where the other intern would have space for a desk to work from. He
has considered having a desk put in the old IT office or to have the new interns hours offset to
allow for the interns to share a desk.
Matthew stated that there is another series of classes that he is interested in attending. The
classes themselves are free, but there would still need to be funds used for hotel stays for the
conference. Eli stated that the new firewalls have been deployed in the Administration Offices
building. It has led to some issues being brought forward that they will be more aware of as they
work on replacing the rest of the firewalls.
Special Use Permit Fee Discussion
Janice Yardley, Kacie Buhler, and Ryan Christensen were present.
Janice stated that she is looking to have the special use permit fee waived for the hardship that
she is looking to apply for. Kacie stated that she is applying for a hardship fee as her home is
being renovated. She has several hardships that are making other options available. If she was
approved for the hardship fee application that Janice would still be responsible for the
publication in the Times News paper.
Commissioner Watkins moved to waive the hardship special use permit fee for
Janice Yardley for up to two years. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Discussion: The hardship is due to some medical issues.
Planning and Zoning Monthly Report
Kacie Buhler was present.
Kacie gave a report on the planning and zoning department. She stated that there were 61
inspections done during the last month. There were 26 permits received. Her office received a
total of 27 records requests during the previous month. This last month there were several cases
that were closed for people who are living in an RV. There have also been some good strides
made for violations regarding animal units on a property.
Meeting recessed at 12:03 pm.
Meeting reconvened at 1:19 pm.
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 3 of 8
Tax Cancelation
Nina Lagle was present.
Nina stated that the tax cancelation that she has is just a follow up from the previous week. She
was advised by legal counsel to just use the parcel number in approving the tax cancelation. The
Board wanted to review the reasoning for the cancelation. Nina stated that this individual found
out that they are 100% disabled after the deadline to file for the disability savings on property
tax, so she was brining this forward to see if the Board would approve the tax break for this
individual.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the tax cancelation, in the amount of
$1,914.48, for the confidential disabled veteran after learning he is 100% legally
disabled past the deadline, for parcel number RP007580010150. Seconded by
Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Commissioner Howell joined the virtual meeting for the workshop.
Workshop on proposed amendments: Chapter 10 of the Comprehensive Plan to add
language on large-scale energy projects; Add Chapter 11, Energy Facilities, to the Zoning
Ordinance
Lynda Bruns, Connie Kincheloe, Katie Yeatts, Chad Biggs, Ufuoma Ojumah, Jeffrey Collins,
Adrienne Dunham, Lyle Johnstone, Aaron Menenberg, Elizabeth Koeckertz, Zairyk Schilousky,
Brett Thompson, Jerry Holton, Katy Riker, Leon Letson, Ivy Lyn, Kacie Buhler, and Ryan
Christensen were present.
The Board stated that they have gathered this workshop to be able to hear from the Planning and
Zoning Commission regarding the reasons they felt that there should be some changes made to
the proposed amendments of zoning ordinance. It is not to make any decisions today or to
receive public input. This will take place in the future with the option for public and written
input. The future meeting is going to be planned in the evening and the Board is planning to have
that meeting scheduled before the end of the workshop meeting today. The Board stated that they
wanted to hear from Brett Thompson as well as staff regarding their suggested changes to the
energy ordinance.
Brett stated that the board is grateful for the information that was presented to them on behalf of
the Commissioners. They wanted to be able to discuss the information that they felt should be
updated. One of the changes that they suggested is regarding the use of farming zones currently
to be used for energy facilities. This way the owners of the property can have greater control of
their land and what they can use that for. If the owners don’t want to update their property to
heavy industrial to create a energy site that it should not have to go in that way, but that it can
stay as ag ground. He stated that the board also felt that the nonconforming use that could create
would be an issue. There was another issue in regards to the use of personal property and the
feelings of neighboring properties use. Another concern was the verbiage that these types of
facilities are not warranted in our county. It seems incongruent with the feelings of other
companies coming into the county and then not feeling as excited about a large utility company
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 4 of 8
coming into the county. The planning and zoning board felt that there needs to be something
added into the county to help with power, there are certain things that the county has not felt as
good about adding, but that there does need to be something to help with the growth of demand.
Commissioner Watkins wanted to cover the issue of use of personal property and how the
current wording could prohibit that. Brett stated that the issue is regarding the verbiage that is
currently in the ordinance would feel like those facilities should not be allowed as to protect
farming ground. Kacie stated further that another part of the issue would be rezoning the ag
ground to heavy industrial first before being able to go through the process of adding a facility of
some sort to that property. Brett stated further that the verbiage really states that there shouldn’t
be something like those facilities approved on farm ground, even if it is what the owner would
prefer. Commissioner Crouch stated that this was a part of the purpose that it should protect ag
ground rather than making it easier to remove ag ground for a facility. He also stated that if there
were issues created further to the land such as damage to the aquafer that those can’t be undone.
The ground itself could be reestablished as ag ground in the future but damage to other parts of
the area can’t be reversed.
Brett stated that this is an issue still with withholding some of the options for the personal
property owners. He asked that if there were any questions from the Commissioners regarding
the zoning issue. Commissioner Crouch stated that he understood the concerns but that it was
another way to make it a bit harder to bring facilities into the county. That the owners would
have to go through more hoops to be able to rezone the property into heavy industrial first before
moving forward with the conditional use permit. Commissioner Howell wanted to discuss the
zoning of the property for the next owner and how that would work. If the first owner wanted to
change the property and then the next owner would like it to be ag ground instead, what would
that process look like to help the next property owner to change things if needed. Kacie stated
that the conditional use permits would go with the property rather than the property owner. With
how things are written right now that it would need to be rezoned with the next owner. Brett
stated that the benefit of the conditional use permit that the permit can have lots of things
included as part of the process for approval. Things such as fencing, lighting, issues to the
aquafer, etc. This way those things can be addressed before the facility would ever go into place.
Kacie stated that the notification for this is currently one mile from the facility.
Brett wanted to discuss what the Commissioners are looking for in regards to the use of personal
property for these facilities. Commissioner Watkins stated that he would like to see something
put into place that would allow for the protection of personal property rights while also ensuring
that the facilities don’t remove all of the farm ground in the county. Commissioner Howell stated
that he agreed with Commissioner Watkins and that there should be a better way to define the
process for what is accepted to come into the county. Commissioner Crouch stated that he also
agreed with that and stated that one of the things that may need to be redone is the process and
clarification for what is accepted in the county and still allow individuals to retain their property
rights.
Brett stated that one of the other issues is that the county does not have the requisite energy
facilities to match the power demand in the area. This is another issue that the planning and
zoning felt needed to be changed because of the large ways in the language to prohibit the energy
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 5 of 8
facilities. Commissioner Watkins stated that this is another thing that they feel like needs to be
clarified and find a way forward to meet the growing demand.
Commissioner Crouch stated that they have reviewed chapter 11 regarding the energy ordinance
and that he was interested to see if there are any suggestions that were made regarding chapter 10
for the comp plan. Brett stated that there wasn’t really anything specific that was different than
the chapter 11 section. The concerns largely remained the same. Kacie stated that another thing
was that the verbiage from chapter 10 hindered parts of chapter 11 from being updated to allow
for different options.
Commissioner Crouch asked if there were any specific suggestions that Brett would suggest
changing. Brett stated that one of the things that could be included is a limit on the size of acres
that would be used for a facility. Another thought was to go over how to protect the area and the
aquafer, while still allowing the facilities to be built. There should also be something that should
be included to discuss the allowance of facilities under personal property rights.
Commissioner Crouch wanted to discuss another meeting that they would like to schedule at
night. This meeting may allow for written comment to be included with suggestions.
Commissioner Crouch suggested that the Monday on the 23rd may be a date that they could hold
another workshop. It would be at 6:30 pm after the planning and zoning commission. This would
not be a hearing but another workshop to allow for the Commissioners to review the sections of
zoning ordinance and to try and come up with more solutions regarding these ordinances.
Change Orders for the Park
Bill Bridges and Larry Hall were present.
Larry stated that the change orders are for the overlook project for the Snake River Canyon
Parks. He has some change orders for the Commissioners to review. The first one is regarding
the parking lot and the road leading into the parking lot. He stated that the next page is regarding
the budget for this process of doing the parking lot and the road leading into it. The other page
that goes over the remainder of the work is all estimated and may change as those parts of the
project are completed.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the change order #2 in the amount of
$89,826.15 for the Shoshone Falls park overlook project. Seconded by
Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Juvenile Probation Monthly Report, Training
Mario Umana was present.
Mario gave a report on the Juvenile Probation department. He stated that there are 78 juveniles
currently on probation. There were a total of 11 new cases in the previous month. Four cases
were closed last month. The department received a total of $2,215.83 in fees. There is a training
that will be taking place next month that he would like to send two of his employees to. It would
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 6 of 8
cost roughly $700 for the employees to attend. The Board stated that they were ok with them
attending.
Mario stated that he wanted to discuss the possibility of purchasing a new vehicle with tobacco
funds. He wanted to see what the Board thought. The Board asked if there were any vehicles he
was looking into specifically. He stated that he has done some preliminary looking and that he
will do some more research and return with a quote on a vehicle he’s interested in. He stated that
he had between $37,000 and $47,000 for a new vehicle. The Board stated that they would be ok
with Mario purchasing a vehicle in that range with it being in the budget.
Executive Session Per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(b) for personnel
Andrea Gonzalez and Jesse Vallez were present.
Commissioner Crouch moved to go into executive session per Idaho Code 74-
206(1)(b) for personnel. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion
passed with a unanimous roll call vote.
Executive session began at 3:18 pm and ended at 3:45 pm.
Parking Space Agreement Discussion
Steve Irwin and Sam Beus were present.
The Board wanted to discuss the parking space agreement that Steve Irwin had discussed
previously. The Board stated that they do not own all of the parking lot of the Judicial Complex.
The Board stated that they want to make sure that they are getting the right spaces up for rent for
Steve and his tenants. Steve stated that he is meeting with the city of Jerome tomorrow night. He
wants to see what could be agreed upon so he can move further on the process with the city. The
Board stated that they are agreeable to rent out four parking spaces, they just want to ensure that
they are parking spaces in a part of the lot that they own. Sam stated that there could be
something on the GIS map online. After he checked the GIS map it does show that the county
owns the parking spots that Steve is looking to rent. The Board asked if Steve would be
interested in doing $35 per space per month. Steve stated that he would be interested in that.
Legal Counsel
Commissioner Crouch moved to go into executive session per Idaho code 74-
206(1)(b) for personnel. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion
passed with a unanimous roll call vote.
Executive session started at 4:15 pm and ended at 4:25 pm.
Sign and Approve Claims
Monday, February 9, 2026
Page 7 of 8
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 8 of the minutes.
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.
________________________
______________________________
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner
BUDGET TOTALS
DEPARTMENT
LERK
REASURER
4|/HUMAN RESOURCES
PAYROLL
ACCT PAY
$
GRAND TOTAL
23.47 | $ 23.47
5
6
COMMISSIONERS
CORONER
4,742.49 4,742.49
10|BUILDING & GROUNDS MAINT.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
11
933.66
1,528.55
933.66
1,528.55
13|/EXTENSION AGENT
14|/DATA PROCESSING
$
$
$
$
3,225.28
3,919.93
3,225.28
3,919.93
15|ELECTIONS
CHARITY
GENERAL
PLANNING & ZONING
Gis
ub Tota eneral Fund
SHERIFF
$
$
$
$ 14,773.11 14,773.11
Vara
3,229.93
260.00
TLE
3,229.93
260.00
1,072.00
6,178.50
34,767.63
$
DISTRICT COURT
9|CAPITAL FAIR
’ 0,669.9 n 0,659.9
es
3532.5|$ 3,532.50
$ =
11
15
HEALTH DISTRICT
$ =
23|/SOLID WASTE
ELECTION CONSOLIDATION $ qi
20|/REVALUATION $ -
24
27
TORT
WEED
$ :
$ 1,500.00 | $ 1,500.00
29
38
38
39
41
48
AMBULANCE
WATERWAYS BOARD
WATERWAYS SHERIFF
BOND REDEMPTION
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN
Sub Total
BROADBAND GRANT FUNDS
$ z
$
35,722.43
GRAND TOTAL
$
113,094.15
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