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minutes meeting date 2026-01-20 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 14210 characters · read by OCR, check numbers against the source · official file · plain text
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Monday, January 20, 2026
PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman
Charles Howell, Vice Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Meeting convened at 9:04 am.
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins stated that he attended the rotary meeting.
There was a presentation from Camille Barigar. Then he attended the fair board meeting. He then
had a meeting with the frontier community resources. He also attended the city council meeting
for Hazelton. There was a swearing in of the new elected officials for the city. Later he went to
the South Central Community Action Partnership meeting.
Commissioner Howell – Commissioner Howell stated that he talked with a constituent about
meeting with a developer about a BESS. He stated that he would not be interested in this meeting
to remain fair and unbiased of any applications or appeals that come in the future regarding a
BESS installation. He also stated that there is a public hearing coming up that this constituent
could attend regarding the energy ordinance. Commissioner Watkins also received a call
regarding this matter and stated the same thing as Commissioner Howell. Commissioner Crouch
stated that he did not receive a phone call regarding this.
Commissioner Howell stated he was able to get ahold of the individual who is over the armories
in the area, and they discussed when the armory in Jerome may be vacated. Later he attended the
SIRCOMM meeting. There are still a few individuals who need to be hired to have them be fully
staffed. He also attended the Republican Central Committee meeting. Then he attended a
fundraiser for the junior high cheerleaders at El Sombrero.
Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch stated that he attended the republican central
committee meeting. He gave an update on the republican winter meeting. He also wanted to
review a discussion from the previous airport board meeting. There is an individual who is
looking to put a pivot at the end of the Hazelton airport. JUB is concerned that the pivot would
be in the way and could lead to issues with the airport. Then he attended the IAC legislative
meeting. There was discussions regarding the items they want to focus on during the state
legislature. Later he attended the safety meeting.
Nomination for Board of Health for South Central Public Health District
The Board received a notice from the South Central Public Health District regarding a
nomination to the Board of Health. The Board discussed the nomination to the board of health.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the nomination of Brent Reinke to the
board of health for the South Central Public Health District. Seconded by
Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
IT Purchases/Passport Photo Setup
Matthew McGregor, Eli Bair, Cy Lootens, and Marty Luhr were present.
Matthew stated that the clerk’s office is wanting to have a way to print passport photos. He has
been looking into options of how they can do that to allow the photos to be printed in the office.
He also received a quote for a new spare laptop and tint for the IT’s office.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approved the expenditures as presented by the
IT department for the passport photo and ID, the spare laptop, and the tinting for
the IT office, in the total amount of $2,261.32. Seconded by Commissioner
Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Matthew stated that he and Barry will be attending an IT conference during the next week.
NewTech has been working on moving a lot of the old server room equipment down to the new
server room. They are almost finished with the project, and it should be finished within the next
few weeks. Since the county has switched printer and copier providers Matthew did a cost
comparison of the two. He stated that switching to Fishers has cut the monthly cost by more that
half compared to the previous company, and Fishers has been good to work with. There was also
an outage for the phones during the previous week. There was an issue with the provider that
happened that led to the outage for a short time. Eli stated that the issues at the Judicial Complex
are fully complete. The new firewall and point to point services are up and running.
Tires from Snowplow
Marty Luhr and Kent Atkin were present.
Marty stated that with the snow that came in a few weeks ago he found out that he needed to
replace the snowplow. The snowplow had highway tires on it and it has been replaced now with
the appropriate tires. He is wanting to know what he would need to do now with the other tires.
The Board stated that they would have to be put up for auction due to the price of the item.
Marty stated that he can have those taken to auction then.
He wanted to discuss an issue that arose with payment for fuel. One of the airport board
members took a credit card with them while they were traveling. Then another individual had to
fuel up a truck for the airport and the airport had to reimburse them for the fuel. The Board
suggested that there should be two cards that are available for instances like this to avoid
reimbursements in the future.
Marty stated that the new radios that he ordered have been received. He stated that the new
radios are very good in quality. The new bills for the hangars have been sent out. He also wanted
to discuss the new courtesy car for the airport. The Board stated that there was a van from
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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another department that was returned to the county for general use and could be made available
for larger groups.
FAA Authorization
Kent Atkin and Marty Luhr were present.
Kent stated that he has been working with FAA regarding the threshold sitings at the end of the
runway. He has been working to get that cleaned up. With this process he will be needing
approval to upload information on the Board’s behalf.
Commissioner Crouch moved to authorize Kent Atkin on behalf of JUB to
coordinate responses with the FAA. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
He also wanted to go over the issue regarding the pivot that someone is looking to add at the end
of the Hazelton airport. He has worked on trying to verify the space that would be between the
top of the pivot and meeting FAA regulations. He stated that the Board may want to have
someone go out there in person to see what the measurement would actually be. The Board
stated that they would discuss this with both legal counsel and the head of the planning and
zoning department.
Jerome County & America 250
Cy Lootens, Amanda Worthington, Mark Swenson, and Chris Dunn were present.
Cy stated that he had spoken with the State Treasurer in the past. There is a grant that can be
applied for that would give the county $2,500 to use towards something for America 250. The
deadline for the grant is the end of this month. He stated that he could work on some of the
paperwork that is required for the grant this week, but that it would need to be done as soon as
possible. Potential ideas for the use of the grant were discussed. A final plan will need to be in
place when the grant is applied for.
Change Orders for Shoshone Falls Overlook Project
Bill Bridges was present.
Bill stated that he had a couple of change orders that he was going to go over today. He stated
that they are not ready for approval yet since Civil Science does not have them ready. The new
culvert for the overlook project has been installed. He stated that it looks good and was installed
correctly.
Commissioner Howell moved to sign the change orders with work to not exceed
$200,000 as supervised by Bill. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion
passed with a unanimous vote.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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Bill stated that there have been some more clean ups done recently. During the cleanings there
was a lot of litter found, so they are looking to put up more signs about not littering. He is going
to visit with Idaho Transportation Department about putting up signage for the park.
Meeting recessed at 11:42 am.
Meeting reconvened at 1:15 pm.
PTO Payout
Lorin Thompson, Troy Tolman, Chad Kingsland, George Oppedyk Jr, Cy Lootens, Marisella
Aguirre, Kim Drury and Jesse Vallez were present.
Lorin stated that he is meeting today regarding PTO payouts. He has been looking to get people
paid out for their excess PTO hours after their anniversaries as allowed in the employee
handbook. He has been trying to have this be paid out for a while and has not been successful
with it so far. He wants to see some sort of paperwork created to be able to have this done easier.
Cy stated that the payroll department can pay out these PTO payouts, but they first need the
commissioner’s approval as it is a budgetary expense from the county. The commissioners
approved of the PTO payout for the three employees presented including Lorin Thompson.
Emergency Management Monthly Report
Kirsten Hartley was present.
Kirsten gave a report on the emergency management department. She stated that the grants for
emergency management performance and state homeland security program have not been sent
out as of yet. She is going to be holding a meeting to discuss the new data driven evacuation
zone technology and preparedness platform. This will help for response agencies to have a
greater knowledge of evacuation zones. She attended several different meetings over the last
month. There will be a meeting held in March regarding ammonia in the Magic Valley. She also
met with an engineer to look into different locations that the old generator can be placed.
Resolution 2026-2 Destruction of Records from Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
The Board received a resolution regarding the destruction of records from the prosecutor’s
office. The Board discussed the resolution.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve resolution 2026-2 for destruction of old
documents from the prosecutor’s office. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The
motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Read and Approve Minutes
Commissioner Howell moved to approve the minutes as amended. Seconded by
Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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Legal Counsel
Sam wanted to go over the minutes or recordings for public meetings. He stated that one of the
two would need to be required for every meeting. There should be minutes on every meeting,
and the only exception would be if a meeting is recorded in full.
He wanted to discuss the email regarding the PTO payout for county employees. The Board
stated that they had seen the email that included the list of individuals. Sam stated that the payout
is more specific and unusual than normal. The requests should come through the elected official
or head of that department.
The Board wanted to discuss an individual who is wanting to put a pivot up at the end of the
airport runway in Hazelton. The Board would like to see what options that there are regarding
this issue. Sam stated that there could be several options especially with the danger of the pivot
entering the flight path of planes. He will have Mike review the options and return with more
information about them.
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.
Personal Property Taxes Discussion
Nikki Kober, Mark Swenson, and Nina Lagle were present.
Nikki came regarding her mother’s property taxes. She was able to work on having her mother’s
2022 taxes paid. She was also given the hardship exemption form previously. She brought the
required information for the exemption. She wants to find a way to continue to make payments
on the property’s taxes. The Board suggested that she can work on monthly payments towards
the previous year’s taxes. She is also looking to get the circuit breaker tax break applied for the
upcoming taxes.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the cancellation of penalties and fees
for the taxes from 2023 in the total of $242.28, for parcel RP09S17E120100.
Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Discussion: Commissioner Crouch stated that he appreciates that she has kept
on top of her mother’s taxes and helping to pay these taxes.
Meeting adjourned at 4:28 pm.
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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________________________
______________________________
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner
BUDGET TOTALS
DEPARTMENT PAYROLL ACCT PAY GRAND TOTAL
1)/CLERK S$ 41,920.52 |$ 190.89 | $ 42,111.41
3|TREASURER____—_—*([$_7.676.73 $__7,676.73
4|HUMAN RESOURCES _|$ 3,302.30, $3,302.30
S|COMMISSIONERS | $__7,950.00|§ _20872|$ 6,153.72,
GICORONER———SS—«*dS 4019.22] —SS—S«dS «419.22
70
$
11/EMERGENCY MANAGEMEN| $ 2,120.00 | $ 1,510.50 | $ 3,630.50
IS|EXTENSION AGENT. [$s 77630] | ¢ —s776.30
14|/DATA PROCESSING $ 8,004.81 | $ 1,896.78 | $ 9,901.59
isELECTIONS
16|CHARITY $ -
ie|GENERAL | 5—20.567-70
21|/PLANNING & ZONING $ 15,029.79 $ 15,029.79
mies [2202.80] Ts — 2020
29|GENERAL FUND RESERVE $ -
SO VETERANS -—
5|/SHERIFF-DETENTION $ 95,216.02 | $ 4,976.08 |$ 100,192.10
glaDULT PROBATION. ——[$— 108.003 —t a7. 0 [12.4950
7|PROSECUTOR $ 33,723.19 $ 33,723.19
8/PUBLIC DEFENDERS $ -
9|JUVENILE PROBATION _|$_12,619.70|$ _34040|$ 12,960.10,
18
Sub Total (Justice Fund) $ 292,150.62 |$ 125,030.80 |$ 417,181.42
S|VETERANSMEMORIAL | | CS
6|DISTRICT COURT 5 8,556.40
9/CAPITAL FAIR
11|/HEALTH DISTRICT
15|/ELECTION CONSOLIDATIO
20/REVALUATION
23|/SOLID WASTE
za{ToRT
27|\WEED
23|AMBULANCE
38|\WATERWAYS BOARD
35 WATERWAYS SHERIFF —
39|BROADBAND GRANT FUNDS
:
48|AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN | ___—_—_—
ee ee
Sub Total $40,046.61 [$ 68,390.11 |$ 108,436.72
GRAND TOTAL $ 464,470.90 |$ 210,540.82 |$ 675,011.72
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