Sentinel Media records · public agendas and minutes, text only, refreshed nightly from each body's own site · not a newspaper
minutes meeting date 2026-01-12 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 10887 characters · read by OCR, check numbers against the source · official file · plain text
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 1 of 6
JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Monday, January 12, 2026
PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman
Charles Howell, Vice Chairman
Art Watkins, Commissioner
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
Commissioner Crouch was not present for morning meetings.
Meeting convened at 9:00 am.
Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins stated that he attended the rotary meeting.
There was a presentation from a school teacher. Then he attended the legislative review meeting.
Later he attended the empty bowls meeting.
Commissioner Howell – Commissioner Howell stated that he attended the Snake River Canyon
Parks board meeting. There was a discussion regarding the donation from Chobani towards the
overlook project and the blasting project work that was done. He went to visit with Mr. Lakey
about grant options for expanding his feed store. Then he attended the Idaho horse racing awards
banquet. He reached out to Idaho Fish and Game regarding a piece of property.
Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch stated that he attended the airport board meeting.
There was a discussion regarding having an alternate board member. Then he attended the
Republican winter conference. He attended the rules committee meeting at the conference. Later
he attended the city council meeting where new city police officers, Mayor, and City
Councilman were sworn in. There was also a commemoration for Mayor Davis during the
meeting.
Maintenance Monthly Report
Brent Culbertson was present.
Brent gave a report on the maintenance department. He stated that the door project for the new
security office should be finished soon. The security deputies are wanting to have a work station
placed in, and he wanted to know if that is ok to do. He stated that if the Board is ok with this
project he can start to work on this project soon and create the work station for them.
Snake River Canyon Parks Board Interview
Lisa Callen, Bill Bridges, and Mark Swenson were present.
Lisa was present for an interview with the Board. Lisa stated that she has been a part of back
country horseman for a long time. She has lived in the area for a long time. She wants to give
back to the community. She wants to help the equestrians and mountain bikers and everyone who
shares the trails. The interview continued with questions asked by the Board.
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 2 of 6
Commissioner Watkins move to nominate Lisa Callen to be on the Snake River
Canyon Parks Board. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed
with a unanimous vote.
Discussion: She will be fulfilling the rest of Becky Dean’s term since Becky
resigned from the board.
Parking Space Rental Discussion
Steve Irwin, Cy Lootens, and Virgil Horner were present.
Steve stated that he has come to the Commissioners to discuss the use of parking spaces for
tenants. He needs a special use permit for the building they are renovating and part of that is
having spaces for the residential tenants. They are unable to use the street for parking spaces or
any other area around the building on Main Street. The other option that was discussed was the
use of some of the parking spaces at the Jerome Judicial Annex building. The Board stated that
they have had someone else reach out previously regarding the parking spaces. The Board also
stated that they would like to have something added to prevent the tenants from bringing forth
lawsuits due to damage to vehicles or injuries that take place crossing the road to the apartments.
Steve stated that they would make sure to add those items into the agreement to prevent the
county from being liable for any damages or injuries that would take place like this. He would
also like to see if the Board would consider $100 total a month for the four parking spaces. A
tentative contract will be created and presented to the commissioners for review along with legal
council in the future.
P&Z monthly report
Kacie Buhler was present.
Kacie gave a report on the planning and zoning department. She stated that the revenue was
$19,099.86 during the previous month. There was a total of 81 inspections during December. She
stated that there was a total of 29 permits received. During the previous month the main items
they focused on for code enforcement was individuals living out of recreational vehicles and the
converting of shops or other buildings into residential dwellings. The department received a total
of 28 records request last month.
Meeting recessed at 12:10 pm.
Meeting reconvened at 1:17 pm.
University of Idaho joint projects
Cy Lootens was present.
Commissioner Howell stated that Steve Hines had reached out to the commissioners regarding a
company that is looking to donate to U of I. The company is looking to help with scholarships
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 3 of 6
and other projects with the university. Steve will discuss this with the commissioners in the
future.
Jerome County readiness centers and vehicle maintenance shop
Cy Lootens was present.
Commissioner Howell received an email regarding the new national guard building. The national
guard had reached out to see if the Board wanted to tour the new building that they are
constructing. The Board agreed that they would like to set up a date and time to go and tour the
new building.
IT purchases and outage report
Matthew McGregor and Eli Bair were present.
Matthew stated that there was an outage at the Judicial Complex. It lasted about four hours. The
battery back up shorted out and then caused outages further down the line. He stated that this
would likely be the reason that the outage occurred. Once they were able to trouble shoot, they
found some other issues with other devices, and they decided to remove those devices rather than
trying to repair them first. He stated that services were fully restored and back to normal the next
business day.
Matthew received some quotes for IT materials. One is for a battery backup since the old one
was broken with the outage at the Judicial Complex. The other two are for a switch pro and a
rack for the new firewalls. The total for all items is $4,459.18.
Commissioner Howell moved to approve the expenditure of $4,459.18 for a
battery backup, a switch pro, and four firewall racks, due to the power surge at
the Judicial Complex. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed
with a unanimous vote.
Commissioner Crouch was present.
New board member and work orders for the overlook
Bill Bridges was present.
Bill stated that Chobani sent the park board a donation towards the overlook project. He wants to
know what the process is for having the brick donations deposited into the county budget. The
Board discussed with him how it would be deposited and then be available for use. Bill stated
that he would also like to use the money from Chobani first towards bills before using other
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 4 of 6
funds. He has seen more donations with the bricks come in lately. There was a culvert that was
placed in the road down to the overlook.
He stated that the security group who has been patrolling the RV park has been doing a really
good job. There has been a decrease in litter and items left behind by those staying at the park.
Lisa Callen was appointed as the new park board member.
Misdemeanor probation monthly report, credit card reader, internship
Andrea Gonzalez and Cy Lootens were present.
Andrea gave a report on the misdemeanor probation department. She stated that there were 49
new cases in the last month. There were 46 cases closed. In total there was $16,648.36 received
in fees last month. During the last year there were 115 court compliance violations and 126
parole violations. She stated that her office attended a conference at the sheriff’s office. Then she
attended the open house to see the new courthouse in Twin Falls. She would also like to see what
ways they can expand their offices at the Annex, especially since they need to add some more
probation officers.
To see an image of the report please see page 6 of the minutes.
She wanted to revisit a proposal to have a credit card reader added to her office. When
individuals come in to pay fees they are always asking if there is a card reader that they can pay
with. She wants to have this added to make payments easier for those who come in to make
payments. She has signed up for leadership classes and will be attending that over the next
several weeks. The opening in her office is still in process of being filled. She has a request for
an internship as well. An individual reached out who was interested in doing an internship for 16
weeks. The request needs to be approved by the Commissioners which is why she wanted to
discuss this with them before reaching back out to the individual.
Resolution 2026-1
The prosecutors office sent a resolution regarding the destruction of old records that they have.
The Board reviewed the list of items to be destroyed.
Commissioner Crouch moved to approve 2026-1 to eliminate and destroy records
from the paperwork provided by the prosecutor’s office. Seconded by
Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 5 of 6
Executive Session per Idaho Code 74-206(1)(b) for Personnel
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 3:15 pm and ended at 3:38 pm.
Legal Counsel
The Board wanted to discuss the potential donations that a company is looking to give to U of I.
The Board wanted to discuss the ramifications of U of I accepting the donations and the impact it
could have on the county. Sam stated that there should be a better discussion between Steve
Hines of U of I and the company looking to donate to the university. That way Steve can see if
there are any strings attached or implied strings to try and have that cleared up in advance. Sam
also stated that there can’t be any official stance from the Board regarding the money so it would
just be up to U of I to decide whether to accept the money or not.
Meeting adjourned at 3:45 pm.
________________________
______________________________
Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk
A. Ben Crouch, Chairman
______________________________
Charles M. Howell, Commissioner
______________________________
Art Watkins, Commissioner
December Statistics 2025
Cases
New Supervised Cases: 49
FEE'S
Total Number Probation Fees $5,176.36
Supervised Probation: 431 UNA Fees: $9,932.00
Court Compliance: 201 GPS: $1,490.00
DUI Court: 13/15 Scram: $50.00
DV Court: 4]
Unsupervised Probation: 190 TOTALFEES:
Warrants 214 $16,648.36
Closed Cases
Total: 46
(]
fC")
mS
<
115
126
a
a
Monday, January 12, 2026
Page 6 of 6
Text is extracted by machine from the official file linked on each page; the official file is the record. Sentinel Media, LLC.