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minutes meeting date 2026-05-26 · fetched 2026-09-09 · 20443 characters · official file · plain text
BOCC May 26 2026 Regular Meeting FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, May 26, 2026 Present for the meeting were: Commissioners Blair Dance, Rick Hill, and Mark Chandler Also attended by: Clerk Meredith Mattingly, Deputy Clerk Kim Fletcher, and Civil Attorney Blake Hall Commissioner Dance called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance. Brandon Bair RE: Community Grit – action item Mr. Bair discussed the Community Grit project. He stated he’s sent everything in on his end and wanted to see where the County is sitting. Commissioner Hill asked Blake Hall for clarification about the situation. Mr. Hall feels there is a disconnect. Mr. Bair feels he has sent in everything he needs to, and is waiting for the Commissioners to make a decision, including architectural plans and other documentation. The Commissioners don’t believe they have received that documentation and don’t feel they have enough information to make a decision. Their lawyer had asked about the buildings we wanted, and Mr. Hall told him he understood the Commissioners would like stick-built buildings, architecturally designed, stamped and approved. He has not heard anything more since then. Mr. Bair thanked Mr. Hall for this information; he was under the impression that they had given the County all of the information they had asked for and was unaware there was a gap. According to his attorney, there was an issue with a road and nothing could be settled until that issue was settled. Commissioners asked for a more detailed sketch plan but didn’t feel they had that yet. They recall looking over a sketch plan, but not detailed plans for what he wanted to do with the property or the buildings. Mr. Hall stated that he will have to develop architecturally stamped and engineer approved plans for the buildings, but first he needs to know what type of buildings the Commissioners would like him to replace our buildings with; he was under the impression we had already agreed to stick-built buildings. Commissioner Hill remembers stating either metal or stick built would be ok. Mr. Bair stated we had already agreed on the structural design layout for the buildings; if he needs to go get those stamped, he can do that. Commissioner Dance doesn’t remember making an approval. Mr. Hall stated a formal motion for approval has never been made. Mr. Bair is willing to jump through whatever steps he needs to, he just needs to know what they are, or what changes need to be made. He just wants to be on the same page with the County. Commissioner Hill stated some things have changed; we have torn down the old kiln, and one of the buildings we do utilize was torn apart by wind and we have bids in to repair it. If we put money into certain projects, we are going to utilize them. Mr. Hall stated another issue is they wanted a larger footprint than originally planned, so another discussion might need to be had. Commissioner Hill feels we may need to figure out how that building will tie into the whole plan at this point. Mr. Hall stated if the Commissioners make a decision to proceed, they’ll have to decide what ground they’re willing to lease and what they’re not willing to lease, they’ll need to decide what kind of buildings they want and he’ll have to get those plans stamped, and then he’ll have to come up with the money to build them. After they are built and approved by the County, the Commissioners would issue the long-term lease. At this point, Mr. Bair is working toward the intent to lease so he knows what we’re moving towards. Commissioner Hill stated we still need to be able to operate. He feels they may need to reduce the north side of their project because we are going to be using that side, and get the project redrawn. Mr. Hall stated another part of this issue is elections are every 2 years; Commissions can only commit to 2 year agreements. If everything can be lined up by January, the new board can make a decision about what they want to do. Commissioner Chandler asked what the City is willing to do. Mr. Bair stated the City is willing to give sewer and water to the facility for the life of it. Commissioner Dance has always been reluctant to move forward with this project because he feels if it fails, the County will be burdened with something we can’t afford. If he were pressed to vote on it today, he would say no. Commissioner Chandler would like to see what we can do in a year. Mr. Hall believes the goal is to see what we can do by January, and see if we can get to a letter of intent by then. Commissioner Hill would like to involve Brandon and Rowdy in future conversations. Assessor Carol Blanchard and Treasurer Lori Beard RE: Software Purchase Request – action item Ms. Blanchard and Ms. Beard discussed purchasing software for their office procedures from Augmentum Technologies, which is a part of Harris, which also runs Computer Arts. Harris has recommended making this transition and has offered to help and a much lower cost. There is a 1-time license fee of $152,321, and then the public access license is $53,950, for a total amount of $206,271. 8 counties use Computer Arts in the state. They have met with all 8 counties; the more counties that commit to switching to this program, they will offer a bigger discount. One county has already agreed to go with another program, but 2 have agreed to transition to the Augmentum software. Josh Warnke stated Tyler Tech is another option within the state, but the transition to that software is over $1M. There is another option but he wouldn’t recommend it. The other benefit of going with Augmentum is that because it is still under the Harris umbrella, they will be able to do the data migration. Mr. Hall asked if the other 2 counties that switched went through the bidding process. Ms. Beard and Ms. Blanchard believe so. Ada and Jefferson County both went through the bidding process and should have that documentation. Madison county did the bidding process, but they went with a different software. Mr. Hall stated that if they do have that documentation, we could take a piggyback approach to bidding, so we won’t need to do formal bidding. Ms. Beard asked if we would be able to look at PILT for funding before we move forward to looking into the bidding process. Commissioner Dance stated we are into some time constraints and understands the software world is challenging, especially with this software and its end of life issues. We will have to pay for 2 programs for 2 years until everything is migrated; we are budgeted for CAI, but not for this. The Treasurer’s and Assessor’s don’t have an alternative revenue source, so they would need to take from another funding source to cover this expenditure. Parks and Rec Director Greg Grant RE: Golf Course Valve Replacement Quote – action item Mr. Grant presented quotes to replace 12 valves at the golf course. These valves have been non-operational, and Jeff Albiston has been turning them on and off by hand. Artesian came out to work on a couple of them but it cost $1200. It will cost about $9,000 to repair all of them and get them working. He is wondering if there is a revenue source he could pull funds from to make those repairs. Commissioner Dance stated the golf course has a revenue source the Assessors and Treasurers don’t. Mr. Grant agrees. We are trying to make it function to make revenue. We do run a golf course and it needs to function as a golf course. Commissioner Chandler and Commissioner Hill agree; he could have the money from PILT, if he could pay the county back. Commissioner Hill made a motion to agree to help the Golf Course by taking $10,000 from PILT to be paid back over a period of 3 years to repair the valves. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioners RE: Canvassing May 19, 2026 Election – action item Elections Clerk Bonita Sutton presented the results of the May 19, 2026 election. Election day went really well considering several adjustments we made. We had some programming hickups at the Jr. High, but thankfully we weren’t the only county with issues. It was caught before voting started, it did delay the polls about 15 minutes but we were able to issue paper ballots so no one was delayed while Tenex fixed the issue. Everything went very smoothly and balanced at the end of the day. The biggest issue was the express vote scanning screen; we had 2 scanning screens that confused everyone, but now that we know the 2nd screen is there, we can have it removed for future elections. There was not time to have it removed in the programming for this election. These reports are available on VoteIdaho.Gov and she will make them available on our county website as well. The November election will be held in the same locations. Commissioner Dance made a motion to approve the certification of our May 29, 2026 election. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. James Corbett / East Idaho Public Health RE: Discuss FY2027 Budget – action item Mr. Corbett presented the proposed FY2027 for East Idaho Public Health in the total amount of $9,902,260.00. This year, they are not requesting an appropriation increase from the counties themselves. Commissioner Dance made a motion to approve the operating budget for FY2027 for the east Idaho public health department, specifically the Fremont County contribution of $167,232.00. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Idaho Art Lab RE: Innovative Minds Program @ the Art Lab – action item The Idaho Art Lab did not make it to this meeting. Road and Bridge Rowdy Rigby RE: Bids for Shed Repair and Metal Siding – action item Mr. Rigby presented bids to replace and repair the metal siding for the shed at the stud mill. Bids will repair the walls and damage. Bloom Construction - $90,000 Doug James Construction - $96,662.00 He has $50,000 in his budget, but he would prefer not to use all of those funds for this, and Weed has $20,000 in theirs that they can contribute. There is $40,000 left in the ARPA, Commissioner Hill would like to contribute $20,000 of that for this project. Commissioner Hill made a motion to approve the Bloom Construction bid for 2x6 walls and metal siding in the amount of $90,000 and fund with $20,000 out of ARPA, $20,000 from Weed, and $50,000 from Road and Bridge. He will talk with the Sheriff to see if he can contribute funds as well which will change the Road and Bridge portion. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioners RE: Executive Session IC 74-206(1)(f) – action item Commissioner Dance made a motion to go into executive session pursuant to IC 74-206(1)(f) To communicate with legal counsel for the public agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation, or controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated. The mere presence of legal counsel at an executive session does not satisfy this requirement; at 1:01 p.m. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken with Commissioner Dance voting “Aye”, Commissioner Hill voting “Aye”, and Commissioner Chandler voting “Aye”. Commissioner Dance declared the meeting open at 1:30 p.m. Commissioners RE: Deliberation for Sandbox RV Appeals (#s 25-049 and 25-053) – action item Commissioners discussed the Sandbox RV Appeal hearing. Commissioner Dance stated we have an application that has technically expired, but our Planning and Zoning Department has worked with the applicant to try to get everything done and granted them an extension, but it is being argued that their permit expired. They then applied for an amendment to their original permit. So there is additional argument that the original permit expired so there is nothing to amend. Commissioner Hill stated this has been a long, drawn out process. He believes some of what has made this so complicated is that they have had several different permits that required several different approvals for different things, which has made it confusing. There have been a lot of questions about whether or not they could do certain things. As he has looked through the documentation, he feels there are things they can do, that have been approved, but there are also things they shouldn’t do. He knows it has been a long-standing practice of the County to give extensions to permits as long as they were being worked on by the applicants, which he feels is not unreasonable. He feels this is necessary in our Code, but it isn’t currently written in the Code. We’ve done this as long as he can remember, and there are certain circumstances that warrant those extensions. This has been a long process; there is a lot of information to go through and a lot to consider. Commissioner Chandler was hoping we could come to a resolution that would work for everyone and not put any hardship on anyone. No one out there will be moving; everyone will be neighbors out there, regardless of what has happened. You can dislike your neighbor but still get along with them. He still can’t see how issuing a temporary permit for the RV Park would work, even though the Code would allow us to issue one. We would end up right back here again. The Davis’s did push the envelope and the permit did expire. Commissioner Dance stated in his mind there are several areas of confusion; the open space issue, the number of RV units, additional uses of the property, what was included originally and what was added subsequently, the question of expiration, did it expire or not. If it didn’t then the amendment is valid, if it did expire then the amendment isn’t valid. Commissioner Hill feels the biggest issue is that the County Code states specifically that approvals are valid for 2 years, permits shall be valid for 2 years from the date of approval unless extended by an approved agreement as authorized by the County Commissioners. This hasn’t been our practice, but he doesn’t feel its been unreasonable. The way he looks at it, we need to review our Code and see if we want to move forward with that practice by the Administrator. We may want to have a discussion with our P&Z Board about the particulars about the permits and have our Code clarified. In the meantime, this is what our Code says, and he feels that we should follow it. By strict interpretation of our Code, he would say we uphold this appeal based upon strict interpretation of the Code, therefore if the permit wasn’t valid, the amendment also wasn’t valid. They would have to come back and reapply for a new permit. That way it could be cleaned up, everything could be put on one permit that would be easier to understand and easier for our P&Z Board to approve or disapprove. Commissioner Dance stated there have been some great points brought up during these appeals. The open space issue was confusing and he would recommend the P&Z Board to clarify the open space that would be required for them on their permit. The number of sites should be clarified, as well as the number of RV’s allowed in the park. Commissioner Hill feels it would be better for them to redo everything and clarify what they want to do with the property. Commissioner Chandler asked what would happen to Sandbox if they don’t have a permit. Planning and Building Administrator Tom Cluff stated they would not be able to operate. We do have a rule in our Code that would allow them to let people camp on the property during certain holiday weekends, but that would be all they are allowed to do until they have a permit. Commissioner Chandler doesn’t want to put any financial strain on anyone, but there is a lot of cleanup that could be done on a new permit. Commissioner Dance asked what options would be available for a temporary use permit. Mr. Cluff stated the code allows several options for temporary use permits, however, the process takes about as long as a normal permit, but is more flexible and wouldn’t require a public hearing. There would not be any less controversy for a temporary use as a normal permit. Commissioner Hill feels our Staff and our P&Z Board needs to review our Code and take a look at whether or not we want to stay with our long term informal practice of extending permits when the applicant is actively working on the project. Commissioner Dance feels it would be best to get everything on one permit and clarify everything they want to do, and not keep adding on or referring back to other things. It seems this project went in too many different directions and that is what caused so much confusion. Commissioner Hill feels our Staff and our P&Z Board needs to review our Code and take a look at our long-term practice we’ve had and review those provisions in the Code and make those updates. Commissioner Dance does appreciate our Staff being flexible and trying to help with our permits and those time limits. We’ve never had an issue before or had to address it until now, so it will be addressed. Commissioner Hill and Commissioner Chandler agree more clarity will help in this situation. Commissioner Hill made a motion uphold this appeal based on strict interpretation of the Development Code stating the permit is valid for 2 years, therefore we cannot amend the permit because it is expired. Commissioner Dance seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioner Dance made a motion that the second appeal doesn’t have standing because the opportunity to file that appeal was long since past. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioners directed Staff to develop a Findings of Facts, Conclusions of Law and Decision for these decisions. Miscellaneous Commissioner Hill made a motion to approve the claims for May 26, 2026 as presented. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioner Hill made a motion to approve the minutes from May 11, 2026 as amended, and to approve the minutes from the April 29, 2026 Sandbox Appeal Hearing as amended. Commissioner Chandler seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioner Chandler made a motion to approve the Junior College Application for the College of Eastern Idaho Spring 2026-Fall 2026 academic year for Jocelyn Arvayo, and the Fall 2026 academic year for Isabel Munoz-Morales and Jaquelin Garcia. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. Commissioner Dance discussed the IAC Meetings the first week in June. He received an email in response to a request he made. He would like to propose they invite Commissioner Elect Kent Jeppesen to the IAC meetings in June, 1. for training, and 2. because he will be out of town and Mr. Jeppesen will be able to take his spot. This email supports his request. Mr. Hall stated the only issue would be the County would not be able to pay for Mr. Jeppesen to go. He can go in Commissioner Dance’s stead, but the fees for attendance and the hotel and other expenses won’t be able to be covered by the county. Deputy Clerk Kim Fletcher wanted to let department heads and elected officials who might be listening know that budget meetings are set for June 16th, 17th, and 18th. She will be making phone calls the first week of June to set up appointments. They are also welcome to call her to set up their times if they would like. Commissioner Dance has stated he has obligations the afternoon of the 18th, so he would like to try to get as many done within the first 2 days as we can. Commissioner Chandler made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:57 p.m. Commissioner Hill seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in favor. There being no further business to come before the board the meeting was adjourned. _________________________________ Blair Dance, Chairman Fremont County Commissioner Attest: _____________________________ Meredith Mattingly, Clerk HISTORY Recorded by Min. 613186 Regular Commissioner Meeting 05-26-2026 on 6/8/2026
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