Jerome County | minutes | meeting 2025-08-25 | Commissioners Meeting source: https://www.jeromecountyid.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08252025-1546 Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 1 of 10 JEROME COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Monday, August 25, 2025 PRESENT: Ben Crouch, Chairman Charles Howell, Vice Chairman Art Watkins, Commissioner Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk Meeting convened at 9:06 am. Commissioner Reports Commissioner Watkins – Commissioner Watkins stated that he attended the rotary meeting. There was a presentation on breast health. Then he attended the South Central Public Health meeting. They had a presentation on a septic variance agreement. He talked to Mark Reyes regarding his office space. He went to the open enrollment meetings with Guy Stubbs. Commissioner Howell – Commissioner Howell stated that he attended the Lemhi county rodeo and fair. Commissioner Crouch – Commissioner Crouch stated that he took part in the final walk through for the construction at the Jerome Administration Offices Building. He attended the rotary meeting. He also attended the interviews for Jerome 20/20. Then he attended the Jerome 20/20 meeting. Later he attended the SIRCOMM meeting. There was a presentation on their employment positions and the potential hiring of two new employees. He attended the open house for the Idaho Transportation Departments meeting regarding the third bridge. He has been working on the survey regarding the proposed location for Martha and Marys Pantry. He took Jeff Schroeder on a tour of the old public defenders office. Discussion Regarding Old Electric Furnaces Commissioner Howell stated that there were four electric furnaces that they were notified of by Brent Culbertson. These were taken out during the remodel process. Commissioner Crouch moved to have the four old electric furnaces be considered of no value, and allow the employees a chance to use them if they want, and then open the availability to the public. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Wall Demo Approval for Security Cy Lootens and Brent Culbertson were present. Brent stated that they are looking to cut a doorway in the wall for the new security area. He wanted to make sure that they would have approval before starting in that process. Cy stated that there was an issue after security came and measured for the new machine. They felt that they Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 2 of 10 need a bit more space which is why they suggested a doorway be put in. Brent stated he can reach out to core construction and see if they would be interested in the project or he can reach out to other construction companies as well. The Board stated that they would like to have the company who does the project try and keep things as clean as possible with the new remodel having been completed. Brent stated that he could mention that to the company who does the project. Extension Office Lindsy Van Zante, Steve Hines, Amanda Worthington, Sam Verret, and Katie Scheer were present. Lindsy was invited to discuss the incident of a fair board member at the extension office. She stated that a fair board member came into the extension office on Thursday afternoon. She stated that he demanded to know if they keep their financial or leadership audits. She went back to Steve Hines office. This individual then followed her back to Steve’s office. She stated that this individual demanded the same information from Steve. 4H Sale Committee Daniel Haney, Steve Hines, Amanda Worthington, Sam Verret, and Katie Scheer were present. Daniel stated that he is on the 4H sales committee. He received a text stating that there could be some stuff that will go down today. He then came around the barns to find some of the other 4H sales committee, multiple fair board members, and a couple of Sherriff’s deputies. He felt frustrated that there were deputies involved in this in the first place. After the conversation there was an agreement that animals can be loaded out at 9:30 pm and that pen takedown can start at 10 pm. Later as they were going through the process of loading up animals this individual came up and stated that they can’t have their trucks pulled up at this location. This individual came and got in the face of a volunteer mom and continued to get confrontational with her. Daniel then came and got involved to try and help alleviate the situation for the volunteer mom. He stated that this individual would not leave the area as they were loading animals and taking down pens and refused to leave or get out of the way as they were working on these processes. Juvenile Probation Monthly Report Mario Umana was present. Mario gave a presentation on the juvenile probation department. He stated that there are currently 77 active cases. There were four new cases during the previous month. He stated that they closed three cases last month. They collected a total of $1,185.50 in fees. There was a total of $457.50 collected through juvenile, $182.00 in diversion, and $546.00 at the annex. *To see an image of the report please see page 8 of the minutes. Misdemeanor Probation Monthly Report Andrea Gonzalez was present. Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 3 of 10 Andrea gave a presentation on the misdemeanor probation department. She stated that they received 62 new cases during the last month. They closed out 46 cases last month. She stated that they have received $6,171.31 in probation fees, $7,266.80 in drug testing fees, and $3,160.00 in scram/GPS fees. This totaled $16,598.11 in fees received over the previous month. She stated that all of the misdemeanor probation officers attended a meeting during the previous month. *To see an image of the report please see page 9 of the minutes. Meeting recessed at 11:48 am. Meeting reconvened at 1:15 pm. Tax Cancelation Mark Swenson was present. Mark stated that they received a home owners exemption application and need to cancel part of the taxes. The exemption was missed on the rolls last year. Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the notice of cancelation, for parcel RPJ13701030180, because a home owners exemption was applied for late in 2024 and was missed in the roll. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Note: The total amount to be canceled is $1,299.01. Jerome County Fair Review Discussion Amanda Worthington, Amy Smith, Sam Verret, Mariann Schewe, Joshua Mani, and Janet Prescott were present. Amanda wanted to see what the Board thought about how the fair went and any ideas that could be improved. The Board suggested to find a way to have a paved path through to the handicapped ramp at the rodeo arena. The Board also brought up some concerns about the VIP area of drinks being shared to other individuals who weren’t in the VIP area, and the seating in that area. Amanda stated that the fair board felt like the fair went really well. They received a lot of compliments. There was a lot of good feedback from the vendors and non-profit groups. She stated that there are things that they want to improve for the upcoming year. One is the VIP seating area for the rodeo, bringing in Hispanic bands during the week for a concert, and improving on the fair parade. Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 4 of 10 She wanted to go over the incidents that took place during the fair. Amanda stated that she would like to go over things from her side. She stated that there were issues between the accounts of the incident inside the extension office. She has told the members of her board to never go into the extension office alone from now on. She stated that the Board has discussed that they want to know about issues of conduct regarding these incidents. She stated that there were incidents of conduct regarding one of the members of the extension office who reached out to her personal number and that they were very unprofessional when they did so. Amanda stated that she had called the deputies down to the barns on Saturday night, after she was told there was a situation that was getting out of hand. She was unaware of how bad the situation was, so just to be safe she reached out to a local deputy to have some deputies taken down to the barn area. She also felt that the incident on Saturday has been blown way out of proportion. After the initial incidents she stated that people were laughing and joking with each other and had stated during that time how they wanted to work together to resolve these issues in the future. Amanda stated that she had some other issues regarding this process. Those included decisions being made by the Board before hearing about the incidents, the agenda being changed with different topics for discussions, and the Board not wanting to hear from the member in question. She felt this was unfair especially after all the work the board member had done to help with putting on the fair. The Board stated that they did not have any decisions made up before starting the process of reviewing the board members conduct. They stated that they wanted to hear from everyone involved first before hearing from the member of the fair board that was involved. This way they could eliminate any of the he said she said issues. The Board stated that they should have notified the fair board that they would be looking into the issue and that they would be having a time that they would be able to come in and discuss the issue once they heard from all of the other individuals involved. Commissioner Howell stated that the issues regarding the agenda changing were due to his fault in not communicating the subject of the presentations sooner, and that they were changed since the agenda was already posted. The Board stated again that they did not have any decisions made in advance of this process. Amanda stated she was glad that the Board did not have any decisions made before. She said that she wants to fight for her board members as she feels that they all deserve to be on the fair board. She stated that they have all worked hard to put on a great fair and that this should also be taken into account when making a decision about the member in question. She also stated that she has provided several letters stating how valuable this board member is. She stated that in her eyes that this member is invaluable to what they do. The Board and the fair board stated that they would like to improve their communication with one another, and find a way that they can work better together moving forward. Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 5 of 10 4H Stock Buyer Don Scarrow Jr, Steve Hines, Amy Smith, Amanda Worthington, Janet Prescott, Mariann Schewe, and Sam Verret were present. Don stated that he wants the process to run smooth and be easy for everyone. He would like to see the fair board and the 4H sale committee to set a time that is best for loading up the animals. He stated that some of the issues for him are regarding all of the sales done during the Jerome fair week. He has tremendous help in the community to help with loading his animals. There were several issues he saw when he showed up to the fair to load up animals. There were lots of kids running around between and behind the trailers as they were trying to load animals. Don stated that the fair board member was rude and aggressive to people trying to load animals. 4H/Fair Discussion Amy Smith, Amanda Worthington, Janet Prescott, Mariann Schewe, and Sam Verret were present. Amy wanted to make some comments based on the comments made by Don Scarrow. She stated that she feels the same way that the 4H sale committee and the fair board need to be on the same page. She wants to see an agreed upon time to keep everyone safe as they load up the animals at the end of the fair. Sign and Approve Claims Commissioner Crouch moved to approve the claims as presented by staff. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. *To see an image of the report please see page 10 of the minutes. Read and Approve Minutes Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the minutes from 8/18 and 8/19 with the suggested changes. Seconded by Commissioner Crouch. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Commissioner Crouch excused himself due to personal matters. IT Purchases Matthew McGregor and Eli Bair were present. Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 6 of 10 Matthew stated that he received a quote for an SFP switch. This would help with a temporary fix until after the cabling job is completed. Once that is done they will be able to use this at the annex to help at that building. Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the switch enterprise campus aggregation purchase as presented by staff in the amount of $3,999.00. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. He stated that there was an internet outage at the Jerome Administration Offices Building last week. They have worked to create a better way of switching where the internet comes from in case of outages. This way if one building goes down then it should more readily switch to the other internet provider. He has also been working with ETS to figure out where they are at with the grant matches. He wants to make sure that the county is not spending money to match towards the grant if it doesn’t need to. Jerome Administration Offices Building Security Quotes Cy Lootens and Shayne Nope were present. Cy stated that he received quotes from two different companies. One is for the metal detector and the other is for the repairing of the x-ray machine for the new security. This would save the county a lot of money to repair it instead of buying a new unit. Commissioner Watkins moved to approve the best bids for the x-ray machine and metal detector, for a total of $8,728.00. Seconded by Commissioner Howell. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. Legal Counsel/Review of NeoGov Payroll & HR Program Contract Shayne Nope and Cy Lootens were present. Shayne stated that both Mike Seib and himself reviewed the contract. They both felt ok with the contract. He said the only thing regarding it is the process of potential legal action, and to see if they would be willing to have the venue changed to a local venue instead of one in the state where the company is from. The Board stated that they would be ok with Cy moving forward with the new provider and to check to see if the language could be updated first. He stated that there should be minutes kept on their public hearing meetings. This way there is a written transcription even though there may be a recording of the meeting. Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 7 of 10 Commissioner Howell moved to approve the minutes from the LCO hearing. Seconded by Commissioner Watkins. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. The Board wanted to discuss what legal counsel was able to find about an ordinance for illegal dumping. Shayne stated that there was an ordinance that was previously drafted but it was never adopted regarding illegal dumping and trash disposal. He stated that if the Board is interested in adopting an ordinance for it then he can work to have a draft created for them to review. Meeting adjourned at 3:46 pm. ________________________ ______________________________ Ryan Treanor, Deputy Clerk A. Ben Crouch, Chairman ______________________________ Charles M. Howell, Commissioner ______________________________ Art Watkins, Commissioner v Vv Statistics for Commissioners 07/20/25- 08/24/25 Juveniles — 77 Total New Probationers —4 o Juvenile -—0 o Diversion-4 Total Closed Probationers — 3 o Juvenile-1 © Diversion-2 Total Fees Paid — $1185.50 o Juvenile — $457.50 © Diversion — $182.00 o Annex—$546.00 Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 8 of 10 July Statistics 2025 Cases New Supervised Cases: Total Number Supervised Probation: Court Compliance: DUI Court: DV Court: Unsupervised Probation: Warrants Closed Cases Total: 46 62 FEE'S Probation Fees 395 U\A Fees: 210 Scram/GPS: 16/18 30 180 221 Monday, August 25, 2025 Page 9 of 10 $6,171.31 $7,266.80 $3,160.00 TOTAL FEES: $16,598.11 BUDGET TOTALS DEPARTMENT PAYROLL ACCT PAY GRAND TOTAL CLERK ASSESSOR | 3|\TREASURER.s—~s—=szd |_4|/HUMAN RESOURCES | _5|COMMISSIONERS $ 852.32 852.32 $ 63.56 63.56 $ 122.83 122.83 es ee eee ee Ce ee CORONER BUILDING & GROUNDS MAINT. $ 1,689.46 1, 689. 46 $ $ $ Pp —“