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7/26/04 Commissioners Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Meeting Minutes:
Pursuant to Idaho Code 31-1604, the Board of Bear Lake County Commissioners met on Monday, July 26, 2004, in the Commissioners Room of the Courthouse Annex in Paris, Idaho, beginning at 1:00 p.m., as previously posted for the purpose of reviewing and determining a tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2005. Members of the Board present included Don C. Clark, Chairman of the Board, Dwight L. Cochran, Conrad Michaelson and Joan P. Eborn, Clerk of the Board.
Rodney Wallentine, County Treasurer and Al Harrison, Executive Director of the Bear Lake Regional Commission also attended the meeting.
Chairman Clark called the meeting to order to review tentative budget figures.
Danny McClinden informed the Commission that Maple Drive Road is deteriorated and becomes impassable when it rains. The manhole covers recently installed by the Sewer District are above the surface of the road and gravel is needed to resolve both situations. Barrow pits also need to be created to keep rain from running over the road causing more damage. Gravel vs. paved road surfaces was discussed briefly and the Commissioners indicated that gravel roads treated with dust guard hold up the best and they will have the Road Crew work on the road as time permits.
A lengthy discussion ensued about serious reductions in revenue sources to fund the various county departments and programs as well as the rising costs to continue to fund the employee and their dependents major medical insurance program. The possibility of law suits being filed against the county due to the fact the county hasn’t adopted building codes and hired a building inspector were also discussed.
The Commissioners agreed to allow a 3% raise to the base wages of each employee and to make the total buy down amount the responsibility of the insured employee. The Commissioners also directed Clerk Eborn to add the cost of a building inspector to the Current Expense Budget increasing that budget by $43,465, which according to Al Harrison could be funded by fees that would be charged for inspecting the various construction sites.
The Gem Plan Insurance program reflects a 5% increase over the current charges vs. the Blue Cross of Idaho Plan, which reflects a 15% increase were discussed and will be finalized during the budget hearing set for September 7, 2004.
The fiscal year 2005 tentative county department budgets as adjusted total $6,809,127. The maximum amount of ad-valorem tax dollars to fund the budgets as proposed amounts to $1,676,263.
Meeting adjourned.
7/12/04 Commissioners Meeting Minutes:
The Board of Bear Lake County Commissioners met on Monday, July 12, 2004, in the Commissioners Room of the Courthouse Annex in Paris, Idaho beginning at 9:00 a.m. Members of the Board present: Don C. Clark, Chairman of the Board, Dwight L. Cochran, Conrad Michaelson and Colleen Kelsey, Deputy Clerk. Joan P. Eborn, Clerk was out of the county on vacation.
Greg Skinner, Road Supervisor, Ardee Helm, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney, Lynn Lewis, Assessor, Rodney Wallentine, Treasurer and Rosa Moosman, Editor for the News-Examiner also attended the meeting.
Commissioner Michaelson offered the opening prayer.
Chairman Clark called the meeting to order to consider the following items of business:
RESOLUTION #2004-09 - INCREASE SHERIFF’S FEES
Brent Bunn, Sheriff presented to the Commissioners a resolution to increase the Sheriff’s Fees for Civil Processing in Bear Lake County as was approved by Legislature a year ago. The present fees have been in effect and have not been increased for at least 15 to 20 years.
Commissioner Cochran made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Michaelson to accept the resolution for increasing the Sheriff’s fees for civil processing. Motion was unanimous.
SHERIFF’S REPORT
Brent Bunn, Sheriff presented his department’s report of activity for the month of June 2004 for the Commissioners review and comment. Sheriff Bunn noted they had found the body of the young man who drowned in the lake during the 4th of July weekend.
ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING
Lynn Lewis, Assessor reviewed the Doug Adams property located in the Bear Lake Ranchettes area and asked the Commissioners if they would be willing to refund Mr. Adams money for 2003 garbage taxes as his cabin has been totally gutted inside and is uninhabitable.
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Chairman Clark to refund money for 2003 garbage fees to Mr. Adams. Motion unanimously carried.
Rodney Wallentine, Treasurer presented the 2004 Tax Collection report for 2003 taxes for the Commissioners review.
BEAR LAKE COUNTY SOLID WASTE FEE POLICY AMENDMENT
After a brief discussion with Assessor Lewis regarding the many unlicensed trailers in the county that are being lived in and producing garbage, the Commissioners agreed to amend the Bear Lake County Solid Waste Fee Policy to include “Unlicensed trailers will be classified or considered a habitable residence”.
AIRPORT
Thomas Lemenager, Project Manager for Toothman-Orton Engineering discussed the engineering costs for the Bear Lake County Airport Taxi Lane project. They will be building a taxi lane extending 285 feet east of the existing apron and continue to fill another 200 feet to provide enough hangar space access for the next 10 to 20 years. In the master plan they will be building and extending an apron that will be filled in with fill at the same time for use of the existing taxi lane. It was noted that there was $84,000 left over from the 2002 overlay of the runway that will be used for this new project.
Mr. Lemenager noted all county airports, as was recently passed by the Legislature, now receives $150,000 per year for being general aviation airports in the State of Idaho. He stated that the project will have to be rebid as the contractor could not be held for 2 years so the fees have increased from $88,000 to $109,388.
The Commissioners agreed to move forward with the projects and to have Commissioner Michaelson be the contact person.
LOVE BEAR LAKE/HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Kevin Jacobson, representing Love Bear Lake for Ken Bain, President of Love Bear Lake and Eulalie Langford, House of Representatives presented a letter asking the Commissioners for their support and involvement of the Corps of Engineers in doing a study of the lake requiring that it be the 1st body of water to fill on a run off situation, and the last body of water to empty and for the Corps to study the best way to approach this situation.
Eulalie Langford, House of Representatives gave a brief synopsis how the Corps of Engineers would be able to do a study to determine how much water has been taken out and how much could be saved. The study will be funded ½ by them and the other ½ will need to come from a local match. The Bear Lake Regional Commission has record of $4,000,000 of local funds that have already been spent in studying Bear River and Bear Lake. The Corps will study the Bear River Drainage and decide where best to accomplish flood control with an estimated cost of $600,000. $300,000 of the $600,000 would need to come out of the $4,000,000 of local funds already expended. The letter from Ken Bain, President of Love Bear Lake as presented to the Commissioners asks for our congressional delegation. This study would determine how much water has been released downstream for flood control since 1970 and how much water would be in the lake at present as well.
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to write letters to each member of congress requesting that they introduce legislation that will allow the use of local funds already expended as the local match for a Corps of Engineers Comprehensive Study for water storage of the Bear River Drainage. Motion was unanimous.
AIRPORT
Olean Parker met with the Commissioners requesting assistance with replacing the ladder on the beacon tower at the airport. As per Olean’s request, the Commissioners agreed the County would pay the bill of $1,232.00 for painting the beacon light tower and the man to do it.
BUILDING INSPECTOR ISSUES
Kelton Larsen, Snowslide LLC, discussed with the Commissioners how disgusted he was with the County for not having a building inspector and the substandard housing not only in the Dingle area, which he noted should be called the Dingle Dump, but also throughout the County. He discussed the straw houses being built, safety issues, toxic waste, pollutants and the water table problems in Dingle and wants something done to help clean it up and taken care of. He said that his property value has decreased because of the trashy places that are next to his property and that his attorney will be petitioning the county to adopt minimal building codes to help control these situations in the County.
WATER TRUCK BID OPENING
Bids were promptly opened at 11:00 a.m. for one New Water Truck for the Road & Bridge Department as previously advertised. One bid was received from Sterling Trucks of Utah in the amount of $87,264.
Commissioner Cochran made a motion, seconded by Chairman Clark to accept the bid from Sterling Trucks of Utah as presented. Motion unanimously carried.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to recess the regular meeting and to convene an executive session to discuss building inspectors and codes, public access and properties. Motion unanimously carried.
At the conclusion of the executive session, Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to adjourn the executive session and to reconvene the regular meeting. Motion unanimously carried.
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to recess the regular meeting and to convene as a Board of Equalization. Motion unanimously carried.
As no one appeared to contest their values, Chairman Clark made a motion to recess the Board of Equalization meeting and to reconvene the regular meeting. Motion unanimously carried.
PREVIOUS MINUTES APPROVED
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to approve the minutes as presented by Clerk Eborn for the regular meeting held on June 14, 2004 and the Board of Equalization meeting held on June 28, 2004. Motion unanimously carried.
COMCAST CABLE AGREEMENT
Based upon Attorney Helm’s approval, the Commissioners signed the renewal agreement with Comcast Cable Company for the television franchise with the County in the Fish Haven and St. Charles areas.
ROAD & BRIDGE EMPLOYEE ISSUES
Road Supervisor Skinner, on behalf of Jeff Smith and Jeff Talbot asked the Commissioners if the full-time hire date of two of his Road & Bridge Employees could be changed back to their part-time hire date. The Commissioners, after reviewing the Minutes noted that their full-time hire date would stay as is, October 1, 1999.
GARBAGE FEES
The Commissioners discussed a request previously made by Mike Derricott, Planning and Zoning on behalf of Ted Sulsion who is building an all metal house in the Blue Bird Hills Subdivision and would like a garbage fee refund as there is no refuse to dispose of.
Chairman Clark made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to add to and clarify the Bear Lake County Solid Waste Fee Policy to state that “no construction bin fee charge will be required for modular homes, metal buildings and garages”. Motion unanimously carried.
ALLRED CENTER
The Commissioners reviewed a letter from Cliff Walters, Bear Lake School District Superintendent stating that they would not be using the Allred Center for an Alternative School site as the costs to operate the facility would be too significant. The Middle School would be more economical.
AIRPORT BOARD
The Commissioners unanimously agreed to take under advisement the reorganization of the Airport Board.
COUNTY PROPERTY
The Commissioners discussed 2 pieces of property the county currently owns up Paris Canyon, previously discussed during last months meeting with Treasurer Wallentine, and the process of selling them. They discussed the fact that the county is not allowed by law to advertise thru a realtor, but suggested using an on-line bidding process for selling the properties instead of auctioning them off on the courthouse steps. Attorney Helm noted it was all right as long as the bid was advertised correctly with the web site and that there was a public terminal in the Courthouse for people to use.
QUARTERLY REPORTS
Quarterly reports for the Sheriff, Treasurer and Clerk’s Offices were reviewed and approved by the Commissioners.
TRANSPORTATION PLAN ADOPTED
Commissioner Michaelson made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Cochran to adopt the Transportation Plan as presented by JRH Engineering on September 20, 2002. Motion unanimously carried.
LANDFILL
Commissioner Michaelson discussed the groundwater monitoring report and if the upper well has been fixed in order to take a sample. Road Supervisor Skinner noted that the hospital has a camera that they could use in order to see how far down the bend was and how bad. Commissioner Michaelson would still like to run a mandrill down the well in order to try and straighten it out, which would save the county money if it could be done.
RESOLUTION #2004-10 – AIRPORT BUDGET INCREASE
Pursuant to Idaho Code 31-1605, the Commissioners acted unanimously to adopt Resolution #2004-10, to increase the airport budget $30,000 as follows:
RESOLUTION #2004-10
Pursuant to Idaho Code 31-1605, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Bear Lake Board of County Commissioners hereby authorize and direct the Bear Lake County Prosecuting Attorney to petition the District Court to open the Fiscal Year 2003-2004 budget to increase the following budget:
AIRPORT
/s/ Don C. Clark_______________
DON C. CLARK, Chairman of the
Board of County Commissioners
ROAD & BRIDGE/SOLID WASTE ISSUES
Greg Skinner, Road Supervisor gave a brief synopsis of the roadwork being done throughout the county. He discussed the possibility of leasing a bulldozer in order to help save the county money as one could not be afforded at this time. The Commissioners agreed and told Mr. Skinner to go ahead and find a dozer to lease.
Supervisor Skinner said he has bid specifications for a new automated garbage truck. He said it would cost approximately $180,000. The Commissioners told Supervisor Skinner that they would look at funding available in the budget and take it under advisement.
Supervisor Skinner also addressed a letter from Rex Payne, Roy Bunderson and Philip Ward, Bloomington residents requesting that a portion of a county maintained road located in Bloomington from Jim Mattson’s hay stack yard to pole line road be maintained on an as needed basis for winter travel as the road is very narrow and has two very difficult curves to maintain for snow removal. This would save the county money and the landowners from repairing their fences due to the removal of drifting snow. Supervisor Skinner said he couldn’t see where this would be a problem.
The Commissioners agreed to keep the road maintained during the winter on an as needed basis.
LEWIS PROPERTY USAGE IN FISH HAVEN
The Commissioners reviewed a letter, via fax from Scott Bittner, Fish Haven resident, regarding the rental use of the Lewis Property for the Bear Lake Regional Commission.
CLAIMS
The Commissioners reviewed and approved claims as submitted authorizing Clerk Eborn to make payment as follows:
Meeting adjourned subject to recall by the Chairman or his order.