County Commission minutes, June 3-4 |
| June23, 2013 |
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*** Clerk Glenda Poston joined the meeting. Blue Sky Broadcasting Reporter Mike Brown was in attendance of the meetings throughout the morning. Bonners Ferry Herald Reporter Laura Roady joined the meeting. Commissioners gave the morning’s opening invocation and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioner Pinkerton informed Mr. Gutshall
there has been another washout on Mr. Gutshall provided Commissioners with a copy of the memorandum of understanding with Stimpson Lumber Company pertaining to the storage of rock at the snowmobile park for a Stimpson Lumber Company project.
Mr. Gutshall said work to install a culvert on
Commissioner Kirby moved to go out for
semi-formal bids for the asphalt concrete paving
project for
Commissioner Kirby moved to authorize the
Chairman to sign the memorandum of understanding
with Stimpson Lumber Company to stockpile rock
at the snowmobile park until
The meeting with Mr. Gutshall ended at Ms. Roady left the meeting.
The meeting with Mr. Kothe ended at
9:50 a.m., Chairman Dinning said there is a
private individual who has agreed to allow
Sheriff’s Office deputies to practice shooting
on his property. A new agreement has been
drafted, but Prosecutor Douglas has rewritten it
to include more protections for the county.
Prosecutor
Commissioners received close-out documents from
the Department of Homeland Security and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The
documents are in regards to an agreement for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees
being held by the Sheriff’s Office. Being that Commissioner Pinkerton moved to authorize the Chairman to sign the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement close-out document, Reference #HSCEDM-12-P00014/P00004. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Skeen said he is conducting a monitored site study between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Mr. Skeen said if he has to adjust his part-time employees’ hours, he would propose closing the existing monitored sites for two hours rather than have another part-time employee cover those two hours in order to keep the hours of the existing part-time employees down. Mr. Skeen reviewed the number of cars that came to the various monitored sites between a specific period of time. Commissioner Kirby suggested opening the sites one hour later and closing them one hour earlier. Mr. Skeen said he would like to make any changes the same for all sites. Mr. Skeen said he estimated his budget would need an additional $56,000 per year if he had to provide medical insurance benefits to his part-time employees. That is approximately $8,000 per single employee. Mr. Skeen said he will conduct another waste stream study in July and he’s noticed that recycling seems to increase each year. In speaking about events such as Take It or Leave It at the landfill, Commissioner Dinning said he wants to keep liability down when it comes to people running around the landfill. Mr. Skeen said he will work with Blue Bird Recycling out of Coeur d’ Alene rather than having to ship recycled materials to Spokane. Mr. Skeen asked about the budget and briefly mentioned he hadn’t included a fee increase.
The meeting with Mr. Skeen ended at Commissioners discussed what to add to the agenda for the joint city/county meeting. Commissioner Kirby spoke of what it would take to bring a sewer system to the Three Mile area. It would take forming a sewer district and applying for a grant, according to Commissioner Kirby. Ms. Brown presented Commissioners with the number of cases for her department programs. YAB has 12 cases, Juvenile Probation has 56 cases with nine cases still pending final adjudication, adult misdemeanor has 75 cases, and unsupervised probation is low at 257 cases, but is starting to increase. This is the total probation case load, according to Ms. Brown. Chairman Dinning asked what the amount is that adults on probation pay. Ms. Brown said adults pay $20 per month while adults on unsupervised probation and juveniles do not pay. Ms. Brown said she’s looking at what the juveniles could be charged and what has been successfully collected. A urine analysis costs $3 and the cost to send them in is $6 for a total of $9. Ms. Brown said the Border Patrol left very nice furniture for her office when they relocated so there will be other furniture to surplus. Clerk Poston suggested circulating a list of the surplus office furniture or items to the other county departments who could possibly use it. Ms. Brown mentioned she would like to attend a restorative justice class that is at no cost to the county. Ms. Brown said she just needs Commissioners’ signature on the paperwork so she can attend.
Commissioner Kirby moved to go to into executive
session under Idaho Code #67-2345(1)b, to
consider the evaluation, dismissal or
disciplining of, or to hear complaints or
charges brought against, a public officer,
employee, staff member or individual agent, or
public school student. Commissioner Pinkerton
second. Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman
Dinning “aye”, Commissioner Pinkerton “aye” and
Commissioner Kirby “aye”. Motion passed
unanimously. County resident Liz Sloot joined the meeting. Commissioners, Mr. Dirks and Ms. Magee discussed the cost overrun for the elevator grant.
Clerk Glenda Poston and Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals
joined the meeting at Chairman Dinning mentioned the change order for the Restorium elevator project and Deputy Clerk Ryals said there have been two change orders. Not all grant fund requests have been received yet so there are a couple bills that haven’t been paid, which means the true balance owing for that line item will not be reflected, according to Deputy Clerk Ryals. Deputy Clerk Ryals mentioned that Sherri Wastweet with Panhandle Area Council said the change orders were for a fire door and the magnet so the fire door would close automatically if the fire alarm went off. Commissioner Kirby said he would hate to have to pay for something that someone else forgot. Chairman Dinning said he would like an expense and income sheet from day one with what had been agreed to be paid and what the cost of the fire door and magnets are. Chairman Dinning said if the $20,000 that is supposed to come to the county is received in the meantime, hold onto it until this is figured out. Deputy Clerk Ryals said $7,198 is still owing to Bonners Ferry Builders from February.
Deputy Clerk Ryals left the meeting at
The meeting with Mr. Dirks and Ms. Magee ended
at Mr. Pierce said they would like Commissioners to hold a town hall meetings once per month or once every other month in the evenings as there are people who can’t always get away from work during the day to attend Commissioners’ meetings. There are a lot of people in the community with good thoughts and ideas for the benefit of the community and of course there will be questions. There are some issues regarding days of the week that would work so if Commissioners approved holding town hall meetings, Thursday looks better, but it was said the day would be workable. It was said it’s understood that not all issues would be resolved, but a meeting would give people and Commissioners time to do research on issues raised. Chairman Dinning said input is always welcome as Commissioners don’t always see a perspective that needs to be seen, but he also doesn’t want a meeting to become unproductive and accusatory. If there is a concern, people can go ahead and address those concerns and Commissioners will see what can be done, but Chairman Dinning said he has seen meetings become very unproductive. Ms. Avery said she agrees that it doesn’t do any good to sit and argue. Commissioner Kirby said holding a meeting sounds fine to him.
Chairman Dinning said Commissioners are
significantly busier than a lot of people
recognize. It was said it would be extremely
valuable for the public to be present as opposed
to just one or two people and if a meeting could
be structured along those lines, Commissioners
could schedule a meeting. Ms. Avery said if four
meetings are all Commissioners can do, she will
work with that. Mr. Pierce said he would like to
see six meetings scheduled. Chairman Dinning
asked what is there that’s foreseen that needs
to be addressed every two months. Mr. Pierce
said speaking of agendas Agenda 21 is full of
things to look at. Chairman Dinning asked where
Mr. Pierce sees the county fitting in Agenda 21.
Mr. Pierce said not having done a lot of
research on Agenda 21, but it’s a grass roots
thing where it’s coming in at. It was said
Agenda 21 has not been put through in a
situation where everyone knows what’s taken
place with it. Chairman Dinning said he doesn’t
want a town hall meeting to be unproductive and
to take a position and debate it for a length of
time. Chairman Dinning said he’s aware of Agenda
21 and of the allegations and he asked what
action would Chairman Dinning said he gets a lot of things handed down from the state level in which the county can’t counter or go beyond so he would like these meetings to be as productive as possible. Ms. Avery said if there are issues with Agenda 21 and nothing can be done, then we need to see if researching having more people behind Commissioners would help as it’s also to Commissioners’ benefit if the public can help. Ms. Avery said if she could help, she is all for it. Ms. Sloot said one example of a reason to have a meeting is that the Fish and Wildlife Service has just started to consider delisting the grizzly bear and if that is done, where do Commissioners stand on taking gates down on Forest Service roads. Ms. Sloot said the whole purpose for the gates is to keep the grizzly bear in the forest so if the bear is off the off endangered list, why are gates needed. Chairman Dinning said the gates are to keep people out and right now the Fish and Wildlife Service is looking at just delisting the Glacier population. There is DNA analysis going in for the bear in the Cabinet-Yaak area and those results are coming out this fall so we will have a population estimate. The same thing will hopefully be accomplished in the Selkirks. It’s a slow process and until there is scientific documentation that meets the court’s criteria, there is no use going there, according to Chairman Dinning. With the assumption one big area will be delisted there still has to be a management plan put in place and that plan is where the managing agencies can keep gates closed to manage further. There can still be a management plan on the land and until there is some method with the ability to still interact within that, there’s only the ability to go to court. Chairman Dinning said he can agree and would love for every gate to be open, but can he legally challenge that, he doesn’t know. Ms. Sloot said the reason for town hall meetings is for Commissioners to explain issues to those in the public who can’t come to meetings during the day.
Commissioner Pinkerton said he thinks it’s
important to have town hall meetings as a
representation of people work during the day.
Commissioner Pinkerton said it’s clear why there
are meetings during the Ms. Stout said four times would be a sufficient number to meet and as often as tea party meets, they can be updated. It would be preferred to hold a town hall meeting in a facility that is large enough and so that people can count on the meeting being held on specific dates. Commissioners discussed various possible locations to hold meetings. Chairman Dinning said the best way to have a structure as far as an agenda is that anyone who wishes to speak should contact Commissioners’ Office with a name and contact number. Commissioners said they would discuss the locations to have a meeting.
The meeting to discuss holding town hall
meetings ended at
There being no further business, the meeting
recessed until tomorrow at 12:
*** Bonners Ferry Herald Reporter Laura Roady and Boundary County Economic Development Specialist David Sims also joined the meeting. Mr. Kramer introduced Mr. Meier to Commissioners and explained the position of public information officer had been expanded so the county can make sure someone is available to provide information and to have the ability to incorporate this position more often. Mr. Meier just attended public information officer training and another course on dealing with the media. Mr. Sims will also attend a class in the future, according to Mr. Sims. Mr. Kramer said one advantage is being able to work with the North Idaho Public Information Network so there will be both the local resources as well as contacts through the North Idaho Public Information Network. The role as public information officer is to support whatever agency the public information officer is working with to put together the facts of the incident and to get the blessing from that agency before releasing the information. Chairman Dinning said it may be beneficial to have Mr. Meier and Mr. Kramer join the department head/elected officials meeting.
Chairman Dinning said a majority of incidents Mr. Kramer mentioned trying to turn a corner and putting the public information officer out in front to get information out. Commissioner Pinkerton suggested Mr. Kramer put a tree chart in place so when there is a matter the first order of duty for the public information officer on call is to contact the media and take that duty off of Mr. Kramer or the responding agency that needs to focus on their incident. So the structure is already in place. Mr. Kramer spoke of the levels of public information training courses held. The core group would be Mr. Meier, Mr. Sims and Mike Weland as backup. Chairman Dinning spoke of having coordination with the local responding agencies and Mr. Meier said he’s spoken with all the fire chiefs and has discussed getting information out. Commissioner Pinkerton spoke of getting the correct information out and deciding which information is important to pass on. Commissioner Pinkerton said he feels strongly that a public information officer shouldn’t speak for an agency’s own public information officer who is already working the scene.
Mr. Kramer informed Commissioners the Local
Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is tomorrow
from
Mr. Meier said a public information officer
hasn’t been used much in
The meeting with Mr. Kramer, Mr. Meier and Mr.
Sims ended at Mr. Robinson presented his yearly report of predator activity. Mr. Robinson explained the conditions and behavior patterns of predators that he is able to kill them under, but the problem is being able to confirm the predator of the kill. Mr. Robinson said he has to be able to confirm the depredation in order to put the traps out. Chairman Dinning said what Mr. Robinson does is beneficial to the community and it’s appreciated. The effects of predatory wildlife to livestock were discussed and it was said there had been a fund to help reimburse farmers who have lost livestock. Mr. Hayes said there has gotten to be so many people. Mr. Robinson said he heard there currently is no funding for this, but the state is working to secure funding for next year.
The meeting with Mr. Hayes and Mr. Robinson
ended at Commissioner Pinkerton moved to approve the minutes of May 13 & 14, 2013. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Kirby moved to continue the meeting to address the Findings and Decision for Planning and Zoning Application #13-019, a request for a special event permit for a mud bog/rock crawl requested by DelRay Romero until 10:30 a.m. Commissioner Pinkerton second. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Gutshall stopped by Commissioners’ Office to
obtain the Chairman’s signature on
Commissioner Kirby moved to authorize the
signing of all construction phase documents for Mr. Gutshall said he has older equipment that he could try using biodiesel. Mr. Gutshall and Commissioners briefly discussed rock crushing.
Mr. Gutshall left the meeting at Commissioners said the county has tax deeded properties that have not sold at public auction and now the county can negotiate with anyone for those properties. Chairman Dinning said he wants this process to be fair and questioned the process of advertising under sealed bid.
The Findings and Decision included a synopsis of the public hearings and the list of conditions the application was approved under. The conditions are as follows: hours of operation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the event will occur on Saturday and Sunday only; all participating vehicles shall have mufflers; no alcoholic beverages will be sold or allowed at the event, all necessary permits will be obtained prior to the event and shall include Panhandle Health District, Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality; proof of liability insurance will be provided to the Planning and Zoning Administrator, a limit of 1,000 vehicles on the premise is imposed; and no parking is allowed on county roads or shoulders of roads.
Commissioner Kirby moved to adopt the Findings
and Decision as presented dated The meeting to adopt the Findings and Decision ended. Commissioners and Mr. Studer discussed holding public hearings for Planning and Zoning matters, the process of listening to public concerns, mitigation measures, and how each request for a permit has its own set of circumstances.
Mr. Studer left the meeting at Commissioner Pinkerton moved that the properties that did not sell at auction be prepared to be sold under the sealed bid process. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Kirby left the meeting at Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
Commissioner Kirby moved to go into executive
session under Idaho Code #67-2345(1)a, to
consider hiring a public officer, employee,
staff member or individual agent and Idaho Code
#67-2345(1)d, to consider records that are
exempt from disclosure as provided in chapter 3,
title 9, Idaho Code. Commissioner Pinkerton
second. Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman
Dinning “aye”, Commissioner Pinkerton “aye” and
Commissioner Kirby “aye”. Motion passed
unanimously. Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
There being no further business, the meeting
adjourned at /s/ DAN R. DINNING, Chairman Attest: /s/ GLENDA POSTON, Clerk By: Michelle Rohrwasser, Deputy Clerk |