COMMISSIONERS MINUTES                                         JUNE 13, 2005

 

The Elmore County Commissioners met in regular session on the above date in the Commissioner’s Room, basement of the Elmore County Courthouse, 150 South 4^th East, Mountain Home, Idaho.

 

Present at the meeting were Chairman Larry Rose, Commissioners Mary Egusquiza and Connie Cruser.  Also present at the meeting was Clerk Gail Best.

 

Expenses were reviewed and discussed.  A decision on the expenses was tabled.

 

Dennis Gibala of Skinner Fawcett, Bond Counsel, Bud Way of Wells Fargo Municipal Finance, Steve Simmons of Lombard Conrad Architects and Joe Conrad a partner in Lombard Conrad and of Conrad Consulting, Sheriff Rick Layher, Chief Deputy Sheriff Nick Schilz, and Captain Roy Lynn McCallum Jail Commander appeared before the Board to discuss the recent passage of the jail bond, and what the next steps will be.

 

Bud Way stated that we are now in the middle of the contest period, July 5^th is the last day for a protest to be filed on the jail bond election result.  Mr. Way stated he has had excellent cooperation with Mountain Home Air Force Base regarding the Base Realignment Advisory Committee (BRAC) findings and the potential economic impact on Elmore County and the Treasure Valley.

 

Dennis Gibala reviewed the draft copy of the Bond Resolution he had sent with the Board.  Mr. Gibala stated there are several issues to be decided by the Board.  The first issue is whether or not to purchase bond insurance.  The second issue, which he had already discussed with Clerk Best, is whether to do a bond resolution or a bond ordinance.  Mr. Gibala stated that Clerk Best thought a resolution would be the County’s preference.  Mr. Gibala stated the timing is a bit different between the two because an ordinance must be published and a resolution does not need to be published.  Mr. Gibala stated another decision would be whether to have a negotiated sale with Wells Fargo being the underwriter or a competitive bid.  Mr. Gibala stated that the competitive bid would take more time since it requires three publications, adding three additional weeks to the process of beginning the sale of bonds.

 

Mr. Way and Mr. Gibala both will be sending the Clerk more paperwork for the Board to consider, probably by the end of the week.  Mr. Way stated a tentative date of July 6^th has been considered for sale of the bonds, with the Friday prior for publication.  The tentative date for sale of the bonds was later changed to July 13^th due to the Wednesday publication of the paper and the final day to protest the election of July 5^th.

 

Steve Simmons and Joe Conrad reviewed their part of the project with the Board.  Mr. Conrad stated that the topographical survey was not included in the price and that would run about $2,500 to $3,500.  A geo-technical survey will also need to be done as they will need soil analysis.  Lombard Conrad will also do quality assurance.  Mr. Conrad stated they will probably need some assistance from dispatch and the E911 Board folks to decide about the hookups necessary for the dispatch equipment.  Mr. Conrad stated that their quote did include civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering and they will have a architectural landscape service as well.  Mr. Conrad stated they will start working on the schematic, working with Sheriff Lahyer through mid July.  Mr. Conrad stated there are several concepts; one is design, bid, build or you might choose design and build which he does not recommend.  Mr. Conrad also told the Board that they probably could do a utility bid package in the fall to get some of that work done, and that they could possibly put in a gravel road prior to the actual building time.  Mr. Conrad added that it would be nice for the public to see that work has begun on the project.

 

Commissioner Cruser asked how much a Construction Manager would cost, if the County were to hire one?  Mr. Conrad stated, if the County did choose that way, Lombard Conrad could handle the bid process and anyone interested could submit a bid to manage the project.  Mr. Conrad stated that when Russ Moorhead returned from vacation he would be getting together with the Sheriff to start working on the details of the plan.

 

Mike Freese of Senator Larry Craig’s office appeared before the Board to discuss any matters the Board felt their office could assist the County with.  Chairman Rose stated one of the immediate problems was the road to Atlanta.  Mr. Freese asked if anyone had applied for funds for the repairs.  Nick Schilz stated yes, he had tried to obtain funds from Homeland Security but the project did not qualify.  Nick stated that because of the fire in that area we are looking at four more years at least of these road washouts.  Mr.Freese stated he will check to see if there is anything out there that would help but he thinks the Transportation Department would have to be involved, which is State.

 

Mr. Freese stated he wanted to speak a little bit about the Base Realignment Advisory Committee (BRAC).  Mr. Freese stated that the BRAC delegation was impressed with Mountain Home Air Force Base and extremely impressed with the local Air Force Appreciation Day here in Mountain Home.  Mr. Freese stated that the Colonel with the BRAC team that visited said he has not seen anything comparable to Air Force Appreciation Day anywhere in the United States.  Mr. Freese said the base still has a way to go before it is “out of the woods” because there still is some major political hurdles to go before Mountain Home is secure in its’ position.

 

Motion by Rose, second by Egusquiza to adjourn for lunch.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

At 1:15 p.m. the Commissioners met in Executive Session 67-2345(d) on a motion by Rose, second by Egusquiza, with Social Services Director Marianne Bate.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

The following decisions were made:

 

NM-05-05-05 Motion by Egusquiza, second by Rose, to approve with a promissory note.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

NM-06-05-05 Motion by Rose, second by Cruser, to approve with a promissory note.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

K-05-05-02 Motion by Rose, second by Egusquiza, to deny as not indigent, we are not the obligated County, and we did not have an interview and never received any documentation.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

K-05-05-04 Motion by Rose, second by Egusquiza, to approve with a promissory note and repayment of $10.00 per month.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Still in Executive Session a Hearing of Reconsideration was held on K-02-05-04.  All three Commissioners were present, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Teri Kaptein, Social Services Director Marianne Bate, Bonnie Miller from the Elmore Medical Center, and Deputy Clerk Barbara Steele were also present.

 

Marianne Bate gave a brief statement of the case.  The applicant was not present.  Motion by Rose, second by Cruser, to issue a final denial of case K-02-05-04.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Regular session resumed.  Social Services Director Marianne Bate was still present and letters that were sent out for collections on indigent cases were discussed. 

 

Budget workshops were held for the Public Defender, Juvenile Justice & Probation, Prosecutor, and Data Processing departments.

 

Jay Sila, Department of Lands, and Bonnie Sharp, Growth & Development Director, appeared before the Board to discuss the amended Elk Valley Subdivision.  Mr. Sila stated the Department of Lands sometimes work with conservation easements - Mr. Sila gave the Board maps showing there is a 75 foot easement along the South Fork Boise River, which he had marked in green.  There also are eight lots marked with pink dots on the map, those lots will be auctioned off by the State, already developed.  Mr. Sila told the Board to think about the easement, perhaps one day down the road the County may want it. 

 

Al Sobtzak and Bonnie Sharp appeared to discuss the area of City Impact.  The city wants to have joint public hearings.  In reviewing the documents Mr. Sobtzak brought, Chairman Rose stated, on page one regarding zoning he had a question on subdivisions.  Mr. Sobtzak stated they should follow City ordinance to make sure that these subdivisions have to put in dry services in case they are annexed in.  Chairman Rose questioned about planned unit developments - what does the city ordinance say?  No one knew.  Chairman Rose told Mr. Sobtzak that he did a good job on the project.  A public hearing will be set for both City and County.

 

During the public portion of the meeting, Ron Swearingen of Mountain Home Economic Development appeared before the Board and stated that there is a lot of activity going on in Mountain Home.  Several site survey teams have visited the area in the past couple of months, two of which could go into the county which is why he has come to update the Board.  The companies, at this time, remain anonymous which is the way it is done now.  Companies hire people to visit potential sites on their behalf to find suitable places to locate their businesses.  Mr. Swearingen stated that the City of Mountain Home has talked about establishing an urban renewal district to help bring in business.  Mr. Swearingen spoke about the benefits of urban renewal districts and other incentive plans for promoting new business.

 

Motion by Egusquiza, second by Cruser, to approve the minutes of May 23, 26, and 31, 2005.  There was discussion.  There were some changes to the minutes of May 23, 2005.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion by Rose, second by Egusquiza to approve, for the record only, the Recorder’s Office Report, Clerk’s Bail Bond Report and Treasurer’s Office Report.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion to approve the payroll for May, 2005, by Rose, second by Egusquiza, in the amount of $310,142.15.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Prosecutor Bazzoli stated he is working on the Brown Dairy Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law and that he does have a draft of the Wind Power Ordinance he is working on in his computer.  Prosecutor Bazzoli also invited the Board to his swearing in ceremony as Magistrate Judge on June 24, 2005 at 3:30 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom.

 

Chairman Rose read the Certificates of Residency into the record: Jean Paul Edmond Archombeault, Mallorie Justine Hittle, Lisa Sievers Johnston, Marcus Dwayne Santistevan and

Jenny M. Jeffrey.  Motion by Rose, second by Cruser, to approve the Certificates of Residency as read.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Chairman Rose read the Requests for Tax Cancellations into the record: No. 777 - Eugene A. Huot $15.01, No. 778 - Northwest Pipeline Corp/Litigation Agreement $27,170.94, No. 779 - Marold Dilworth $51.18, No. 780 - El Tijuana’s Bar $46.80, and No. 781 - Kevin Geary $9.28 for a total of $27,293.21.  Motion by Rose, second by Cruser, to approve the tax cancellations as read.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion by Egusquiza, second by Cruser, to appoint Gail Best as Secretary and Merrilee Hiler as Treasurer for the Elmore County Ambulance District.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion by Egusquiza, second by Rose, that the Board accept and sign the $6,000.00 Elmore County Equipment Grant and direct Commissioner Egusquiza to sign the grant application.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

The Mountain Home Chamber CMRC Inc. liquor license application was discussed.  Motion by Rose, second by Cruser, to approve the liquor license for the Mountain Home Chamber, doing business as Desert Mountain Visitor Center.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion by Egusquiza, second by Rose, to approve F. Phillip Davis and Steve Scanlin to the Central District Health Board for a five year term ending June 30, 2010. 

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

Motion by Egusquiza, second by Rose, to approve cancellation of taxes for 2002 and 2003 in the amount of $20.00 and $17.68, respectively, plus penalty and interest, for the Glenns Ferry Highway District on property described as South half of Lot 5, Block 1, Valley View #1.

ROSE - AYE

EGUSQUIZA - AYE

CRUSER        - AYE    Motion carried and so ordered.

 

The Sage Community Resources Nursing Home Grant Project was discussed.  Motion by Egusquiza, second by Cruser, to direct the Chair to sign the Final Closeout documents for the Nursing Home Renovation Project.

ROSE - AYE