STATE OF IDAHO
County of Idaho
OCTOBER SESSION October 2, 2012 FIRST TERM DAY
11:00 a.m. The board convened with Commissioners Skip Brandt, James Rockwell and Jim Chmelik and Kathy Ackerman, Clerk present.
The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
11:00 a.m. Syd regarding claims-
Current Expense $ 77,902.75 County Road and Bridge $ 55,013.99
Idaho County Fair $ 2,081.07 Search & Rescue $ 3,900.00
Noxious Weeds $ 1,872.10 Snowmobile 25-A $ 41.62
Snowmobile 25-B $ 41.62
Total Expenditures $ 140,853.15
Brandt moves to approve payment of claims. Chmelik seconds. Motion carries with all in favor.
11:15 a.m. Ackerman regarding the designation of polling places for the upcoming election. Brandt moves to accept polling places as listed (no change). Rockwell seconds. Motion carries with all in favor.
11:30 a.m. Brandt moves to go into Indigent proceedings pursuant to IC 31-874. Rockwell seconds. Roll call-all in favor.
0-Approval, 1 Denial, 0 Suspended/Tolled, 4-N1, 0 release-N1, 4-Liens, 0-Lien Release
11:35 a.m. End Executive Session
11:45 a.m. Sharon Cox regarding her upcoming retirement-plans on retiring at the end of the month. Sharon submits a copy of the announcement she provided to the Free Press-she is recommending Joan Hall as a replacement. The Commission will be looking at filling this as soon as possible. Commission thanks Sharon for her service and commitment. Sharon’s Retirement Announcement was formally accepted.
11:59 a.m. Break for lunch.
1:00 p.m. The Board reconvenes.
Brandt regarding email from Gordon Cruickshank-NFCSC group is still active. Rockwell moves to send money on for NFCSC dues. Brandt seconds the motion. Motion carries with all in favor.
1:15 p.m. Ihor Mereszczak and Betsy Ballard provide an update on the Sheep Fire-took over the fire on Saturday and are working on minimizing the movement of the fire-biggest issue they are facing is the drying air and expected winds. A cooperator’s meeting is set for Thursday at 10 am-public information meeting in White Bird on Thursday evening at the IOOF Hall at 6 pm. John Gaither, questions the amount of acres that was back-burned-Mereszczak estimates 3000 acres, although he is a newcomer to the fire-discussion. Zumalt questions regarding rehabbing the fire lines that have been established-Mereszczak indicates that they have been working well with residents and have only had one person indicate that they don’t want them to return to their property for rehab.
1:30 p.m. Greg Poncin Northern Rockies Incident Management Team Commander and Martha Smith, Incident Management Team liaison , provide update on the McGuire Complex Fire-they have about 650 people assigned to the fire with the goal of protecting personal property. They are expecting winds today that will test the fire and give them information on what it may do-discussion. Martha Smith invites Commission to participate in cooperator’s meeting on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.-advises that meetings with Dixie residents have gone very well and that the communities around there have been very responsive. John Gaither questions the amount of acres that were back-burned-Poncin advises that the terrain is not conducive to back burning. Mike Cook questions road damage-asks if the USFS will work on coordinating repairs so the area can be left as it was found. Smith advises that they are open to that and will work with Cook and Gene Meinen to set up a meeting to discuss.
2:00 p.m. Brandt moves to approve the minutes of the September 25 meeting as amended. Chmelik seconds. Motion carries with all in favor.
Gene Meinen regarding situation on the Morrow property-he spoke with Dwight Morrow and asked him to speak with the phone company regarding moving the lines. Morrow advised that he tried to contact the phone company and they declined to speak with him-Morrow has spoken with his nephew and nephew’s wife and they would like a letter from the Commission stating why the County is declining to move these lines and make the needed repairs-discussion. Brandt will talk to MacGregor about how to proceed.
Meinen regarding maintenance on the Salmon River Road-he has been discussing this with Federal Highways and has advised them that we are not opting to accept the road due to the concerns we have expressed in writing about the design and construction. Discussion. We will review this with MacGregor.
Meinen regarding work done on the Payette-they still have not reached an agreement, but they are still doing the work to leave it in good shape.
Meinen regarding letter to Doumecq Highway District-letter signed.
Order for Cancellation of Yield Taxes signed-$980.62
2:45 p.m. Brief recess for Jail Inspection.
3:00 p.m. Idaho State Tax Commission representatives, Tom Katsilometes, Rich Jackson, Ken Robert, Steve Fiscus and Greg Hines checking in to see if we have any issues that they can help with-they are working on establishing better relationships with counties. Steve Fiscus indicates that they have no issues with Idaho County and are just here to invite any questions or comments we might have. Ken Roberts advises that he is approaching his 3 month mark at the Commission and he has found that communication between taxpayers and the Commission is critical-he sees the job as one that supports and encourages businesses and the public regarding tax policy. Brandt questions changes in tax policy for the coming year-there are a couple of court cases that are under advisement with the Supreme Court with a decision hopefully on the way by the end of the year-discussion regarding cases. Another issue is regarding the personal property tax-they feel that this may be presented as legislation this year, as there seems to be more push and discussion. Local option tax has also been talked about a lot recently-they don’t know for sure how much steam this will gather. On a Federal level, streamlined sales tax is being discussed-this would allow our merchants to be more competitive as sales tax would be charged for online purchases as determined by ‘physical presence’ for venders. Jackson advises that there are a couple of committees that are reforming that will benefit Western states-will be meeting next month and streamlined sales tax will be discussed.
Zehner questions regarding the homeowner’s exemption-will it be revisited and possibly set at a fixed amount? Fiscus advises that they are approaching the $75,000 mark, which was where it was originally set. This will most likely be looked at this year.
Rockwell questions the amount that we are talking about on the personal property tax situation-Roberts advises. Discussion regarding replacement funding.
Roberts requests that the County carefully track the personal property tax issue.
Fiscus asks if the County has offered any type of an exemption as an incentive for business-Rockwell advises that it has been offered, but no one has opted to take advantage. Fiscus advises that an accurate inventory is very important in the event an exemption is offered as if the personal property is not listed it will always be exempt.
Orders for Cancellation of Taxes (to be re-billed for 2012) signed-$912.15, $826.23, $810.80, $912.15, $912.15, $912.15, $912.15, $611.49, $690.17, $980.62.
3:50 p.m. Elected Officials Meeting-Steve Frei and Doug Giddings cannot attend.
Sharon Cox-waiting for levies to be certified, then tax notices will be sent
James Zehner-$1.6 million in revenue was taken in for 2011 for their DMV-our location was ranked #3 in the State for customer satisfaction. Two new plates came out this year, with three being deleted-2000 must be sold or they are canceled. They just started selling the State Park Passport for $10, which allows free access-Assessor’s are not getting anything for administration fees. ITD is working on a Windows based computer system to replace the old system. A proposal being considered is that all recreational vehicle tags (snowmobiles, ATVs) will be sold through the DMV. Cottonwood Fire District and Grangeville Fire District both have annexations this year. A few members of Clearwater Water District are requesting de-annexation. Two appeals were filed on BOE decisions-one has been disallowed by the Tax Commission due to inappropriate signature on the appeal form. Appraisers are working on reappraisals-Grangeville will be up for reappraisal this year. Personal property tax situation is an issue.
Kirk MacGregor-Baldwin Springs Road is still under advisement with Judge Stegner. Received a call from Kevin Tomlinson regarding easement that was granted in the Elk City area-BLM has an issue with the language now-he will follow up with Jeff Cartwright. Some burglaries in Grangeville and the County have been solved and will soon be filed on. Lankford case is still pending. They are seeing increased methamphetamine activity in the County-a lot of it is people who are passing through. He has continued to work on the Clearwater Travel Plan suit with Clayne Tyler.
James Rockwell-Doug Sayer of Premier Technology, who has a manufacturing facility in Blackfoot, was approached a couple of years ago about moving some of his manufacturing operation here. As a result, tomorrow there will be a Career Expo for high school students to promote occupational training and opportunities. Doug has subcontracted work here. Warbird Weekend was a huge success and will continue to be promoted for economic development. Rockwell reports that there has been $106,000 net profit for fuel at the airport this summer.
Jim Chmelik-He is working on federal lands issue-will be traveling to Reno on Sunday and Monday to meet with the American Lands Council to try to pound out a resolution.
Skip Brandt-Traveled to Washington DC on the land exchange. NFCSC dues were on the back-burner, but will not be sent. Commission is meeting with the Clearwater County Commissioners on Thursday at 3:00 pm to discuss issues with the CBC. Labrador has presented legislation ……. Brandt questions the revitalization of a County Technology Committee-Zehner provides history of our computer development and current IT employees-will consider inviting Nolan Schoo to do a presentation. Solid Waste RFPs are due October 12-these will be reviewed on the 15th.
Kathy Ackerman-Office is gearing up for the election -a total of 856 Absentee ballots have been either sent out or voted in the Courthouse-74 have voted at the Courthouse since voting began September 24. Incoming and Continuing Education will be presented by IAC in November in Moscow. There will also be a District II meeting that day. Ackerman will be installed as District II President and James Zehner will be installed as District II Secretary/Treasurer.
4:55 p.m. Meeting adjourned.
Chairman:_______________________________ Attest:_______________________
