***Monday, March 15, 2021, at 9:00 a.m., Commissioners met in regular session with Chairman Dan Dinning, Commissioner Wally Cossairt, Commissioner Tim Bertling, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.
Commissioners gave the opening invocation and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
9:00 a.m., Road and Bridge Department Co-Superintendents Renee Nelson and Randy Morris joined the meeting to give the department report. A written report was provided.
Property owner John Taft joined the meeting.
Mr. Morris said Road and Bridge is getting ready to start their spring and summer work. Graders are out working and brooming will start shortly if possible. Road and Bridge is taking the sand boxes off the trucks. Road and Bridge is receiving a lot of hauling permits and nurseries are just getting started. Mr. Morris spoke of planning to remove the barricades from the end of Blume Hill Road.
Ms. Nelson said she did receive the quote from Freightliner Northwest listing the rates and options for financing so she will forward that information to County Civil Attorney Tevis Hull, along with sending him the finance information from Columbia Bank. Ms. Nelson said she’s also working with Attorney Hull on getting the finance documents from Caterpillar Financial for the two graders.
An inquiry was made about the status of the parking lot at Boundary Creek and it was said the other entity is supposed to get information to the county.
Commissioners asked Mr. Morris if Road and Bridge is seeing cooperation regarding the use of hauling permits. Mr. Morris mentioned that Pro X and Badger Building are both working well with Road and Bridge on split loads.
Chairman Dinning said Commissioners don’t yet know how much funding the county will get from the State and Ms. Nelson added that she doesn’t know the figure for Boundary County. Chairman Dinning said he thought the figure was $500,000.00 or more between the two different sources. The first source’s payment comes in year 2022 and the second funding source will be in year 2023, per Clerk Poston.
Commissioners asked Ms. Nelson about progress on the Riverside Road Improvement Project. Ms. Nelson said the project is not getting postponed, and it might start later in the year. Ms. Nelson thanked the staff with the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council (LHTAC) for their assistance on projects. Chairman Dinning asked what is needed to get Myrtle Creek Bridge back in some type of program. Ms. Nelson replied that she feels there will be another round of applications for bridge projects this fall, but she feels the Myrtle Creek Bridge would be too expensive for that program. Chairman Dinning said in thinking ahead, would LHTAC help the county with the Naples Bridge project if the county agreed to eliminate one exit. Ms. Nelson said that has been mentioned in the past.
Commissioner Bertling said he was shown a picture by someone on Pleasant Valley Road that Don Grove is not complying with rules for hauling. Mr. Morris said that company is supposed to be running half loads right now until 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. Commissioner Bertling said this sighting was approximately 7:00 p.m. Chairman Dinning commented that there is a landowner who assists with the cost of providing calcium chloride on that road. Mr. Morris said that road was never built up to the level of traffic it gets.
Chairman Dinning asked for Ms. Nelson’s perception of last week’s meeting with the title companies.
The meeting with Ms. Nelson and Mr. Morris ended at 9:19 a.m.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the Certificate of Residency for Regina Claphan. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners canvassed the ballots from the Boundary County School District supplemental levy held on March 9, 2021. Clerk Poston said there was a 27% voter turnout and there were 1,051 yes votes and 995 no votes. There were no concerns or issue with the votes.
Commissioner Cossairt moved, acting as a Board of Canvassers of Election, do hereby state that the attached is a true and complete abstract of all votes cast within this county for the candidates and/or questions as they appeared at the election held on March 9, 2021, as shown by the records now on file in the County Clerk’s Office. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the Findings and Decision for Dayton Skrivseth’s Application for Variance #5-2021, from Boundary County Road Standards Ordinance 2020-2. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the Findings and Decision for Rebecca Henslee’s Application for Variance #3-3021, from Boundary County Road Standards Ordinance 2020-2. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve the minutes of March 1 & 2, 2021. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
9:30 a.m., Commissioner Dinning left Commissioners’ Chambers for the following discussion to consider the abandonment of a county road due to a conflict of interest.
Mr. Taft spoke of the road abandonment request made by Rick Dinning and he commented about having talked to Mr. Dinning about it. Mr. Taft mentioned that Mr. Dinning said he had a possible sale of property in that area, but the sale would not go forward unless the road was abandoned. Mr. Dinning and Mr. Taft share this road on one side of their properties. Mr. Taft said he’s not opposed to abandonment, but he would want an easement on Stellar Jay Road before the other road is abandoned so he’s able to get onto the county road. Mr. Taft added that the proposed buyer seems willing to work with him, but before anything happens, he would like a signed easement. Commissioner Bertling and Commissioner Cossairt both commented that they do not want to proceed with abandonment of that road.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to not proceed with the abandonment requested by Rick Dinning, of an unnamed county road, possibly Alder Road. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Taft left the meeting at 9:33 a.m.
Chairman Dinning returned to the meeting.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign Request for Reimbursement #10 for Airport Improvement Project #3-16-0004-017-2020 for the Boundary County Airport environmental assessment project. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
10:00 a.m., Boundary Ambulance Service Chief Jeff Lindsey contacted Commissioners via conference call. Boundary Ambulance Service Board Chairperson Nancy Russell joined the meeting.
10:00 a.m., Commissioner Cossairt moved to recess as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners and convene as the Boundary County Ambulance Service District Governing Board. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve the minutes of February 22, 2021, of the Boundary County Ambulance Service District Governing Board. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chief Lindsey mentioned he will be flying to Seattle on Wednesday to pick up the newest member of his fleet so that Boundary Ambulance Service will have a new ambulance and he commented that it’s good timing. Chief Lindsey informed Commissioners that Boundary Ambulance recently liquidated its fleet of vehicles down to a manageable size so they will have four ambulances once the new truck arrives, in addition to the pickup truck the supervisors drive. Everything was sold, according to Chief Lindsey. Looking into the future the question is how to replace the other units when the time comes. Chairman Dinning asked for the cost of the units. Chief Lindsey said when they update the next three vehicles, they will be able to get a chassis and mount the boxes onto them. The cost is right at $130,000.00, which is an approximate savings of $60,000.00 in just being able to reuse the box. Due to possible inflation, Boundary Ambulance would be looking at approximately $130,000.00 and $140,000.00. Chairman Dinning asked what the service life is for a truck and Chief Lindsey said Boundary Ambulance looks at 10 years, but that is a high number of years. In using Bonner County as an example, it’s approximately five years. Boundary Ambulance Service will soon be reaching that 10 year mark.
Chief Lindsey commented that Boundary Ambulance Service has been very busy and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Chief Lindsey said the Boundary County School District levy passed and he wondered if the county was considering a levy for the Ambulance Service District. Chief Lindsey said with what Boundary Ambulance Service has going on and with their five year plan, he’s looking at approximately $200,000.00 per year in order to catch up with price increases, costs of medical supplies, ambulance units, and personnel costs. Chairman Dinning asked if Boundary Ambulance has one paramedic position on shift 24/7. Chief Lindsey said they have two paramedics and one EMT on 24/7. Paramedics are full time and the EMTs are part-time. There is also a driver on call for the transfers that are out of the area. The future goal is to have two full-time ambulances in the county and Boundary Ambulance Service is at that point, but they just cannot afford to do it. Chairman Dinning asked if an override levy would allow that to occur. Chief Lindsey and Ms. Russell both said yes, and Chief Lindsey added that it would allow the addition of another personnel member. Chief Lindsey commented on having conversations with South Boundary Fire District about trying to house an Ambulance Service personnel member and unit at that location at the south end of the county. If more funds are secured, that would be a big goal to have that second ambulance staffed. Chairman Dinning asked if Chief Lindsey has preliminary costs for the proposed additional building they would like to build behind their office. Chairman Dinning said years ago, a study was done as to what area of the county most of the ambulance calls were coming from and then it was within a 10 mile circle. Chief Lindsey said most calls come from within city limits and there is also the vicinity of the Three Mile area and the corridor through Paradise Valley Fire and South Boundary Fire. The big concern is having all of Boundary Ambulance Service’s inventory stationed north of the river and having something happen at the south end of the county and there being no way to cover that emergency. It would be ideal to have a truck located both north and south of the Kootenai River.
Clerk Poston mentioned the county is levying over $400,000.00 for the Ambulance Service District.
Ms. Russell said Boundary Ambulance is more in the area of maintaining their equipment and they have their five year plan so it helps a lot to have that in place. The override would help as Boundary Ambulance Service is usually $100,000.00 short every year.
Ms. Russell left the meeting and Chief Lindsey ended his call.
10:19 a.m., Commissioner Cossairt moved to adjourn as the Boundary County Ambulance Service District and reconvene as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
10:30 a.m., Forest Service District Ranger Kevin Knauth contacted Commissioners via conference call to give an update on Forest Service projects.
Mr. Knauth mentioned that he didn’t have a lot to report on. As it pertains to the Westside Restoration project, the Forest Service has an internal team meeting tomorrow and they will look at the final list of comments received about the draft environmental assessment and the responses to those comments. Mr. Knauth said right now there are no major red flags that he’s seen or heard about. The next step will be to set up a Forestry Committee meeting to go over comments and get an update on where the project is at in this process. Internally, the Forest Service will schedule a meeting with staff at the Supervisor’s Office in Coeur d’ Alene to walk staff through where this process is. Once all of that is complete, a draft decision will be put together in order to initiate the objection process and people will have 45 days to go through the draft decision and issue any objections they may have. Mr. Knauth mentioned trying to work and consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Mr. Knauth said he is hearing there has been a lot of turn over for the Fish and Wildlife Service so they have newer staff who are not as greatly experienced in managing the species here in the Panhandle. Mr. Knauth said the first sale out of this area isn’t until this fall so he’s anticipating a June decision, but even if it’s in July, it will still be fine.
Mr. Knauth reminded Commissioners that Forest Supervisor Jeanne Higgins is retiring and Deputy Forest Supervisor Kim Pierson has filled that role while the region is actively looking to hire a full-time forest supervisor. Molly Ryan will fill Ms. Pierson’s position while Ms. Pierson is doing the forest supervisor duties.
Mr. Knauth said the Forest Service does plan on planting trees over approximately 800 acres so there will be planting crews in town. The contract for planting will start sometime after April in the lower elevation. The Forest Service has the authorization to do burning this spring so if weather allows, they will burn as much as possible. The Forest Service is letting the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Idaho Department of Lands store their trees in the Forest Service cooler and it makes it a lot easier as it’s a local location.
The meeting with Mr. Knauth ended at 10:41 a.m.
Assessor Dave Ryals joined the meeting at 10:43 a.m.
Assessor Ryals said he’s budgeted to purchase another appraiser vehicle and he’s ready to start looking into that process and wanted to make sure there is no issue. The Assessor’s Office has the Subaru and the three Tahoes. Assessor Ryals said he’s thinking of purchasing a vehicle smaller than the Tahoe, so it would be a midsize vehicle. The Subaru is a 2002 that has 60,000 miles on it and the issues it has had have been fixed. Assessor Ryals said in this current climate, trading the Subaru in would be a better return. Since the proposed new vehicle would not be a fleet purchase, the purchase price might be in the area of the $40,000.00 range, according to Assessor Ryals. Commissioners said they will need to get quotes and the description of the vehicle should be generic. Commissioners were in favor of Assessor’s Ryals seeking a new car.
Assessor Ryals left the meeting at 10:51 a.m.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the Request for Reimbursement #2 for the Airport Improvement Project #019 CARES Act grant. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Dinning said the Fair Board is requesting to increase the number of Fair Board members from five to seven, but Commissioners would like to know the reason for the increase so they will reach out to the Fair Board Chairman to get that information and continue their discussion to next week.
Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve the new private road name of Gypo Court. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
11:07 a.m., Property owner Joshua Joseph stopped by Commissioner’s Office to ask about a Planning and Zoning related question. Chairman Dinning said it’s his understanding in this situation that Mr. Joseph’s father-in-law can apply for a lot line adjustment in order to combine a smaller parcel to the larger existing parcel. Mr. Joseph’s father-in-law will need to request a variance through the Planning and Zoning Office for a five acre parcel as the zone has a 10 acre minimum, otherwise the lot will be non-confirming and the owner could not build on it. Chairman Dinning reiterated to Mr. Joseph that he will need to request a variance through Planning and Zoning in order to move forward.
Mr. Joseph left the meeting at 11:12 a.m.
Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
11:45 a.m., There being no further business, Commissioners adjourned with the exception of participating in the Idaho Association of Counties legislative Zoom call for District 1 at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
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DAN R. DINNING, Chairman
ATTEST:
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GLENDA POSTON, Clerk
By: Michelle Rohrwasser, Deputy Clerk