Budgets, Potential New Rockpit in Indian Valley, USFS Update
On Monday, June 17th, the Adams County Commissioners met for the first time during the month of June, due to the meeting the week prior being canceled. First on the agenda was Adams County Building inspector Kody Williams. Williams said they are at 69 permits today and 7 Ag exemptions. Things are going smoothly, the new pricing resolution will be in the newspaper shortly.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said that the resident who wanted to vacate his parcels from Walker Ranch subdivision was in technical review. The surveyor said he could not do the vacation and replat at the same time, they had to do one first and then the other. There is a meeting on the 20th to talk about the process and a Planning and Zoning meeting tonight (June 17), but she couldn’t recommend it for approval yet so it is off the docket. There will be a public hearing for a proposed rockpit in Indian Valley still on the agenda though. There are 18 houses that are within one mile of the site, some are in favor and some are not, however, regardless of whether they are in favor it does not comply with ordinance due to the houses. Historically, they have granted variance for existing rockpits that have come back online after a new home has been put in, but this one would be a brand new rockpit so it is a different situation. A resident who had a cabin that burnt down in Long View Subdivision and wants to rebuild it is looking for a variance because the old cabin was not 80 ft from the centerline of the road and the new one will not be either. The Commissioners thought 80 ft from the centerline seemed like a lot and wondered if that was really the ordinance there. 80 is what it is in the county where nothing is platted and is also policy in subdivisions where there is no other guidance. They are using the old foundation but would also like to add a deck that would go a little further than the existing footprint. The commissioners didn’t see why this would be a problem. Fisher also mentioned a .7 acre property near Vet Clinic Loop that is landlocked because the road was vacated in 2005. There is now a building where the road used to be and there is also a septic field in the old road. Also the issues that led to the road originally being vacated have not been resolved. Also the owner of the landlocked property also owns an adjacent property that she could potentially use to give access through. After reviewing the details and the neighboring parcels the commissioners thought it sounded like more of a family dispute and it would not be possible for them anyway.
After this, the commissioners went into a short executive session with Adam Balderson from Road and Bridge. After coming out of executive session, Balderson asked if the commissioners had looked over the list of items for the auction. The commissioners did that and thought they should set some minimum bids for vehicles, they recommended looking up Kelly Blue Book values and pricing the vehicles at the lower end. Balderson also said chip sealing is starting Wednesday on Council-Cuprum road. There will be two miles of single lane closures, but they are planning on being finished before the 4th of July. Paving on Missman will start near the end of this week and mag chloride on Goodrich will start the 18th.
Commissioner Viki Purdy said she was recently told they can use opioid funds for prescriptions for the jail, which, while small, would free up some funds for the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Ryan Zollman, who walked in then, said that would be very helpful.
Casey Hunt, IT Director, came in to discuss the backup for the Sheriff’s department with Sheriff Ryan Zollman. They had previously come up with a temporary solution and were ready to start the more permanent solution. Commissioner Daren Ward had one question, “where is this money coming from?” To which county Clerk Sherry Ward answered “I don’t know.” Hunt said she had some extra in her budget that could cover a portion of it. They all did some brainstorming to figure out how to shuffle funds around and cover it, and came up with a couple ideas to cover it temporarily. They approved the portion to come out of the IT budget for now and decided to check a few places for next week for the second part.
There are 22 state inmates today. The new A.C. unit is being problematic. The company has been sold to a bigger company but now has less employees in the area. The unit is under company warranty until September. Zollman has found a new local company to switch to after September. Sheriff Zollman also had a problem with the jail/courthouse fire alarm and smoke detector system and had a quote for repairing it which he thought was really high, although he also said it was not his expertise. He said if it is easier to move the control panel to a more central location he wouldn’t complain, and they have it temporarily fixed with electrical tape for now. He can see if there’s a chance they can get it covered through the homeland security grant, but they are making it work for now. The 17th of July was the date he thought he could get everything ready for the surplus auction by.
After this the Commissioners approved a resolution changing the days the landfill would be closed from Wednesday/Thursday to Tuesday/Wednesday. Starting on July 1st, the landfill and transfer station will be closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Next, Dana Harris with the Forest Service came to give an update. The West Zone had about 3000 acres of prescription fire completed. Logging started up Middle Fork and there will be a lot more there this summer. Sheep came on Price Valley and Smith Mountain last week. There are thinning contracts in the Bear area and also a timber harvest in Little Weiser. Roadwork has started along HWY 55, and there is a small timber sale at Last Chance that they will be starting. Other timber sales aren’t super busy this month. Sundance, a third party consulting company, is exploring the Lost Valley reservoir expansion and will be doing squirrel studies starting this week. Commissioner Joe Iveson asked Harris if this was something she actually saw happening. Harris said she’s not sure, it probably depends on the NEPA, which is still in the initial study state. The Forest Service is graveling around Lost Valley Reservoir and will be doing that most of the summer. Commissioner Iveson asked where the gravel is coming from. Harris said she thought it was coming from gravel pits up there but said she would double check. Last Chance Campground and a section of the road will be closed this summer because they are rerouting the stream as part of the road construction. So, due to lack of good emergency service access, they are closing the whole campground for the season. They are leaving the restrooms open by the trailhead. There is a new type 1 helicopter at Price Valley which is faster, can go further, and can deliver twice as many firefighters. They might have an open house for the Forest at some point soon for people to come out and see.
A Middle Fork resident came in to ask about dust abatement on the logging jobs going on. The speed limit past her house is 25 but not everyone is following that and the road is being beat up badly. They did dust control once and it lasted about a week. She wanted to know what plans there were for dust control over the summer. This resident has lived out there for 30 years and understands logging and doesn’t complain lightly. She also said when they did do something they did the whole road, which wasn’t really necessary because there are only certain stretches where there are residences. Harris said she would get her information to Jeff Jones that afternoon and have him give her and Commissioner Iveson a call and look into it.
After lunch, there was a public hearing for a variance to a hillside subdivision near Golf Lane. It was not a preliminary plat hearing, it was just to discuss whether a variance could be granted for the hillside subdivision requirements. Planning and Zoning previously had recommended approval with conditions. Neighbors of the property were notified and there was one piece of written comment and two people who showed up to comment in person. The reason they applied for a variance is because while the property is currently 90 acres, they are going to split it into two smaller parcels and retain a 78 acre parcel, which does not have the density that is usually an issue with the hillside subdivisions. The comments were regarding concerns about the road and future possibilities of development. However, as this hearing was just to consider the variance to the hillside subdivision, the commissioners told the people in opposition that they should come back again and keep bringing up their concerns as the process continues on. All of the issues will be brought up and discussed again during the preliminary plat application. The commissioners closed the public hearing and approved the variance to the hillside subdivision application with the conditions set forth by Panning and Zoning.
Next the commissioners went over the proposed budget for the assessors office with assessor Stacy Swift. Swift also mentioned some of the valuations for the lots at Brundage, which will bring in a lot more value to the county. They all talked about the process of valuations and how it affects taxes. Interestingly, increased valuations tend to lower the overall tax burden on individuals, as in Idaho, counties can only raise their budget by 3% each year. When there is more value to be taxed, the increased funds spread out the tax burden among more people. It does not, unfortunately, give the county more money to work with beyond the 3% they are allowed each year. Stacy Swift is president of the Assessors Association this year.
Finally, James McQue, the janitor, came in to discuss moving from hourly pay to a contract service. He said this is the only job he does hourly, the rest are all contracts. He would include his own workers comp and insurance and would find his own coverage during times he is sick or unavailable and was open to discussion including supplies as well. He said since he started he has had no complaints and numerous compliments. He said if he was doing the full 19 hours that was budgeted, then his proposal would come in under budget, but he prefers to get the work done faster and does not usually use the full 19 hours. The commissioners said they thought he was doing a fantastic job and was very professional. They wanted to consider his proposal and get back to him next week.
