Soil & Water Dist. to Place Air Sensors
On Tuesday, February 18th, the Adams County Commissioners met at the Adams County Courthouse. First on the agenda, members of the Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District came to give an update to the commissioners. Chairman of the district, Wendy Green, and Supervisors, Charlie Munden and Kris Stone, came to represent the district. Green thanked the commissioners for the contribution that the county makes to the district and said that the money gets matched by the state so it goes even further. The district received a grant from the Idaho Water Resource Board to replace two old culverts on Thorn Creek and will be doing that this summer. A year and a half ago they purchased a no-till drill. It has a 12 foot planting width and a swivel design so it only takes up eight feet on the road. They bought it to make it available to local producers and have it available to rent for a very affordable price of $15 per acre plus a small deposit. A no-till drill helps improve soil health and everyone who has used it so far really likes it.
The Soil and Water Conservation District has purchased both Council and Indian Valley air quality monitors and want to install them next and are still trying to decide on locations. They are the PurpleAir brand. They were going to buy one for New Meadow too but discovered there already is one there. They are thinking of putting the one in Council at the school, but wanted to see what the commissioners thought. The results will be available to the public.
Over the last few years they have been putting a lot of effort into education and have been partnering with the Forest Service and the high school to work on projects with the children. They also offer $1000 scholarships to Adams County students who are studying Ag or Natural Resources and encourage anyone who is interested about scholarships to contact them.
Green said they would like input from the county if there are other issues the district may be able to help with locally. Commissioner Viki Purdy asked about the Lava Fire. She said she was concerned about the watershed. Green said she hasn’t seen any effects personally yet but that they can do some water quality testing. Kris Stone said that they have also collected sagebrush seeds for Fish and Game to aerially seed over the fire area.
Next, the commissioners talked briefly about insurance and money for the fire video. Adams County Clerk, Sherry Ward, said they have $3,100 in miscellaneous budget balance funds they could use if they wanted. Commissioner Joe Iveson said he supported the video project. Commissioner Viki Purdy talked about the video and how she thought funds for fires were currently being misused, and how this video could help with education. They motioned to approve $2,500 for the Fire Salvage Video. Commissioner Ward did not raise any new objections.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said she met with Idaho Power about long term planning for growth, but it seemed like a fruitless meeting. They told her they were looking at growth for the next 20-30 years, but Fisher said she wasn’t really sure where that would be that far out. She said the floodplain may be updated in the next few years and they will start doing town hall meetings about that in the future. After the discussion about the T-Mobile Tower last week, Fisher said she reached out to her contact and confirmed the tower is not being heightened and no new buildings are being constructed. She asked if it had anything to do with 5G or Starlink and they said it had nothing to do with Starlink and the tower already has 5G.
Next, the commissioners went into executive session to discuss a variety of topics, including legal matters and personnel.
Later that day, after several executive session, there was a demonstration for the county commissioners by Election Systems and Software on their DS300 polling place scanner and tabulator. It was not a voting machine, and all paper ballots are retained, but it would help streamline local elections. The demonstration showed the security features of the machine and how it worked. They said all products are federally certified and certified in Idaho. The commissioners listened to the demonstration and asked questions. One concern was about older voters and that there would be problems with the technology and if a poll worker was standing there to help it may cause concerns with anonymity. It was suggested that they may have to train voters on the machine somewhat. They also thought it would help alleviate concerns about whether an individual’s vote was counted, as they receive instant confirmation.
At the end of the demonstration The Elections Director and the Voting System Specialist from the Idaho Secretary of State’s office, who were both present for the demonstration, talked about last year’s election. They audited 16 counties last year, and two were hand count only counties. They said the hand count counties were where they saw the most mistakes. They didn’t want to bash hand counting, but said it is a very long day for poll workers, especially with the legislature now requiring that they count under and over votes. They thought Adams County could benefit from a machine like this, and said when they go and audit, they audit paper. This still has the paper trails so there can still be a paper audit. Hearing from the representatives from the Secretary of State’s office seemed to have the biggest impact on the commissioners, but they didn’t make any decisions at that time.
