Brundage Project Moving Forward; Fire Season Outlook
On Monday, May 19th, the Adams County Commissioners met at the Adams County Courthouse for their second monthly meeting.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said that they were getting ready to approve phase two at Brundage. She also mentioned that on one block they had planned for a hotel but now it was going to be condos. Other blocks were listed as undetermined, but Fisher thought the time to determine them was coming up and it was possible they might need to go through preliminary plat. Commissioner Viki Purdy thought it was a bummer about the hotel but understood that it might be a problem finding staffing. They also talked about the new nursery in Council that had sounded like a farm stand to Fisher but now is sounding more like a commercial business and might need to be looked into. The biggest concern is the owner had a sign encouraging people to park on the right-of-way, which might be a problem. Fisher thought it might actually require a conditional use permit. The commissioners were sympathetic to the business owner and encouraging of new small businesses. Commissioner Purdy said “Well, we sure support her business but parking might be an issue so maybe we can help her make a better decision.”
Next, Channel Sanderson and Patrick McMahon, from Council Computers, arrived to talk with the commissioners about I.T. and the Information Technology Project Liaison job, which a county employee will be filling, to help streamline communication and approval for all things regarding I.T. The commissioners thought having one point of contact should save Council Computer’s time and the county money. Sheriff Ryan Zolllman, who frequently has I.T. emergencies, asked who they should be contacting for emergency and after-hours problems. The commissioners thought he should go directly to Council Computers for after hours emergencies but to C.C. the liaison on all communications.
Steve Shelton, with Solid Waste, was not able to make his time due to illness. The commissioners talked a little more about the proposed new ambulance districts and the possibilities of annexing and de-annexing. They did not come up with any new insights. Commissioner Purdy reiterated her distaste for the proposal. “The whole thing seems very convoluted to me and pretty unnecessary,” she said.
Sheriff Ryan Zollman said there were 23 state inmates and five county. Everything is working well. He had interviews later that he was hopeful about. In patrol, they are down two, three in detention, and fully staffed in dispatched. Then they talked about the lack of housing in the community and how it is preventing people from moving to the area and filling jobs.
Next, several representatives from the Forest Service arrived to give an update. The new Fire Management Officer, Patrick Schon, who is taking over for Dave Vining, introduced himself to the commissioners and gave an update of the fire outlook for the year. Schon said that last year was 94% of normal water, and last year fuels were 90th percentile by the end of July, which was right when the Limepoint Fire started. There was a higher than average year for starts and acres burned, most were lighting caused. There were nearly 10,000 lightning strikes on the Forest last year.
For the 24/25 season, the area is at 138% of normal precipitation as of May, and a little below average snowfall. There is still a decent amount of snow but it is melting quickly. A La Niña pattern has prevailed recently but things could still go either way. The May, June and July three month outlook looks above normal for temperature and below normal for precipitation. It might be a hot and dry summer, however, the monsoonal pattern is such that there are typically less lightning storms. Schon said in his experience on the Payette, June precipitation is a good prediction of the fire potential. A wet cool June would be beneficial.
They are about 80% staffed, which is about typical. They are still looking for some key engine captain positions. Dispatch is also still hiring and that is a concern of his if they remain short staffed there. They are also down red-card, non -ire personnel, and he sees some new challenges this year with staffing. He hopes to remain in close communication with the commissioners about these and agreed to giving the commissioners his personal phone number.
A community member asked about private landowners working on fires. Schon said that if there is no agreement, they can’t get paid, but “anybody can take an independent response on a fire,” at least initially when no one is there. Ray Bilbao, the Council AMFO, brought up the Rangeland Fire Protection Association, or RFPA, as a good option for community members who want to help. Members of the RFPA are not told to leave. Bilbao said that people who join the RFPA get training, equipment, and radios, and are often asked to stay and help.“It is the entity the Idaho state has set up to be a big player and it should be,” said Bilbao.
The new Council District Ranger gave some of his background and said he was excited to be back in the area but has only been on the job for two weeks. He said they were doing salvage logging on Lava this winter, and are looking to do more surveying when the snow melts.
New Meadows District Ranger, Dana Harris, said they were starting logging operations on Pine Ridge by Lost Valley reservoir. They are doing hazard tree falling at Cold Springs Campground so it can open up. Granite Goose has been on pause, they are briefing the Deputy Regional Forester this week to see if it’s good to move forward. Commissioner Iveson requested they bring Andy Baumgartner to the next meeting to talk about moving the cattle around in the fire areas. Iveson said the Payette National Forest was really good about getting the cattle out and it was very much appreciated.
Goldbug and Hot Potato sales and Quaking Pines by No Business should be starting up. There are no active lawsuits on any of the sales. There is a lot of log hauling going up Middle fork and Little Weiser. They are looking at opening up road closures from the fires and fixing the burnt bridges. They might be replacing bridges with steel instead of wood, which would be good in the event of another fire. There is $10 million in disaster supplemental funding coming to the Forest, but they don’t know much about how it will be allocated yet. The Lost Valley Reservoir expansion had a request for a permit put in and it was approved last week, so things are moving forward with that. There will be a fire personnel training at Lost Valley Reservoir on Wednesday that will involve live fire and there may be some smoke from that visible.
After a short lunch, Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, arrived. He said he looked at the “private road” sign the commissioners told him about and there is some history behind it. It was a county road and then it stopped being maintained by the county. He didn’t see it on the Blue Line Map, but it does access the Forest. There is some paperwork on it. The commissioners thought the prosecuting attorney should look it over and see if it was something they should pursue.
They talked about equipment. Commissioner Daren Ward had mentioned looking at an auction in California that had equipment they were looking for, they discussed pros and cons of buying new, leasing, or buying from auction. They decided to shop around a bit and talk about it again at the next meeting. A resident at the meeting asked where the county gets their money from. Commissioner Iveson said around $2.7 million of the county’s $10 million dollar budget comes from the taxpayers, the rest is mostly grants and over $500,000 is PILT money. No property tax dollars go to Road and Bridge, some fuel tax does. Mostly Road and Bridge runs on grants and state funds. When asked how they can increase funding Commissioner Viki Purdy said they can’t raise property taxes, the state does that. They can only increase the budget by 3% each year, despite actual costs going up more. There are no highway districts in the county but Iveson joked one thing they could do would be make Council Cuprum rd to Bear a toll road, as it is the counties longest road. This was not something they are ever really considering doing but he said they might have to get creative someday when it needed to be repaved, and he hoped he would be long gone from the commissioners seat before that happened.
