SRS Funding Might be Coming Back
Adams County Commissioners
SRS Funding Might be Coming Back
Camille Collings, Council Correspondent
Monday, June 23rd, the Adams County Commissioners held their final monthly meeting. Commissioner Viki Purdy told the other commissioners that she was told they did get SRS (Secure Rural Schools) through the senate. She wondered what that would mean for logging. “We really need to log, no matter what,” she said. They started talking about the Lava Fire from last year. The commissioners were planning on doing a tour of the burn area next month with the Payette Forest Coalition. The fire burned very hot and the commissioners were concerned about the new growth and thought they should maybe publicly request them to replant the area.
Commissioner Joe Iveson asked Clerk Sherry Ward if she had heard back from the prosecuting attorney about using election fund money for purchasing property. Clerk Ward read an email from Attorney Donovan which basically said yes, if the property was used for conducting elections. The commissioners discussed the buildings they were interested in buying from the city. Commissioner Daren Ward advised that they get a building inspection on the office building and the other commissioners agreed that would be a good idea, and decided to see if the county building inspector could do it. Commissioner Iveson thought they might have enough budget in capital projects that they could buy two of the empty lots as well.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, arrived and commissioner Viki Purdy thanked her for the meeting Fisher held last week on the projects at Brundage, Purdy said it was a fantastic update and she enjoyed it. Fisher had one issue she wanted to follow up on at the rodeo grounds. There was a donation of rock from a rock pit that had set hours for when they could haul, but they had a volunteer who could only haul to the rodeo grounds outside of those set hours. Commissioner Iveson said it had already happened, they talked to the neighbor and it was all well. They were on a time crunch to get it done. Fisher said in the future they could do an action item to approve it and send a letter to all the neighbors.
Steve Shelton, with Solid Waste, said they finished welding all the pipe and it was ready to be buried as soon as they got the rock hauled. The wells should be done some time in July. Also, someone dumped garbage in New Meadows and he was wondering if they could put up a camera. Commissioner Ward asked if there was internet at the site. Shelton said no. He also said they finished the pond liners last week and are still needing a rock truck and a loader.
Commissioner Viki Purdy told the other commissioners that Idaho Power was requesting a pretty big rate increase. Clerk Sherry Ward said she wondered if she should add it to the budget, and they thought she should.
Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, said they were working on dust abatement. The Council blade was broken so they were down one. They were also down people. They spoke about Middle Fork Road and how it was in bad shape after all the logging. Commissioner Ward said he had a compliment about how good Cottonwood Creek Road looked after they bladed it but then someone cleaned the ditches and placed all the dirt on top of the road. He thought they should have cleaned the ditches first, not the other way around. Balderson said it was a farmer and it was already on his radar to go back and clean it up.
Next, Sheriff Ryan Zollman arrived along with Indian Valley residents Artis and Craig Boll. The Bolls came to talk to the commissioners about issues with a neighbor’s dog barking all night long. They said they have a neighbor that moved in about five years ago who has livestock and at least two dogs out in the field with the livestock. One of the dogs barks all night long every night. The neighbors claim it’s guarding the livestock, but they have watched it at light and there are no disturbances, it lies in the field barking. They had an audio tape of the dog. They have talked to the neighbor and said they like the neighbor and they like dogs, but they had enough of the barking. A couple weeks ago they called the Sheriff’s Office, but there isn’t really anything the Sheriff can do since there is no county ordinance. Craig Boll said they are reduced to sleeping with earplugs and headphones, they can’t open their windows because of the barking all night. They would like to have something in code, they didn’t care about consequences or trying to get the neighbor in trouble, they just wanted something so the sheriff could go and say they were in violation. Artis Boll had a log chart showing the hours the dog was barking over a two week period, she said it barks all night long. Craig Boll said that the city of Council had an ordinance, and so did New Meadows. “I don’t see why the peace of someone in Council is any more precious than mine,” said Boll, “and yet in Council they can do something about it.”
Commissioner Iveson said he was very sympathetic to their plight, but a dog barking or noise ordinance was a very difficult thing to do. Commissioner Purdy added that you don’t want a stock dog trained not to bark. Iveson said they talked about it last week and the only option they could think of was to pursue something civil. Boll asked about the State section on disturbing the peace and why it wouldn’t apply. Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donovan said because it said something about malicious and willful and he didn’t think that would fly unless they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the dog was barking because of maliciousness and willfulness on the part of the owner.
Commissioner Viki Purdy was not in favor of doing an ordinance. “We can’t just pass a law or an ordinance for every problem that everybody has with a neighbor,” she said. She saw too many problems with an ordinance and restricting agriculture. Commissioner Iveson was sympathetic but in agreement, he advised the Bolls to really sit down with the neighbor and talk to them. Commissioner Ward said he was not opposed to a county ordinance. He said he saw Purdy’s point of view but that a livestock guardian dog’s purpose was not to sit and bark all night long. Iveson said if they were to do an ordinance it would have to be something like dog only, so it didn’t incorporate things like weaning calves. Peter Donovan said he could pull up some similar ordinances for the commissioners to look at if they wanted, such as Ada county’s Habitual Barking Ordinance. Purdy was not keen on the idea “There’s always going to be some thing that some neighbor’s not going to like,” She said, “pretty soon we’re just, we’re no better than the city!’
Sheriff Ryan Zollman said he agreed if they are going to go out they need to have something to back them up. He wasn’t opposed to advising neighbors they could be civilly liable if that was the case.
After the Bolls left, Zollman had the final lease agreement for the patrol vehicles for the commissioners to sign. He also asked them about the health center contract. They put in for an increase, which they haven’t had since 2018. They talked for a while about the reimbursement rates for inmates. He said there were 4 county inmates and 24 state inmates. There were two frames of mind about the state rates among county jails. Some people thought it wasn’t nearly enough. Zollman thought they helped to offset the costs they would already have.
Next, Meredith Fisher returned along with several representatives from Mountain Origins for the final plan for Brundage Mountain Phase 1B “Norhaven.” Fisher Read the staff memo into the record. There was some additional language that was changed for the conditions of approval as well, including that they were subject to approval of water and sewer infrastructure and lifting of sanitary restrictions by DEQ prior to issuing building permits. Mountain Origins had some issues with some of the wording that they saw as holding things up even more during their very short building season and giving the county the possibility of overriding DEQ. They all decided to take a quick break and rewrite the section so that the wording made both parties happier. The commissioners approved with the addressed conditions.
