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Monday, June 06, 2011,
Commissioners met in regular session with
Chairman Ron Smith, Commissioner Dan Dinning,
Commissioner Walt Kirby, and Deputy Clerk
Michelle Rohrwasser. Also present was Lisa
Naccarato of the Bonners Ferry High School
Leadership Class and various high school
students from this class who job shadowed the
elected officials for the day.
9:00 a.m., Road and Bridge
Superintendent Jeff Gutshall joined the meeting
to give the departmental report. No written
report was submitted.
 Mr.
Gutshall spoke of the work on the
Moyie River Road. Mr.
Gutshall said he will upsize Road and Bridge’s
culverts and he will ask Jake Allen with Union
Pacific Railroad not to place silt near the Road
and Bridge culverts when Union Pacific has
someone clearing out the beaver dams. Mr.
Gutshall said he has to have the phone line out
of the way and a representative from Frontier
will see if a temporary line can be placed.
Mr. Gutshall said crews are
still hauling rock to finish the Farm to
Market Road
and completion will take a couple of weeks due
to delays. Mr. Gutshall said he will have crews
work on dust abatement and the Durapacher. Mr.
Gutshall said he still needs to get back to work
on fixing the slough on Deep Creek Loop.
Mr. Gutshall said the
crusher is running great and Road and Bridge is
getting chips ready for the chip sealing
program. The grinder is up at
Fawn Lane
and Road and Bridge will get to work on that
project as soon as an employee of Oxford Inc. is
available, according to Mr. Gutshall.
Commissioner Dinning asked when to anticipate
the road being treated with cement treated base
(CTB) and Mr. Gutshall said in August. Mr.
Gutshall said other CTB projects include the
State Highway to
Moyie Springs,
Roosevelt Street, and
the first portion of
Meadow Creek Road.
Chairman Smith spoke
briefly about the Idaho Transportation
Department (ITD) in relation to requesting the
speed limit at the Deep Creek Loop intersection
be reduced.
John Niewieroski left a
message with Commissioners requesting the
County’s assistance in rolling the field at
Valley
View School
so the lacrosse players can practice. Mr.
Gutshall said the roller is at
Fawn Lane right now,
but he could probably help Mr. Niewieroski. Mr.
Gutshall explained that he doesn’t have any
graders available. Mr. Gutshall said he doesn’t
like the idea of taking too much time away from
the work on the Farm to
Market Road.
The meeting with Mr.
Gutshall ended at
9:24 a.m.
Commissioners explained to
the high school students the process of
Commissioners’ meeting and taking minutes.
Commissioner Kirby moved to
approve the minutes of May 16 & 17, 2011.
Commissioner Dinning second. Motion passed
unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to amend the agenda at
3:30 p.m., today to allow discussion
and a possible motion to allow a proposal to be
sent to the Resource Advisory Council (RAC) on
behalf of Boundary
County and the Kootenai Valley
Resource Initiative (KVRI) as it is a time
sensitive matter. Commissioner Kirby second.
Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Smith said he is
going to write a letter to Colonel Wright with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers thanking him
for correspondence in regards to
Boundary
County’s flood emergencies.
9:35 a.m., Chief Deputy Sheriff Rich
Stephens and City of
Bonners Ferry Assistant Police Chief Joel Minor
joined the meeting. Clerk Glenda Poston and Lisa
Naccarato were also present.
Chairman Smith said in the
last week or two, signs of vandalism for the
class of 2011 have been showing up and somehow
the word needs to get out to the kids as to the
after effects of graffiti. If graffiti is
written on a public building or facility,
taxpayers’ money is what used to cover it up. If
graffiti is sprayed onto private property, the
property owner has to spend money to clean it
up. Chairman Smith said he thought about
submitting something to the newspaper about the
effects and costs involved in cleaning up the
graffiti.
Chief Deputy Rich Stephens
said the kids talk to each other and there is a
lot of pressure if they realize how graffiti has
a negative impact for school age students. Chief
Deputy Rich Stephens said there was a huge fight
to get this school levy passed and the taxpayers
will pay, and now it looks to be that students
are doing the graffiti. The community will
question why they should support the school
levies for kids when the students are doing
this. Chief Deputy Stephens added that the
public and businesses support scholarships for
local students.
Assistant Chief of Police
Joel Minor said a letter in the newspaper is
best as it doesn’t point fingers to the students
as a whole. Police Chief Minor said
Commissioners have held a meeting to voice
support for the school levy and Chairman Smith
has submitted a letter in the newspaper before
and he felt a letter on graffiti coming from
Chairman Smith would be best. It was said these
are the same taxpayers the school district has
asked for support day in and day out and it is
time to show respect. Chief Deputy Stephens said
the 2011 high school class will be going to work
soon and they may be the ones paying to fix this
damage as well. Chairman Smith mentioned the
County and City working together to try to
prevent graffiti.
Ms. Naccarato said this
graduating class has quite a bit of money left
over and that can be used to have the taggers
cover the graffiti and it would be a public
display for the taggers. Ms. Naccarato said she
would monitor the clean up. Ms. Naccarato said
graffiti is disrespectful and it would be easy
to have the taggers clean up what has been done
as they are used to paying fines and that type
of punishment. Assistant Chief Minor said he
thinks that would help the taxpayers see that
everyone is getting behind this to get it taken
care of.
The meeting with Chief
Deputy Stephens and Assistant Police Chief Minor
ended at 9:44 a.m.
9:45 a.m., Chief Deputy Clerk Tracie
Isaac and Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals joined Clerk
Glenda Poston and Commissioners to discuss
Search and Rescue’s request for funds.
It was said funds requested
by Search and Rescue are separate from Title III
monies. The funds generated for Search and
Rescue and Boundary Volunteer Ambulance come
from auto licensing fees, according to Clerk
Poston. Clerk Poston said she would review the
funding that has been coming to the County on a
yearly basis in the form of fees, but it has
been approximately $2,800 per year.
Commissioners said before any funds to the
Ambulance Association are affected, he would
like to meet and talk about it again.
Clerk Poston, Chief Deputy
Clerk Isaac, and Deputy Clerk Ryals left the
meeting at 9:47
a.m.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to support the Run for the Fallen. This is
Idaho’s first run to be
held in Boundary
County
on
August 20, 2011. Commissioner Kirby
second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners tended to
administrative duties.
10:00 a.m., County GIS Mapper Gary
Falcon and Clerk Glenda Poston joined the
meeting.
Commissioners discussed
re-districting Commissioners districts, which is
to be done every January that precedes a general
election. Clerk Poston further reviewed Idaho
Code on re-districting. Mr. Falcon said he could
download census data to look at the County’s
population. Chairman Smith asked if a newer map
could be hung in the Courthouse Lobby that would
better depict the Commissioner districts.
Commissioner Dinning said he recalled there
having to be a certain percentage of population
within each district. Clerk Poston said she
would locate more information on re-districting.
Commissioner Dinning asked
Mr. Falcon how working with Frontier
Communications on E911 matters is going. Mr.
Falcon said Frontier originally found 2,300
errors, but those errors have now been reduced
to 700. Mr. Falcon said he has been getting
calls from various divisions of Frontier
Communications, but those divisions are not
working together. Commissioner Dinning said
Idaho’s E9-1-1
Coordinator Eddie Goldsmith probably needs to be
aware of this communication when going forward
with other counties. Mr. Falcon said he will
start working on the remaining errors.
The meeting with Mr. Falcon
and Clerk Poston ended at10:15 a.m.
Commissioners tended to
administrative duties.
10:30 a.m., City of
Bonners Ferry Assistant Administrator David Sims
joined the meeting. Mr. Sims explained that a
property owner requested the City of
Bonners Ferry abandon his
prescriptive rights to Arapaho Alley. The only
maintenance the City has done is to plow the
snow when Ms. Douglas lived there, according to
Mr. Sims. Mr. Sims said the City will not give
up the platted description, just the
prescriptive description. Mr. Sims said the
abandonment should not affect the County-owned
property nearby.
Mr. Sims left the meeting.
Commissioners tended to
administrative duties.
Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals
joined the meeting at
11:04 a.m.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to go into closed session under Idaho Code
31-874. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed
unanimously.
11:15 a.m., Commissioner Dinning
moved to go out of closed session. Commissioner
Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to approve indigent 2011-37 as per the Clerk’s
recommendation. Commissioner Kirby second.
Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to accept the assignments to the Catastrophic
Health Care Program as follows: 29.5% for
indigent account #2010-41, 72.1% for indigent
account #2010-9, 72.8% for indigent account
#2010-10, 5.3% for indigent account #2010-21,
12.6% for indigent account #2010-23, and 86.9%
for indigent account #2010-37. Commissioner
Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to set monthly reimbursement at a minimum of $25
per month beginning in July 2011 on indigent
account #2011-6 plus 30% of any state or federal
tax refunds received annually. Commissioner
Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Deputy Clerk Nancy Ryals
left the meeting at
11:20 a.m.
11:25 a.m., Boundary Volunteer
Ambulance Association Chief Ken Baker joined the
meeting.
Commissioners discussed the
quotes received for cleaning the carpets in the
Extension Office. Courthouse Custodian Jim
Thompson had presented Commissioners with quotes
from two vendors, but one of the quotes included
a cost for carpet protector and the other did
not. Mr. Thompson went back to one of the
vendors to have the cost of carpet protector
included so the quotes were for the same
service. The quote from Carpet Pro totaled
$461.68 and the quote from Streamline Cleaning
totaled $585.89.
Commissioner Dinning moved
to accept quote from Carpet Pro for $461.68
subject to determining the budget. Commissioner
Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Baker referenced the
mass casualty trailer that sits behind the
Courthouse that belongs to Boundary County
Emergency Services. Mr. Baker said Dave Kramer
with Boundary County Emergency Services has
turned over the keys to this trailer to the
Ambulance Association to maintain. Mr. Baker
explained that this trailer was obtained via a
Panhandle Health District grant. Commissioner
Dinning asked who was the trailer awarded to and
who is to maintain it and Mr. Baker responded
that Mr. Kramer of Boundary County Emergency
Management was awarded this trailer. Mr. Baker
said this trailer is in the County’s inventory.
Commissioner Dinning suggested waiting until Mr.
Kramer gets back to deal with working this out
as there are questions of who is responsible for
maintaining the trailer. Chairman Smith said the
inventory list would need to be changed from
Emergency Services to the Ambulance Association.
Mr. Baker left the meeting.
Commissioners recessed for
lunch at 11:35
a.m.
1:30 p.m., Commissioners
reconvened for the afternoon session with
Chairman Smith, Commissioner Dinning,
Commissioner Kirby, and Deputy Clerk Michelle
Rohrwasser.
1:30 p.m., County Civil Attorney Phil
Robinson joined the meeting. Clerk Glenda Poston
and Blue Sky Broadcasting Reporter Mike Brown
also joined the meeting.
Those present discussed
receiving a letter from the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) requesting records of the
public defenders and prosecuting attorneys.
Clerk Poston and Attorney Robinson said they
would draft a response to the ACLU. Commissioner
Dinning questioned if the expenses for the
public defenders office is trying to be compared
to the prosecutor’s office. Attorney Robinson
said that comparison has been tried before and
he explained the types of cases that prosecutors
handle versus public defenders and the
associated costs and salaries. Commissioner
Dinning asked if the Idaho Counties Risk
Management Program (ICMRP) and the Idaho
Association of Counties (IAC) should be
notified. Clerk Poston said she would send this
information to those agencies.
Those present discussed
redistricting Commissioners’ districts.
Commissioner Dinning questioned if there is a
percentage of variation for Commissioner
Districts and what is the status. Attorney
Robinson said he believes there is a national
average. Attorney Robinson said he doesn’t think
there is an Idaho Code section for
redistricting.
1:55 p.m., Commissioners contacted
County GIS Mapper Gary Falcon via telephone to
discuss redistricting Commissioners’ districts.
Commissioners questioned when they may know the
County’s population count. Commissioner Dinning
said he thought there was an online site about
re-districting at the State level.
The call with Mr. Falcon
ended.
Commissioners and Attorney
Robinson discussed the vicious dog law and
questioned if any new information has been
heard. Chairman Smith explained the incident
involving a dog attack in
Moravia in year 2003. Chairman
Smith said State law says a dog has to bite
someone twice before the State can decide what
to do, but the County was trying to state the
Judge “may” take the dog if it bites once.
Chairman Smith said it was determined the County
ordinance couldn’t be enforced and the County
has been in limbo ever since. Attorney Robinson
said the new legislation pertaining to dogs
begins July 1, 2011 and it cleans up a lot of
language. The law defines a dangerous dog in
that to be considered dangerous doesn’t mean a
dog has to bite, etc. Attorney Robinson said a
dangerous dog can also be dogs at large, off
property, or non-herding dogs and the County can
expand on what the State will do. Chairman Smith
said all the County wants is an ordinance.
Attorney Robinson explained
the process of responding to dog calls in
Bonner
County. Attorney Robinson said the
work involved with dog calls will be done by the
Sheriff’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Commissioner Dinning said this issue was started
to prevent incidents like what occurred in
Moravia, but it is
evolving. Commissioner Dinning said when talking
about dogs running at large, that is most of our
County. Attorney Robinson spoke of the process
of citing the dog owners when their dog wanders
off its property onto someone else’s and a
report is filed. Commissioner Dinning said there
is one case where the two neighbors just didn’t
get along so doesn’t the law enforcement person
have to see the dog in violation. Attorney
Robinson said if that initial complaint is made,
the letter won’t be actionable, but the next
stage is citation-able, which is subject to
perjury. Commissioner Dinning said if the owner
of the dog is viewed as guilty because of
another’s statement, that ability could be
abused. Commissioner Dinning said this issue is
morphing into more. Commissioner Dinning said
the County wants to deal with vicious dogs not
so much the dogs at large.
Attorney Robinson said he
isn’t sure what the judge will say because the
State says a dog is allowed one bite. Attorney
Robinson said he would contact the Sheriff’s
Office and the Prosecutor’s Office to inform
them the dog ordinance is being redrafted.
Commissioner Dinning referred to new legislation
that states a dog at large has to have a collar
and tag. Commissioner Dinning said Idaho Code
has enforcement already. Chairman Smith
questioned why the County can’t adopt Idaho Code
as the County ordinance. Attorney Robinson said
Idaho Code refers to allowing two bites and the
Prosecutor’s Office has to receive the notices
or reports that the Sheriff’s Office issues.
Commissioner Dinning questioned what the
advantage is in adopting an ordinance if it is
already in effect and Attorney Robinson
responded it is limited at best. If no changes
are made to the State Code there is no sense in
having the County adopting it. Commissioner
Dinning said if the County is thinking of
adopting State code verbatim, there is no
advantage to adopt it. Attorney Robinson stated
if the written notices are not issued by law
enforcement, you can’t get to first base.
The meeting with Attorney
Robinson ended at
2:35 p.m.
2:35 p.m., Clerk Poston remained
after the meeting to discuss the upcoming
budget.
Clerk Poston said she is
waiting to receive the budgets for the Waterways
Grant funding and the Boat Safety Grant funding.
Clerk Poston said she forecasts $150,000 in
payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) so if it comes
in at $100,000 that will change things. Chairman
Smith asked about reserves.
Commissioner Dinning said
he thinks it would be a good idea to budget
$1,000 to $2,000 for the grizzly bear DNA study
that was discussed with
Lincoln
County (Montana)
Commissioner Tony Berget for the grizzly bear
DNA.
Clerk Poston resumed
discussing the proposed budgets to include GEM
Plan, PILT, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Drug
Seizure Account. Clerk Poston said the Extension
Office has submitted a $5,000 reduction in their
budget. Commissioners explained to the Bonners
Ferry Leadership Class students how the Junior
College out of district tuition works. Clerk
Poston said last year
Boundary County
spent $90,000 towards out of district tuition so
she will recalculate that budget. It was said
approximately $60,000 to $65,000 of the out of
district tuition budget comes from liquor tax
dollars. Clerk Poston said the budget for Solid
Waste fees are fine and Commissioner Dinning
asked about the ability to reduce those fees.
Clerk Poston said maybe the next budget year.
Commissioner Dinning spoke
of visiting with Andy Brunelle with the Forest
Service about Resource Advisory Committee (RAC)
and Title III funds. Commissioner Dinning said
Mr. Brunelle voiced the ability to use Title III
funds. Commissioner Dinning said in talking with
Mr. Brunelle and Patty Perry, there will be a
need to utilize those funds for a Collaborative
Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLRA) project.
Commissioner Dinning said the Kootenai drainage
is going to be addressed in this project. A
facilitator will be hired and the project will
be tied to the Twenty Mile Project. Commissioner
Dinning reiterated that RAC funds are eligible.
Commissioner Kirby moved to
approve the application for a RAC project for
$25,000 to hire a technical assistance
person/facilitator to handle the Twenty Mile
Creek Wildland Urban Interface Project and the
KVRI Kootenai Landscape Project. Commissioner
Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners tended to
administrative duties.
3:30 p.m., Boundary County
Juvenile Probation Officer Jessica Poston joined
the meeting to update Commissioners on her stay
at the Peace Officers Standards and Training
(POST) Academy. Clerk Poston was also present.
Chairman Smith commented on how well Ms. Poston
did in P.O.S.T. Ms. Poston spoke about the
P.O.S.T. academy and described it as military
style. Ms. Poston explained that there were
training sessions held on real life
circumstances and how to supervise different
case loads. Ms. Poston said she supervises
Boundary
County’s juveniles that come into
the legal system up to the age of 21, and the
youngest person on probation at this time is 13
years of age. Ms. Poston said most offenses are
drug related followed by property crimes.
Clerk Poston informed those
present that the Probation Office budgets
include a portion of Idaho
lottery winnings.
Ms. Poston said if damage
such as graffiti/tagging caused by someone is
over $1,000 the tagging could be considered a
felony offense. Ms. Poston explained that one
juvenile is having problems getting into the
military due to felony charges resulting during
their childhood. Commissioners informed the
afternoon students of the Leadership Class of
the discussion earlier regarding consequences
from tagging. Ms. Poston said it is not an easy
job cleaning up the graffiti as she did it as
one of the job duties as a summer job assisting
the Park and Recreation department maintenance
person. Those present continued talking about
P.O.S.T.
The meeting ended at 3:50 p.m.
There being no further
business, the meeting recessed until tomorrow at
9:00 a.m.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011,
Commissioners met in regular session with
Chairman Ron Smith, Commissioner Dan Dinning,
Commissioner Walt Kirby, and Deputy Clerk
Michelle Rohrwasser.
11:00 a.m., Trial Court
Administrator Karlene Behringer, Judge Justin
Julian, and Clerk Glenda Poston met with
Commissioners to discuss the District Court’s
upcoming budget. Jane Kirby was also present.
It was said the budget for
District Court has been accepted as submitted
and the Travel and the Law Library line items
have been increased. Judge Julian said he had
the West Law Research Program and cancelled it
as there are other programs that are less
expensive.
Chairman Smith spoke of his
experience taking part of the jail standards
inspections. Those present discussed the
practice of telephonic meetings and Commissioner
Dinning explained the Idaho Association of
Counties (IAC) Legislative Review webinar and
how much of a cost savings that was. Clerk
Poston discussed having a face to face meeting
once per year as there are a lot of networking
and round table discussions that have a benefit.
Commissioner Dinning said a
huge percent of Idaho Counties received a letter
from ACLU requesting information on public
defender contracts. Judge Julian said there has
been a push nationwide regarding the quality of
the public defenders that are assigned to
people. Those present reviewed information on
the request for an annual report of case loads.
Commissioner Dinning mentioned this is looking
for the disparity between the prosecutors and
public defenders.
The meeting with Clerk
Poston, Ms. Behringer, and Judge Julian ended at
11:35 a.m.
There being no further
business, the meeting adjourned at
11:45 a.m.
/s/
RONALD R. SMITH, Chairman
ATTEST:
/s/
GLENDA POSTON, Clerk
By: Michelle Rohrwasser,
Deputy Clerk
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