County Commissioners Meeting - 12.9.22

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

The Elmore County Commissioners met last Friday in regular session in the Elmore County Courthouse. The meeting began with the approval of liquor licenses and resolutions which was followed by a topic of concern for the commissioners. They had been made aware that signatures had been gathered in support of a petition supporting a shift in the county’s collegiate designation boundaries. Currently the county is divided between the College of Western Idaho and the College of Southern Idaho. The petition supports shifting entirely to the College of Southern Idaho. The shift would more than likely create a tax levy.

The commissioners expressed their concerns regarding the validity of the signatures given that the signers were not made aware of the tax levy and other implications that would precede and follow a boundary shift.

Next, Alan Roberts of Elmore County EMS spoke to the commissioners giving an update on his department, upcoming purchases, and even discussed the potential for a new rescue substation in Hammet.

The Commissioners were given a brief update regarding the fairground’s electrical project. They were informed that the grant for the project is a matching grant and will not be up until May of the following year. The Commissioners were unsatisfied with the broad variety of proposals made for the project and asked to set up a meeting with the Fair Board in order to clarify the desired outcome of the project.

Following this, the Commissioners discussed how the county’s use of compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay is hurting the county budget. The Commissioners elect that compensatory (comp) time does not work better than overtime pay because it relies on the employees to use their comp hours. Employees who do not use their comp hours are eventually paid off for the hours upon their resignation or retirement. Although this payout comes directly from each department’s annual budget, it does not appear to be enough incentive for the department heads to encourage and recommend that their employees use their comp time.

After an executive session, the meeting was adjourned.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: