Bannock County Public Works details road program, mosquito and weed work, drone use and proposed changes to fleet/shop accounting

Buddy Romrill, Bannock County assistant Public Works director, updated commissioners on multiple Public Works operations including seasonal hires for noxious weed and mosquito control, expanded drone work, road treatments and changes to the county fleet and shop accounting.

Romrill told commissioners the department recruited seasonals at a job fair and has begun training them for roadside weed control. “We mag chloride and do that amendment to the road on about 63 miles around the county,” he said when describing this year’s dust-control and maintenance program. He also reported early mosquito activity and said staff are treating standing water after finding larvae sooner than usual.

Romrill described expanded use of drones for surveying and for supporting mosquito work. He said staffers Dana and others are obtaining the necessary licenses and that the department has both a smaller survey drone for photos and video and a larger aircraft used for operational work.

On road maintenance, Romrill described ongoing blading of gravel roads, hauling dirt to the fairgrounds and a trial of a mastic paving product tested near Chubbuck. He said the product sealed rutted and cracked sections before chip seal and can be useful where rutting from heavy farm traffic exists. The department plans targeted use of the mastic product before chip seals in outskirts of Chubbuck this season.

The presentation also covered fleet procurement and reallocation. Romrill said one recently-ordered truck was delayed after batteries were stolen while the vehicle was in Salt Lake and that the department purchased 14 new vehicles last year. He said there are 13 planned reallocations and an intended auction of about 16 vehicles this summer, which would reduce the fleet by approximately four vehicles. Romrill said he favors county policy moving to LT-equipment trim levels for safety features.

Romrill said the county has gone fully live with a new asset-management system and described questions about how to account for shop supplies. He said the line for shop supplies runs “around 40 to 50,000” and that the current practice includes a roughly 10% markup on parts rebilled to departments. Commissioners and staff debated options including a flat shop charge, an hourly shop rate, leaving the current rebill process in place, or moving the markup into a distinct shop-supplies line with a monthly journal entry.

Commissioner comments focused on fairness across funds. One commissioner said the landfill, parks and other enterprise funds should bear their share of shop costs because those services would otherwise be purchased on the open market; another expressed concern about adding line-item workload or forcing mechanics to record trivial consumables. Romrill and other staff suggested the county could continue tracking parts and labor while moving the shop-supplies amount into a clearer journaled overhead line so departments can see the cost in budgeting without adding daily paperwork.

No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the Public Works update; commissioners instructed staff to refine budget and accounting proposals for consideration during the 2026 budget process.

Ending: Romrill and staff will return with refined budget numbers and implementation suggestions; commissioners directed staff to prepare figures for budget deliberations and to continue the department’s equipment reallocation and auction planning.