Commissioners report on land-use rules, EMS insurance, PILT funding, fair water and legislative issues

Bonner County commissioners used their regular meeting to report a range of county issues, including land-use procedure changes, a federal PILT payment amount, water access at the fairgrounds, health-insurance arrangements with the EMS district and several state-level legislative items.

On land use, a commissioner said the board is working with legal and the planning department to make "our reason statement more robust" so that decisions are more legally defensible. The commissioner said the board is also working on "the right approach to updating our county ordinance when it comes to conditional use permits associated with cell towers," and that the board presented its intent to the Planning Commission and will consult legal counsel and subject-matter experts before drafting ordinance language for Planning Commission review.

Commissioners discussed…