Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Winter Road Closures topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bonneville County staff weigh yearly press-release approach instead of annual ordinance updates for winter road closures
Summary
Staff told commissioners the county typically targets Nov. 15 to begin many seasonal road closures and proposed replacing an annual ordinance listing with staff-issued start/end press releases and social-media notices; legal review and ordinance edits were suggested before any change.
Bonneville County staff and meeting participants discussed how the county announces winter road closures and whether to continue listing each closed road and its dates in an ordinance.
Speaker 1 said the county closes some backcountry roads seasonally and that a winter road-closures map is available on the county website. "Some of them closed pretty close with the first snow...but usually by November 15, we're we're looking to just do some of the road closures," Speaker 1 said.
Speaker 4 noted that the current ordinance requires the county to list closed roads and dates before Oct. 1 and suggested an alternative: have staff release a public notice on the actual start date and then a second notice when roads reopen, supplemented by social media and the county’s winter-closures map. "That way, we don't have to pass an ordinance," Speaker 4 said, adding that the ordinance would need to be adjusted if the county adopts that practice.
Meeting participants discussed legal review and how to reflect the change in county code. Speaker 3 and Speaker 2 said staff should confirm whether changing the ordinance language or relying solely on public notices would meet legal requirements; Speaker 4 said the ordinance itself must match county practice if the county chooses the notification route.
Next steps: staff offered to draft proposed ordinance language and work with Road Bridge staff to produce an updated process and schedule. The meeting record does not show a formal vote on changing the ordinance; participants agreed to follow up with legal and return language for commissioners’ review.
