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County leaders debate weed-board reorganization and hiring a part-time secretary
Summary
After years of administration issues on the weed board, Treasure County commissioners and public commenters discussed appointing a part-time weed-board secretary, clarifying spray roles with the road department, and meeting grant deadlines (noxious weed trust fund applications).
Treasure County commissioners spent a substantial portion of the meeting on the troubled weed board, where commissioners and residents described years of poor coordination and urged an immediate plan to stabilize operations.
Commissioner B (S4) and other participants described a history of missed reporting, inconsistent spraying and internal disputes. Several commissioners said the county must either hire or designate a part-time secretary to manage paperwork and coordinate with sprayers. "We have to all decide we want it to work, and we have to all decide we're going to work together," Commissioner B said, framing the discussion in terms of shared responsibility.
Participants raised a near-term grant deadline: the noxious-weed trust-fund application was noted as due Jan. 6. Staff (Staff member (S5)) and others said a county-level appointment or clear assignment is necessary to meet grant requirements and to avoid losing funds. Commissioners suggested a stipend or county-hire approach with an initial estimate of a few hours per month and planned outreach.
The board debated whether road-department staff should be the hands-on sprayers and whether the weed board should manage the overall plan, ordering and reporting. Several commissioners said that, practically, spraying work already falls to county employees and that the board must decide who takes final responsibility to avoid overlap and finger-pointing.
Next steps included advertising a part-time weed-board secretary position with a clear job description, scheduling a Jan. 14 weed-board organizational meeting and asking Joe and road-department staff to provide spraying plans and training status. Commissioners said they would prepare a job description and budget estimate for the position and report back at the next meeting.
The discussion combined policy, budget and staffing choices and will return to the board with a concrete hiring plan and proposed hours to support the weed program and grant compliance.
