Caribou County commissioners review department budgets, approve $552,884 in claims

The Caribou County Board of Commissioners on June 26 reviewed proposed budgets for multiple county departments, approved claims totaling $552,883.97 and payroll of $163,659.73, and made several targeted adjustments ahead of the 2017–18 fiscal year.

Commissioner Mark Mathews asked Road and Bridge Supervisor Kim Spencer to “shop around” for lower gas and diesel prices as part of cost-containment measures. Kim Spencer said Road and Bridge will keep planned capital outlay for equipment and trucks, and that mineral leasing funds will be tapped for equipment purchases. Spencer reported the Blackfoot River Road sustained the most winter damage and crews are still working on repairs.

Building maintenance lead Randy Stephens successfully requested restoring $1,000 to both supplies and capital outlay to cover supplies he buys for multiple offices. Assessor Aaron Cook asked for $1,200 for training and $100 for phone expenses and said contracting appraisal work remains less expensive than hiring additional staff. Landfill Supervisor Jayson Lower proposed converting a part-time employee to full-time and creating a $1,500 travel/mileage/meals line item to avoid charging travel to unrelated budgets. Weed Supervisor Dwight Lloyd requested moving capital funds to create an approximately $10,000 dyers woad eradication program.

IT Supervisor Terri Stephens said a Computer Arts maintenance fee will increase by about $100 per month. Mathews recommended an independent network security review and Terri advised against opening the title-company portal because of security risks. Terri also was asked to solicit bids to update the county website and add photos of displayed artifacts.

Public Safety Director Eric Hobson and EMS Director Larry Weaver described aging vehicles and equipment needs; Weaver said a basic new ambulance costs about $148,000. Sheriff Kelly Wells and Jail Commander Brandy Bredehoft outlined jail needs including medical-contract costs, inmate food and kitchen supplies (the board agreed to raise the line to $140,000), skylight replacements phased over several years, and replacement of an AED. Bredehoft said she budgeted for ten detention officers as a full complement though the jail is not yet fully staffed.

Probation officer Justin Steele requested roughly $15,000 to expand drug-court and pre-trial testing, noting state-level moves toward mandating such processes and a possible requirement to have a pre-trial office by 2019; Judge David Kress said some cases already require pre-trial testing.

Prosecuting Attorney Doug Wood said he is drafting a maintenance contract with Carl Toupin for park upkeep and requested $10,000 for a part-time staffer; he reported a decrease in his health-insurance line. Coroner Darrin Sims reduced mortuary rental costs due to a change in coroner and increased the deputy-coroner line anticipating a future hire.

Clerk Denise Horsley outlined smaller adjustments across elections, sundries, audit/legal/publication lines, indigent services (conflict-attorney increase), and district court (an increase of $45,690 tied to a new employee and Odyssey implementation). The board voted to pay the claims and payroll amounts and approved minutes from the June 12, 2017 meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.; the next regular meeting was scheduled for July 10, 2017, at 9 a.m.