03/2520/15
Fair Board - In a 2-1 vote, the BOCC reduced the Fair
Board from its current charter of 15-19 members to
12-16 members. The dissenting vote came from
Commissioner Larry Ross who said he believed the
fair board knows best how many members they need
to achieve their goals. During today's review of the
recently revised fair board bylaws, the other two
Commissioners, Kelly Dore and Robert Rowland,
voted to reduce the board membership. At the end of
2014 during their development of the 2015 budget, the
commissioners reduced the fair board budget by a
third, from $22,000 to $15,000, but levied more
requirements on that board. The new bylaws were
amended and adopted. Currently, there are 16
volunteers serving on the fair board.
Zoning Regulations/Planning Commission -
Commissioners spent around two hours hashing out
their changes to proposed zoning regulations affecting
the planning commission. The changes will go back to
the planning commission for review and then a planned
vote may occur on May 13. And while commissioners
unanimously agreed today with wording that would
keep the number of members to nine, it seems they
are unwilling to move ahead with considering
applicants who have already answered the call from
the county late last year for resumes from interested
individuals. Currently there are six members voluntarily
serving on the planning commission and according to
county attorney, Wade Gateley, there have been
enough applicants to fill out the membership.
Commissioners say they don't want to appoint new
members until the planning commission bylaws and
their governing zoning regulations are completed. No
one knows when that may happen.
Sadly, the planning commission meeting scheduled for
this past Tuesday, March 23, was canceled at the last
minute because one of the members could not make it
due to last
minute work, and the required quorum of five
members was not met. Having the full complement
of nine would make it easier to meet the quorum
requirement. By not appointing new members in a
timely fashion, the BOCC is effectively tying the
hands of the planning commission. Commissioner
Dore insisted again today that once the bylaws and
the zoning regulations are completed and
approved by the BOCC, then everything will flow
smoothly. And while insisting that everyone else
work under time constraints, the BOCC, in this
instance is shirking its responsibility to complete its
duties in timely service to the county.
Due to time limits, the commissioners elected to
not hold the scheduled study session. The planned
topics which included discussion of the fair board
budget, proposed water basin roundtable status
reports, schedule of staff/agenda meetings with the
BOCC, and the status of firearms discharge and
firing range regulations, will presumably be
scheduled for discussion at a later date.
Also scheduled was an executive session for an
update from county attorney Wade Gateley on a
litigation case regarding a former employee who
was fired while on medical leave.
County Assessor Billie Mills chose to sit through
the lengthy meeting, even though there were no
topics pertaining to the assessor's office. Time
and taxpayer money well spent? Perhaps we will
soon hear her update on how the outsourced
property assessments are going.
BOCC Meeting, 3/25/2015: Fair Board Membership Reduced; Discussion Continues on Proposed
Zoning Regulation Changes Regarding Planning Commission