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