COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
December 11, 2017
Commissioners Doug Tucker, Scott Blain, and Bill Bullock, and Administrative Assistant Angela Newell were present.
8:15 Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Region 5 Supervisor Barb Beck met with Commissioners to update them on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Gordon Sirrine and Marcia Henigman were present. Barb noted the area for the special hunt will be expanded as CWD is more widespread than they originally thought. The hunt will also be expanded to include both whitetail and mule deer; they hope to collect 200 samples of each species. The mandatory check station will be in Joliet; hunters will also have the option to bring animals to the District Office in Billings. The entirety of the harvested animal, besides the boned-out meat will have to remain in Carbon or Yellowstone County to reduce further contamination as the prions can last in the landscape for several years; fire and bleach are not guaranteed to neutralize them. 8:30 Sheriff Josh McQuillan and Carbon County News reporter Eleanor Guerrero joined the meeting. If the hunt establishes prevalence of CWD at higher than 5% FWP may make adjustments to the general season harvest levels.
8:40 Pledge of Allegiance
Kathy Smiley, Amy Barrett, and Tysa Wright met with Commissioners on their break to discuss State budget cuts and how that may affect the local Department of Revenue Office. The State has already closed six (6) offices and is looking at closing quite a few more. Local staff is concerned that if their office is closed it will impact their ability to capture all the changes in Carbon County’s taxable value. Not keeping up with assessments will result in smaller tax base which could reduce revenues and increase individual property taxes. They noted the County had 274 parcels with permitted construction and 56 parcels with new construction that started last year that is not fully assessed. They urged the Commissioners to contact the legislature, Governor, and Revenue and Transportation Committee members to help preserve the Carbon County Office.
Commissioner Tucker moved to accept November 2017 Claims as submitted; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
9:00 DES Coord. / GIS Mgr. Tom Kohley and Stephanie Hanser met with Commissioners to discuss creating a County seal/logo. The Commissioners would like to standardize branding on letterhead, business, cards, website, and other marketing/informational materials. Carbon County News reporter Eleanor Guerrero suggested the Commissioners put it out for a contest to create the seal.
Commissioners received notice that Bill Bullock was appointed to the MACo Justice & Public Safety Committee and Scott Blain was appointed to the Agriculture Committee.
Commissioner Tucker moved to accept Clerk and Reporter November report; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
10:00 Forrest Mandeville met with Commissioners for Plat approval extension request for the Mangy Moose Subdivision. The preliminary plat was conditionally approved in 2015; the Planning Board did not have concerns extending the final approval deadline by six (6) months. Extension being requested to finalize the condition regarding reclaiming the old access road and finalizing construction of a new access road. Commissioner Bullock moved to approve Preliminary Plat Extension Agreement; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
Commissioners approved a line item transfer request from Sheriff McQuillan for the Public Safety budget to transfer $1,121 from Motor Vehicle parts, line 232, to Office Machinery & Equipment, line 947, for digital fingerprint system printer.
10:45 Commissioner Bullock moved to approve employee time as submitted; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
11:00 Commissioner Bullock moved to approve GreatWest Engineering Task Order No 8: 2018 TSEP Bridge Evaluation and Preliminary Engineering Report; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
12:00 Adjourned
Respectfully submitted: Angela Newell, Administrative Assistant