Department supervisors give new year reports

WALLACE — Earlier this week the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners met with the various Shoshone County department supervisors to get a general new year update from each department.

The departments discussed things from staffing changes and additions to some of the department’s needs and concerns.

Planning and Zoning — The Planning and Zoning department’s biggest change this year will be the addition of Monica Miller as the executive assistant to Dan Martinsen, who has undertaken the role of Shoshone County’s disaster services coordinator.

“I think the goal is to give them a good six to nine months to develop their system together,” BOCC chairman Mike Fitzgerald said. “She’ll be helping with everything from rearranging the furniture to attending all of the various meetings and getting familiar with the different department heads, while learning all of the rules and regulations and really becoming part of the team.”

The BOCC also expressed their desire to be more active within the P&Z planning board.

“I think us as commissioners need to be a little more active in trying to get people on the planning board,” Fitzgerald said. “If we find someone who may be interested, we may need to do a little arm twisting and get them to come join us. We are just short on planning board members.”

Martinsen discussed why the BOCC’s involvement in the planning board is a big need for him.

“For the last eight years it has inhibited me from moving forward with amendments, text changes and ways to slicken the process,” Martinsen said. “We have a lot of rules that affect people’s lives and the economy around here. And we need a board to participate in making those decisions.”

Public Works — For the Shoshone County Public Works department it all comes down to one word — budget.

“Regardless of whether SRS comes or doesn’t come, we’ve got our hands full,” Fitzgerald said.

The Secure Rural Schools Act was initiated in 2000 and provides consistent and reliable funding for more than 775 rural counties and 4,400 schools located near national forests across the United States.

These funds have been vital to the existence of rural schools and roads over the past 16 years. The act also helps pay for restoration and stewardship projects on our public lands and forests.

“Hopefully we’ll hear something by March,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s either the first or second week of March that we’ll hear from the Federal Government whether we’re in or out, and then let the games begin.”

With the money for projects not coming in as it is needed, making sure that supervisor Frosty Greenfield has the proper working equipment for the jobs may be difficult.

“There are definitely some pieces of equipment that we need to address, we haven’t kept up because we haven’t had the budget to keep up,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to give the grader some attention, as well as the department’s pickup (truck). We were able to borrow one from the weeds department, but even with the thin budget this year, we need to take a hard look at the situation.”

Some of the departments were unable to attend the meeting, but updates from them will be gathered and reported on as soon as they arrive.