Latah County Commissioners Meetings Debrief from 7/16/23 – 7/22/23

A summary of the Latah County Commissioner meetings from the week of July 16th, 2023.

After a couple of executive sessions to discuss records relating to proposed or existing critical infrastructure and security, as well as personnel issues, the commissioners met with the representatives of several local organizations to discuss outside budget requests. These organizations generally receive funding from the county because they provide services which the county wishes to support, but cannot provide directly. From this week’s meeting, those organizations included the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department, the Family Friendly Neighbors Senior Meal site, OnePalouse, Sojourners Alliance, the Preservation Commission, the Arts and Culture committee, the Transportation commission, the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, the JK Senior Meal Site, and the Clearwater Economic Development Association.

Each of these representatives gave some details about their budget request, such as whether it had changed from last year’s, what they intended to do with the funds, and the general plan for the coming year’s activities. The commissioners heard each of these, while stating at the beginning that, due to a number of mounting costs to the county, including the upcoming court case with Brian Kohberger, Latah County is more financially constrained than in previous year. Nonetheless it is the intent of the commissioners  to hear from these organizations so that they can still be as helpful as their finances allow.

Once this was done, the commissioners held a brief discussion regarding Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding, with the motion to utilize the funds under Title I and Title III being approved unanimously. They would go on to deal with additional action items, including a request to approve a paid day off for the winners of a competition at a recent county employee BBQ event, the solid waste contracts for all the rural cities in the county, and some fee waivers and parcel number amendments.

The end of the day was focused on the monthly meeting of the county department heads and elected officials This began with a county legal refresher, an update regarding credit card payments, and it concluded with each department head or official presenting on recent goings-on in their respective offices, as well as any alerts regarding future agenda items. The meetings as a whole concluded with an executive session for attorney-client communication and personnel issue.