What election? Canyon commissioner nominees already prepare to alter incumbents’ choices

Canyon County candidates who won their Republican primaries in May are all but certain to be sworn in next year, because they face no Democratic or other challengers in the Nov. 8 general election.

All of the incumbents won their races in May except for two. New county commissioners Zach Brooks and Brad Holton are expected to be sworn in to replace longtime commissioner Pam White and Keri Smith.

The commissioners work full time and will make $90,000 a year. Brooks was elected to a two-year term and Holton a four-year term.

Since their election seems assured, the Idaho Statesman asked Brooks and Holton what their plans are upon taking office.

Holton, the former mayor of Greenleaf who defeated Smith, said his first priority will be to put together a “cohesive team” at the county.

Brooks, who defeated White, said his top priorities are to bring stability to the commission, address property tax increases with the Legislature, find solutions to jail overcrowding and help the development services department with a backlog of land use applications. Brooks is a business owner and member of the Canyon County Republican Central Committee.

Both men have their eyes on changing the county’s just-adopted comprehensive plan, a document intended to guide growth and development for the next 10 years.

Newcomers target county land-use plan

Over the past few months, the county’s three commissioners have been split on some big decisions, including the comprehensive plan and the budget.

The “comp plan” outlines the overall vision for the county and expectations for land development. The debates about the plan were between farmers and agricultural land preservation advocates and developers and real estate agents.

Farmers wanted the commissioners to protect agricultural land, which commissioners voted to do. Developers said that would go against the rights of property owners to decide what to do with their land.

White and Smith voted in favor of the latest plan rewrite, while Commissioner Leslie Van Beek was opposed.

Van Beek mentioned in the comp-plan discussion and deliberations over the 2023 budget that she wished the incoming commissioners could have a say in the decisions.

Van Beek said the comp plan is “an unfinished product” that the new commissioners may want to edit. Holton and Brooks agree.

“I fully anticipate (the comprehensive plan) on our plate, and actually look forward to that,” said Holton in a phone interview. “I think there is a framework there, and I think that we can just make it better with more public input and more specificity.”

Brooks and Holton are in lock step about the plan. Brooks said he believes it will need amending and that it was pushed through without enough public input.

“I don’t foresee us being able to just move on and not reopen it at some point,” Brooks said by phone. ”It’s going to have to be amended.”

Pay raises draw questions from Holton, Brooks

Another divisive issue among today’s commissioners was the budget’s inclusion of proposed raises to county employees.

The raises were part of the $132 million fiscal year 2023 budget passed in August. Smith and White voted in favor of the budget that included an average 14% increase in wages for full-time and part-time county employees. The budget also cut salaries for elected officials by about $13,000 — including the incoming commissioners.

The raises also included a $2,000 retention and employee appreciation payment for full-time employees and a $1,000 bonus for part-time employees. White and Smith were the only two to vote in favor of the one-time payments.

Van Beek disagreed with cutting the incoming commissioners’ salaries and said she wanted the employee raises to be based on merit. She wanted to hire a wage analyst to determine how to develop step increases for employees.

It is important to compensate county employees well, Holton said. He said that looking at the raise decision from the outside, “I don’t have a full appreciation for how they chose the sums.”

Brooks said he also understands the need for wage increases, but he thinks they should be merit based, using yearly performance evaluations as the private sector does.

He spoke to some outgoing county employees he said who told him the pay was not the No. 1 reason they left their jobs.

“I have been able to talk to a few who said it was the culture, the work environment, that played a much a much higher role than the actual pay,” he said.

Holton, Brooks disappointed in incumbents’ treatment of them

Both incoming commissioners said they are disappointed that the commissioners whom they defeated have not welcomed them into meetings the last few months. Brooks said White has treated him well, but from a job standpoint he feels that the outgoing commissioners have left set them up for failure.

“I am definitely not being treated how I would treat the next commissioner coming in to fill my seat,” Holton said. “I would want that hand-off as smooth possible and to educate that person as much as I possibly could about the operations of the county.”

The commissioners oversee 26 departments, and Holton said he is just beginning to understand how to manage them.

“Zach and I are doing our level best to meet with the people that are willing to meet with us in and try to be shown the intricacies of the county and how it works,” Holton said. “We want to be the best commissioners we can be.”

The other Canyon County candidates nominated in May were incumbents who will likely be sworn in for new four-year terms. They include Assessor Brian Stender, Clerk Chris Yamamoto, Coroner Jennifer Crawford and Treasurer Tracie Lloyd.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. On the ballot are legislative, statewide and congressional races.

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