The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post. ~ Thomas Holcroft

PROPERTY TAXES, COUNTY BUDGET AND SPENDING:

• Ada County government should adopt some form of “zero-based budgeting”. In other words, all County expenditures should be re-examined periodically to find out whether they are still necessary and justifiable, rather than just increasing the previous year’s budget from year to year.
  
• Wasteful spending of public funds should be eliminated.
  
• Citizen involvement in the County budget process must be encouraged, rather than discouraged.
  
• Ada County government should prioritize needs over wants, and before public funds are spent on costly “wants” a supermajority (2/3) of Ada County voters should first approve the expenditure.
  
• Ada County government should cease to violate the Idaho Constitution by going around the voters through the use of annually renewable, long-term, lease/purchase agreements. (The Ada County Courthouse and Justice Center financing are a couple of recent examples.)
  
• With property values decreasing rapidly, the County must be responsive in reducing assessed property values.
  

OPEN GOVERNMENT:

• Ada County government should operate in an open and accountable manner.
  
• For more detailed information on much-needed reforms, please click on this link to check out the Reform page.
  

SERVICES:

• The provision of emergency services must be prioritized.
  
• Employees of Ada County should always be treated fairly and with respect. In turn, they will provide better service to the public.
  
• There are still problems with ACHD - the Ada County Highway District. There should be a thoughtful examination of possible changes that could be made that might resolve the ongoing problems. For example, ACHD could be run as a department under Ada County, which would eliminate a lot of duplicate administration. Alternatively, the cities could be given more authority over what is done with city roads. Obviously, nothing would happen overnight and any major change would likely take some time to implement. Changes to ACHD should only be made with broad public support and a vote of the people.
  
• The County and the cities need to explore the consolidation of law enforcement services and other emergency services, countywide. The 9-1-1 dispatch system already functions in a consolidated manner, from one location. Residents within city limits pay for both city and County law enforcement services, although city residents do at least experience a higher level of service for their additional dollars. An example of a successful consolidation between emergency service providers is that of the Whitney Fire District with Boise City Fire. Whitney is still a stand-alone taxing district, but much of the duplication of administration has been stopped and the two now function as one entity on a day-to-day basis.
  

GROWTH:

• On June 30, 2005, at the end of the 2005 fiscal year, the State of Idaho had $214 million left unspent. At the end of the 2006 fiscal year, the State had $309 million. These big surpluses were largely due to growth. We all want growth to pay for itself but the money goes to the wrong level of government. It is not necessary to extract more new taxes and fees, but rather to get the Idaho Legislature to redirect the money growth is already generating back to the local government entities that provide the infrastructure to serve that growth. Large projects that are far removed from available infrastructure, such as distant planned communities, are an exception. In these cases, requiring the developers to pay the added costs of service to provide the necessary infrastructure (roads, schools, fire, emergency medical services, etc.) should be required.
  
• Although planned communities sound good in theory, some of those recently proposed in Ada County will clearly not function in a fully self-contained manner. It is paramount that planned communities be compatible with the surrounding areas, and not put an undue burden on neighboring communities and taxpayers.
  
• People should have the ability to vote before they are annexed, preferably before they are even placed in an Area of City Impact.
  

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Private property rights should be respected and protected.
  
• The personal rights and responsibilities of individuals and families should be preserved.
  
• The County Commission was wrong to change the County's employment policy so that all employees will serve "at will" and can be fired WITHOUT cause. Read more here, for why this was a bad policy change for taxpayers.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:

• Let’s face it: most of us want mass transit so everyone else can take it and leave the roads clear for us! We do not have the population numbers or density to support a traditional mass transit system at this time. We need to continue to support park-and-ride lots, carpooling, and vanpooling, but we also need to explore new and creative ideas, such as shuttling people in smaller vehicles on an as-needed basis. Continuously sending huge buses around routes that are busy only twice a day – at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. – is wasteful. The bus system would be more effective and better utilized if standardized bus stops were identified and clearly marked.
  
• The Ada County Highway District, Idaho Department of Transportation and Air Quality Board should explore the possibility of establishing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV or carpool) lanes. During commute hours, to drive in designated and marked HOV lanes, one must be in a carpool, vanpool, public transit vehicle, or riding a motorcycle. Single-occupant hybrid vehicles could also be permitted in carpool lanes during designated commute hours.
  
• Growth plans must provide for transit corridors with higher density development along them, if we ever expect mass transit (buses or trains) to be a truly viable alternative in Ada County. Park-and-ride lots must be placed within the transit corridors as well. Development can then feather out to lower densities outside the high-density corridors, yet residents in these lower density areas will be able to use the transit system along transit corridors by utilizing the park-and-ride lots.
  
• Agencies (the Idaho Transportation Department, ACHD, and installers of water and sewer lines) need to coordinate their projects and schedules so they do not work on parallel arterials simultaneously. For example, Eagle and Cloverdale Roads should not have work going on at the same time, as they have in recent years. Also, ingress and egress routes should not be closed off simultaneously. In the Southwest Community, for example, Maple Grove, Cole and Victory Roads have all had work going on simultaneously, which left no unimpeded route for people to get to the freeway. Better planning and coordination would help address the slow traffic caused by road closures. The result would be less air pollution caused by vehicles sitting and idling, while waiting to get through construction zones. The potential for road rage would also be reduced.
  

AIR QUALITY:

• In 1996, Ada County voters were asked whether we wanted to continue the vehicle emissions testing program. “Yes” votes outweighed “no” votes by a very slight margin. As cars are being built to higher and higher emissions standards, it’s time voters be asked again whether to retain Ada County’s vehicle emissions testing program.
  
• A remote sensing emissions testing program should be explored as a possible alternative to the current vehicle testing program so the greatest benefit can be achieved at the lowest cost and inconvenience to Ada County residents. A remote sensing program (the measurement of vehicle exhaust emissions with roadside monitoring systems as vehicles pass by) would ensure all drivers, including those from outside our area, would be subject to emissions testing if they drive in Ada County.
  
• Air quality can be protected by examining and improving the transportation delivery system (see above).
  
• The County must work with the development community to implement measures to further prevent the spread of dust at construction sites – a major contributor to air quality problems.
  
• The County should work with employers to encourage them to allow staggered work hours and telecommuting (working from home) to make better use of existing roadways and cut down on the amount of time cars spend idling at stoplights.
  

WATER QUALITY:

• Ground water quality can only be protected when government makes good decisions. Continuing to put our trash in the foothills so it can roll down the hill towards us is not a good decision. Already there have been ground water problems in the vicinity of the County’s existing Hidden Hollow landfill site and groundwater monitoring wells are now in place. At a County hearing on May 24, 2006, a member of the County’s own Development Services staff testified that ALL LANDFILL LINERS LEAK. When future landfill expansion decisions are made, the County needs to ensure that trash is taken away from the populated areas of the County and away from our high groundwater table.
  
• For similar reasons, Kuna Mora Road is also not an appropriate place for a proposed landfill (in this case a privately owned and operated one.) This location is too close in. Commissioners made the right decision when they refused to approve this project in the proposed location.
  

PARKS:

• Delivery of parks and open spaces should be accomplished in consort with the school districts, which already provide large grassy areas and playground equipment.
  
• Open space can be preserved through donations of land by the private sector or other government entities, although taxpayers need to recognize that development of those lands as parks may require local public financial support. Although it is an understatement to say that I am not wild about the idea of creating yet another taxing district, I would be open to having the public vote on whether to form a recreation district. (My Commission colleagues and I saw little support for a recreation district when I was in office previously.)
  
• If there is no interest in a countywide recreation district to provide for parks at the County level, Ada County should again attempt to consolidate its Parks Department under the Boise City Parks Department, which runs a full-fledged parks and recreation program. Consolidation would cut down on the wasteful duplication of staff and equipment. The County could then get out of the Parks business and concentrate on providing emergency services and County administrative functions.
  

WEST NILE VIRUS:

• The threat of West Nile Virus is serious. In 2006, County commissioners should have been more proactive in fighting WNV. They should partner with Central District Health, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, and local hospitals in the fight. The County should look into obtaining funding from St. Luke’s, which has grant money available, to purchase and apply Aquabac 200G, a naturally occurring soil bacterium that kills mosquito larvae and purportedly poses no threat to humans, animals, insects or the environment. That way, the County would be proactive in fighting West Nile Virus, at little cost to taxpayers, without the controversy of dropping chemicals from airplanes over vast expanses of land.
  

DETOX:

• Idaho Code section 39-303 designates the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare the State substance abuse authority. Idaho Code section 39-304 further details the State’s full responsibility for providing detox services, including: emergency detoxification treatment; inpatient treatment; intermediate treatment; outpatient and follow-up treatment; and, community detoxification provided by an approved facility. The County should insist that the Idaho Legislature fulfill its responsibility and fund all necessary detox services.
  

ALTERNATE FORMS OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT:

• As a commissioner, I voted to put alternate forms of County government on the ballot so Ada County voters could have their say. Neither of my colleagues was willing to do the same. I would still support placing one or more alternate forms of County government on the ballot. If Ada County were to shift from the current three full-time commissioners form, my preference would include five part-time commissioners and an elected Executive, but the choice must be made by the voters.
  

There are too many ideas to express here without overwhelming readers – if you haven’t been overwhelmed already! If you would like to discuss any of these ideas, provide input, or ask questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please call me at 362-0843 or e-mail me at sharonu@cableone.net. I will respond to all inquiries. Thank you!

If you don't have a vision, nothing happens. ~ Christopher Reeve