Ken Bishop PayCo Commissioner

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

Think about alternate routes around the construction. Allen Ave/Washoe and N Pennsylvania/24th.

Construction Update from Idaho Transportation Department🚧
Officials with ITD have advised us starting on Tuesday, June 2nd, on Hwy 95 between S Main St. and the Payette River Bridge, both southbound & northbound lanes will be reduced to one lane in each direction, this will be during daytime and nighttime work.
We ask everyone to please be patient, slow down and plan ahead for construction delays! Thank you for your understanding while these important road improvements are completed!

05/28/2026

Here is a brief recap of this week’s Commissioners meeting. As always once the minutes from each meeting are approved they are available on the Payette County website (payettecounty.org).
We met with Gary Kelley, landfill supervisor. We are continuing the process for updating the fees for out of county customers. Payette County currently has contracts with Washington, Adams, Idaho, and Malheur Counties. The revenue from these out of county customers help pay the cost of operating the landfill which means our citizens don’t have the full burden. The commissioners have been focusing on balancing the burden on our taxpayers with assuring the longevity of the landfill.

We met with members of the Payette County Fair board to review their budget and get information of some of the goals they are working towards.

Also we met with Sherriff Andy Creech and spoke about some of the staffing and organizational changes he is pursuing. One issue he brought to the board was joining with the Crime Stoppers organization which was agreed to be a good idea.

One significant change needs a bit of background explanation. Typically, across Idaho the various counties operate the DMV offices for both Driver’s Licenses and Registration/Titles for the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). The Sheriff office is responsible for the License side and the Assessor’s office is responsible for the Registration & Titles. Over the last few years the ITD has created a website portal so people can renew registration online. This has reduced the traffic the local DMV offices and thus the revenues generated that pay for the staff and operations. With this loss of revenue we have been working to find a way to sustain the DMV office in Payette County and decided to combine both sides under the supervision of the Sherriff’s office. This will streamline the operations and reduce the cost of providing both sides for local residents that want or need to do their business in person.
That about raps it up for this week. Stay tuned!

05/27/2026

Be aware, Hwy 95 between Fruitland and Payette will be under construction this summer.

05/25/2026

This is the first of a continuing report of the business and process of Payette county. I will recap each weeks County Commissioner's meeting as well as comment on different aspects of the processes we work thru. Starting with last week's CC meeting (May 18, 2026).

Road and Bridge supervisor Jim Ashley reported on some new spray applications for the gravel roads in the county. The hope is it will reduce the impact of traffic and how often the roads will have to be graded smooth. Great initiatives to save some money.

Facility Manager Cory Land gave us an update on his work on the courthouse and other county buildings. His position is a relatively new one and has already save the county a lot of money by doing repairs and maintenance directly instead of bringing in contractors.

Planning & Zoning administrator Patti Nitz gave an update on the previous P&Z commision meeting which included two conditional use permits as well as updating some of the County's zoning code. She also let us know the FEMA will hold an open house June 2nd, from 6-8pm at the courthouse on the floodplain map update.

One last important piece of information was highlighted by a visit from the fire chiefs from Payette, New Plymouth, and Sand Hollow. The mild spring has brought an early growth of grasses and vegitation and the concern that this year's fire season my be a problem. They asked if the start of the Open Burn Ban could be started early on June 15th rather than July 1st. The Commissioners agrred this would be a good idea. Stay tuned for more info.