Simplot currently has several job openings in Pocatello. Positions for managers, engineers, technicians, trainees, and interns are available. Some of these include:
Manager: Production Area Manager, Maintenance Area Manager, Environmental Project Manager (2 positions), and Procurement Category Mananer, MRO/Parts
Engineer: Environmental Engineer
Technician: Electrician or Instrumentation Technician
Intern: Process Engineering Intern
Trainee: Maintenance Trainee
To learn more about these and other positions available at Simplot, click here
(City of Pocatello Press Release, May 23, 2022; image credit: Marshall Public Library FB))
The Marshall Public Library (MPL) is looking to make a “splash” by launching its all-ages 2022 Summer Reading Program. This year’s theme is “An Ocean of Possibilities.”
Head over to the MPL June 4, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. for the summer kick-off party. People in the community can sign-up for the summer reading program at the event! And the kick-off party wouldn’t be complete without a bounce house, free treats, and food trucks. Everyone who registers will get a fun prize (while supplies last).
“We are so excited to have patrons of all ages back in the library for summer reading because we can’t let kids have ALL the fun! That’s one of the things I love about our summer program, we have one for all ages from babies to grown-ups,” said Becky Hadley, the Marshall Public Library Adult Program Coordinator.
As participants complete challenges all summer long, they’ll earn entries into our grand prize raffle where they could win some awesome prizes. Some of the prizes include a Kindle Fire, gift cards, Geronimo jump passes, and so much more! We hope you’ll join us as we start our summer of fun!
IDAHO FALLS, ID–Stand Up For Idaho, an Idaho Falls-based, nonpartisan citizens’ organization that peacefully and actively advocates for the rights and liberties of all Idaho citizens, will be hosting a three-part lecture series on “The Constitution, The Law, and Your Rights” during their weekly meetings. The lectures will be presented by Dennis Marsden of Idaho Falls, who has been studying the U.S. and Idaho Constitutions for over 30 years.
The first lecture will take place on Wednesday, May 25, and the second will be held on Wednesday, June 1. The final lecture will be on Wednesday, June 15. All three lectures will be held at the Snake River Event Center (Shilo Inn), located at 780 Lindsay Blvd. in Idaho Falls. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the meetings will start promptly at 6:30 p.m.
The Pocatello City Council will hold a Budget Development Meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 26, at the City Council Chambers at 911 N. 7th Ave in Pocatello. Both community entities and city departments will present funding requests. Fee increases will also be discussed. The meeting will be open to the public, or it can be viewed on the city’s webpage, here, or on Sparklight Cable channel 56. The full agenda, including sub-agendas for the various presentations, is also posted on the city’s website, here.
At our last council meeting, I left because Claudia Ortega was mistreated. Her mistreatment happens too regularly. The way we operate keeps shifting to ensure that as a Latina woman, she is subject to the white majority. She requested to have two items removed from the consent agenda and discuss them as separate items. She was not even allowed to address those items. Instead, a motion was made and seconded to combine the items and approve them. The mayor nixed the process of being able to debate motions. The mayor and some council members ignore how governance is supposed to function!
It is a calculated insult not to extend the opportunity to discuss the motion. I left to support her and give impetus to having business conducted in a more orderly and appropriate fashion. All she was seeking was the opportunity to address finance items for which she desired clarification. Respecting everyone’s chance to be engaged in the decision-making process is a fundamental right that should be honored and safeguarded.
What people fail to realize is that the democratic process allows everyone the opportunity to be heard and shuns the idea of fencing out people.
(Bannock County Notice, May 20, 2022; Photo Credit: Bannock County)
The agenda for the Bannock County Commissioners meeting for Tuesday, May 24, 2022, has been posted. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.
An email announcement regarding the meeting states:
The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is comprised of the three elected County Commissioners: Ernie Moser (District 1, Chair), Jeff Hough (District 2), and Terrel Tovey (District 3).
The BOCC generally meets twice a week: regular business meetings are on Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. and work sessions are on Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. Meetings are generally held in the Commissioner’s Chambers at 624 E Center, Room 212, Pocatello, Idaho, unless otherwise noted. Times subject to change within 15 minutes of stated time.
During these meetings, the BOCC may: approve contracts, expend funds, hear testimony, make decisions on land use cases and take care of other County matters, and are open to the public.
You can read the agenda for the May 24 meeting, here:
(Sixth Judicial District Press Release, May 21, 2022)
David W. Cousin
On May 20, 2022, the Sixth District Magistrates Commission convened and appointed
David W. Cousin to serve as a Caribou County magistrate judge. Mr. Cousin will succeed
the Honorable David R. Kress, who will leave the bench June 30, 2022.
Mr. Cousin received his bachelor’s degree from Adams State and his law degree from
University of Utah College of Law. Since 2016, he has been a Bingham County Deputy
Prosecuting Attorney, most recently serving as the Chief Deputy. Prior to that, Mr.
Cousin worked for the Law Office of Joseph F. Brown in the area of Social Security
disability law. Additionally, Mr. Cousin has been a solo practitioner, a community
resource provider, and a civil litigator in the areas of insurance defense and corporate lease
law.
Mr. Cousin currently resides in Idaho Falls with his family, but will relocate to Caribou
County for his term as magistrate judge. Mr. Cousin will begin serving as magistrate judge
in July 2022.
Idahospeaks.com, protecting Freedom of Speech for Conservatives in Idaho
Participants will be allowed to have other people assist with re-supply of water and food during the event, although they must carry their own weight for the duration of the event.
Each route will have specific locations participants will reach and take a picture as specified in the route details and send to the event organizers. Routes will be published in advance for participants to familiarize themselves with.
All who complete their route in the time allowed will receive the finishers patch!
Lastly, the proceeds from this event will benefit the local Pocatello AMVETS!
For the past 2½ years I have been trying to do the work that the people of Pocatello elected me to do. That work includes questioning how tax money is spent. I have faced one major obstacle with regard to that, that is, Mayor Blad. He resents my asking questions and explanations for the benefit of the public. He, together with Rick Cheatum and Linda Leeuwrik, have worked to obstruct any attempts on my part to bring transparency. One has to ask oneself the obvious question…why?
I have lived in this country for 50 years and am a proud American. In all my life I never felt that I was discounted by the people that I dealt with and worked with, until I joined the Pocatello City Council. I am routinely treated like a third-class citizen during council meetings. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m Hispanic or female or both. I hate to even bring up ethnicity or gender, but I can’t figure out what the motivation is behind the treatment I have received as a councilmember. My ideas have been frequently discounted and dismissed as have my concerns. I have been ridiculed and called unprepared (and essentially stupid) for asking questions, as if I ask them because I don’t understand. In fact, I ask them, on the record, so that the public has the information that they deserve to have.
The city doesn’t have any adopted rules for running meetings, such as Robert’s Rules of Order, even though the city trains and expects our committees to use Robert’s Rules in their meetings. This has been brought up many times by Councilwoman Stevens, but it is dismissed by the Mayor and Council President Cheatum. As a result, the mayor can arbitrarily change things, meeting to meeting, essentially making up the rules as benefits his agenda. The City Attorney supports and defends the mayor at every turn.
Idahospeaks.com, protecting Freedom of Speech for Conservatives in Idaho
This was on display during the May 19 council meeting. The fact that my request to pull items from the consent agenda, as stated in the agenda, was voted down is telling enough. I was made to jump through hoops to have a legitimate and legal request honored. Finally, when my request was granted, I was precluded from asking my questions or making my statement by the grandstanding of Councilman Josh Mansfield. He was allowed by the mayor to pontificate about it being inappropriate to question City department heads about expenses without giving them the specific questions in advance and without forewarning them. He ended his speech with a motion that was quickly seconded by Councilwoman Leeuwrik and immediately voted on. After Roger Bray and I abstained, the mayor declared the motion passed. The City Attorney sustained that assertion in complete contradiction to his pronouncement during a similar situation on April 7, 2022. I was not given the opportunity to voice my concerns or ask my questions. My humiliation was further compounded by having a department head openly laughing at me and my predicament. Having endured this and similar behavior (some of it clearly orchestrated) repeatedly over the past 2.5 years, I felt that I had no alternative but to take a stand and leave the meeting.
I have been a victim of this bullying by Mayor Blad, his allies on the Council, and certain city staff, from the time that I was elected. What they don’t understand is that silencing me is silencing all the people who voted for me and want answers and transparency. I will move on from my humiliation, because that is what one does, but silencing the voices of the people is intentionally circumventing our democratic republic form of government.
