Iron County board to change board rules Tuesday

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Hurley — Among the items on the agenda for the Iron County Board of Supervisor’s meeting Tuesday are three revisions to the general rules for supervisors listed in the county directory.

Among the changes recommended by the finance committee at its meeting earlier this month is the removal of the limit on the number of per diems a supervisor can claim each day.

The existing rule allows supervisors to receive a $40 per diem for each committee and board meeting they attend in the county, and a $45 per diem for each meeting they attend out of county, with two per diems allowed per day.

The proposed change would eliminate the restriction, after several supervisors agreed that depending on the schedule of meetings they could have meetings throughout the day.

“There’s lots of times you’re here for three (meetings),” county board chair Joe Pinardi said at the finance committee meeting. “If they are right back-to-back ... then you’re here for one round. But if one is in the morning and one is in the evening and you have one in the middle of the day, then what do you do.”

The committee is also recommending removing the limit on the number of committee meetings — which are 40 meetings for a single committee and no more than 70 meetings in total — after the committee agreed there wasn’t an issue of committees holding unnecessary meetings to collect the per diem.

The committee also agreed that it would be difficult to attend that many meetings given that some committees meet quarterly and regardless there wasn’t an efficient way to enforce the rule.

A proposed change of the mileage rate from a specific number to simply the IRS rate was discussed, and will be addressed again after the county’s April election.