In a rare but legally required move, the Canyon County Board of County Commissioners on Thursday appointed naturopathic medical doctor Brett Butterfield to fill a vacancy on the Vallivue school board.

If a school board in Idaho fails to fill a vacancy within 120 days, the local county commissioners are required to make the appointment. Trustee Toni Brinegar resigned on June 9, which was 142 days ago as of Thursday.

“This is a statutory requirement,” Canyon County Chief Civil Deputy Aaron Bazzoli told the commissioners at Thursday’s meeting.

He said the school district provided Butterfield’s name, but there were “some issues with how they went about the process.”

Commissioner Leslie Van Beek thanked Bazzoli for putting on the record the county’s statutory authority to make the appointment.

“I don’t know that the board has been asked — not in my tenure — to be the one that appoints a person for a vacancy on a school board,” she said.

She then made a motion to appoint Butterfield.

“We’re not here to overstep the wishes of the Vallivue school board,” Van Beek said. “For whatever reason, they had problems, so this was the name that surfaced as the candidate they wanted to fill that seat and I am in favor.”

With the appointment secured, the five-member Vallivue school board is now back to full strength after two resignations this summer.

Trustees cured open meeting violation

Following Brineger’s resignation in June, trustee Paul Tierney resigned in August. The board was down to three members for about two months.

The remaining trustees on Oct. 13 interviewed two candidates seeking to fill Brinegar’s seat in Zone 3. The board then came to a “consensus” to appoint Butterfield, but the agenda for the meeting did not include a decision on the appointment as an action item. District leaders then consulted legal counsel to determine if an open meeting violation occurred.

A week later, the board in a special meeting acknowledged and cured an open meeting violation. Board Chair Jennifer Cox said the Oct. 13 discussion “may have constituted deliberation or decision-making concerning which candidate should be appointed.”

“Those deliberations or decision-making did not comply with the requirements of the Idaho Open Meeting Law … because the matter was not identified on the agenda as an action item,” Cox stated.

The district then turned the decision to appoint Butterfield over to the county commissioners as the 120-day deadline had passed.

Also at last week’s special meeting, the board interviewed three candidates to fill Tierney’s vacancy in Zone 4 and then voted — with proper agenda notice — to appoint Kellie Horrocks, a mother of four young children.

The new appointees will serve until January 2028, according to the district’s vacancy notices.

Meet the new Vallivue trustees

Butterfield is a born and raised Idahoan. He described himself as a life-long learner who wants to give back.

“I can’t think of a more meaningful way to contribute to the community,” Butterfield said during his Oct. 13 interview.

Butterfield and his wife Leighann founded Nampa Naturopathic Health Clinic in 2019. As a business owner, he said he can set his own schedule and will be able to attend meetings, training and various community events required of trustees.

He’s noticed a growing interest in the community for people to be healthy, and said there is a “metabolic crisis” in the country.

“I think the quality of food affects school performance so much,” Butterfield said. “It really helps with cognitive function and behavior. That’s something that I think I could make a unique contribution.”

He said public schools should prepare students to be good citizens, voters and community members as well as preparing them for whatever comes after high school.

“Whether that is higher education, blue-collar jobs, or military service — whatever that might look like, we need them to have options so they can capitalize on their talents and their gifts,” Butterfield said.

While Butterfield has kids enrolled in high school, Horrocks has kids in elementary and middle school.

In her Oct. 21 interview, Horrocks said she tends to be the voice in her local mom group that is civically engaged. She said the PTA president at the local elementary school told her about the school board vacancy.

“I was like, ‘You know, why not be the change you want to see?'” Horrocks said.

She has a flexible schedule and works part time for the federal government.

When asked about the responsibilities of the school board, she said her understanding is “really minimal.” She also said she doesn’t know much about how public education is funded in Idaho.

“I’ve mostly just experienced it from the parent side of it,” she said. “So truth be told, I don’t know a lot about what goes on on the school board.”

She said one of the pain points for her as a parent is traffic safety around schools. She would like to see more school resource officers and stronger partnerships with local law enforcement to help with traffic issues.

Horrocks said she would love to be a voice for the community in Vallivue.

“I have a lot of years left ahead of me in this district as a parent,” she said. “As someone who is directly affected by the district.”

Before voting unanimously to appoint Horrocks, Cox said she likes that Horrocks has young kids and brings a different perspective to the board.

Butterfield and Horrocks are expected to take the oath of office and be sworn in at the board’s next regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10.