COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
APRIL 1, 2019
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
9:00 – Vanessa Willis – Fraud, Wages and Tax Sales
9:30 – Tony Martin – Road & Bridge
10:00 – SDSI – Budget (SW Development)
10:15 – RCDC – Budget (Russell Child Dev)
The Board of County Commissioners met in regular session with all members present. Also present were Paul Kitzke, County Attorney and Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk. Tron called the meeting to order. Joe moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Pat seconded. Motion carried. Pat moved to approve the county vouchers. Joe seconded. Motion carried. The Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 57,339.82 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 46,698.77 |
| Airport | $ 1,661.55 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,908.32 |
| EMS | $ 10,335.43 |
| Fire | $ 7,725.63 |
| Community Health | $ 28,248.14 |
| Sheriff | $ 37,429.69 |
| Employee P/R Misc W/H | $ 1,181.61 |
| WEKANDO | $ 400.00 |
| Airport Grants | $ 3,300.00 |
| Fire Bequest Fund | $ 289.90 |
| Co Building Fund | $ 492.49 |
| $ 199,011.35 |
Some high school students were in attendance for their government class: Abby Tharp, Jose Renteria, Daniela Arellano and Aylin Avila.
Vernon Anderson with Planning and Zoning came in to discuss with the commissioners a permit fee for construction of buildings and such within Stevens County. He presented the commissioners with a permit fee proposal. The zoning board will have to approve of the permit fee and then the commissioners will have final approval. Vernon said the county attorney will have to put it into a resolution and form a contract for the permits.
Joe inquired about a penalty if the permit isn’t requested and paid for. The commissioners at this time decided to forgo a penalty until it is a well-known fact when the permits will be required. Pat said he agrees with the idea just for appraisal purposes so the county can confirm it is on the owner’s property and the building can be appraised. The commissioners agree they do not want to get into plumbing and electrical, just the building size and location for appraisal purposes.
Tron told Vernon to move forward with the permit fee proposal and to contact the planning commission.
Joe discussed some issues pertaining to the City of Moscow and Paul informed Joe to have them come into the next meeting and give their opinions.
Vanessa Willis came in and informed the commissioners she feels it is a bad idea due to possible fraud, that she is the only one who physically signs the accounts payable checks. The other signatures are electronically signed. She feels physically signing checks would decrease any possibility of fraud. Joe said if anyone wanted to fraud badly enough, they could and it wouldn’t matter if the commissioners signed the checks or not.
Pat and Tron agreed to physically sign checks and not have them electronically signed.
Vanessa told the commissioners she is going to get different costs on running/mailing taxes because the company she currently uses, she feels, is wasting paper and money. She is going to get a cost on her office doing the taxes compared to bids from other companies running the taxes.
Vanessa brought up a company in Wichita that will do tax sales with no fees to the county and will instead charge their fees to the individual(s) that owe back taxes. She is going to look into it further because she feels the county needs to do tax sales. Right now, there are eleven (11) people who have not paid taxes within the last four (4) years or later. At least one person has not paid in the last ten (10) years which she finds unacceptable. The commissioners agreed that a tax sale is needed. Vanessa also told the commissioners the county has paid Greg Bond a little over $5,000.00 for work he did for a tax sale but the county did not move forward with the sale.
Paul said it would be good to have a tax sale and told Vanessa to get a contract from that company in Wichita and have him review it.
Vanessa requested from the commissioners a raise for elected officials. According to statewide wages, the Stevens County Treasurer is paid the least. Vanessa stated she has been here longer than other employees of the county that are not elected officials and she is still paid less. She also informed the commissioners she is paid less than Amy Tharp who has been an employee and elected official for less time. She also expressed her concern that some commissioners see her position as just clerical work without knowing all that goes on in her office. Amy Jo expressed the Treasurer’s office is very busy on a consistent basis from taxes, drivers licenses, vehicle tags and fishing/hunting licenses. She said they deal with more of the public than most offices in the courthouse. They are constantly busy with the public as well as balancing the checks and other issues the Treasurer has to contend with.
Pat asked Vanessa what she thought would be adequate pay. Tron asked why accept a job if it is quoted at a certain amount. Vanessa said she took the job to ensure she would have a job for at least four (4) years as her term, because any person that would win the election could fire anyone in that office. She also stated she was aware of the start rate but is also aware there is no cap and she could get a raise to be adequately paid.
Joe said that the county employees are only looking at the benefits and that should out top even the salaries.
Vanessa said since she has taken office she has not received an actual raise, just COLA. She also stated giving elected officials a raise is different than other departments and employees. She would like an answer on her raise question within the near future.
Vanessa said she is asking only for herself at this time but thought it should be addressed to all elected officials of the county.
Joe said they have had very few meetings where raises have not been discussed for elected officials but they see problems with giving raises.
Tony Martin brought in his 2020 requested budget and informed the commissioners he put in a two percent (2%) increase because of the change in oil prices. He said everything is the same except liability insurance because the Road and Bridge Department has been getting billed less than what is supposed to be billed to them so he needed to budget for that as well.
Tony informed the commissioners the county sells asphalt for $20.00 per ton less than JR Sand and feels we are doing work cheaper for ourselves which is beneficial to the county. He said at this time for one (1) inch thick of one (1) mile asphalt road costs roughly $88,000.00 and the county usually tries to make it two (2) inches thick which roughly costs around $176,000.00 just for a mile of road. Road 12 has just been finished and it took three (3) years when it should have only taken one (1) year but due to budget restraints it will take longer. Pat said soon the discussion will be what roads to close due to costs of upkeep.
Tony said the county needs to find out what was promised to Riverbend Feeders as far as the road goes because in the next ten (10) years the road will get bad. Doing a road wrong is a waste of money and will be costlier in the long run.
Tony told the commissioners the oil report does not look good. He said beginning 2019 the costs is $420.00 per ton and now $528.00 per ton which is $100.00 higher but still cheaper than 2013 and he doesn’t see it getting any lower.
Tony said he is discouraged that now the stacker has been delayed until May 1. He said the other bidding company was ready to get a new stacker to us and had every intention of getting it done in a more expedient time. He said he will start putting dates the project/item has to be completed or filled on his spec sheets.
Rodney Kelling presented the commissioners with the EMS, Fire and Civil Defense budgets for 2020. He is requesting an extra $40,000.00 to help with funding.
Tron asked Rodney about the spec sheets on the roof for the EMS/Fire building. Rodney said he will contact Jackson Sheets and find out where the specs are so they can start to receive bids. He said he will bring in the spec sheets at the next meeting to have the commissioners look over them and make sure it consists of what they are wanting to achieve.
Sheriff Ted Heaton was present.
Mark Hinde with SDSI (Southwest Development) presented the commissioners with a packet of information to request $42,897.00 for 2020 appropriations. He said there is no one on the board of directors from Stevens County and they meet four (4) times per year and mileage is paid. He would like the commissioners or anyone to get the word out they are looking for someone from the county to sit on the board of directors for SDSI.
Scott Kedrowski with CDCI (Child Development) came in and presented the commissioners with some information and a request of $25,500.00, which is $3,450.00 more than the annual amount the county appropriates to help with their organization. He said the amount is based on population instead of the amount of children using this due to fluctuations in child birth rates.
Pat made a motion to change the next commissioner meeting from April 15 to April 22 but to keep the same time beginning at 8:30am. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Paul informed the commissioners there will be several costly expenses for the legal services due to some cases having further proceedings and other court costs than is normal.
The commissioners have tabled the elected official wage issue for a later date.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk ________________________________ Tron Stegman, Chairman