COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
Agenda: 8:30 – Canvass of City/School General Election 2019
County Business/Agenda to continue after Canvass
Marilyn Harris – Memorial Hall
Phillip Willis – Resolution for 5 year SW mgmt. plan
9:30 – Tony Martin – Road & Bridge
10:00 – Jan Leonard – Theatre
11:00 – Paula Rowden – Comm Health Employee/Boiler
The Board of County Commissioners met in regular session. In attendance were Commissioners Pat Hall, Joe D. Thompson and Tron Stegman (who came in at 9:30). Also present was Paul Kitzke, County Attorney; Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk (who left at 9:45); Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk (who filled in for Amy Jo after Canvass) and RoGlenda Coulter with the Hugoton Hermes. Joe 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. Tron seconded. Motion carried. The Deputy Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 66,742.32 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 62,122.56 |
| Airport | $ 1,661.55 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,383.89 |
| EMS | $ 6,595.83 |
| Fire | $ 2,745.63 |
| Community Health | $ 25,941.63 |
| Sheriff | $ 33,996.13 |
| Employee P/R Misc W/H | $ 61.96 |
| County Building | $ 2,196.58 |
| Diversion | $ 2,024.30 |
| 911 Wireless | $ 115.24 |
| Alcohol Treatment | $ 250.00 |
| $ 207,837.62 |
The meeting began with the County Board of Canvassers. Tron Stegman was unable to attend for the canvassing portion of the meeting. He came in at 9:30 AM. Amy Jo called in Susan Schulte, with GIS, to assist with the canvass in Tron’s place. Canvass concluded at 9:45 AM and the regular commissioner meeting began with Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk, taking minutes for Amy Jo.
Rodney Kelling came in and asked the commissioners if they had a chance to go over the spec sheets for the ambulance. Pat said he would like to see bids after the first of the year. The commissioners approved the spec sheet. Rodney said he would like to have sealed bids on the ambulance he is wanting to sell in Moscow.
Marilyn Harris came in and told the commissioners she would like to get a new coffee pot for the Memorial Hall. She said the current one is old and has many issues with no way of getting it repaired. Pat told her to check with local businesses to see if one can be ordered and the commissioners agreed not to go over $250.00 for the new coffee pot.
Phillip Willis came in with Resolution 19-07, Five (5) Year Comprehensive 2019 Solid Waste Management Plan, and asked the commissioners to accept the resolution.
Joe made a motion to accept Resolution 19-07, the Five (5) Year Comprehensive 2019 Solid Waste Management Plan. Pat seconded. Motion carried.
Vanessa Willis asked the commissioners and Paul Kitzke if they were aware the last tax sale in court was dismissed. Paul said he was aware of the issue and stated he was still waiting to hear back from the company in Wichita that handles county tax sales. Vanessa said she would like to be kept up to date on the tax sale.
Vanessa then told the commissioners the handicap button outside by the Memorial Hall door does not function properly when it is cold. The commissioners said Ross Sullivan will need to check it out.
Vanessa said Equity Bank is not competitive with the state pool and Citizens State Bank matches the state pool. Joe asked if any CD’s had to be cashed out and she said not at this time and hopefully not this year. She did inform the commissioners there should be enough taxes in by December 17th to purchase the new grader.
Vanessa told the commissioners the airport still needs to get some issues cleared up so the funding, incoming and outgoing of monies is directed correctly. If the airport follows the same process with revenue and expenditures the other county entities follow, it will help greatly with the taxes that are to be reported by the end of each month. The airport operates under the counties Federal Identification Number.
Tony was next with Road & Bridge updates. He reported the grader should be off the assembly line December 17 and delivery date about 10 days from there.
He said the problem continues of rural road signs being stolen all around the county and they are working on finding out who is responsible. This is obviously a growing concern due to the possibility emergency vehicles will not be able to locate residents who have called 911 requesting help.
Joe asked Tony if he would be attending KDOT’s Kansas Highway Officials meeting in Liberal on Tuesday and asked if he thought Joe should go. Tony said he planned to go and thought it would be an interesting and beneficial meeting for both of them to attend.
Next on the agenda was Eco Devo Director, Jan Leonard. He was accompanied by a few local residents, including some high school students, who are in support of restoring and reopening the Hugoton movie theater. Jan said there has been a pretty big interest in this and they wanted to share with the commissioners what they have planned. In attendance were Debbie Nordling, Davonna Daharsh, Sue Smith, Diane Crawford, Moriah Leslie, Jordyn Beard, Juan Fraire, Brayan Caraveo, Suheila Rosas, Rylee Fann, Effie Kolb and Marrine Williams. Debbie presented a business plan that was drawn up and pros of reopening the theater. She shared that from a recent survey taken at the high school, 98.5% of 262 students said they would go to a movie here locally at least once a month. The kids who came to the meeting, along with some other locals from church & civic groups, are willing to help with demo work, cleaning of the building and whatever else it would take to restore the theater. The main points Debbie and Davonna made were the desire to give Hugoton a place people can go for entertainment, keeping local dollars at home, potentially bringing in more business for the local restaurants and keeping kids from having to travel outside of Hugoton. Davonna assured the commissioners they are doing their research before acting on anything, including checking with other towns that run small theaters. The first step is buying the building and then fixing the roof. All the figures were in the business plan. The goal is to utilize the building for other venues as well, such as live dinner theater and stand-up comedy acts. Debbie expressed their concern about the tax situation. She said they would have to be non-profit and exempt from taxes in order for this to work and needed to know what the next step would be. Joe said the commissioners, the city and the school would have to agree on the abatement but didn’t think it would be a problem. The commissioners confirmed they are still honoring the $7,500 contribution they had previously agreed to.
Ted came in with his new deputy, Christian Heger. Joe asked if Christian had attended school yet and Ted said it has to be within the first year of employment. He plans to send him around June or July of 2020.
Ted said there has been an influx of car break-ins in Moscow now. This has been a problem in Hugoton and surrounding towns. The perpetrators mostly steal loose money left in the vehicles.
Paula came in at the request of the commissioners. They just wanted to make sure she communicates to them her prospects to replace Trista, as this person will transition into Paula’s department head position once she retires. Paula assured them she had every intention of doing that. She said it would more than likely be at least six months or so before she will hire someone. She wants to take some time to try and make sure the candidate has a desire to stay long term in Hugoton, as the job entails time and expense in training to be the director. Joe inquired about the decision to have Cammie step down from the Moscow nurse position. He really supports the idea of utilizing county employees for positions like school nurse and school resource deputy. Paula said she definitely made sure Moscow had a replacement and the school administration showed no hard feelings over the decision. She elaborated on her reason, stating it was so Cammie could be available to perform some of the office duties Trista was responsible for.
Paula informed the commissioners one of the boilers had gone out again at the health department and it will cost $3,000 to fix it. There was discussion regarding some different options to consider when it comes time to replace the whole unit, one in particular, off site notifications sent to cell phones when there is an issue.
Joe made a motion to repair the boiler. Pat seconded. Motion carried.
Pat asked what exactly the problem is with the senior center freezer. Joe said it was explained to him that it was old and certain parts are not replaceable. The commissioners didn’t consider the bids that were brought in because they were all in one sealed envelope together. The bids need to be submitted from each bidder, separately, in an individually sealed envelope if the cost is $5,000 or more. Knowing a commercial freezer will cost that much, the commissioners instructed Amy to relay this to the senior center. Bids will be opened at 10:00 AM at the December 2, 2019 meeting. Amy shared from the last senior center meeting minutes that Nicole Kinser has been hired as the director of the center, effective January 1, 2020.
Joe made a motion for the county to give hams to county employees again this Christmas. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
The commissioners asked Amy to notify the airport board that they would like some of their members to attend the next commissioner meeting to clarify and finalize procedures for billing / funding.
Abatement and Added Orders for tax year 2019 numbers 158-161 were reviewed and approved by the commissioners and given to the County Treasurer; added value 400 and added tax $60.28. The Abatement value -580 and tax -$96.02. The total valuation deducted is 180 and tax assessed is -$35.74.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman