COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Agenda:
8:30 – Hearing for Disorganization of Townships / Resolution 25-04
8:45 – Bills
9:00 – Kayla Janko – Cimarron Basin / Signature for FY26
9:15 – Tony Martin
9:30 – Angela Eichman – Board of Tax Appeals Case
10:00 –
10:30 –
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in a regular session with members, Shannon Crawford and Joe D Thompson present. County Attorney Paul Kitzke and Deputy County Clerk Amy Rich were also present. Joe called the meeting to order. Shannon moved to approve minutes from the last meeting. Joe seconded. Motion carried. Shannon moved to approve the county vouchers. Joe seconded. Motion carried. The Deputy County Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 82,270.63 |
| Judicial District | $ 947.68 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 50,394.16 |
| Airport | $ 3,327.23 |
| Co Building | $ 100.00 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 4,822.68 |
| EMS | $ 9,032.34 |
| Fire | $ 3,172.58 |
| Community Health | $ 34,485.70 |
| Non Specific Equipment | $ 26,350.00 |
| Sheriff | $ 47,942.96 |
| TOTAL: | $ 262,845.96 |
Joe opened the hearing for the Disorganization of Townships. No one attested.
Shannon made a motion to accept Resolution 25-04 for the Disorganization of Townships.
Joe Seconded. Motion carried.
Joe closed the hearing for the Disorganization of Townships.
Paul began a discussion about the neighborhood revitalization. He stated he has no experience with the neighborhood revitalization and has been speaking with another attorney from Gilmore Bell. He said he is waiting for more detailed information regarding a new contract.
Shannon asked why the old contract could not be resubmitted. Paul replied the expired plan included all of Stevens County but should only pertain to certain properties. He elaborated that the commissioners need to decide which properties they would like to include. Shannon told Paul to go ahead and continue communication with Gilmore Bell and to ask them to provide more instruction by the end of the week.
Next on the agenda was Kayla Janko with Cimarron Basin. She shared her appreciation with the commissioners for Stevens County’s support and detailed some uses of the funding received. She provided the commissioners with the FY26 document for their signatures.
Tony Martin was in and distributed a list of Fair Board members.
He reported that the lessee of the property by the landfill had requested 2.4 more acres, but Tony expressed that he is not sure that would be feasible at this time.
Tony talked about the work arrangement with overtime hours for landfill employees and how he would like to change the closing time of the landfill office on Saturdays from 5:30 PM to 5:00 PM. He has tried to find someone to hire who would be willing to work Saturdays only.
He has had an employee working many Saturdays who has stated they no longer want to work as many Saturdays as they have been. To save on the cost of employee wages, Tony would like to only require one employee to work at a time on Saturdays, and for now, the employees will continue to be on a rotating schedule for Saturdays.
Tony requested a merit raise for two (2) employees.
He requested a $1.00 hourly increase for Haden Daharsh.
He informed the commissioners he was moving Richard Clinesmith to manage the shop and would like a $1.50 hourly increase for him.
Joe said even though Tron was absent, he thinks Tron would be fine with it so would like to go ahead and approve the wage increases.
Shannon made a motion to approve the increase of the two (2) Road and Bridge employee wages.
Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Shannon made a motion to approve the Road Use Permit for Travertine Solar.
Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Tony presented his encumbrance requests and submitted the letters. Encumbrance and roll over letters will be reviewed at the March 10 commissioner meeting.
Next in was Stevens County Appraiser Angela Eichman. Angela gave an update on the case involving The Northwest Cotton Growers Co-op Gin and Kansas Board of Tax Appeals. The attorney handling the case said there will be no trial and relayed BOTA’s order.
The order states that Stevens County Board of County Commissioners should order a correction of the clerical error associated with the new building and order an additional assessment or tax bill, or both, to be issued under K.S.A. 79-1701a for 2023. In addition, Angela was instructed to list and value the new building for 2023 and have the county clerk place such property on the tax rolls and compute the amount of tax due for 2023 under K.S.A. 79-1475.
A letter is required to be sent to the taxpayer.
Shannon made a motion to execute BOTA’s order. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Rex Evans dropped in to see if the commissioners might consider a replacement for the ice machine in Memorial Hall. He said it is unclear how many years it has been there, but the model number is from the year 2001. He reported a clamp broke on one of the ice machine’s waterline hoses and flooded part of the Memorial Hall carpeted floor. He was able to suction a good amount of water with the water extractor and dried the carpet with fans, but it did cause some staining. Rex is having a professional carpet cleaning business come in to treat the stains and thoroughly clean all the carpeted area in the Memorial Hall. He was able to repair the ice machine. He presented some information on a couple new models, which included a machine that makes 550 lb. daily of the crushed ice like Sonic uses at a price of $4,708. The second machine makes 350 lb. daily of ½ inch size cubes costing $2,778. It was also proposed that the EMS / Fire department could have the machine currently in Memorial Hall, as they have a need for ice to keep drinking water cool and for ice packs to keep them cool while fighting fires. Joe said he does not think the ice machine needs to be replaced at this time since it is still in working order. He said if the EMS / Fire department decides they would like to request their own machine, consideration could possibly be given to purchasing a smaller model unit.
Rex relayed he had ordered some sensors to place on the floor around different water sources in the courthouse to detect leaks. He explained they were only around $50 in total for five (5) and it will send a notification to his phone, which will be especially good if a leak were to occur when he is not in the building.
Joe put Jan Leonard on speaker phone to discuss the Neighborhood Revitalization. Paul explained about needing certain properties designated. Discussion was had regarding ideas of which properties should be included. Paul asked Jan to get the legal descriptions of the properties to be considered.
Rodney Kelling was in attendance. He was asked about the value of the decontamination trailer but expressed that he misunderstood from the prior meeting that he was to get that. He had the understanding it was ready to be published in the paper. Rodney went to the appraiser’s office to see if they would have the value, and he also checked with the treasurer’s office to see if there was a value listed when the trailer was tagged. He came back and reported neither office had that information. He asked Amy if she would be able to get the value amount KCAMP used to determine the insurance amount for the trailer, and he also mentioned a couple other places he would ask.
Rodney reminded the commissioners the next LEPC meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 1.
Shannon made a motion to appoint Marcus Howe to the Planning and Zoning committee.
Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned.
Attest: Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk
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Joe D Thompson, Vice Chairman