COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
APRIL 02, 2018
The Board of County Commissioners met in regular session with all members present. Also present were Paul Kitzke, County Attorney; Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk and RoGlenda Coulter with the Hugoton Hermes. Joe called the meeting to order. Pat moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Tron 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 | $ 172,579.10 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 173,944.04 |
| County Building | $ 484.73 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 14,228.59 |
| Airport | $ 6,461.56 |
| EMS | $ 17,572.85 |
| Fire | $ 28,478.17 |
| Community Health | $ 48,863.01 |
| Sheriff | $ 127,782.00 |
| Clerk Tech Fund | $ 650.00 |
| Employee P/R Misc W/H | $ 1,183.40 |
| WEKANDO | $ (4,000.00) |
| TOTAL: | $ 588,227.45 |
Phillip Willis came in to get Resolution 18-05 Adoption of the Stevens County Solid Waste Management Plan approved by the commissioners.
Pat moved to accept the Solid Waste Management Plan Resolution 18-05. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
Rodney Kelling with the Emergency Management came in and Joe discussed with Rodney about holding a community meeting in Moscow to get more people interested in joining the Stevens County Fire Department. Rodney said that Billy Bell and Stu Moore have applications for those that would be interested in signing up to be volunteer fire fighters in the Moscow area.
Rodney told the commissioners that there are at least two (2) burn ban violations as of today. One (1) was unattended fire and the other did not call in to state it was a controlled burn. Had that person called, he would have found out there was a burn ban not a controlled burn in effect. He also mentioned he didn’t have the proper equipment to put the fire out. Paul said in order to enforce the burn ban he would look at the Kansas State statutes and see what can be done. Rodney told the commissioners that at this time it is a $500 penalty if it is not called in as a controlled burn and $300 if the fire department has to put out the fire.
Rodney asked the commissioners if they wanted to consider doing a fireworks ban for this year. Pat said it would be hard to say if they should consider a ban because fireworks bring in money for fundraisers and he hates to ban it at this time without knowing how the weather will be. Rodney said the County could choose to do a ban and that will still allow the city to decide if they want to ban fireworks or not. Joe said he isn’t in a hurry to do anything with it yet because of the weather.
Tony Martin with Road and Bridge brought in an updated Crossing Permit showing where it states that one (1) permit is needed per crossing not one (1) legal for each permit. Tony also stated that the requestor has to meet all specifications due to the recent event where a requestor was trying to use one (1) crossing permit for three (3) different crossing places in order to only pay one (1) fee.
Tony then discussed that his department is doing shoulder work on Road V between Road 20 and 21. He said the shoulders need work and that he plans to have half (1/2) a mile done by Thursday. He is also hoping to start doing overlay towards the end of the month from the Oklahoma line to Road 12 which is approximately three (3) miles. They will also be doing chip/seal on second (2nd) Street at the southwest county line for twelve (12) miles this summer.
Tony has contacted Billy Bell and Pete Earls about stock piling dirt for the Moscow lagoon and hopes to begin doing that this week.
Tony also informed the commissioners that by May 1, 2018, they will go to their ten (10) hours a day four (4) days a week work schedule for the summer months.
The commissioners agreed to a zero percent (0%) salary wage increase/decrease for the 2019 budget.
Joe moved for a fifteen (15) minute executive session over non-elected courthouse personnel. Pat seconded. Executive session began at 9:34am and ended at 9:41am. No action taken.
Mark Hind with Southwest Developmental Services, Inc (SDSI) came in to inform the commissioners that Verlene Hancock has resigned from the board and that SDSI needs a board member from Stevens County. He said the board meets four (4) times a year and the mileage to those meetings are paid and meals will be provided. He also informed the commissioners that Mary Shuster will be retiring later this year and the position will not be filled.
Mark also requested Stevens County to donate $39,681 to help keep SDSI funded for 2019. He said that the State of Kansas goes by population and has no information to accurately show how many citizens of Stevens County are being served.
Scott Kedrowski with Russell Childhood Development Center (RCDC) came in and touched base with the commissioners letting them know that RCDC works with children from birth to three (3) years of age that have developmental disabilities. He told the commissioners that the number of children has increased twenty-two percent (22%) state-wide. There has been an eighty-three percent (83%) increase of children served in the past ten (10) years.
Scott asked the commissioners if the County would be willing to help at the cost of six percent (6%) of the population for funding which would be an amount of $24,500 for the year of 2019.
Faye Trent with Great Plains Development came in to ask the commissioners to renew the membership for the 2018 year. She said that they worked on the lagoon with the City of Moscow to help them get a grant. In 2017 there were approximately $5.8 million in grants for Stevens County alone and it had created 747 jobs. The dues are based on population and can be checked at the Kansas Registration Data Portal.
Pat made a motion to renew membership with Great Plains Development for 2018 in the amount of $1,396. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
Accrued time was discussed with the commissioners for the fact that all non-elected employees need to go by the policy even if the job requires a twenty-four (24) hour on-call schedule. Joe said the policy should change to have the airport reflect their minimum required time no matter what time and clock in at all times the employee is on airport grounds. Amy Rich said that at this time the policy now says airport personnel is to work Monday thru Friday from 8:00am until 5:00pm with an hour for lunch for a forty (40) hour work week. Paul told the County Clerk to request proposed changes from the airport for the policy change.
At this time the commissioners will allow the maintenance/janitorial position to strip and wax floors at the Sheriff’s office one (1) time every six (6) months.
The County Clerk was instructed to look at the Library Agreement of Understanding to instruct the maintenance/janitorial employee on what ground maintenance is needed at the library.
Excessive overtime was discussed of the Solid Waste personnel and Joe called Phillip Willis to discuss the matter by phone. It was relayed that if an employee was working a Saturday then that person should not be at work that Monday. If the overtime issue can’t be solved, then the landfill will have to be closed on Saturdays. Phillip said that the landfill had been busy but will implement the Monday off if an employee works a Saturday.
Abatement Orders for taxes numbered 96-101 of tax year 2017 and number 157 for tax year 2016 were reviewed and approved by commissioners and given to the County Treasurer; total valuation added 4548 and tax assessed $559.08, total valuation removed 43209 with a relief assessment of $8694.78.
By motion the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk ________________________________ Joe D Thompson, Chairman