COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
APRIL 22, 2019
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
8:45 – Rodney Kelling – Review on specs for roof
9:00 – Phillip Willis – Used scales bids
9:30 – Tony Martin – Road & Bridge
10:00 – Chris Lund – City on a Hill
10:30 – Vernon Anderson/Darin Heger – Planning Zoning Permits
11:00 – Eunice Schroeder – Library Budget
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 | $ 130,986.39 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 104,316.55 |
| Airport | $ 6,903.62 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 39,660.56 |
| EMS | $ 11,389.57 |
| Fire | $ 6,403.03 |
| Community Health | $ 31,116.15 |
| Sheriff | $ 64,398.32 |
| Employee P/R Misc W/H | $ 263.75 |
| Library Fund | $ 75,060.00 |
| 911 Wireless | $ 115.24 |
| Co Clerk Tech Fund | $ 179.88 |
| Diversion | $ 250.00 |
| Alcohol Diversion | $ 250.00 |
| $ 471,293.06 |
Jan Leonard with Eco Devo came in to present the commissioners with an idea of purchasing the old movie theater on Main Street and refurbishing back into a theater. He suggested there could be Christian concerts, SWFAS theatre group and other acts that could use the stage as well as showing movies for the community. He discussed having volunteers to help clean the theater for remodeling purposes. Volunteers would also work the concessions, projector and ticketing once the theater gets going. There will be employees to take care of the cleaning and managing of the theater. Tron asked Jan what he is requesting from the county. Jan said most towns have put in a budget for operations fees of around $7,000.00 per year to help with insurances and taxes and to get it up and running. Paul asked who would be the owners of the theater and Jan said it would be in a 501C-3 which could tie into the Music Fest and no city or county would own it. Pat said he is not opposed to helping with $7,000.00 to $8,000.00 per year to help out.
Joe asked Jan about the substation on Road 18 and said he hasn’t seen any solar panels yet. He also said Stevens County pays high to Pioneer Electric and Sunflower. He said he is frustrated with them building in Grant County and all the jobs being generated in Grant and no help for Stevens County residents as far as jobs and a county income.
Jan said the farmers are getting money for the ground and Joe said that was good. Joe also stated if all the money is going to Grant County then it is still no help to Stevens County.
Amy Jo was instructed by the commissioners to disconnect the phone at the 4-H building.
Phillip Willis came in and stated he did not receive bids for the used scales. Joe suggested making the scales a surplus property and give them to whoever wants them.
Amy Jo asked Phillip about the early clock-ins at the landfill and he stated it was to get the equipment warmed up and ready to go at 8:30 AM.
Rodney Kelling came in with Richard Vertrees, representing AK, to present the commissioners with an updated spec sheet for the fire and EMS building roof. Richard explained to the commissioners he felt the spec sheet should state silicone or equivalent for the roof. Richard said he feels polyurea is a substitute for spray foam. He would like that to be a part of the spec sheet and is why it is stated “or equivalent.”
Paul stated it should be more descriptive and suggested Michael work up the spec sheet with both names of silicone and polyuria. They must use a contractor grade instead of a cheap one. Pat said he doesn’t want to use name brands because that could cause issues with bids.
Tron instructed a new spec sheet be drawn up to include alternate material and have Paul Kitzke look over the verbiage. At the commissioner meeting on May 6th, the commissioners will review and approve of the spec sheet, then release so sealed bids can be taken for the commissioner meeting dated May 20th.
Rodney informed the commissioners he received a letter of warning from the KDHE. In order to burn a house in the county, the fire department would need to procure permits. Rodney said the permit would be costly due to having asbestos inspections and carpet removed and other items for burning. He said he will no longer burn houses for demonstration and learning purposes as the permit cost would be too great.
Attorney Paul Kitzke left the meeting due to prior engagements with the courts.
Tony Martin with Road and Bridge came in and told the commissioners a grader went down and is currently in Ulysses at a repair shop. He said if it needs a transmission, a new one would cost about $58,000.00 and a refurbished one is around $38,000.00. The grader is a 2008 and has 11,000 hours on it.
Tony informed the commissioners the Road and Bridge will be going to four (4) days a week for ten (10) hours a day. Tron inquired if that really helped cut costs. Tony said it did by having the equipment up and running, which took time, and for the shutdown time. It cut back on overtime as well as being able to get more done in a day.
Amy Jo presented the commissioners with an updated Road and Bridge budget. The previous budget the benefits were figured on didn’t account for any extra employees.
Vanessa Willis with the Treasurer’s office came in and discussed her displeasure with the commissioners not getting back to her on her request for a pay raise. She also told the commissioners she is unhappy with other county employees’ attitudes. Tron told her they would make a decision today about the pay raise. Vanessa asked that as soon as they make a decision they let her know.
Sheriff Ted Heaton and Deputy Adam Mauk were present and informed the commissioners there is nothing to report.
Tron brought up the elected officials raise request and the commissioners discussed it. Pat said he feels the commissioners are caught in between agreeing with a raise and yet not sure if it would be fair to the public. Discussion was tabled for a later time today due to the agenda.
Chris Lund with City on a Hill came in to request the county continue support of City on a Hill with the current amount already being appropriated. He did inform the commissioners the roof in Liberal is in bad condition. He is currently working on written grants and trying creative funding for that project.
Pat discussed the cemetery board for Cemetery District 1 wants to expand west about forty (40) acres to the blacktop and discussed they would need to move the fence. Joe said they would have to annex a whole spot and Tron said it would need water lines added as well. Amy Jo brought up discussion of the cemetery board for Cemetery District 1 and said Phillip Willis and Carrie Baeza visited with her about the board. They stated they would like to look into getting new board members. Amy Jo informed them and the commissioners that since the Cemetery District 1 is a district, they can have board members that are within a twenty-five (25) mile radius and no resolution would be needed.
Tron asked if comp time has to be applied to the week the comp time was worked or can it be applied to the other week of the pay period. The commissioners agreed the policy needs to stay the same and be used toward time off within the same week comp hours are worked, due to the policy requiring a minimum forty (40) hour week.
Amy Jo brought up an employee issue regarding policy E-9 (c) in the employee handbook where it stated if an employee has not been employed one (1) full year and needs an unpaid leave of more than five (5) days, they will have to have written approval by the employee’s department head and the Board of County Commissioners. The policy also states said employee will be responsible for their insurance benefits for the days of unpaid leave in excess of five (5) days.
Amy Jo informed the commissioners that Lockwood will be out of business by May 1 and she will be looking elsewhere for ballots. She also stated some of the offices that use Lockwood to furnish them with binders and certain forms and types of paper will also be looking around for new places to purchase the items.
Vernon Anderson and Darin Heger with the Planning and Zoning board came in to discuss the zoning permits that were discussed at the prior meeting. They passed out a permit fee proposal and a request for zoning regulation change for the commissioners to review. Pat said he did not need to know about septic systems but mainly the buildings as far as location and size.
Darin Heger said people are resistant to zoning regulations because they are thinking of having electricity, septic and other building code inspections for each permit. Vernon said he looked into Seward and Grant Counties permits to get an idea for Stevens County. All agreed there was not a need to police everything.
Pat said when each permit is approved, it will need to be registered with the Register of Deeds and the County Clerk will collect the funds and put it into the General Fund. Tron and Joe inquired about a penalty and at this time, there is not a penalty but there will be in the future.
Pat made a motion to accept the Planning and Zoning request for regulation change. Joe seconded. Motion was opposed. Motion was not accepted because they want the County Attorney, Paul Kitzke, to look over the regulation change and permit fee proposal.
Pat said he would like to see the permit regulation change take affect by August 1, 2019. Joe said if it’s accepted by August 1 then it should state it needs to be in place by January 1, 2020, so it can be in the newspaper and get residents informed.
Susan Schulte with GIS came in to present the commissioners with her estimates on her computer’s hardware for the upgrades. She got an estimate of a lesser amount than the IT department was giving and the commissioners approved her choice of computer. They did ask her what the cost of installation would be and she said she would check into that.
Eunice Schroeder with the Library came in and informed the commissioners the Library is upgrading their lights with LED as it will be more cost effective. She turned in her budget request and said it was a bit higher because she is wanting to add a position at the Library to help fill in when an employee is gone or out sick. She told the commissioners she knows the Library’s mil is only 2.5 and was asking them to consider making a resolution to up 3 mil.
Pat said if the county valuation goes up it wouldn’t be an issue but with no gas/oil it doesn’t look feasible and would infringe on the tax lid.
Joe suggested to Eunice to call the schools and find out what upgrades they made for heating and cooling to keep costs at a minimum. Eunice said she is keeping the Library at a set temperature because it takes more to heat and cool the cinder blocks.
Joe asked to view the audit report for the Library and Amy Jo and Eunice said they will get one to him.
Pat told the commissioners the museum built a shed extension on the storage unit which is on county grounds and did not receive prior approval from the commissioners. He said the advisory board is supposed to advise and not do without approval.
Tron made a motion to give Vanessa Willis, Amy Jo Tharp and Betty Rosel a $1200.00 annual raise. Pat seconded. Joe opposed. Motion carried.
Discussion was raised on giving raises and Joe feels the benefit package the county offers is sufficient to raises. He feels there should be evaluations for employees.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman