COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
SEPTEMBER 12, 2022
Agenda: 8:30 – RNR Hearing – Budget Hearing
9:00 – Shelby Martin – Wellness Ctr
9:30 – Tony Martin
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in regular session. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney and Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk were also present. Tron called the meeting to order. Pat moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Joe seconded. Motion carried. Joe moved to approve the county vouchers. Pat seconded. Motion carried. The County Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 87,870.35 |
| Judicial District | $ 1,545.97 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 122,199.06 |
| Airport | $ 11,854.97 |
| Diversion | $ 7,576.56 |
| County Building | $ 792.24 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,060.80 |
| EMS | $ 8,533.79 |
| Fire | $ 3,736.14 |
| Community Health | $ 36,375.25 |
| Fire Bequest | $ 3,020.45 |
| Sheriff | $ 80,887.64 |
| Road Machinery | $ 98,400.00 |
| Emp Misc W/H | $ 52.74 |
| TOTAL: | $ 465,905.96 |
This meeting began by holding the Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) hearing. Steve Kinser was in attendance and had questions about the RNR and if the taxes were going up and wanted clarification on how to read the new RNR sheets which were mailed out. Steve said he did not understand how the value can go up and cause taxes to go down. Pat said the valuation in our county is regulated by oil and gas production. He said if the oil and gas bring in more revenue it raises the valuation, so it gives more tax dollars per one (1) mil as opposed to less tax dollars per mil. By doing this, the higher the valuation, the less amount of money it takes to run the county.
A vote to raise the RNR from 57.508 to 80.883 was had, and all three commissioners voted yes.
Pat moved to adopt the Resolution 22-08, A Resolution of the County of Stevens, Kansas to Levy a Property Tax Rate Exceeding the Revenue Neutral Rate. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
The Budget Hearing for year 2023 was held. All three commissioners approved the budget.
Pat moved to approve the budget for 2023. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Rodney Kelling checked in with nothing to report.
Shelby Martin came in and said she received some bids for a six in one (6-in-1) station at the Wellness Center. The station by Mid-States is at $11,200.00 and the other two (2) comparable stations from Fitness Giant are at $12,299.00 and $13,499.00. Shelby stated Mid-States will come in and set up the new equipment and Fitness Giant will only ship the equipment. Shelby said she plans to use her grant money to pay for the equipment and asked the commissioners what needs to be done.
Pat made a motion to waive the sealed bid and accept the Mid-States 6 Station Single Pod with Stand Alone Hilo Pulley at a cost of $11,200.00 with freight charge of $525.00 and trade-in of and trade-in of the free motion chest/cross cable for $250.00, bringing the total to $11,475.00. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Shelby said she plans to purchase more equipment down the road. She has currently hired a high school student through the COOP program which allows a student to go to work during school hours for credit. She said the student will not exceed twelve (12) hours and has been working on getting all of the social media set up for the Wellness Center. The commissioners agreed to the student employee working no more than twelve (12) hours per week. Amy Jo suggested someone speak with the school on the student worker program to get clarification on how the process/program works.
Shelby said she would like all employee Wellness Center membership payments to go through the Wellness Center. Amy Jo said that currently the employees who are enrolled have the payment taken out of their payroll and automatically going into the Wellness Center revenue general fund and the volunteer employees bring money into the Clerk’s office if they do not have enough funds in their payroll to have it taken out. The county would have to take the funds and then issue a check out of another general fund to pay for the employees which at this time would not be feasible. Shelby stated other companies give her the check from their payroll for their employees who have signed up. Amy Jo stated it is different as the Wellness Center is owned and operated by the county and County Employees are signed up to have membership automatically withdrawn from their pay. Amy Jo said the volunteer employees pay the Clerk’s office which gets transferred into the general fund. She told Shelby she can get reports for the receivables for the county if she needs them. Shelby asked if the volunteer employees can pay the Wellness Center directly, Amy Jo said she was unsure and thought there was a reason behind it due to payroll and how that portion is handled. The commissioners agreed the volunteer employees who don’t have a direct payroll deduction can pay the Wellness Center directly instead of coming into the Clerk’s office to pay for their membership and still get their employee discount.
Shelby stated she has been cleaning up the computer account system for memberships and says she has been matching deposits. Amy Jo said she spoke with the auditors about Shelby having a change drawer for merchandise. They suggested the commissioners discuss and agree along with the amount to be kept in the change drawer. The commissioners agreed to allow the Wellness Center to always keep a change drawer with a specified amount for merchandise sales change and membership change. Shelby also asked the commissioners about having a Cash App or Venmo account through the county on the business side and stated she spoke with Jayme Rich, Treasurer, and there was no issue with her on the idea. The commissioners said they will agree as long as Shelby runs it by the auditors to find out if that is possible and how to set it up within the county.
Shelby also informed the commissioners she would like to have a washer and drier at the Wellness Center to wash the towels people use to clean off the equipment for sanitary reasons. She states at this time she is spending $48.00 every two (2) weeks to have a company come and replace the used towels with clean ones, along with five (5) mats and a clean mop head. She stated she has been taking the towels home and cleaning them in between as the price only covers fifty (50) towels. Pat said he will go to the Wellness Center and see if there is a place a washer and drier can go but it depends on the plumbing and venting. Shelby said sometime soon she will be working on trying to get a grant to replace the carpet as several people have tripped and stated she will not be replacing it with carpet but other materials which would be gym suitable.
Shelby stated the roof at the Wellness Center needs checked for leaks as the ceiling in the men’s restroom is starting to cave in due to excess moisture from the roof. The commissioners told her to contact AK Roofing and AquaShield to see if they can give a statement as to why the roof is leaking and what needs to be done for repair.
Tony came in and stated the Cat Crawler at the landfill is a 2001 with 17,344 hours. If he purchases a new 953 model, he will not be able to get it in until February 2023 or later. He can purchase a 963 model and have it in between October and December of this year. The 953 is running around $320,000.00 and the 963 is around $370,000.00.
Tony stated the loaders for the Road and Bridge Department are both broken down and hopes the John Deere loader will be fixed by tomorrow, he is unsure when the Cat loader will be fixed. Pat stated he spoke with someone who used to do many repairs on Cat equipment and might be able to get it fixed for a decent price. Tony said he doesn’t trust outside people who are not insured or offering a warranty on repairs. Pat said he understood but doesn’t feel the county should be paying $221,000.00 in repairs on equipment let alone $300,000.00 for new equipment. Tony said the equipment fund does not have enough for a new loader. Joe stated rebuilds are beneficial and are practically new and come with a warranty. Pat said the engine is not new and Joe stated the county put one in six (6) months ago and should still have a warranty. Tony stated new is better but for the cost, a rebuild is just as good.
Pat made a motion to have the Cat loader (SN 2ZN04080) rebuilt for a cost of $226,431.31, with the five (5) year/6,000-hour powertrain warranty and repairs covered by one (1) year parts warranty. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Tony stated the roof on the shack at the landfill is coming off and needs a new roof all together. The commissioners told Tony to put out for sealed bids for a new roof to be opened at 9:30 AM on October 11, 2022.
Tony informed the commissioners he is looking for three (3) people to hire at the Road and Bridge Department.
Thea Schnittker came in to discuss Nex-Tech with the commissioners, they came in to discuss how they are doing with the IT for the county. She said everything seemed to go well, the sales representative and operating person did not realize there were so many issues keeping our equipment running and told the department heads who attended to call him directly if things are not handled in a time appropriate manner. She also stated the operating person did not have the up-to-date information on how old the systems were, they kept saying the server was a 2012 model when the county just upgraded approximately three (3) years ago. Jayme Rich was in the Nex-Tech meeting and told them what has taken six (6) months with no results only took an outside IT person thirty (30) minutes to fix whereas Nex-Tech kept telling them to purchase new computers and her equipment is the newest in the county. Thea told the commissioners she doesn’t feel safe using an individual person to do IT for the county because of the security risks it involves. She is more comfortable with a company who has the structure and information they need to keep the county secure. She stated at this time the Appraiser has a personal laptop which she can get into some of the county programs and views that as being a security risk. Nex-Tech told Thea in the meeting they will have a proposal put together in about two (2) weeks and hopes it will benefit the county moving forward.
Thea said the ARPA funds could be used for a chiller on the Community Health Department and possibly a washer and drier for the Wellness Center as it would be for health and sanitization.
The commissioners discussed the Community Health Department’s chiller. Pat called Mike with Trane and asked which would be more efficient for the facility. Mike said he will look into it and give an idea for repair and replace. The commissioners said they will discuss the Community Health Department vehicles down the road to decide if they want to bid them out or use them as a trade-in.
Paul presented the commissioners with Resolution 22-09 A Resolution Assessing/Continuing a One Percent (1%) County Wide Retailer’s Sales Tax in Stevens County, Kansas for Property Tax Relief. This Resolution will only take effect if the county residents vote for it on the November 8, 2022, General Election.
Pat made a motion to accept Resolution 22-09 A Resolution Assessing/Continuing a One Percent (1%) County Wide Retailer’s Sales Tax in Stevens County, Kansas for Property Tax Relief. The question will be on the General Election for vote on November 8, 2022. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Amy Jo asked the commissioners if EMS and Treasurer should split the cost of the BCBS for their dual employee. The commissioners agreed the cost should be split 50/50 between the two (2) departments.
Joe called Jan Leonard and asked him about a potential retail business which has an idea of building in the City of Moscow or in Haskell County in Satanta. He asked if there is any type of incentive program for retail. Jan said there is a five (5) year Neighborhood Revitalization plan and also an Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) plan. He said for the IRB the county would need to get in touch with Sarah Steel and see what the requirements are for an IRB. If the company is in manufacturing, they would possibly be eligible for a ten (10) year tax abatement.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman