COMMISSIONER’S PROCEEDINGS
APRIL 11, 2022
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
8:45 – Eric Cox – Industrial East lots
9:00 – Airport Board – MET towers by Invenergy
9:30 – Tony Martin
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in regular session with all members present. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney; Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk and RoGlenda Coulter with the Hugoton Hermes were also present. Tron called the meeting to order. Tron moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Joe 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 | $ 118,313.47 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 53,518.67 |
| Airport | $ 14,670.14 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 5,308.41 |
| EMS | $ 16,368.51 |
| Fire | $ 22,070.43 |
| Library | $ 58,997.50 |
| Community Health | $ 25,593.26 |
| Judicial District | $ 1,471.94 |
| Alcohol Treatment | $ 212.50 |
| Sheriff | $ 72,037.25 |
| Emp P/R Misc W/H | $ 1,376.81 |
| ARPA – COVID | $ 7,197.16 |
| TOTAL: | $ 397,136.05 |
Rodney Kelling was in and explained to the commissioners the Emergency Services Department, Sheriff, Road and Bridge and the Hugoton Police Department use the tower the light is going on. Pat suggested ARPA pay for the light on the tower as that is what the funds are for.
Rodney discussed his encumbrance letter with the commissioners and told them he spoke with the auditor and $62,000.00 was available to roll over into the fire equipment fund and $47,000.00 was available to roll into the ambulance equipment fund.
Joe made a motion to encumber the recent request Rodney asked for. Pat seconded. Motion carried.
Pat said right now he is not in favor of trading in Rodney’s pickup since it only has around 88,000 miles on it. Rodney stated he has put in over $6,000.00 of work on the pickup and it is ten (10) years old. The commissioners have tabled the pickup idea.
Eric Cox came in and expressed his interest in purchasing a lot on the Industrial East side of town. He stated he will be using it for commercial/business use only. Paul instructed Eric to email him the legal description of the property so he can get a contract together and it will need to be published in the Hugoton Hermes.
The commissioners approved Eric Cox to purchase Block two (2), Lot four (4) in the Industrial East division for $20,232.00.
Robert Davis, Matt Rome and Erick Nordling with the Airport Board were in attendance. Pat asked about if anything can be built on the lot on the west side of town near the airport. Robert said the lot currently falls on the space of no building due to FAA regulations for the crosswind runway. He said it could get changed but if someone is interested then the interested party would need to get a layout plan from the airport and fill out form number 7460 to turn into the FAA for approval.
Robert said Tony Martin brought some properties to the Airport Board for review of the three (3) MET towers Invenergy wants to put up. He said the board will need to decide if they encroach upon the runway and they will not allow Invenergy to build until they have filed form number 7460 with the FAA and receive approval. Paul said it does need to be approved through the proper channels. Matt stated the way the MET tower plans look it would be difficult for Medivac to land. Most places have airports ten to fifteen (10-15) miles away from airports but never as close as six (6) miles away. Robert said the board will plan to attend the Planning and Zoning meeting to bring up the issues. Paul suggested not granting the MET tower building until approval from the FAA and the airport receives the reports.
Amy presented the commissioners with quotes for the hot water heater from Lin Good for $1,300.00 and front entryway tile in the amount of $2,500.00 from The Tile Man for repairs at the Museum. Since the amounts were not near the $5,000.00 range, there was no bidding needed. Joe made a motion to pay for the tile work and hot water heater work out of building funds for repairs at the Museum for the above amount. Pat seconded. Motion carried.
Moscow Senior Center sent a bill to be reimbursed for garbage disposal work in the amount of $125.00 from Lin Goode. Joe made a motion to reimburse the Moscow Senior Center $125.00 for garbage disposal work. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
Corey Ghumm, Jim Ghumm and Ross Sullivan came in and asked the commissioners if the Christian Brothers Construction had followed through and if they purchased the rest of the lots in the Pioneer addition. Paul said the county did not hear back by Friday, April 1, 2022, but did hear back on Monday, April 4, 2022, after the agreed upon date.
There was discussion about the lots that are outside the city limits in the Pioneer Addition. Pat said if the city annexes those lots, then specials will have to be paid. Also discussed were the covenants on the lots and type of home. The commissioners stated no mobile homes or doublewides but would entertain modular homes.
Joe asked Paul if the county has any responsibility to the Christian Brothers. Paul said they were given limits and also remembers the Christian Brothers stating if a citizen was interested in any of the lots, they would work with them.
Jim asked if the feet are dragging, would the commissioners be willing to sell the lots to him? Joe said the county still has responsibility to the Christian Brothers but would like to do something if things do not start moving along.
Paul will check with the Christian Brothers about the lots and see if they would be willing to only work on the lots west and let the county have the lots on the south to do with what they want.
Amy said the state contacted her and said the one percent (1%) sales tax is scheduled to end on June 30th, 2022. Amy asked the commissioners if they want to re-establish the sales tax. After discussion, the commissioners decided not to move forward.
Tony Martin came in and said he has been communicating with KDHE as they are requesting liners and monitoring wells. He said the engineers are ninety-five percent (95%) sure no liner will be needed but to move forward and if a liner is needed it can be put in. Tony also stated the landfill is moving further from town not closer and he is not concerned about the water lines.
Tony said this is Easter weekend and Friday the county is closed for Good Friday and the weekend. He requested the landfill be closed on Saturday, April 16th to allow the Landfill employees a full weekend off. The commissioners agreed.
Tony stated Roger Willis will be retiring on April 29th. Tony would like to have three (3) miles overlaid prior to Roger’s retiring. He said oil (PG22) in 2021 was around $489.00 per ton and this year it is around $809.00 per ton. Quite a price hike so he is going to try to keep things at a minimum. The chip/seal oil they use only went up $0.20 per gallon.
Planning and Zoning will meet April 19th and will request FAA reports and more information on the MET towers.
Bill DeCamp was observing.
Jim Ghumm brought up more discussion about the Pioneer Manor lots and said he wants to purchase the whole block seventeen (17) and commit to six (6) lots. If the Christian Brothers want to continue that would be great but if not, he would possibly be interested in taking the rest of the lots.
Amy said the north side of the EMT building has been empty and would like to know how much it would cost to rent. Someone is interested in renting it until a larger group comes in and wants the space. The commissioners agreed on a price to help cut the cost of the EMT budget with utilities.
Abatement Orders for 2019 taxes numbered 267 and 268, 2020 taxes numbered 81 and 82 and 2021 taxes numbered 104 and 105 were reviewed and approved by commissioners and given to the County Treasurer; total valuation removed 4,800 with a relief assessment of $727.37.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman