COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
9:00 – Paula Rowden – Opioid Awareness Grant Update
9:30 – Tony Martin – Road & Bridge
10:00 –
10:15 –
The Board of County Commissioners met in regular session with all members present. Also present were Paul Kitzke, County Attorney; Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk and RoGlenda Coulter with the Hugoton Hermes. 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 Deputy Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 72,562.13 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 75,091.12 |
| Airport | $ 1,661.55 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,444.24 |
| EMS | $ 5,661.31 |
| Fire | $ 2,969.36 |
| Community Health | $ 30,862.25 |
| Sheriff | $ 33,448.28 |
| Employee P/R Misc W/H | $ 69.66 |
| Highway Improvement | $ 13,519.55 |
| Diversion | $ 1,590.99 |
| 911 Wireless | $ 1,897.28 |
| Alcohol Treatment Fund | $ 250.00 |
| Special Law | $ 5,598.00 |
| $ 248,625.72 |
RoGlenda informed the commissioners she had received some calls from people complaining of an occasional smell coming from the Merit plant east of town. Pat said he had spoken with a Merit employee regarding the smell and they confirmed a recent KDHE audit checked out fine and everything is good at the plant. He told Pat he would look into the matter further and see if there is anything else they can do.
Paula Rowden was first on the agenda, at the request of the commissioners. They asked Paula to come in and give an update on the grant that was received to educate the public on opioid use in our county. Paula said the grant totaled $60,000. There was a community assessment done to determine the extent of opioid drug use in Stevens County. It was revealed that 4,000 opioid prescriptions were given to 200 people in 2018 and 66% of students admitted to using non-prescribed opioids. Part of the grant money was used to pay City on a Hill for their assistance with the wellness seminar. Joe asked why $1,000 was being requested for Community Health employee, Trista Nordyke in addition to her normal earnings. Paula stated that she requested this through the grant fund in order to compensate Trista for her unsupervised work promoting opioid awareness (which involved tasks that were different from her normal job duties). She said Trista put in additional work outside normal business hours on preparation for and participation in the wellness seminar, as well as placement of the kiosks at the pharmacies for disposal of expired medications. Pat asked Paula if there were still issues with the A/C unit at the health department. Discussion was had regarding the ongoing problems and Paula reported receiving a $25,000 bid to replace the unit. The commissioners said they will revisit the topic after the first of the year to establish a plan for replacement.
Tony Martin came in to report on Road & Bridge. Tron asked Tony about being contacted by a resident regarding putting up a fence near a county right-of-way. The resident is wanting the commissioners to sign off on where the property lines are. Tony said they assisted the resident with locating and marking the property pins but would not sign anything. The commissioners, Paul and Tony agree the county would not officially be the ones to certify without a legal survey and would not want to be responsible for that. Paul said the only thing the county owns in that area is the easement and they can possibly sign something acknowledging where that is so the fence will not be built into the easement. Tron will discuss the matter further with Keri from FSA. Tony said the road crew has been working on patching roads around Moscow and they should be smooth by harvest time. They are building up the road to fix the water problem by the dairy and Tony asked about possibly putting in a culvert on 6th street east of City Limits. He reported a forklift training that is scheduled for R & B and landfill employees and informed the commissioners he had hired a new employee.
RoGlenda brought up a potentially hazardous condition that has been ongoing. Irrigation water is crossing and damaging Road T between Roads 24 and 26. Warning lights had been put up for awhile and Joe said they had attempted to deal with the problem, but Paul will send a letter to the landowner in another attempt to resolve the situation. Tony added that they plan to dig out the ditches and make them deeper.
Ted dropped in and said the 20 mph signs Road & Bridge put up for the Great Plains Music Fest seemed to help keep the traffic slowed down.
Lynne Webb brought the commissioners the compliance report for the Ad Valorem tax appraisal process and said criteria was met for substantial compliance.
County Treasurer, Vanessa Willis asked to come in and report on the information she obtained through a company who deals with tax foreclosures / sales. The total for unpaid property taxes is $91,000. Discussion was had regarding the cost of a tax sale and who should oversee the legal end. Vanessa went over the details of who handled the legals and title work on the last tax sale and stated that in the past, the county attorney charged $300 per parcel. Vanessa had originally been told this company will handle the sale at no cost. The information she received states they will charge $250 per parcel so the commissioners would like Paul to email them and make sure there are no other hidden fees involved. Joe voiced that he doesn’t understand why we are considering an outside source and Pat said he feels like they would be a good option because they are experts in the field of bankruptcy and other complicated situations involving some of the property owners. He said at the current time, Paul has enough on his plate without having to oversee a tax sale too and if it won’t cost any more money to use them, then we may as well. The commissioners agreed that Jeremiah Johnson would be asked to do the title work. All were in agreement that a sale is necessary at this time. Vanessa mentioned an issue with the Wellness Center credit card contract, explaining that Curtis Crawford’s name is still on the contract. He is supposed to be removed since the county is taking over the management of the system. Joe assured Vanessa that Curtis had told him he is looking into that.
Joe made a motion to approve Resolution 19-06 appointing Angela Eichman as Stevens County Appraiser and accept her request to be issued a company credit card with a $5,000 credit limit. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman