COMMISSIONERS PROCEEDINGS
AUGUST 20, 2018

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 Marie Austin with the Hugoton Hermes.  Joe called the meeting to order.  Tron moved to approve the minutes as corrected.  Joe seconded.  Motion carried.  Pat moved to approve the county vouchers.  Tron 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	$           67,098.83
Road & Bridge	$           92,384.91
Airport	$             3,230.78
County Building	$             2,925.53
Noxious Weed	$           14,103.31
EMS	$           10,543.34
Fire	$             3,072.48
Community Health	$           28,913.01
Emp P/R Misc W/H	$                  20.37
Sheriff	$           59,232.00
TOTAL	$         281,524.56

 

Rodney Kelling came in and said Billy Bell had asked if it would be okay for people to use the Moscow fire station for parking at the upcoming street dance.  He also inquired about use of the bathrooms in the station.  Rodney approved both, providing there is no tobacco or alcohol on the premises and fire trucks be kept clear of traffic and easily accessible.

He then reported the roof leaking again at the Hugoton Fire / EMS building.  He said he is having a hard time getting Aqua Shield Roofing to provide a quote, but he obtained a quote for repairs from HMH in the range of $60,000 – $100,000, depending on what is done.  It could entail replacing screws, painting seams, application of spray coating or completely replacing the tin.  Rodney mentioned a house on Commercial Road that EMT’s had difficulty locating and wondered if the commissioners had any suggestions on improving visibility at that intersection.  They said they would speak with Tony Martin about possibly putting up a street sign and blading the road.  Joe asked Rodney if he knew of any other intersections he thought could benefit from rumble strips.  The recent fatality was noted and how rumble strips may help prevent some accidents like those from occurring.

 

Next on the agenda was Elaine Rowden.  She came in at the request of the commissioners so they could determine from the previous commissioner meeting how her job title / duties needed to be revised / clarified.  After some discussion, Joe moved to establish Elaine as Wellness Center Coordinator, where she will serve as liaison between Wellness Center employees / instructors and the county commissioners. Employees / instructors are to report to Elaine and she will continue to report any happenings or requests regarding the WC to the commissioners.  Tron seconded.  Motion carried.  They also asked about the 11 additional outlets on the Hancock Electric bill.  They were not on the original quote for electrical work that had to be done after the little building in the gym was torn down.  It was decided that the outlets were probably needed and will provide more locations to plug in equipment without using extension cords.

 

Tony Martin arrived to give Road & Bridge updates.  He said they will be putting up some more street signs soon and agreed to have signs put up at both ends of the road Rodney inquired about in order to increase visibility.  He said the stacker is more than likely totaled from that strong windstorm and they will probably be taking bids soon to sell it. The insurance company gave the go ahead to replace the windows in the damaged loader.  He reported obtaining a quote from Aqua Shield for replacing the office building roof.

 

Ted Heaton dropped in and he and Tony gave their input on more rumble strips on the roads. They agreed rumble strips can potentially help, but Tony said the travel consists mostly of local residents who are familiar with the road so it is likely some of them will not change their driving habits.  Ted presented the commissioners with a request regarding meal reimbursements for shift work employees.  He would like the deputies who have to travel at all hours of the day and night doing transports, etc., to be able to get complete reimbursement for the amount they spend on meal(s).  The max reimbursement amount on breakfast is $11, lunch $12 and dinner $23 but for instance, if a deputy spends $12.00 or more and it is labeled as a breakfast meal, they should be reimbursed the total amount of their receipt, not just $11.  After tabling the topic to move on to the next agenda item, commissioners discussed this further at the end of the meeting and agreed to allow only shift workers to bring in receipts to commissioner meetings for review / approval by the commissioners if the amount exceeds the maximum allowed.

Larry Sharp with KCAMP briefed the commissioners on the Stevens County insurance, clarifying that it is an insurance pool formed by counties to serve other counties.  He presented some data from the last few years and what SV County has utilized.  He also provided a spreadsheet listing claims from 2017 to date.  He noted the use of attorney services had only been used once in the past 5 years and said things like these plus very few claims could award a premium decrease for the county.  He encouraged the use of other services that offer reimbursements, specifically touching on the risk avoidance grant where up to $2,000 / year can be reimbursed for purchases that help reduce property or liability losses.  Tron asked if the risk avoidance grant could be used for rumble strips and Larry confirmed, absolutely.  He also mentioned some other uses to consider, based on the varying departments of SV County.

Wayne Tate, JoLynn Harrison, Gary Gold and Jonathan Pearcy, who are members of the Foundation Board, came to speak of their plans for the funds after Stevens County’s accountant from the Lewis Hooper and Dick auditing firm, Teresa Dasenbrock expressed some concern at this year’s budget workshop.  Teresa had asked the commissioners to review the money being earned for the Foundation Fund and explained that either $60,000 needs to be distributed from the fund each year or interest has to be paid. Wayne explained that originally they were hoping to build up to 20 million dollars before expending funds. He said they want to keep the corpus of funds intact and just spend the interest. They definitely do not want to lose their tax-exempt status and recognize the need for better publicizing of the fund and application guidelines if $60,000 is required to be expended each year.  Wayne asked if the commissioners wanted to try to reach Teresa so she could clarify requirements to remain tax exempt via conference call, or if they would prefer he call her another time.  They said they thought it would be fine if he called her on his own.  Board members want to invest locally, hence the use of local banks. Wayne relayed that due to this desire, nationwide institutions such as Edward Jones and stock investments are not favorable options.  Gary stated that he would oversee seeking out competitive rates when CD’s are up for renewal.

 

Jonathan stuck around so the commissioners talked to him about Eco Devo and how more money had been requested from the county.  They inquired about the disbursement of funds from the City of Hugoton.  He explained that the current arrangement is they are only provided funds on an as needed basis and they have to request it each time.  It appears that the special projects fund has to be nearly depleted before funds are authorized.  He feels like they should be okay for the remainder of 2018 just looking at estimates on paper, but it is touch and go with needing a full time Eco Devo director and only really having the funds to pay for a part time position.

 

After relaying that Teresa had given clarification to the clerk’s office where money can be taken from to fund Eco Devo, Pat moved to fund $15,000.  Joe seconded.  Motion carried.

The money will be used from 2017 carryover of the general fund.

 

Different department topics were addressed. It had been suggested that rags to clean Memorial Hall be laundered in a washing machine rather than by hand, so Joe recommended getting price quotes for professional laundering from some of the vendors who provide other services for us (such as cleaning of uniforms and door mats).  Commissioners requested price quotes if other providers are being considered for the courthouse computer back up system and requested a re-evaluation of our current network set-up (e.g. how many computers are actually needed in each department).  Pat moved to approve the lowered amount of $49.95 per month and $0.07 per rack for the Memorial Hall dishwasher maintenance with Auto-Chlor contract.  Joe seconded.  Motion carried.

 

 

By motion, the Board adjourned.

 

Attest: Amy Rich, Deputy County Clerk

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Joe Thompson, Chairman