COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
AUGUST 28, 2023
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
8:45 – Jayme Rich – Treasurer
9:00 – Open Bids – Wellness Roof
9:30 – Tony Martin – Public Works
10:00 – Dept. Head Meeting
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in a regular session. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney and Amy Tharp, County Clerk were also present. Pat called the meeting to order. Tron moved to approve the minutes from the previous commissioner meeting. Joe seconded. Motion carried. Pat moved to approve the county vouchers. Joe 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 | $ 47,468.04 |
| Diversion | $ 741.00 |
| Judicial District | $ 882.01 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 88,617.81 |
| Airport | $ 7,651.42 |
| County Building | $ 76,054.47 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,967.16 |
| EMS | $ 6,307.32 |
| Fire | $ 6,102.90 |
| Community Health | $ 21,345.12 |
| ARPA | $ 25,625.00 |
| Sheriff | $ 40,363.48 |
| Reg of Deeds Tech Fund | $ 169.60 |
| TOTAL: | $ 325,295.33 |
Katie Haarsager with AES Renewable Energy was in attendance and informed the commissioners that AES works with solar energy, wind energy and green hydrogen. She stated hydrogen is used for fuel systems, gravel, concrete and feed. Katie said AES works with the local conservation and extension districts to find out what needs to be planted or grown around the solar panels and wind towers. She estimated an in-service date of 2027 once they begin working due to surveys and checking everything is up to code. At this time, they are only introducing themselves to the county.
Jayme Rich came in and told the commissioners she will be hiring Eriel Lewis as a full-time clerk and will be using her motor vehicle revenues to pay for a portion of the wages instead of increasing her treasurer budget. Jayme also discussed with the commissioners a new website link she is looking into which is a free service but will allow the citizens to view and/or pay their taxes along with other services. She stated this service will also allow mortgage companies access to the taxes and is more user-friendly than the other sites she has linked to the county website. The commissioners told Jayme to look at other sites before choosing. Jayme told the commissioners the tax sale is still in process for September. The commissioners asked about the fish aquarium in the treasurer’s office and Jayme said it was to boost moral in the office not only for customers but staff too. The commissioners agreed to allow the fish to stay but stated the county will not be paying for the appliances or food for the fish.
Ross Sullivan, Tanner Rindles, Oscar Hurtado, Travis Coulter, Richard Vertrees, and Shelby Martin were in attendance. The commissioners opened the bids received for the wellness center roof:
Spray TPO Replacement
Sinco Construction $30,255.00 $68,527.76 $71,380.76
AquaShield $0 $0 $65,295.00
AK Roofing $65,960.00 $134,580.00 $88,617.00
HMH Roofing $36,375.00 $73,800.00 $72,750.00
Ozone $37,035.00 $63,206.00 $79,035.00
Richard Vertrees told the commissioners he would not recommend the TPO due to the high winds Stevens County gets. He said it would end up destroying the whole roof if a high wind came through and lifted up a corner of the TPO roof and cause more issues. Shelby asked if someone could bid on getting new ceiling tiles replaced in the foyer and office areas due to the damage done when the water leaks in. Shelby also told the commissioners the floor leaks when it rains so something needs to be done about the foundation to waterproof or build up around the building. The commissioners told Ross to go over the bids and look at the specs and to return when he has had a chance to review them.
Cammie Heaton came in and stated there have been a few cases of Whooping Cough (due to the lack of vaccines), STD’s and bed bugs. Cammie stated there is a WIC contract with Thrifty King in which the store is to carry Similac formula and noticed the grocery store did not have formula on the shelves for at least twenty-nine (29) days, she spoke with management, and they are trying to find out if there is a formula shortage or what happened. Cammie said according to WIC, as long as the store is open, they are supposed to carry formula. The community health department was awarded a workforce development grant and Cammie plans to use those funds for salary support. The WIC budget was approved for $65,059.00 and is being allocated for one (1) year. Cammie told the commissioners a representative for Trane came in and did some work on the HVAC system, she said the rep. was only working for about an hour but noticed the bill was charging the county for three (3) hours labor. With the HVAC filters getting cleaned and shutting off the back half of the building, Cammie said the electric bill has decreased greatly.
Ross Sullivan came in and stated he didn’t see insulation on the AquaShield bid and it didn’t look like they were roofing the office area at the wellness center. Sinco has a longer warranty on workmanship. The commissioners discussed with the construction companies about their completion dates and “R” rating of the insulation to be used for the wellness center roof. Further discussion of the roof led the commissioners to tell Ross to publish another bid request in the newspaper with updated specs to see if they can get closer to similar materials being used.
Joe made a motion to reject all bids received for the Stevens County Wellness Center roof. Tron seconded. Motion carried.
The commissioners stated the specs need to include an “R” rating for the insulation and only vinyl, not craft and figure for full roof replacement of the wellness gym, office, and foyer.
Rodney Kelling, Cammie Heaton, Tony Martin, Matt Rome, Angela Eichman, Susan Schulte, Betty Rosel, Jayme Rich, Shelby Martin, and Ross Sullivan were in attendance for the county department head meeting. The commissioners went over county policies, bidding process, grant process, receipts, late fees on bills, inventory and what the proper procedure is for accounting purposes. Department heads are responsible for turning in their receipts on a biweekly basis to the treasurer for sales tax, goods sold, and memberships or other forms of receipted money. The commissioners and Jayme also stressed how important it is for department heads/managers to make sure they keep track of receipts and expenditures to double check with the clerk and treasurer records for good accounting checks and balances. Any late fees on bills will be the responsibility of the department where those fees incurred. Shelby said she is waiting for log in information on the state sales tax website. The commissioners stated if there is an issue with any building the department head needs to contact Ross so he can inform the commissioners if it is something that needs to be addressed by bids or contracted out. Most issues with the buildings will need to come out of the building fund so as not to cause issues with department budgets.
Tony Martin stated Invenergy is possibly going to put up three to four (3 – 4) more MET Towers which are about 170 feet tall, the commissioners were not pleased with more MET towers and of the height of the new ones. The O’Malley’s Company will be drilling and monitoring wells and soil samples for the landfill, right now the monitoring wells are at 140 feet deep and no water. Jeff Cox and Jessie Eckert will be attending classes at Hays to keep their rodent control license and Tony will be attending class in Mulvane for certification to run a small landfill. Tony discussed having issues with the company credit card and it being declined to pay for classes or rooms. Tony said a citizen purchased rock and the road and bridge department will blade it out for them on the road, probably won’t be able to get to it by corn harvest season but will try. The roads are drying up too fast and causing wash board roads. Tony sent an employee home due to extensive tardiness in which the employee was wrote up, the same employee was tardy coming back from lunch on the same day which was then instructed to the five (5) days off without pay. Joe said he is opposed to the new MET towers as they become a danger to pilots. Joe also asked if something could be done at Road 18 to help with the upkeep of the road, such as having a designated entrance and exit for the grinding plant. Tony is not sure about the safety/legal standpoint of the issue but plans on talking to the owner to see if something can be done. Tony said he received a call about adding on to Road 17 to make it longer so the school bus doesn’t have to turn around but can go down further and turn off on a different road to get back to town. Tony said it would take a lot of work to build up because it is such a fine sand.
Tron made a motion to raise the credit limit to $2,000.00 for the road and bridge departments credit card. Joe seconded, motion carried.
Ross and Shelby came in and asked the commissioners to go over the spec sheet for the wellness center roof. The commissioners agreed with their spec sheet and approved the bid requests to be in the newspaper for two (2) executive weeks and to open bids on September 11th, at 9:00 AM.
Ross told the commissioners the courthouse roof is leaking onto the third (3rd) floor and will cost an estimated $18,000.00 for repair. Joe said he will talk with the Moscow Senior Center and see what is going on with the building over there since the commissioners received a sealed envelope with “Moscow Senior Roof” on the envelope. Pat asked Ross if the county should purchase their own mats for the courthouse or if there’s a way to only have Unifirst clean monthly instead of weekly. Pat also asked Ross to look into pest control about spraying quarterly instead of monthly to see if the county can cut some costs. Ross said he will look into the pest control and see about getting bids for all county buildings to be sprayed on a quarterly or annual basis.
Angela Eichman came in and requested an executive session over anticipated legal issues.
Pat made a motion to go into executive session for ten (10) minutes over anticipated legal issues with Angela Eichman. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Executive session began at 11:36 AM and concluded at 11:46 AM. No action taken.
Ross asked the commissioners if there was a place to purchase weed spray at cost and the commissioners suggested Ross contact the county noxious weed department and get some spray from there. The commissioners discussed getting the maintenance a company credit card.
Tron made a motion to allow Ross Sullivan to get a county credit card through Citizens State Bank for maintenance purposes with an allowable limit of $1,000.00. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Pat asked Amy if the Pioneer Manor was paid in full and Amy stated Jayme brought over papers showing the Pioneer Manor bond has been paid in full in the amount of $1,645,432.44 in August of this year.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Pat Hall, Chairman