COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
OCTOBER 23, 2023
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
8:45 – Tony Martin
9:00 – Karen Vines – HUB
10:00 – Dave Geist – SWKAAA
10:30 – Rusty Tuman – IT and Nex-Tech
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in a regular session. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney, Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk, and RoGlenda Coulter with the Hugoton Hermes, were also present. Pat called the meeting to order. Tron moved to approve the minutes from the previous commissioner meetings. Joe seconded. Motion carried. Tron 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 | $ 84,354.27 |
| Spec Law Enforcement | $ – |
| Judicial District | $ 827.20 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 52,770.54 |
| Airport | $ 14,014.80 |
| County Building | $ 37,061.25 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,987.13 |
| EMS | $ 7,780.05 |
| Fire | $ 1,772.31 |
| Community Health | $ 20,136.49 |
| Airport Grants | $ 1,915.00 |
| 911 Wireless | $ 116.37 |
| Sheriff | $ 43,439.04 |
| Reg of Deeds Tech Fund | |
| TOTAL: | $ 268,174.45 |
Tony was at the commissioner meeting and Joe asked how the tires get disposed of. Tony said there is a company that leaves a semi-trailer at the landfill and the landfill employees will fill it with tires and the company picks up the trailer on a quarterly basis. Tony also told the commissioners KDHE keeps track of the tires that go to waste disposal. Tony presented the commissioners with five (5) line crossing permits for signatures.
Tony said he has a meeting with Glenn Kerbs tomorrow over the planning and zoning regulations which were just sent out for review. Pat and Tron discussed keeping the wind towers at a minimum of 5,000 feet from buildings or structures. Tony also mentioned he has received a few phone calls about trucks pulling out in front of traffic coming from Seaboard, Tony also informed the commissioners there are stop signs and caution signs up and there is not much else he can do at this point. The road and bridge department are almost done with the summer work and hope to be done soon. The road grader is on a two to three (2 – 3) week delay.
Rusty Tuman, Cammie Heaton and David Geist were in attendance.
Karen Vines with HUB was in to discuss the county health insurance plan and what to expect for 2024. Karen said the increase in costs are due to the age and health of the employees. Karen gave a breakdown of the different plans and stated there are some plans that do not cover special medicine. Karen discussed with the commissioners how HRA’s work and stated the county would have to have another insurance plan (making employees have two (2) insurance cards) and suggested Surency to be the company for administrative for an HRA plan.
David Geist with Southwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging (SWKAAA) and handed the commissioners a brochure on what services the agency provides. David stated the agency needs three (3) representatives from Stevens County and handed Amy Tharp a letter to put into the newspaper to try to get citizens to sign up for the board.
Rusty Tuman came in to discuss with the commissioners about the servers for the community health department and courthouse. Olga and Chelsey Willer with Nex-Tech attended via conference call. Rusty asked some questions about the firewalls and cyber security they are providing for the county and what all is on the community health department’s server. Olga stated they use sonic wall with the suite, monitoring, DNS protection, patching, security training and anti-virus programs. They also monitor the behavior on computers which alerts Nex-Tech for darkweb monitoring and other issues that might occur. Nex-Tech left the meeting.
Pat discussed with Rusty about possibly being the county’s IT advisor and maybe venture out to using him for basic IT needs for the county. Rusty said he will think about it and get back to the commissioners.
Cammie Heaton gave a progress report to the commissioners about the community health grants she is waiting to receive to cover expenditures.
Amy said Jayme gave Kansas Land, Feed and Cattle the payment plan agreement and it was signed.
Ross came in and told the commissioners he is looking at better ways to keep the railings in the courthouse from getting loose and said there’s a possibility they would have to be welded. Ross said the roof at the wellness center is completed and looks good. The wellness center will need some downspouts on the southwest and southeast corners to help drain water. The courthouse A/C units need a couple of electrical boxes replaced and the commissioners told Ross to have an electrician do that job due to insurance purposes. Ross also said the bearing on one of the fans is going out and needs replaced as well. The thermostat in Cammie’s office was replaced but the CPU for the community health heat and air is outdated and Trane cannot hook up their diagnostic reader to it. Ross said he spoke with KCamp about the Moscow Senior Center roof, and they are trying to combine the two (2) claims so it will only be one (1) deductible for the work.
Joe said to file a claim with KCamp on the west wall of the courthouse (memorial hall entryway).
Commissioners discussed more ideas on the county health insurance and decided to table it until November 13th. Amy asked the commissioners if the county was going to aid Cimarron Basin for a newer vehicle and the commissioners stated there are no funds at this time to assist and did not know how 2024 was going to go.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Pat Hall, Chairman