COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
DECEMBER 12, 2022
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills
9:00 – Longevity Awards/Retirement Award
9:30 – Tony Martin
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in regular session. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney; Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk and RoGlenda with the Hugoton Hermes were also present. Tron called the meeting to order. Pat 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 County Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 151,389.76 |
| Judicial District | $ 655.41 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 68,649.92 |
| Airport | $ 9,724.86 |
| ARPA | $ 791.56 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 3,064.55 |
| EMS | $ 6,407.33 |
| Fire | $ 4,776.33 |
| Community Health | $ 20,526.01 |
| County Building | $ 1,829.84 |
| Sheriff | $ 71,939.93 |
| Insurance Agency Fund | $ 34,889.75 |
| Emp Misc W/H | $ – |
| TOTAL: | $ 374,645.25 |
Bill Patrick and Willie Newton with Seaboard Energy came in and stated they are up and running and producing Diesel. There were some issues and repairs needed to keep the noise down and they hope to get the necessary repairs completed before too long. Bill said a train will be running every eleven (11) days once upgrades to the railroad crossings are completed. They are rapidly constructing their solar system for utility purposes at the plant and hope to have half (1/2) of the system up in February, the other half (1/2) was damaged during delivery and has been set back until May, 2023.
Ross Sullivan came in and said he has received the estimates for carpet replacement in one of the Appraisers rooms, the County Clerk’s office, and the County Treasurer’s office. He stated Flooring America quoted $14,200.00 for carpet rolls and $16,250.00 for carpet tiles. Finishing Touches quote was $14,278.00 for carpet tiles and moving furniture. Ross said they will have to do the carpet in the Treasurer’s office during a weekend or holiday so their office can be fully functional during their regular business hours.
Pat made a motion to bypass the bid process and accept Finishing Touches proposed estimate for carpet tile in the amount of $14,278.00 for the Southeast County Appraiser’s office, County Clerk’s office and the County Treasurer’s office. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Ross stated the refrigerator in the Memorial Hall has broken down and said Flatlanders has one of the same size for around $800.00. The commissioners told Ross to get it purchased and have it delivered.
Ross asked the commissioners about a snowblower for the courthouse sidewalks and parking lot, stating they run around $1,100.00 to $1,300.00. There was discussion about purchasing a brush for the skid steer at the road department and the commissioners decided to just purchase a snowblower and told Ross to get one ordered.
Rodney was in attendance, Pat asked what the age was for an EMT or take classes. Rodney said the state certifies seventeen (17) year old’s and up but due to insurance purposes they must be eighteen (18) to do official EMT work.
Amy Tharp asked the commissioners if they wanted to receive copies of the Kansas State Statute books as the state sends them to all offices and wanted to know how many Stevens County wanted. The commissioners stated they don’t feel the need for statute books when the statutes can be easily accessed online.
Cammie Heaton and Jamie Gooch were in attendance.
The commissioners acknowledged longevity to the following employees who were in attendance:
10 Years
- Rickey Burrows – Fire Department (PT)
- Randy Moore – Road and Bridge
- Amy Rich – County Clerk
- Yesica Rojas – Community Health Dept.
- Lynne Webb – Appraiser
20 Years
- Terry Kuehn – Road and Bridge
- Wes Regensberg – Road and Bridge
25 Years
- Jeff Cox – Road and Bridge
They acknowledged Paula Rowden’s retirement and working sixteen (16) years as the Community Health Director for Stevens County.
Tony requested to close the landfill on December 24th so the employees can have a Christmas break. The Commissioners approved to close the landfill on Saturday, December 24th.
Pat asked Tony about a brush for the skid steer and Tony said the county doesn’t have a brush at this time but if the county had one, they would use it, just not sure of the cost.
Tony told the commissioners the Cullison contract is up December, 2023 instead of this year. Tony also stated the crawler is almost complete and is amazed at how good it looks already. Tony said he will have to take some fuel charges out of Special Highway fund by the end of the year as the costs have been outrageous and have diminished his budget rapidly.
Amy Tharp presented a letter from Nestidd, inquiring about purchasing the Pioneer Manor. The commissioners said at this time they would have to think about it and what all it would entail.
Pat said something needs to be done at one of the county departments in order to take care of the sales tax issue not being reported to the state and receipts not being turned in to the Treasurer. Amy Tharp stated she has a letter from the County Treasurer which states the Treasurer has not received state tax sales receipts at any time and has not received deposits since October 14th through December 5th. The Treasurer’s letter stated this causes concern with the penalties the county will accrue from sales tax not being reported and the deposits make it difficult for the counties daily totals to balance out. Pat and Joe stated something needed to be done, Paul asked if the Wellness Director needed to be present and Tron said no, he would visit with her about the issue and try to get it figured out.
The commissioners discussed a possible bond issue with USD210.
Amy Tharp stated there is 73,354.55 additional taxes to be received. Amy stated all of the taxing district 011 received their tax statements with the incorrect levy of 106.337 and should have a levy of 129.818. Amy stated she didn’t know if it was an error on her part when she transferred the levies and information to the Treasurer via program or if there was an error in the program which didn’t pick it up correctly. Amy stated Angela Eichman alerted her to the issue and Amy said she has worked on rectifying the problem and there are approximately 179 parcels with additional statements for the error.
The commissioners discussed county employee COLA’s and tabled the decision until December 27th, 2022.
Paul Kitzke stated Kirkham Michael gave him some names of attorneys for wind farms and stated he would like to speak to some of them to see if any would be interested in being consulted for the Wind Farms in case Invenergy does move forward. Tron agreed and told Paul to reach out to a few and see what they say.
The commissioners discussed the Stevens County Hospital Board stating two (2) board members have fulfilled their three (3) terms of three (3) years of service and the board rules a total of nine (9) years served before then they must be retired from the board. The commissioners stated they had three (3) possibly four (4) people as candidates, including Greg Grewell, Andy Moser, Rachel Crane and Dustin Johnson. Pat said he has yet to hear back from Dustin Johnson and said he wasn’t sure if Rachel really wanted the position but showed interest. Greg and Andy have expressed great interest in serving on the hospital board. The commissioners tabled their decision until the next meeting on December 27, 2022.
Added and Abated Orders were reviewed and approved by commissioners and given to the County Treasurer; for tax year 2022 number 16-17 and 198-201 total valuation removed 19,024 and tax assessed -$2,447.20 and number 18-197 valuation added a total of 6,715 and a relief assessment of $73,510.46. Total valuation of -12,309 and total tax assessed $71,063.26.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Tron Stegman, Chairman