COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
MAY 8, 2023
Agenda: 8:30 – Robert Terrill – Lot
9:00 – Walt Beesley – NRV
9:15 – Rodney Kelling – NRV
9:30 – Tony Martin – Public Works
The Board of Stevens County Commissioners, Pat Hall and Joe Thompson, met in regular session. Paul Kitzke, County Attorney and Amy Tharp, County Clerk were also present. Pat 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 County Clerk was instructed to draw warrants on the Treasurer chargeable to the various funds of the county for the following amounts:
| General | $ 294,384.88 |
| Judicial District | $ 224.88 |
| Road & Bridge | $ 50,395.77 |
| Airport | $ 3,525.25 |
| County Building | $ 14,658.00 |
| Noxious Weed | $ 2,442.62 |
| EMS | $ 9,200.10 |
| Fire | $ 3,798.87 |
| Community Health | $ 14,612.35 |
| Sheriff | $ 43,435.84 |
| 911 Wireless | $ 18,000.00 |
| TOTAL: | $ 454,678.56 |
Pat asked Amy about the LED lights for the museum and Amy said they were on the voucher listing because she believed there was a discussion in earlier minutes approving lights to come out of the county building fund. Pat said to exclude that invoice and to check into the lights by the next commissioner meeting.
Robert Terrill and Josh Grubbs were in attendance to discuss the lot purchased in the Pioneer Addition where Robert’s house is. Pat asked Josh what the minimum number of feet is needed for Robert’s house to be legal. Josh said eight (8) feet would be plenty. Pat suggested changing the legals and Paul said the commissioners need to deed eight (8) foot of the south part of Lot Two (2), Block Fifteen (15) of the Pioneer Addition to Robert Terrill. Amy was instructed to publish intent to deed the above to Robert Terrill and charge him the fees of the recording and newspaper advertisement. Paul said he will prepare a deed and will turn it in to the county clerk’s office for Robert Terrill to get recorded by the next commissioner meeting.
Joe asked Josh Grubbs if there is any way of working on the zoning on Evans Road, South of Evans Corner since businesses are there. Josh said he attended the City of Hugoton council meeting, and the board is not in favor of pursuing zoning on the sale of equipment. Further discussion led Paul to state the commissioners have no control over city zoning.
Tony Martin presented the commissioners with a crossing permit from TKO to be signed. Tony said Jeff Cox and Jessie Eckert are enrolled to get their Noxious Weed Right-of-Way License. There is a Kansas County Highway Conference in Manhattan on May 18th and Tony said he will be gone for three (3) days to attend. The road and bridge department got the crawler back last week, has a new hour meter, VIN, and is like new. Tony did state it broke down and noticed the pans under were missing and believes it got trash in the system, but the crawler does have a five (5) year warranty after the rebuild. The asphalt plant is having some electrical issues but hopes it will be up and running again soon. Tony told the commissioners he is not sure if he will do a four (4) day work week for the summer of 2024 as there are not as many roads to be worked on like there were in the past.
Walt Beesley was in attendance and told the commissioners he turned in a neighborhood revitalization plan to the appraiser’s office along with the application fee. The commissioners asked what the plan is and where. Walt said he is going to put in a small soybean plant just outside of Moscow. This plant will extrude all the oil from soybeans and will be going back into the feed for the fee lots and some will probably go to the Seaboard biofuel plant. Walt told the commissioners he wants to keep the soybean plant in Stevens County even though there are more soybean fields further east due to moisture and rich soil.
Joe made a motion to accept the Neighborhood Revitalization Application from Walt Beesley for the soybean plant. Pat seconded. Motion carried.
Rodney Kelling and Jim Ghumm were in attendance. Jim handed Pat a bid for the rescue pickup Rodney is looking to purchase.
Bid 1: Ghumm’s Auto Center 2023 Chevy 2500 Crew V-8 4X4 $76,327.65
Trade-in (2002 Ford F150) -$ 4,000.00
Total Cost $72,327.65
The commissioners discussed the trade-in pickup stating they would like to take the trade from the table and use the pickup for other county purposes or possibly bid it out since the trade is valued at $4,000.00. Jim stated he already had the trade-in truck in his possession and sold it. Pat told Rodney not to trade or bid out anything unless he gets confirmation from the commissioners. Joe cautioned Jim to not do anything until a bid has been formally accepted in a commissioner meeting. The commissioners discussed their frustration and did not know there was a bid opening today.
Pat made a motion to accept the bid from Ghumm’s Auto Center for the 2023 Chevy 2500, for a total of $72,327.65 which includes the trade-in of the 2002 Ford F150, as is. Joe discussed how the vehicle exchange should have been handled. Joe seconded. Motion carried.
Amy asked the commissioners if they had read over the e-mail discussing the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Plan). They said they have not had much time to review the information and tabled the discussion until a further meeting.
Amy discussed information she received at the Election Officials meeting in Topeka stating HB 2053 was passed and now there will be a Presidential Primary beginning in 2024. She said the date for the election will be March 19th, 2024 and the State of Kansas will reimburse the cost of that election with the commissioners certified statement of expenditures they receive from the County Clerk/Election Official.
Joe asked Pat about what the museum is doing on the empty lot the museum owns. Pat said he knows the City of Hugoton is putting in a water meter and the museum is contemplating putting in a sprinkler system and a building. The commissioners discussed the situation and stated the museum needs to discuss this before adding a building to the county’s insurance which will also accrue costs of upkeep.
The commissioners asked Amy when they will start to see budgets and Amy stated she plans to have a letter out to all the departments requesting budgets by June 12th since the budget workshop is on July 11th.
Amy discussed with the commissioners about the possibility of doing away with Aumentum Tech which is the home company for the county’s AS400 and CountyWorks software program. She stated she has contacted the departments that use CountyWorks and has discussed the possibility of switching to the CIC software. She stated the AS400 is very antiquated. Amy told the commissioners she is waiting to hear back from other counties who have switched to see how the transition went and if they are pleased with their decision before getting too serious about the possibility of switching.
By motion, the Board adjourned.
Attest: Amy Jo Tharp, County Clerk
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Pat Hall, Chairman