MONDAY FEBRUARY 9TH MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISIONERS MEETING

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, February 9, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their weekly business meeting on Monday, February ninth, two thousand fifteen. All Commissioners were present as was the County Clerk.

County Noxious Weed Supervisor Stan Deneke was first on the agenda. Deneke submitted his final annual report to the Commissioners for their review. He is completing his first year as the Supervisor of the program and feels he is gaining experience and knowledge of the job.

Deneke reports that traditionally the main focus of the Department has been controlling Musk Thistle with considerable time and effort also spent controlling bindweed, Johnson grass, and Bull Thistle. These invasive weeds require constant vigilance to limit their spreading into areas where they would cause problems.

His department is responsible for the County’s one hundred twenty miles of blacktop roadside and three hundred seventy-five miles of gravel roads. Additionally, his department is responsible for spraying the road beds in Center and Lulu Township which amounts to one hundred seventy miles.

The Commissioners voted unanimously to accept Deneke’s report as written.

Next the Commissioners discussed their meeting with the Federal Department of Transportation engineers last Monday afternoon. Commissioners Tom Claussen and Jim Marshall met with Andrew Coit and Davis Senter from Denver to review the Causeway Guard Rail replacement and road-widening project.

The two Commissioners and Larry Emerson met with the Federal engineers at the County Shop first and then braved the cold to visit the proposed construction site. The work will start at the north end of the causeway and go north to the well houses south of Cawker City.

The total expected cost of the project is seven hundred thousand dollars. The Federal government will pay up to six hundred thousand dollars and Mitchell County’s share will not exceed one hundred twenty thousand dollars. The work could start in the fall of two thousand fifteen but realistically it will probably be in the spring of two thousand sixteen before work starts.

Chairperson Tom Claussen summed up the meeting saying, “Those guys had a lot of common sense. They asked realistic questions and they didn’t beat around the bush. I appreciated that.”

The Commissioners extended thanks to Heather Hartman for the valuable demographic and other related information she provided for the grant application.

Kelly Hawk, EMS Director, gave his monthly report to the Commissioners regarding ambulance runs in the month of January. The department made forty seven runs in January with the busiest times being between six and nine p.m. and Saturday being the busiest day. Nineteen thousand one hundred ninety-nine dollars was charged in fees, fifteen thousand six hundred fifty dollars was collected and two thousand nine hundred forty-four dollars was written off.

The Commissioners thanked Hawk and his staff for providing CPR training for eleven Courthouse employees. Commissioner Tom Claussen said, “It is comforting knowing many people are prepared for an emergency should one occur.”

Hawk reported that The State Board of Emergency Services conducted their annual inspection of the Mitchell County EMS and they passed with flying colors. The only deficiency noted was that a strap was not properly secured on a monitor which they immediately fastened and they were cleared.

Hawk reopened a discussion that had been ongoing with previous EMS Director Ed Debesis regarding improvement in billing for the department. Debesis was working on a proposal for a full time billing clerk to be hired for the EMS department at the time of his resignation. Billing is a very exacting and time-consuming undertaking. Various insurance companies require different forms and methods of submission. Medicare is a world all of its own. Any mistake or omission in the billing can and does result in claims being denied or delayed with requests for additional paper work or supporting material.

Hawk has checking into a billing service as a way to speed up the process, eliminate mistakes and improve the amount of money reimbursed for the ambulance services. Delisa Medical Billing Service of Delphos, Kansas is the only local contractor to provide this service. They come highly regarded with outstanding references. After considerable questioning and consideration, the Commissioners instructed Hawk to arrange for a proposed contract with Delisa for them to review. The initial impression of hiring a billing service was that it would increase monies collected by promptly and correctly submitting billings to the many and varied carriers. While this would not totally cover the cost of the service it would result in substantial savings from the current method. It was the consensus of the Commissioners that the ambulance personnel should be saving lives and not doing bookkeeping.

Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintendent, presented the Commissioners with a list of uncollectable debts for solid waste fees. The total amount was one hundred sixty-five dollars.

Emerson gave the Commissioners his critical bridge report for bridges in Mitchell County needing inspection. One positive note to the report was in reference to the inspection fees for the Causeway Bridge and the Fisherman’s Bridge. By joining a consortium of counties in our area the fees for examination of those two bridges was reduced from forty-five thousand dollars to twelve thousand dollars.

According to Emerson, Christian Salvage of Herington, Ks picked up scrap metal collected over the last several months. They paid ninety dollars a ton with the total paid to Mitchell County amounting to twelve thousand five hundred dollars.

He then asked the Commissioners, “Are we considering buying a new mower tractor for this summer’s work?” He has two tractors for mowing. Both are model seventy-four ten John Deere’s. One was purchased in the year two thousand and the other in two thousand one. Additionally he has an old John Deere forty twenty and an International one eighty-six.

The Commissioners directed Emerson to evaluate whether the old John Deere and International tractors would bring more at auction or as trade in’s. He was also given permission to write up bid specs for a new tractor similar to the John Deere seventy-four ten. After review by the Commissioners he could then solicit bids for a new tractor.

Commissioner Jim Marshall announced that he had visited with Ron Heller regarding continued quarrying in the current gravel pit. He was awaiting a return call from Heller.

Tom Claussen announced that the Beloit Zoning Commission would be meeting on Tuesday night, February tenth for final consideration of the Comprehensive Plan.

The Commissioners will not meet next Monday because of Presidents Day. Instead they will meet on Tuesday, February seventeenth.

Having successfully dealt with all items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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