Mitchell County Commissioner Reports
by Charlene Watson
Mitchell County Commissioners – August 18, 2008
Reported by Charlene Watson
The Mitchell County Commissioners opened the County Budget Hearing for the upcoming fiscal year during their weekly meeting this morning. Chairman Virgil Palen asked for any comments, questions, or complaints about the budget at that time.
David Chase, Citizen of Mitchell County, and a candidate for Commissioner of District No. 2 on the Libertarian ticket, questioned why there was an increase in the County mil levy. Commissioner Chuck Heidrick explained that the county land evaluation is down so the mil levy is also down. This happens because of the evaluation the State Legislature set up on farmland several years ago.
Heidrick said this county is actually more fortunate than our surrounding counties in this instance. If it wasn’t for Mitchell County’s foresight in welcoming industries like Sunflower Manufacturing and other local enterprises, this mil levy would be much larger, he said.
Heidrick praised the County Department Heads and the Law Enforcement employees for doing a great job of keeping their expenses down. Heudrick sited the Road and Bridge Department whose fuel cost has gone up from $190,000 thousand to $320,000 and their asphalt costs will raise from $419,000 to $602,000 this year.
“The Commissioners would like to be nice to everyone in the county and say we will do anything you want but you will have to pay the cost. You have to remember that a county has no income producing asset like some cities do,” Heidrick added.
No other comments coming from the floor, Commissioner William Bunger made a motion to close the Budget Hearing and approve the proposed budget for another year.
Chairman Palen proclaimed the Fire District Budget open for comments or complaints. None were forthcoming and the budget hearing was approved and closed.
County Clerk Chris Treaster presented County Resolution number 8-05 and number 8-06 for the Commissioners to approve stating that there is a possibility the Commissioners may have to increase taxes during the year and giving them the power to do this. The resolutions were approved and signed into being.
Arlene Clayton, Belleville resident, appeared on the agenda this morning to talk to Commissioners concerning some exhibits she brought to the Mitchell County Fair for a handicapped friend in Glasco. Clayton did not feel the form of judging used in this county was fair to all of the persons who participated. Among other comments Clayton complained that all of the prizes were won by one or two families and didn’t give others a chance to compete.
Members of the Mitchell County Fair Board were present to hear Clayton’s remarks but she left the room and did not wait to hear their explanation.
Doug Newquist, Fair Board President, explained that there are two ways of judging and Mitchell County judges exhibits on merit. Only the best of each category get placing ribbons while the rest of the participants get participation ribbons. He said the board is sorry Clayton does not understand this way of judging but it has been done this way for many years in this county.
Murray McGee, Community Development Director presented his monthly report detailing the work he has been doing. In addition to the list McGee said he has been working with a retailer out of Clay Center who is considering opening a business in Beloit. He has also been attending City Council meetings through out the County as well as several school districts asking them to take part in the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Rebate Program. Many of these were enrolled in this plan in the past but their two year participation time is up and needs to be renewed.
McGee has been visiting with Sunflower Mfg. Co. about their fork force issues. Finding housing is a big problem for their employees, McGee said.
McGee will be attending the Kansas Economic Development Conference next month. He said Mitchell County is considered to have a critical need to increase our workforce therefore, tax credits of between $2,400 and $4,800 are being offered to companies who hire these people. Businesses hiring a disabled Veteran can receive a $9,000 tax credit, he said.
McGee met with five businesses lately that are in the process of purchasing land or figuring out a plan to expand their business. According to McGee figures if all five proceed as planned it would bring in $ 7 million dollars in investments to the county in the next few years.
McGee has been visiting with the Juvenile Justice Authority, the KAO, former Juvenile Justice officers and State officials who are considering building a new Beloit Juvenile Correction Facility. The structure would cost $12,000.000 and would be built north of the present facility, McGee said. It would be a much more secure facility than is presently in use because many of the inmates today have committed much more serious crimes than those held in this facility 10 years ago. This new facility is being built to combine services and lower operational expenses significantly. Where there are 25 inmates today the new buildings would house 42. Plans are to have the facility ready for use by 2011.
Commissioner Heidrick asked if there is anything the County Commissions could do McGee said they may be called upon to send letters or even testify in its behalf if necessary.
Commissioner Bunger presented three Neighborhood Revitalization tax rebate applications.
Sunflower Manufacturing AGCO applied for a tax rebate of $ 1,363,750 to cover material, labor, and equipment to expend their company.
Sunflower Manufacturing also applied for a $752,000 tax rebate on work to be done on their Cawker City Facility.
Bruce and Karen Wright applied for a $17,000 rebate to build a new garage on their property at 813 E. 8th St. The Commissioners approved all three applications.
Ed Debesis, Emergency Medical Services Director, reported that none of his employees has asked to attend training as a prerequisite for attending Paramedic College at Barton Community College. Debesis asked if the Commissioners would agree to pay for his books and tuition in the amount of $ $1,764.50. Commissioners approved this action.
Debesis asked for a five-minute executive session to discuss the acquisition of new equipment. The session was extended
another five-minutes. No decisions were made.
Debesis plans to attend a conference the weekend at the Barton Community College.
He also said he has been approached by Barton Community College about allowing a student needing experience and ride time to qualify to pass his Paramedic Course.
Commissioners said if Debesis will talk to the Counties insurance representative and if the student will be covered during his time here, Commissioners agree to allow him to do this.
Commissioner Bunger announced that the executive meetings they have been holding with Ed Debesis concerning acquisition of real estate property have been to consider adding a full time, 24 hour, EMS Station in Cawker City. Due to the number of run calls from that area and the necessary response time to the calls, this action is being considered. The Tipton station will not be affected by this plan. Debesis and Chairman Palen met with the Cawker City council last week. Debesis will present the figures on the cost of the building at next weeks meeting. Commissioners will discuss the project more at that time.
Larry Emerson, Public Works Director presented a contract for commissioners to sign on an under water bridge to go under the causeway at Waconda Lake. He also said they had a bridge go down on Walnut Creek south of Jackson’s. They are going to replace it with a new bridge.
The water line broke at the landfill and 10 thousand gallons of water was lost. They haven’t found the break yet and will have to start digging. Emerson said his crew only got 1 mile of asphalt down last week due to the weather.
Chairman Palen said he had been asked if the county crews could mow the weeks along the blacktop roads. After discussion concerning the $4 fuel Emerson said. “We can do it if you want to spend the money but mowing this early it will probably have to be done again later.” It was decided with the cost of fuel and asphalt going up so drastically; they have to cut back somewhere. While they all agreed this needs to be done, it was decided the county doesn’t have the money to do it at this time.
Scott Davies, Emergency Management Services Director, announced the date of the Hazard Mitigation Meeting has been moved to September 11 at 6 p.m. in the Conference room at the North Central Kansas Technical College. He will publish this in the paper and on the radio during the week of preceding the meeting. Davies presented his monthly report. He met with David Dick of MCHHS in reference to putting the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the basement of the hospital and Adm. Dick welcomed the idea. Davies submitted the grant paperwork for the EOC and should hear back the last of September.
Davies will be attending the Kansas Flood Plain Managers meeting in Salina September 3 and 4 and the KEMA meeting in Topeka on September 17 and 18.
Mitchell County Commissioners August 25, 2008
Reported by Charlene Watson
David Dick, Administrator of Mitchell County Health Care Systems (MCHCS) and Alvin Koepke, Financial Advisor At MCHCS were present at the Mitchell County
Commissioners meeting this morning to take part in a conference cal with the Cloud County Commissioners regarding questions Cloud County has regarding how this hospital was set up and how the bonds to finance it were handled.
The Cloud County Commissioners are thinking about changing their hospital to a county hospital and hope to put this question on the ballot for the election in November. They plan to remodel their present facility and also build a large addition.
The Commission members asked questions of Adm. Dick and Mr. Koepke as well as listening to suggestions made by Mitchell County Commissioners, Chairman Virgil Palen, Commissioner Chuck Heidrick and Commissioner Wm. Bunger who were all present this morning.
Adm. Dick also explained the process this hospital went through in the last few years to become a Critical Access Hospital and discussed the advantages he feels the facility has gained since making this change.
At the close of the conference call the Cloud County Chairman thanked everyone involved for helping them understand their situation better and clearing up several misconceptions they had about how to proceed with this process.
As requested by the Commissioners last week, Ed Debesis, Emergency Medical Services Director, presented a graphic report of the list of the response times for the EMS to get to different parts of Mitchell County.
Debesis said the average response time from the EMS building to the site in Beloit is 5 minutes, to Glen Elder 11 minutes, to Cawker City, 16 minutes, and to Hunter, 22 minutes. To Tipton with MC-3 ambulance it is 9 minutes, Tipton without MC-3 it is 26 minutes. For rural areas east of 220 Road (Moss Road) it takes 11 minutes and rural areas west of 220 road it takes 21 minutes.
In 2007, Debesis said, 46 percent of their ambulance calls were to Beloit Area 911, Cawker City/Glen Elder/Tipton Area 911 were 16 percent. Interfacility Transfers made up 28 percent and Hilltop Lodge and non-fire stand-bys accounted for 10 percent of their calls. Beloit Area 911 east of 220 road accounted for 74 percent and West of 220 road to the Cawker City/Glen Elder/Tipton Area 911 added up to 26 percent of their calls.
The records show that they have made as many ambulance
calls already in 2008 as they did in 2007. Debesis said he would be presenting the Commissioners with a monthly report detailing their activity for each City in the County during that time.
Debesis discussed the effect the new fulltime 24-hour EMS station he would like to set up in Cawker City would have on their response time. As Debesis explained last week, due to the number of run calls from that area and the necessary response time to the calls, this action is being considered. The Tipton station will not be affected by this plan, he said.
Both candidates for commissioners Mike Cooper and Larry Walker asked questions as to how this plan would work.
Debesis said, they would have a crew of three people at the station and he would like to have one of them be a Paramedic because they can do procedures and administer drugs that EMT’s can’t. Considering the fact that after 46 minutes the brain dies, having a paramedic available allows them to start treatment quicker than if the patient has to wait until they reach a hospital. The base pay for EMT’s is $1,872 and a Para-medics base pay per month is $2,392.
Debesis said, having this station in Cawker would eliminate employees having to work call back time they are not paid for and cut down on overtime being paid out. At the present time we pay out $70,000 a year in over time. This plan would cut that amount by $20,000. It would also take the stress off of his employees because they won’t get so tired from long hours and will be more alert on the job. He said he is afraid if his employees have to keep working these long hours this county will lose them and he doesn’t want to see that happen.
We will still be buying two new ambulances and still only have a total of four in the county, Debesis explained. There would be two ambulances stationed in Beloit, MC-3 in Tipton and one unit would be moved to the Cawker facility. The only difference would be he would be adding three more people to man the new station.
Debesis has been working with Doug McKinney, Executive Director of the North Central Kansas Planning Commission, on a grant to help pay for the building and hopefully not spend a lot of the taxpayer’s money. If they go through the Kan-Step Grant it will take two years to be able to start on the project, so they are also looking at a grant that is available for Emergency Management Services.
Commissioner elect, Cooper, asked if Debesis was going to put together a approximate cost proposal on this project before going any further. Debesis said he would have a proposal ready to present to the Commissioners on the project.
Larry Emerson, Public Works Director, reported his department is still trying to finish overlay work but due to the weather is slowing them down. Emerson said they have plenty
of mix left to cover to the Palen Road. They want to put the sealer on as soon after they finish that as they can.
Emerson said the price they presently pay for oil is $2.88 ; but oil will go to $3 or over the first of September. Everybody in the State has to get their oil from the Kansas City Company so this means they can pretty much name their own price. They are going to put a 48-inch culvert in where the bridge on Walnut Creek caved in last week.
Chairman Bunger said a constituent called him about the pours seal used on the Hunter Road. He had John Cashett drive it to get his assessment of the situation.
Cashett had no problem with the product used and said if they made it any smoother; the cost would go up by about 2/ 3’s again. The State just finished the road last Wednesday. They are going to come out and drive it and put their approval on it and then the county will have to accept the job they have done.
Patricia Dowlin, Mitchell County Health Department, presented two grant applications for the Commissioners to sign. One was for $11,780 and the other that is a pass through amount for North Central Kansas Regional Planning Committee in the amount of $52,092. There is no match and no County money involved in these grants, Dowlin said.
Dowlin said her department now has their new logos on all of their cars and are proud of the way they look. Bell Memorial did the work on the logos.
Dowlin said her department has one activity to get arranged as designated by he State office and that is to set up and identify a point of dispersal where they would dispense vaccine and other medical needs during the time of a disaster. They have chosen Beloit High School for their primary site and St. Johns High School as their secondary site.
According to the State, this procedure has to be practiced every year so that everyone knows where to go and what to do. Dowlin and Dr. Douglas Drake have been working on getting this site set up as much as they can to make this practice more useful for those involved. They plan to run the practice sometime in the early part of November.
Chris Treaster, County Clerk, reported that Murray McGee, Community Development Director, asked her to remind the Commissioners they needed to setup a hearing for the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Rebate Program and that they need to sign the papers for it at that time. Commissioners plan to hold the hearing at 9:30 next Tuesday morning, September 2, 2008.
The Commissioners will be meeting on Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. because of Labor Day on Monday.
Mitchell County Commissioners for September 2, 2008
Reported by Charlene Watson
Julie Zilliox, Chairman of the Recall Committee in a legal dispute between Mitchell County and former County Commissioner Terry Collins, addressed the Mitchell County Commissioners at their meeting this morning. Committee members Mark Studer and Andrea Wiles were also present at the meeting.
Zilliox presented bills for legal fees for services rendered by Montoya Law Offices, Salina and local Lawyer Harry Gantenbien. Zilliox said Gantenbien called the other law firm in on the case after they went to the Court of Appeals in Wichita and Topeka.
Two bills for professional services and costs were presented from Montoya totaling $3,778.61 from May 2, 2008 through June 30, 2008.
Gantenbien, presented a bill for 123.45 hours in the amount of $15,494.75. A second part of the bill asked for additional costs in the amount of $531.47. This made the total bill $16,026.22. A write off by Harry W. Gantenbein in the amount of $10,000 left a balance due of $ 6,026.22.
Chairman Virgil Palen told Zilliox the Commissioners would have to review the bills before they made a decision. Commissioner Bunger asked County Attorney Jess Hoeme if the Commission is legally responsible to pay these charges. Attorney Hoeme said the Commissionr are not legally responsible for the bills but he thought Zilliox was already aware of that fact.
Zilliox replied that she was aware of this; but there were 400 people in the first ward who signed the petition to do this and she does not feel the committee and the 11 people who carried the recall petition should have to pay the whole bill. She sited other bills dealing with this problem that the County has already paid. Therefore, they were asking the County to pay for these legal services as well.
Attorney Hoeme volunteered to make out a time line report for the Commisioners so they could understand what has been done since the case has been pending for four years.
Zilliox added that she and the other committee members did not intend to get into this as a long time legal case when they agreed to take on this job. “We are not a committee that goes out looking for things like this. We have no budget, we were just three citizens who did their duty to try to see that the right thing was done right.”
Chairman Palen told Zilliox they would need to table the matter until they could look the papers over and review what all the charges are for. They will make their decision at next Monday’s meeting.
Doug McKinney, Regional Planning Commission Executive Director, and Brian Stillwell updated the Commissioners on the progress of the Scottsville project to build a Fire Station. They are working to receive a Kan-Step Grant. A meeting with the State agency took place in Scottsville on August 3, with representatives from the Department of Commerce present.
A supper was held at the church and local volunteers who would agree to work on the building if they get the grant attended. Stillwell said he thought it was a positive meeting. As a result of that meeting the State gave their approval for them to go ahead with the project. The reason they wanted to meet with the Commissioners today was to explain to the Commissioners who are servingas sponsors of the project where they are in the process.
The next step is to find an architect to do the project. Allan Snyder and Brian Stillwell will be looking for a archeticual firm who can complete the project within the time period they are alloted by the State to get it done. They will need a cost estimate that shows the cost of labor and materials before they can go any forward with the final plan.
McKinney said the archetect will have to be paid for the cost estimate right away and it will be around one or two thousand dollars. This should be the only out of pocket cost there will be and hopefully that will be reimbursed. The rest of the payment of 40 per cent of the cost will be paid with labor and services provided in kind. Then, if the archetect gets going on ideas to clear the site they will be on their way. McKinney asked if it would be possible to use some of the Counties equipment since they will have qualified people to run the machines. They will face that decision closer to the time they need it.
The building will be 40x60 and have 12-foot doors. The location of the land the building will be built on is south of the elevators in Scottsville. They hope to start work in the late winter or early spring. McKinney said he would take care of the standard environmental procedure once the project is approved.
Chairman Palen assured the group the Commissioners were behind them 100 percent.
Chairman Palen addressed a Neighborhood Revitalization Application that has been received. Since the Commissioners have questions concerning the status of the site and they have to wait until next week to take action on the application.
Later in the meeting, Joyce Highland, from the appraisers office, introduced Delmar Thomas, data collector for the County regarding Neighborhood Revitalization Applications. Thomas showed the Commissions pictures of the site in question. No decision will be made at this time.
Chairman Palen made a motion to change the Neighborhood Revitalization Program qualifications as discussed last week. Changes include raising the minimum amount that can be approved from $5,000 to $10.000 and that the project has to be finished one year from the date the application is received not the date the project is started. The new program was approved. County Clerk, Chris Treaster will publish the information in the County paper this week and Commissioners will officially pass the resolution at the next meeting.
Ed Debesis, Emergency Medical Service Director, reported to Commissioners that Ron Underhill would not be available to look at the building they are considering for a 24 hour, full time Emergency Medical Station in Cawker City. Commissioners had requested last week that he contact Underhill.
Debesis said the old fire station building they were considering was found to be in a flood plain so this can not be used. A second site has been suggested but Commissioners would need to approve another contractor to check out the site with him.
General Contractor, Mike Cooper, who was present said hewould not be bidding on the contract to work on the building. Cooper volunteered to go with Debesis to look at the building. He will determine if the building is structurally sound and present an estimate of what he thinks it would cost to complete the job to the Commissioners. They requested this be done before their meeting next week.
As Debesis reported last week, it is hoped they can get a Kan-Step Grant to pay for this station and not have to use a lot of tax money. Debesis requested a five-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made during the meeting.
Larry Emerson, Public Works Director, reported that his crew has all but one mile of asphalt finished on the Tipton road. Then, weather permittin, they will start sealing that whole stretch of road next week.
Emerson said the good news is the price of oil went down 25 cents a gallon making the price $2.60 a gallon so this will save the County 18 to 20 thousand dollars. They had enough tack oil left to finish up the project so they didn’t order more last week and this will save the county another 10 to 20 thousand, he said.
His crew tried to patch a pothole in the road two miles east of Hunter but it will probably be back that way again if all of the heavy trucks keep going over it. While he knows some of the township roads the County is responsible for are in need of repair where the rain washed the roads out, there isn’t much they can do about them until the weather clears up, Emerson said,
Becky Shaefer, Communications Director, requested a 10 minute execution session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made during that time but Shaefer told Commissioners in the open meeting following she has received a resignation from dispatcher Scott Evens and his last day will be September 5th so she will need to hire a replacement on the night shift to fill his spot. Shaefer requested permission to hire a part time person who had been with the department before. Commissioners agreed to this hire and Shaefer’s request to pay the person $10.25 an hour.
Ellen Anderson, of the Juvenile Justice Authority, was present to get statutory approval for the DOC FY’09 reimbursement carryover they have. She presented a budget summary and budget summery for Commissioners to look over.
They will receive $2,744.52 in reimbursement funds and plan to use $1,744.52 in training a new employee. The $1,000 left in the fund will be used to purchase technical support items for computers and other equipment. Any leftover funds will be transferred as a line item to the correct account. Commissioners made a motion to approve the use of carryover funds as presented by Anderson.
Chairman Palen reminded the other Commissioners the FEMA Meeting will be held on Thursday September 11 at 6:00 p.m. at the NCK Technical School meeting room.