January 3, 2022

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
January 3, 2022

David White, Bert Lowery, John Bertram, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Kendal Lothman and Ray Stegman attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda and Commissioner minutes of 12/23/2021.

After the pledge of allegiance, David White opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for T Neil(merit) and C Parkin(merit) for approval. After review of the payroll changes Bert moved to approve them and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Ray Stegman came to present a payroll change for A Taylor(merit). After review Bert moved to approve the payroll change and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he discussed the Belvidere tower is needing lighting and he presented a quote from Randy’s Tower that will share the expense with the coalition and that our share is $2,049.81 for the cost of lighting . Bert moved to approve to quote presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper presented resolution 2022-1 providing for chairman and vice-chairman of the board of commissioners, official county depositories, official county newspaper and County holidays, resolution 2022-2 Waive GAAP requirement and resolution 2022-3 authorizing participation in rural opportunity zone student repayment program for calendar year 2022. After review of the resolutions Bert moved to adopt the resolutions as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 9:40

During Commissioner discussion Bert asked about a publication he saw regarding a foreclosure and mentioned Kiowa County, Chay informed that is due to delinquent taxes are against the property mentioned.

Meeting adjourned at 9:42.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
December 30, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery(absent), Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt, Matt Christenson, Karen Butler, DJ McMurry, Kerri Ulrich, Eric Buck and Jeff Blackburn attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 12/20/2021.

After prayer given by Jeff Blackburn John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. David moved to approve the consent agenda as presented John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper presented a letter in absence of Shelly for a year end budget transfer for District Court in the amount of $6000 to be transferred to the special equipment fund that will go towards microfilming next year. John moved to approve the transfer and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came to present a payroll change for J McClain(seasonal position ended) for approval. John moved to approve the payroll change and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he gave some updates which included shoulder work on City Service, preparations for upcoming weather, landfill track loader updates on repairs, Belvidere cemetery road updates and removing some cottonwood trees around Wilmore.

DJ McMurry came to request a year end budget transfer out of the Appraisers fund to go into his special equipment fund in the amount of $9000 that will go towards GIS updates and arial photography. David moved to approve the transfer and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper presented payroll changes for all county employees for the 4% Cost of Living increase that was pre-approved at the last meeting. David moved to approve the payroll changes as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 9:23

Eric Buck came to request a year end budget transfer for Ambulance services to his special equipment fund in the amount of $20,433.87 to be used for purchasing power loading systems for ambulances, repairs on the Durango, batteries for the cots, uniforms, and future vehicle purchases. David moved to approve the transfer and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kerri Ulrich came to discuss making some changes to her office by offering better testing options which would be to put in a walk-up window on the east side of the building and mentioned what the benefits this would be for the public and the staff. It was by consensus to get bids for the project and report back for approval. Next, she presented a new policy and procedures for BinaxNOW COVID-29 testing and went over the handout.

Matt Christenson came to present the updated pay plan to reflect the COLA they approved at the last meeting. After review of the changes, David moved to approve the changes as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a yearend budget transfer request for $10,000 for Emergency Management to go towards updating towers into his special equipment fund. John moved to approve the transfer and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Last they discussed funds that could be used to go towards assisting the roof replacement at the round barn and after some discussion he suggested for those funds to come out of the commissioner’s fund since their fund always has extra funds at the end of the year that could be used. Discussion was tabled till the Kiowa County Historic Society can come to be part of the discussion.

Karen Butler came to request a yearend budget transfer in the amount of $10,000 from the Register of Deeds and be put into their special equipment fund for electronic updates. David moved to approve the transfer of funds and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

During Commissioner discussion they revisited the topic of recruiting for the sheriff office.

Meeting adjourned at 10:47.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
December 20, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Chay Howard, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Kerri Ulrich, Rhonda Fernandez, Kendal Lothman, Karen Butler and Jeff Blackburn attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 12/6/21.

After the prayer given by Jeff Blackburn, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

John adjourned the regular meeting and called the Board of Health(BOH) meeting to session. Kerri Ulrich came to give updates for Public Health which included training exercises, jail nursing agreement with Sheriff office, health fair preparation starting in January, COVID-19 case totals, vaccine totals and working on a document regarding school quarantines guidelines with the school and medical director. John adjourned the BOH and called the regular meeting back to order. David requested a 10-minute executive session for non-elected personal to discuss personal matters regarding the health department at 9:27 and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:37 with no action taken.

Norval Ralstin came to talk with the Commissioner’s about them assisting with the cost of replacing the roof at the round barn south of Mullinville and is requesting assistance from the County to help with the replacement of a new metal roof. David informed him that will discuss this and see if they could help with the funding.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included concrete projects on 5th Ave is completed, engineers will be out to inspect the intersections north of Haviland regarding the signs, local safety plan discussed regard paining edge lines on the blacktops, install cattle guards on Belvidere road next week, received 2 JD tractors last week, track loader at the landfill final drive needs repairs and a rebuild on a 953C.

Matt Christenson came to request to transfer $7476.91 for IT equipment for the support agreement building control software into a Special Equipment fund and additional $5000 for workstations. He did explain that they had already approved the purchase of the IT equipment but that the company is unable to ship until next year and therefore he won’t be invoiced at that time. Bert moved to allow the transfer of $12,476.91from capital outlay in the courthouse general to be put into the special equipment fund and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a quote from Building Control Systems(BCS) for support agreement in the amount of $4,700. Bert moved to approve the quote from BCS and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.
Next Matt requested to revisit the COLA discussion from last meeting. After much discussion David moved to approve a 4% COLA increase on all county employees for 2022 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Chay Howard presented a resolution 2021-10 which elects Kiowa County to participate in the National Opioid Settlement. After review of the documents he provided, John moved to adopt the resolution as presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 11:52

Rhonda Fernandez came to give BCBS 2021 claim updates and insurance updates.

Kristi Cooper presented tax corrections for approval, after review of the corrections Bert moved to approve them as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next she asked if they would allow the courthouse to close on December 23 at noon to give an extra day for the Christmas holiday and it was by consensus to close at noon.

During Commissioner discussion they discussed the round barn assistance and on call pay with the sheriff office,

Meeting adjourned at 11:41

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
December 6, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt, Kendal Lothman and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.
Consent agenda included: Agenda and Commissioner minutes of 11/30/21.

After the pledge of allegiance, John opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included. City Service Road project complete by Heft and Sons, blading, building intersections and driveways back after the project is now completed, 15 grader tire quotes from Alliance Ag $12,990(Hercules tires), Greensburg Tire $18,007.50 (Michelin tires) and Commercial Tire Center $16,470 (Michelin tires). Jay informed them that while he was getting quotes that tires are hard to get in per some of the vendors and so after some discussion, they wanted to stay with Michelin tires and so it was consensus to go with Greensburg Tire if they can get the tires in that are needed.

Matt Christenson came to discuss COLA raises for all employees for 2022. He informed them the last COLA was December 2017. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers has increased by approximately 12.2% since the last COLA was applied to county employee wages. He gave a breakdown of different options from 3% to 12% and informed them the impacts that would be on the budgets. He asked them to discuss this in the next couple meetings and they could continue the discussion at the last meeting of the year if they would like to give a COLA this year to all the employees.

Kristi Cooper asked for clarification on chairman and vice chairman for resolution 2022-1 and after some discussion the new chairman will be David White and the vice chairman would be Bert Lowery. She informed them she would get the resolutions prepared for the first meeting in January.

Break called till 9:29

Chay Howard came to discuss the national opioid settlement and documents and presented resolutions that are required. He asks them to review the information he presented, and they will continue the discussion at the next meeting.

Jay came back to inform them that Greensburg Tire is unable to get the tires at this time and that the price would go up once they did get them in, so it was by consensus to get the 15 grader tires through Commercial Tire Center out of Salina since they are readily available to them.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
November 30, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper and Kendal Lothman attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 11/15/2021.

After prayer given by Tony Factor, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for K Long (new hire) for approval. Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Gave a quick update on operations in the jail regarding housing prisoners for surrounding counties. He is also looking into a correctional medical service proposal and gave the advantages of the service but will report back with a quote once he receives one.

Kristi Cooper presented tax corrections for approval. After review of the corrections Bert moved to approve them as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, she informed the commissioners that Ray asked for her to present a quote from Pratt County Emergency Management regarding the shared weather tower in Belvidere for the updating the lighting on the tower and that our share would be $1714.37. Bert moved to approve the shared cost for the lighting on the weather tower and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Last she presented payroll changes for the elected officials for a pay adjustment. After review of the changes David moved to approve them as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

During Commissioner discussion they revisited the commercial traffic on county roads, overtime impacts on budgets.

Meeting adjourned at 10:14.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
November 15, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Chay Howard, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Kerri Ulrich, Rhonda Fernandez, Kendal Lothman, Karen Butler and Jeff Blackburn attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 12/6/21.

After the prayer given by Jeff Blackburn, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

John adjourned the regular meeting and called the Board of Health(BOH) meeting to session. Kerri Ulrich came to give updates for Public Health which included training exercises, discussion jail nursing agreement with Sheriff office, health fair preparation starting in January, COVID-19 case totals and vaccine totals and working on a document regarding school quarantines guidelines with the school and medical director . John adjourned the BOH and called the regular meeting back to order. David requested a 10-minute executive session for non-elected personal to discuss personal matters regarding the health department at 9:27 and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:37 with no action taken.

Norval Ralstin came to talk with the Commissioner’s regarding the roof at the round barn south of Mullinville. He is requesting them to help with the expense to replace the roof. They have gotten a bid in the amount of $54,000 to put a tin roof on the building and that they did get approval to change the type of roof with the historical society. David informed him that they would discuss this and see if they could help them.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included; concrete projects on 5th Ave is completed, engineers will be out to inspect the intersections north of Haviland regarding the signs, local safety plan discussed regard paining edge lines on the blacktops, install cattle guards on Belvidere road next week, received 2 JD tractors last week, track loader at the landfill final drive needs repairs and a rebuild on a 953C.

Matt Christenson came to request to transfer $7476.91 for IT equipment support agreement building control software into a Special Equipment fund and additional $5000 for workstations. Bert moved to allow $12,476.91 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next he presented a quote from BCS for support agreement for control $ Bert moved to approve the expense of 4010 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

He requested to revisit the COLA discussion from last meeting. After much discussion David moved to approve a 4% COLA increase for 2022 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Chay Howard presented a resolution 2021-10 which elects Kiowa County to participate in the National Opioid Settlement. After some discussion it was by consensus for us to register as a subdivision to receive settlement paperwork and to have him be the authorized person for Kiowa County. John moved to adopt the resolution presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 11:52

Rhonda Fernandez came to give claim updates on how claims are sitting for BCBS.

Kristi Cooper presented tax corrections for approval, After review of the corrections Bert moved to approve them as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. She asked if they would allow the courthouse and facilities could close on December 23 at noon and it was by consensus to close at noon.

During Commissioner discussion they discussed the round barn assistance, on call pay with the sheriff office,

Meeting adjourned at 11:41

Kiowa County Commissioners Special Meeting
November 8, 2021

John Bertram, Dave White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Shelly Tuttle and Andy Kimble attended the election canvas meeting.

John called the special meeting to order to canvas the November 2nd General Election results at 10:00 a.m. with the County Election officer, Kristi Cooper and Deputy County Election officer, Shelly Tuttle. She presented blank Talley sheets to each of them and explained she would read aloud each tabulator receipt for each ballot styles from election day totals, early voting totals and then they would process the provisional ballots. After reading the tabulator receipts, she informed them that she has a total of 5 provisional and explained the reasons they were provisional on the spreadsheet. Next, she opened the 5 provisional and read them aloud. Next she informed them that they had a 3-way tie on Mullinville City Council race and explained the procedure on how to break the tie. The 3 names were placed in a hat and chairman, John Bertram drew 2 names and declared the winners. After totals were verified, Bert moved to certify the approved election abstract totals as presented and John second, motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 11:07.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
November 1, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt and Tony Factor attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda and Commissioner minutes of 10/29/21.

After the prayer given by Tony Factor, John opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included payroll changes for J Price(merit) and W Williams(merit) Heft & Sons started overlay on city service road, received the 2 trucks and going to go get sand spreader soon. After review of the changes David moved to approve them as presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper presented a payroll change for L Gwin(merit) for approval. After review Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 9:09

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
October 29, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Shelly Tuttle, Chay Howard, Kerri Ulrich, Matt Christenson, Krista Amaro and Karen Butler attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 10/18/2021.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kerri Ulrich presented a payroll change for T Hatton (new hire) after some discussion John moved to accept the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next she presented an additional payroll change for S Richmond (new hire) after review Bert moved to accept the payroll change as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Kerri then gave the Commissioners Covid-19 case number updates.

Matt Christenson came to discuss the firewall security services agreement that we have and is set to expire next week. Matt presented two quotes for new security service agreements and software, one from NMGI for $5363.00 and one from SHI for $4899.80. After some discussion Bert moved to purchase a new firewall and security services agreement out of the capital outlay fund from SHI for 3 years in the amount of $4,899.80 and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Krista Amaro came to present a payroll change for J Bruckner (merit increase) for approval. Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called until 9:30

Karen Butler came to present a payroll change for T Butler (merit increase) for approval. Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and John seconded, motion passed 2-0, David was absent.

During Commissioner discussion Chay Howard gave updates on the finalization of the tax sale. They discussed the individual meetings that they each had with the representatives from the Windfarm and the benefits it could bring to the County.

Meeting adjourned at 9:36

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
October 18, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Kerri Ulrich, Theron McKinney, Jeff Blackburn and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 10/04/2021 & 10/5/21.

After the prayer given by Jeff Blackburn, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

John moved to adjourn the regular meeting and call the Board of health(BOH) meeting to session. Kerri Ulrich came to give updates for Public Health which included; working on quarterly grant work that is due, nursing applications received, flu clinics continue, 292 flu shots given, covid-19 cases continue to climb, contract tracer position. John adjourned the BOH meeting and called the regular meeting to order at 928. Bert moved to approve the temporary and part-time position that will be funded through a ELC grant for $9000 until the funds are used up or until the position is no longer needed whichever comes first and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included; purchased 2 freightliner trucks on purple wave in the amount of $164,000, purchased 2 sand spreaders and rock shoulder spreader in the amount of $1350 plus commission, short discussion on the new stop sign placed north or Haviland and look possibly into a new TEAP study if Kirkham and Michael requires it, F St. and City Service road asphalt overlay completed, working with Northern Natural with disposing asbestos through KDHE, chip sealing and patch work started last week, blading updates, pipeline repair north of Mullinville completed and discussion enforcing roads with no commercial trucks allowed signs.

Jim Daily with KNRC came back to continue the discussion of Kiowa County joining the organization as they were members previously. After some discussion John moved to join the KRNC in the amount of $5000 and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Theron McKinney came to discuss the salaries again for the officers and after some discussion Bert moved to approve the pay salaries to be for the Fire Chief in the amount of $4000, Deputy Chief for $2500 and Captains for $2000 and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Julie Lyon came to give Economic Development updates which included; dairy farm, housing and child care facilities. And gave brief summaries on how she is working with each city on those topics.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for V Gwin(probation period merit) for approval. Bert moved to approve the payroll change and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. They also discussed commercial vehicles using our blacktops with signs restricting them and Kendal explained it is just too hard to enforce due to multiple reasons.

Break called till 10:45.

Kristi Cooper presented a list of the 2022 County Holidays for approval. After review John moved to approve the 2022 holidays as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

During Commissioner discussion they spoke continued the dairy farms discussion briefly.

Meeting adjourned at 10:58