Commissioner Minutes

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
September 7, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt, Kendal Lothman, Theron McKinney and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 08/02/2021 & 08/14/21.

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 Duane Maas(merit) and Wayne Burnham(merit), changing T St to an open range road from 55th Ave through 57th Ave, cleaning culverts at J St. and 45th Ave, grader maintenance cause road maintenance delays and N St. has been bladed and material hauled in since Mr. Dirks came in at the last meeting. Bert moved to approve the payroll changes as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kendal Lothman came to presented payroll changes for K Amaro, S Kost and Michael Tedder(merit) for approval. After review Bert moved to approve them as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next he requested a 5 minute executive session regarding personnel matters. John moved to go into executive at 9:21 to discuss personnel matters for non-elected personnel for 5 minutes and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:26 with no action taken.

Theron McKinney came to discuss setting chain of command for the fire department countywide and informed them that he will be holding a fire meeting this evening and explained how he is planning on setting officers.

Matt Christenson came to discuss the courthouse capital outlay fund which he will be using to purchase a test server platform. After some discussion it was by consensus to allow him to have authority to spend $5000 on a new test server platform.

Break called till 9:55

During Commissioner discussion Dave spoke about what they could do to help reduce any impact on insurance premiums increasing due to COVID-19. They discussed cash incentives, the federal approach, paid time off due to employees being quarantined, or don’t make any changes. After much discussion Bert moved to allow paid administrative COVID pay if an employee is required to be quarantined from COVID-19 who is unable to work remotely and those who can work remotely will receive regular pay during work hours and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 10:38

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting

August 31, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Morgan Allison, Jonathan Clayton, Kendal Lothman, Theron McKinney, Jeff Blackburn and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 08/16/2021.

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

Jonathan Clayton came to discuss the USDA Emergency Health Care Grant and explained the grant and what he could help with rural health care systems (Kiowa County Memorial Hospital, Kiowa County Health Department and Kiowa County Senior Citizen Center) which we are eligible to receive 35% of the costs associated with this grant program. He explained that he will work with the boards of those entities and come back for the final approval of the application before the deadline in October. David moved to pursue the USDA grant application and John seconded, motion passed unanimously

Mark Dirks came to visit with the commissioners regarding M. St from 183 Hwy west to the Mennonite Church and see if they could get the road in a better shape since it goes to the cemetery as well. Bert mentioned that he has talked with Jay and he is working on this project.

Matt Christenson came to give an update on the expenditures for the ARPA funds for the first round of reporting and informed them that he will move forward with meeting with those who will be part of the process and report back.

Theron McKinney came to have an executive session for non-elected personnel regarding fire department personnel for 15 minutes. Bert moved to go into an executive session at 9:24 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:39 with no action taken.

Kristi Cooper presented payroll changes for C McElroy(new hire) and L Thronesbery(merit) for approval in the absence of Kendal and Jay. After reviewing the payroll changes David moved to approve them as presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, she presented a bid from Pueblo concrete and explained the other bid withdrew their bid after the tabled them at the last meeting and after some discussion on receiving more bids John moved to strike the bid from Pueblo concrete and rebid the project again and David seconded, motion passed 2-0 (Bert sustained). Next, she gave a few maintenance updates.

Break called till 10:01.

During Commissioner discussion they continued to discuss the Dairy farm and included the housing and daycare needs and Julie Lyon, County Economic Development director was included in the discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 10:44

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Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting

August 16, 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 08/02/2021 & 08/14/21.

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

David 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; new sign, new employee, covid totals, 42% vaccinated countywide, 1097 shots given, booster shot being introduced with stipulations, purchasing the property lot east of the office for parking, grant applications for salary and benefits to assist with hiring a nurse for the office and executive session for personnel matters. David adjourned the BOH. Bert moved to have an executive session for non-elected personal to discuss employee relations for 10 minutes and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:42 with no action taken. A payroll change was presented for Jessie Steyn(new hire). Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, she presented a school nursing contact for 422. After review of the contract Bert moved to renew the contract with USD #422 and David seconded motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included payroll changes for Cyndee Tuttle(merit) and Chris Cagle(merit and job classification), chip seal on northern blacktop, 811 locates, 12H Grader sold on Big Iron, load ratings preformed on bridges from Kirkham Micheal/TransSystems, application submitted on OS bridge #17, HHW annual report due, Solid Waste Management plan annual review due and landfill permit renewal due. Bert moved to approve the payroll changes as presented David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Matt Christenson came to discuss network equipment upgrades for Courthouse and Jail and presented quotes. He explained the 2 types for equipment for Ubiquiti Networking equipment and Netgear equipment. Quotes came in from B&H $7700.45, CDWG $7835.91 and SHI $7374.31. Bert moved to approve SHI bid for $7374.31 and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Theron McKinney came to be part of the discussion for setting a new resolution regarding formalizing the fire department chief. After some discussion Bert moved to have Theron on a 6-month probation period as interim chief and this would allow him time to get things in place before they set it all in a County Resolution and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi requested to table the bids she had received since John isn’t present and it was by consensus to hold them till the 31st. David moved to table the bids till the next meeting and John seconded, motion passed unanimously(Bert abstained). She informed them of what the quote from Service Master is for the floors at the courthouse and after some discussion Bert moved to approve the bid from Service master for $1902.61 and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

There were no topics for Commissioner discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 10:22

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Kiowa County Commissioners Special Meeting

August 14, 2021

John Bertram(via phone), David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard(via phone), Robin Rose, Theron McKinney and Kendal Lothman attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda.

David White opened the special meeting at 9:30. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was called to appoint an interim Fire Chief. Assistant Fire chiefs Theron McKinney and Robin Rose attended the meeting to be part of the conversation. After some discussion on the appointment, Bert moved to appoint Theron McKinney and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 9:35.

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Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting

August 2, 2021

John Bertram(via phone), David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, DJ McMurry and Jeff Blackburn attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda and Commissioner minutes of 07/30/2021.

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

DJ McMurry came to present a payroll change for M Moore(merit). After review of the payroll change Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a quote from ERSI for county mapping licenses in the amount of $30,109.20. Bert moved to approve the quote for special mapping licensing and to be taken out of the Appraiser Special Equipment fund and David seconded motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 9:58

David opened the public hearing at 10:00 am for the 2022 Kiowa County budget. There were no attendees during the public hearing. After 15 minutes Bert moved to adopt the 2022 county budget as published and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 10:18.

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July 30, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt, Jonathan Clayton, Kendal Lothman, Grant Neuhold, Jeff Blackburn and Cody Sherer attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 07/19/2021.

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.

Jonathan Clayton came to give a presentation for Mullinville Community Foundation and to inform them of what this origination is doing for the community. After his presentation he requests them to sign a letter of support for the grants they are applying for. John move to sign the letter for support for the Mullinville Community Foundation and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Cody Sherer came to give updates for the County fire departments which included ISO (Insurance Service Offices) audit and explained what the audit all includes. Also presented a quote for pump certification from WEIS Fire in the amount of $2754 that he is going to.

Grant Neuhold came to get permission to allow the use of one of the office spaces in the Media Center for the office of Economic Development. After some discussion John moved to allow them to use the office space in the Media Center and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper came to inform them that she is going to have Pro-window Inc clean the exterior windows at the courthouse and commons building for $1256 a facility and that this would only be a service that is needed. Next, she informed them she is getting a quote from Service Master to strip and was the floors at the courthouse and commons building as well and she will report back.

Jay Schmidt came to present a payroll change for R Hohl (6-month probation) for approval. After review of the payroll change Bert moved to accept the change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Also gave updates which included Sand Seal on Brenham is completed by Heft & Sons, Foley looking at a grader that has some injector issues and roll off container’s discussion.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for C Vergis(new hire) for approval. After review of the pay change Bert moved to approve and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a quote from Mallory Safety and Supply for a vest in the amount of $1574.95 and requests they allow him to take this out of the Special Equipment fund. Bert moved to approve the purchase to come out of the Special Equipment fund and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Chay Howard gave some updates regarding the tax sales.

Meeting adjourned at 10:12.

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July 19, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Jay Schmidt, Kerri Ulrich, Kendal Lothman, Morgan Allison, Jeff Blackburn and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 07/06/2021.

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 John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

John Bertram 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; State WIC audit completed, fiscal year reporting completed, back to school vaccines and physicals started, new sign placement, Covid new variant details, county vaccination totals and school nursing contracts with Valley View and Bucklin School. John adjourned the BOH and called the regular meeting back to order. Kerri presented the contracts for Valley View and Bucklin School for approval. Bert moved to approve the contracts as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came and presented updates for the Public Works Department which included payroll changes for C Pyatt and R Young(merit), storage pod moved to the fairgrounds, tree work done around Belvedere, landfill inspection from KDHE and road maintenance on Cottonwood Street in Haviland City. Bert moved to approve the payroll changes as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Morgan Allision came to give updates for the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital which included; new physician hired, community health assessment, June financials and partnering with Pratt and Edwards hospitals.

Break called till 10:34.

Kristi Cooper presented a tax correction for approval. Bert moved to approve the correction as presented and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for B Parkin(merit). After review of the payroll change Bert moved to approve the change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, they discussed the 911 emergency phone fund and explained how that money is not tax dollars and that it comes from the state from phone carriers.

Matt Christenson came to discuss computer security training for all employees and explained why it is so important and why this would keep the county protected. He presented quotes from KnowBe4 for security awareness training in the amount of $2187. It was by consensus to move forward with the security training and he also informed them that is he looking to partner with WSU with security training.

Brenda Osborne came to present a payroll change for C Clark(merit) and asked for them to approve an additional raise to get her deputy up closer to all the other deputies in the register of deeds, appraisers and clerks offices. After some discussion Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kristi Cooper the present one bid from Pueblo concrete for the courthouse and fire station. She informed them that the bids will come out of the building fund. After some discussion John moved to accept the bid for the fire department in the amount of $32,400 and David seconded, motion passed 2-0 (Bert abstained). David requested to go out and look at the curbs, guttering’s and sidewalks to get a better idea of what will need to be replaced.

After some discussion John moved to accept the bid for the $54,700 for the front steps only and David seconded, motion passed 2-0(Bert abstained). Dave requested to get separate bids for curb and guttering, sidewalks and for the drive way on the east side of the building and John agreed. She reported she will get a new bid out in the papers. Last she asked about phone reimbursement for her phone since she uses it more for with her new promotion. David moved to approve the reimbursement in the monthly amount of $50 and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

During Commissioner discussion David wanted to have it on record the discussion for a daycare is a need as a whole and the County would not be operating and that he would only be in favor to help subsidize them if needed and John and Bert agreed. He has been approached about this and just wanted to have it on the record. Next, they discussed the Economic Development and Grant called via cell phone to be part of the discussion regarding office space in the Commons building. John moved to allow the economic development director to have office space in the media center area, motion not passed due to no second (David abstained). Discussion tabled until the 30th and she can remain in the office space till then.

Meeting adjourned at 11:27.

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July 6, 2021

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

Consent agenda included: Agenda and Commissioner minutes of 06/30/21.

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 John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came to give updates for the public works departments which included; M-29 grader lease from Foley for signatures, mowing and replaced culvert south of Haviland last week.

Matt Christenson came to give some updates on the ARPA grant funds. He informed them that we have received half of the funding already and also reported what each entity will receive here in Kiowa County and a explained a checklist and how the process will go as we start to spend the grant funds. The board will consist of Matt Christenson, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Kerri Ulrich, David White and Kendal Lothman.

Kerri Ulrich came to ask for clarification on where the funds to pay for the sidewalk would come from and it was by consensus to take it out of the building fund. Next, she present payroll changes for P Pearson and P Fuller for approval. David moved to go into executive session to discuss employee relations for non-elected personnel for 15 minutes and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Regular session began at 9:45 with no action taken.

Break called till 9:50

John moved to approve the payroll changes as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, she asked about the need of a countywide daycare and Dave clarified that he spoke with a Economic Development board member about looking into this and asked her for some guidance on what the County should do and gave some suggestions.

Kendal Lothman came to present a payroll change for C Parkin(6-month probation) for approval. Bert moved to approve the payroll change and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a payroll change for R Stegman(pay increase) for a part-time deputy. John moved to approve the payroll change as presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Jay Schmidt came back regarding a road between the elevator and storage bins in the city of Haviland that Rusty from Alliance Ag and he will talk with Rusty to see what the County can do to assist them .

Kristi Cooper presented tax corrections for approval. John moved to approve the tax corrections as presented and David seconded, motion passed 2-0(Bert absent).

Meeting adjourned at 10:27

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June 30, 2021

John Bertram, David White, Bert Lowery, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Kendal Lothman, Jeff Blackburn and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, Payroll reports, Accounts Payable reports and Commissioner minutes of 06/21/21 & 06/28/21.

After the prayer given by Jeff Blackburn, John Bertram opened the meeting at 9:00. Bert moved to approve the consent agenda with the corrections to the minutes for June 21st as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Karen Butler came to present a payroll change for T Butler(job performance adjustment/certification) for approval. After some discussion Bert moved to approve the payroll change as presented and John seconded, motion passed 2-0 (David abstained).

Kristi Cooper presented payroll changes for the Sheriff, County Attorney, Register of Deeds, Treasurer, Clerk, Commissioners, Appraiser and Emergency Manager for an annual merit increase for approval. Bert moved to approve the changes as presented and David seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Kendal Lothman and Matt Christenson came to present changes to the pay plan moving Bert moved to approve the change and John seconded, motion passed unanimously. John moved to approve the payroll changes and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, he presented a quote for a bullet proof vest in the amount of $1224.84 and requests it be taken out of the Special Equipment fund. David moved to approve the purchase to be taken out of the Special Equipment fund and John seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Break called till 9:47.

Kristi Cooper presented a payroll change for the Maintenance Supervisor for approval. David moved to approve the payroll change as presented and Bert seconded, motion passed unanimously. Next, she asked if she could dispose of the metal chairs at the community center since she is replacing them with new chairs. She did inform them that the Fair board does get first choice of the chairs and then she would advertise a set date for one afternoon in August to allow anyone in the County to come get chairs for free. They gave her a consensus to dispose of the chairs in the matter she explained. Next, she presented payroll reports, accounts payable reports, minutes for signatures and informed the next meeting would be held on Tuesday July 6th due to the Courthouse being closed on July 5th in observance of Independence Day.

During Commissioner discussion David wanted to inform them that the Media Center has started making the Live Kiowa County video that the Commissioners funded and to bring up the discussion on a County daycare that could receive funding from the County if needed. After some discussion, it was by consensus to have the Economic Development to look into this topic and see if they could find anyone with interest.

Meeting adjourned at 10:16

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June 28, 2021

Bert Lowery, John Bertram, David White, Kristi Cooper, Matt Christenson, Theresa Dasenbrock, Tiffany O’Rouke, Brenda Osborne, Karen Butler and Jan Case attended the meeting.

John Bertram called the special meeting to order at 9:00 to go over the 2022 County budget with our auditors, Theresa Dasenbrock and Tiffany O’Rouke from Lewis, Hooper & Dick and LLC.

Theresa reviewed the landfill agreed upon procedures and the audit report. Tiffany then went into the audit process and explained some observations and recommendations. Next, Theresa shared comparison graphs for population, totals milled levied last year, assessed tangible valuations, total levies that was compared to surrounding counties and cities and explained the Senate Bill 13 regarding the Revenue Neutral Rate(RNR) and how it affects setting County budget levies.

Ron called for a 5-minute break at 10:00.

John called the meeting back to order at 10:05 and they moved into the budget process and went through each request and adjusted budget requests. Theresa informed them that with the budget adjustments made they would be under the RNR by 4.758 mills. After some discussion on moving the levy up to the RNR to 73.067 she informed them that they would be looking at a decrease of 2.378 mills from 2020 levy for 2021 and this levy is at the RNR level. David moved to set the 2022 mill levy as 73.067 for publication and John seconded, motion passed 2-1(Bert opposed). The budget hearing will be held on August 2nd at 10:00 am during the regular Commissioner’s meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:19

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