Commissioner Minutes

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
August 7, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Chay Howard, Travis Payne, Matt Christenson and Terry Mayhew attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, PR & AP reports, Commissioner minutes of 7-31:

After the prayer was given by Terry Mayhew, Bert opened the meeting and Ron moved to approve the consent agenda and John seconded motion carried 3-0.

Travis came forward to give R&B, SW and NXWD updates. Received reimbursement check from the federal program on the ice storm. Replacing the MAC truck would they like new or used truck bids. Backhoe at landfill. Get more details on our backhoe and report back. Belvidere shop. Will get new bids on the door and insulation. Generator will be hooked up. CDL discussion requirements and extension on applicants. It was by consensus to allow a 6-month extension for those trying to get their CDL. Bert called for an executive discussion for non-elected personnel to discuss employee relations at 9:28 and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 10:28 with no action taken.

Kristi Cooper asked for executive session for 10 minutes for non-elected personnel at 9:53 to discuss employee relations. Ron moved for the executive session and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 10:03 with no action taken. Kristi presented a payroll change for C. Einsel for a temp intern in the County Attorney office and Bert moved and John seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Bert asked to continue the meeting at the County facilities to look at the hail damage on the buildings. After the Commissioners looked at all the building and accessed the damages per EMC. John moved to replace the shingle roofs at the Courthouse and Sheriff office. Fix the roof over the media center and replace the solar panels through Ray’s Roofing and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Matt will get with EMC and process that claim.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
July 20, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Barrett Smith and Kristi Cooper attended the meeting.

Bert opened the special meeting at 8:00.

John moved to go into executive session for non-elected personnel for 30-minutes to interview the applicant for Public Works Supervisor at 8:00 and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 8:30 with no action taken.

The Commissioners discussed the other applicants and after some discussion they all agreed to offer the position to Travis Payne due to being more experienced than the other applicants. The Clerk called Travis and the Commissioner’s offered the position of Public Works Supervisor and Travis accepted the position. His start date will depend on his date of resignation from his other job.

Kiowa County Commissioners Special Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
July 19, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Travis Payne and Kristi Cooper attended the meeting.

Bert opened the meeting at 7:00.

John moved to go into executive session for non-elected personnel for 30-minutes to interview the applicant for Public Works Supervisor at 7:00 and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 7:30 with no action taken.

Meeting adjourned at 7:37.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
July 17, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Kerri Ulrich, Terry Mayhew, Scott James, Chay Howard and Pat Klecker attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, PR & AP reports, Commissioner minutes of 7-3, 7-10 & 7-12:

After the prayer was given by Terry Mayhew, Bert opened the meeting.

Ron moved to approve the consent agenda and John seconded motion carried 3-0.

Bert adjourned the Commissioner meeting and called the Board of Health meeting to order. Kerri Ulrich came to give updates from the Health department which include; VaxCare billing software, ongoing case of whooping cough, assist with school physicals and 4-H fair booth. Bert adjourned the BOH meeting and regular session began.

Jay Schmidt presented payroll changes for C Pyatt for yearly merit increase. John moved to approve the payroll change and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0. Next, Jay didn’t have much to update besides they are doing some blacktop patching. John moved for a 10-minute executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss employee relations at 9:14 and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 9:24 with no action taken. The clerk asked for a 10-executive session for non-elected personnel for employee relations and to review 2 public works supervisor applications. Bert moved for the executive session at 9:25 and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 9:35 with no action taken. Clerk will arrange interviews for the applications they have received.

Break was called at 9:46 and regular session began at 9:51.

Pat Klecker from Santa Fe Community Corrections came to present the fiscal year 2017 report for approval and to give updates. John moved to approve the report and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Break was called at 10:17 and regular session began at 10:22.

Kristi Cooper presented a payroll change for K Amaro for a merit increase. John moved and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

No topics discussed during Commissioner discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 10:46.

Kiowa County Commissioners Special Meeting

Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room

July 12, 2017

John Unruh, Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Chris Tedder, Karen Butler, Matt Christenson, Kyler Ludwig, Rosa Spainhour, Theresa Dasenbrock and Lisa Axman attended the meeting.

Bert called the special meeting to order at 9:00 to go over the 2018 County budget requests with our Auditors, Theresa Dasenbrock and Lisa Axman from Lewis, Hooper & Dick and LLC.

Before the budget process began 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 then went into the audit process and explained some observations and recommendations such as minutes missing resolution numbers, quarterly statements showing balances of County funds, Cemetery Districts not filing their annual reports with the Commissioners, Extension Council reporting interest on financial reports, Library to upgrade to use financial software and typing their board minutes instead of being hand written.

Next they moved into the budget process. Theresa informed them that with budgets that were presented and with the changes they made on the meeting of July10th they would be looking at a 3.841 mill increase making it a total of 76.845 mills to fund the requests that were submitted. After some changes to transfers and more budget discussions Ron moved to set the 2018 mill levy as 76.941 for publication and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. Theresa informed them that will the changes there will be an increase for 3.937 mills from last year. The budget hearing will be August 14^th at 9:00 am during the regular Commissioner’s meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 11.04

Kiowa County Commissioners Special Meeting

Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room

July 10, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Scott James, Chay Howard and Jay Schmidt attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda:

Bert called the special meeting to order at 4:00

Jay Schmidt came to talk to the Commissioners about his resignation and they made changes to the Public Works Supervisor classified ad.

Meeting adjourned at 4:30.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting

Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room

July 3, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Jay Schmidt, Kyler Ludwig, Jeff Blackburn and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda and 6-30 minutes:

After the prayer was given by Jeff Blackburn, Bert opened the meeting.

John moved to approve the consent agenda and Ron seconded motion carried 3-0.

Kristi Cooper presented a payroll change for DJ McMurry. She explained that resolution 2017-13 that his salary wasn’t correct and asked to dissolve 2017-13 and adopt 2017-14 with the correction to his salary. Bert added that on the last resolution they only increased it by $2000 and that he would like to give him more, so Bert suggested to increase it to $5000 since he hasn’t had a raise for 8 years and that he doesn’t receive health benefits or PTO. After some discussion Bert moved to approve the change for DJ and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Jay Schmidt presented payroll changes for B Foster (noxious weed) and J Adolph (R&B) for yearly merit increases. Bert moved to approve the payroll changes and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. Jay didn’t have anything further to report since they just met on Friday.

Break was called at 9:08 and regular session began at 9:13.

Matt Christenson came to present a quote from Home Lumber with Konda Glass for $2888.24 to fix the windows at the fairgrounds. Matt explained that they would like to get the windows fixed before the fair that is scheduled July 15^th due to the brief time to get them installed before the fair. He also added he requested other bids but they wouldn’t be able to come out till Wednesday and this would delay the project being complete for the fair. John moved to approve the quote from home lumber with Konda Glass and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Break 9:40 and regular session began at 9:55.

The Commissioners went through individual request and compared them to the individual department year end reports and made some budget adjustments. After going through all the requests, they asked the Clerk to forward the adjustments to the auditor for the budget workshop on July 12^th at 9:00 am with the auditors from Lewis, Hooper and Dick, LLC.

Meeting adjourned at 11:55.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
June 30, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Scott James, Jay Schmidt, Steve Heft, Aaron Heft, Mike McBeath, DJ McMurry, Bob Wetmore and Matt Christenson attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, payroll and accounts payable reports and 6-19 minutes:

After the pledge of allegiance Bert called the meeting to order.

Ron moved to approve the consent agenda and John seconded motion carried 3-0.

Jay Schmidt came forward to give updates for R&B, Solid Waste and Noxious Weed. He reported they have been patching on multiple black top areas throughout the county. Jay suggested to buy a 707 Niagara Falls chip spreader for $2818 plus freight. By consensus they agreed to purchase the chip spreader. Next, he informed them that the EMC insurance adjuster came out to look at the vehicle damages last week and will come back out next week to inspect the roofs and then give him an adjuster report on damages.

Break was called at 9:27 and regular session began at 9:30.

At 9:30 Bert opened the sealed bids for 33rd Chip Seal, 51st Sand Seal and Scrub Seal. The only bids received were from Heft & Sons. Bert read the bids aloud as below:
51st sand seal – $135,097.66.
33rd chip seal – $163,187.20
Rejuvenated Scrub Seal – $137,280.00
John moved to accept the bids from Heft & Sons and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Mike McBeath came with Kristi to talk about the Media Center taking over the maintenance on the county website. She explained due to changes and security updates she would like them to take over this maintenance for $75 a month. Mike explained what he would do and after some discussion John moved to contract with Media Center and Ron seconded, notion carried 3-0.

DJ McMurry came forward. Kristi explained at the last meeting the salary that was discussed for DJ was incorrect. She also included that since he was switched in 2014 from contract to county employee and there were some errors to his pay and that we owe him $925.64 for GIS and $1000 for Appraiser and that she will add this as a onetime income code to get this corrected. She explained the Resolution 2017-13 was figured with a salary of $26,000 and not the correct salary of $27,000.00. Bert suggested to increase his salary by $5000.00 making it $32,000.00 due to him not getting an increase for 8 years and that he is one of the lowest paid employees that doesn’t receive county benefits other than payroll taxes and KPERS. After some discussion Bert moved to dissolve resolution 2017-13 and adopt resolution 2017-14 making DJ salary at $32,000 and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Bob Wetmore from Great Plains Development came and gave updates. He presented a letter for membership dues. The County membership is $750 and this gives the cities a discount for projects that they need help with. After some discussion John moved to pay the due of $750 and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0.

DJ McMurry came back with 3 quotes on a new laptop for his office to be used when they go out in the field. After some discussion Ron moved to approve the purchase and John seconded, motion carried 3-0. For $1146.33 from Southern Computer Warehouse.

Matt Christenson came to report that 9 windows were broken out at the fair barn, shingled roofs all totaled, main roof on courthouse needs resurfaced, roof on commons and sheriff office waiting on the adjuster report. Siding on the sheet metal has numerous issues and will come back when he has the final adjuster report. Next, he also reported that the destructive testing has been done on the Commons building and they didn’t find anything wrong with the constructions during the inspection. And he will report back once he hears back from the architect. Last, he presented a payroll change C. Morford for his merit increase. John request a 10-minute executive session for non-elected personal to discuss employee relations at 10:50 and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Regular session began at 11:00. John moved to approve the payroll change and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Karen Butler came to inform them that she is considering a new cabinet and that will be over $1300. Per the purchase policy they asked her to get 3 quotes.

Krisi presented a payroll change for T Hoover(termination) for review. John moved to approve the payroll change and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Next she presented the updated policy 301 PTO and EIB Policy and 601 Family Medical Leave Act Policy and new policies 114 Background Checks Policy, 406 Voucher Policy, 515 Dress and Grooming Code Policy. After some reviewing the policies, John moved to approve the polices as presented and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

During Commissioner discussion, the clerk presented the payroll change for M Hesser (merit increase) for review. John expressed concern on the new percentages they approved for the yearly merit increases for the Pay Plan. After some discussion Ron moved to approve the payroll change and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0. Other topics discussed were the ongoing appeals case. John asked to add the prebudget review on the next meeting prior to the workshop on July 12th.

Meeting adjourned at 12:15.

Kiowa County Commissioners Meeting
Courthouse Lower Level Conference Room
June 19, 2017

Bert Lowery, Ron Freeman, John Unruh, Kristi Cooper, Scott James, Chay Howard, Mitzi Hesser, Jay Schmidt, Aaron Einsel, Tom Boman, Brad Boman and Chris Tedder attended the meeting.

Consent agenda included: Agenda, payroll and accounts payable reports, 6-5 and 6-8 minutes:

After the pledge of allegiance Bert called the meeting to order.

John moved to approve the consent agenda with corrections to the minutes and Ron seconded motion carried 3-0.

Bert adjourned the meeting and called the BOH meeting to order at 9:00. Mitzi gave updates which included; foot care, immunization conference, overtime, VaxCare software installed, nursing contract with the schools. Bert adjourned the BOH meeting and called the regular session back to order at 9:06. Mitzi presented contracts for school nursing for USD 422 and Valley View School. John moved to approve the contracts and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

Jay Schmidt came forward to give updates for R&B, Noxious Weed and Solid Waste. Jay reported there is damage to a couple vehicles. He will contact our insurance adjuster to come out to look at them and the building at R&B and landfill. Other updates were landfill road, sand sealing Haviland blacktop, track loader from landfill is in shop,

Aaron Einsel, Tom Boman and Bud Boman came to address their concerns on where John resides in Greensburg since he is Commissioner for the Haviland district. John informed them that he had checked with the KS Secretary of State(KSOS) about his residence and there were no concerns. Scott James added that he spoke with two attorneys at the KSOS office regarding this and he didn’t feel John was doing anything against the law since he has multiple residences.

Break at 9:48 and meeting began at 9:58.

Chris Tedder came to talk with about his 2018 budget request under the employee benefit line. Also, reported that 3 patrol cars have damage from the storm on Saturday.

Kristi Cooper presented 2017-13 for the appraiser appointment for 4 years. They discussed his salary and after some discussion John moved to approve an increase from $26,000 to $28,000 and Bert seconded, motion carried 3-0. Next, she presented payroll changes for A Brown (dept. change) and J Finch (new hire) for reviewal. After review Bert moved to approve the changes and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0. Additionally, she read the letter from the SWKAAA regarding the appointment for new members. After some discussion John suggested to appoint Joanne Hayse and Peggy Banta to this board. Clerk will check with SWKAA and see what is the proper way for the appointment.

Chris Tedder came back to present two payroll changes for J Parkin and M Tedder. He explained that he moved all jailers to $11.70 and that these two were missed. After review of the changes John moved to approve them and Ron seconded, motion carried 3-0.

No topics discussed during Commissioner Discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 10:45.