MINUTES MORTON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS JUNE 14, 2010 The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. with open doors. Present were Bob Boaldin, Chairman; Ron DeGarmo, Vice-Chairman, Teresa Harder, Commissioner; Eric Witcher, County Attorney; Wanda Davis, Deputy County Clerk. The agenda was approved. There were no minutes to be read. Bills were reviewed and approved for payment. The Commissioners signed the accounts payable register and payroll checks. Bob reported he had visited with Jennifer Sensley at the FSA office. There seems to be some issues with the FSA having access to keys. Bob went to talk to Shala LaRue at the Conservation office but she has not been at work. Teresa said she also had attempted to talk to Shala and has not been able to find a time when she is at work. Ron said he would talk to Randy Edelman and tell him of the Commissioners concerns. There also was a question about rent checks from the Conservation District. Bob checked with Vicki regarding these payments. She informed him USDA has paid their May rent and will now pay the County directly. They had given the March rent to the Conservation office. The Conservation District has given the County the March rent but we are still waiting for the April payment. There was a discussion about the weeds at this office. Bob had pulled weeds one morning and Teresa pulled some while waiting for Shala. Teresa had emailed Gwen about this. Bob said Gwen had called him and said the City does not like for the Weed Department to spray in town. The Commissioners will talk to Gwen later today about this. Ron had talked to the people doing the siding on the Conservation building. The siding has been put on horizontal and it was to be vertical. He will talk to them again later today. A discussion took place again about the weeds in front of the health department. Ron reported John Tucker still has not moved the sprinkler. The Commissioners requested Eric send a letter regarding this matter.
Bob has talked to Joe Hartman about wind energy. Joe indicated the Forest Service is entertaining the idea of letting windmills on the grasslands in designated area. The County will need to talk to other counties about permits, zoning, etc. Ron said at a KLPG meeting there was a report that Ford County had zoning for this. Ron had had a conversation with Wade Wisdom about 2 wrecks that have happened south of Rolla on County 24 and State Line. The Commissioners will talk to Charley later today about signs, light, etc. Teresa made a motion to give County employees July 5 th as the July 4 th holiday. Second was made by Ron. At 10:00 a.m. the Commissioners met with a delegation from the hospital. Those present were Leonard Hernandez, CEO; Jeff Weaver, CFO; Kenny Mitchell and Jack Higgins, board members. Steve Rice, auditor, was also present. Leonard began the meeting with a presentation of how Morton County Health Systems impacts the local economy. He gave each Commissioner a sheet with numbers of past and present performance. Jeff reviewed the financials with a profit & loss statement for the month of May and also the year to date. The Hospital Board has been working to reduce expenses and presented the Commissioners their list, some of which are already in place. Physician recruitment is still a priority but it has not been an easy job. The employee retention program is no longer used and will not be coming back. There were no salary increases for 2010. The continuous upgrades and expansion in all facilities has been costly. They are expecting a drop in revenue as three doctors will be out of town for the rest of June and that will mean fewer admissions. With the drop in revenue and the economic situation in general, the Board was requesting $500,000 from the County to get them by until the end of the year. After a lengthy discussion, the Commissioners told the Board they understand their concerns but will need to talk to Steve Rice to see if that kind of money is available. The meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm for lunch in the meeting room with the present. The meeting resumed at 1:00 p.m.
The Commissioners had a short meeting with Steve Rice. He said he would review the numbers and have better information for them at their next meeting. The Commissioners thanked Steve for his time with this. Charley McKinley came to the meeting and presented his May road department report. Charley reported the sealing started today and should be finished next week. There will be approximately 20 miles sealed. Charley has put more and newer signs on the State Line/County Road 24 curve. There are more ordered that have not come in. Ron also mentioned the signs on the Big Bow curve need to be replaced. Bob had received a call from Gary Thompson, son of the late Roscoe Thompson. The family had a bush hog and a tractor they wanted to donate to the County to be used at the airport. Bob and Charley had gone with Gary to the shed to check out this equipment. This equipment is like new and will be a great addition to the airport. The streets in Richfield were sprayed last week by Dave McKinley. Gwen came to the meeting to say she has been busy. She is short-handed at this time as Frank is in Oklahoma City with his wife. Deb Davis had emergency surgery last week. Due to being short-handed and lack of cooperation of the weather she is covered up. They have sprayed 96 miles in three days. Musk thistle is a big problem on the State line. They have re-treated around the lights at the airport. Ron mentioned the lot between the Senior Citizens building and the old drug store in Rolla needs to be sprayed. Gwen said she would do that as soon as she had a calm day. Gwen said there is water leaking in to the new office area. She has a call in to Clink s Plumbing to check this out. Leslie Herron started as the new employee last Wednesday and is working out well. Tom Fuhrman and Terry Lawhon came to the meeting to discuss the contract renewal for appraiser services. The contract will renew automatically and there will be no changes. Terry mentioned that this is the 24 th year for their services and they appreciate the support they have received from Morton County. Tom said it is still too early for any projection about the County s valuation. Richard Rodriguez, Elkhart Mayor, stopped by the meeting. Since Johnny Boaldin has moved to town his position on the cemetery board is now open. Richard was asking the
Commissioners to consider replacing this position. The Commissioners told Mr. Rodriguez they would do that soon. Kevin brought the final revised plan for the new building. He had talked to Tony McBride and Tony does not have time to do a spec sheet. Ron said he would take it to Ashley Fiss in Hugoton and have her do it. As soon as that is done then Kevin can advertise for bids. Things are going well at the golf course. The Commissioners discussed the hospital s request again and decided to table this matter until the June 28 th meeting. Wanda will call Shana and cancel the meeting the hospital had scheduled for June 28 th. Justin and Shelby came to give a report of that office. The repeater is out again but G & G is coming to fix it. The office is running smoothly. Two people are on vacation. There are eight people in jail at this time. The City of Rolla has been advertising for a city officer. Justin had talked to the mayor and councilmen about county deputies helping out. He told them they would need to provide a vehicle, a uniform, a duty weapon and anything as needed. The deputy would work on days off. The city was receptive to this idea, but no decision has been made. Justin stated there had been a misunderstanding regarding the cameras and the prices. The cameras will now be replaced one at a time and there will be no audio. Eric left the meeting for a court date in Liberal. Tony Hoyt came to the meeting and gave a report on the EMT class that just finished. Thirteen students tested and passed their practical boards. One person was not ready to test and another had her baby on the day of the test. Now they will take the written part. It is a computer based test. Tony said the department has two ventilators that are being sent in for preventative maintenance. The EMS department will be having their summer picnic on Thursday evening and the Commissioners are invited to attend. It will be at 7:00 pm at the swimming pool park unless weather changes the plans. One of the ambulances, 2Mt5, has a bad oil leak and is in the shop at Ford. Teresa had several questions but will wait until Deb is at the next meeting. Teresa had talked to Don Button of the SW Ks Regional Emergency Planning Committee. He mentioned that Tim Hardy has been the representative for Morton
County for five years and has only attended one meeting. She said she will talk to Tim to see if there is a problem. Vienna reported she is having problems with glare from the window when doing passport pictures. She presented a bill from Mike Gomez from PDQ. He does window tinting. The bid was $454.80. Ron made a motion, seconded by Teresa, to have this service done in an effort to reduce glare from the windows and also reduce the excessive heat coming into the office from the windows. PREDCI has once again asked Vienna and Morton County to host their July meeting. The meeting will be July 14 th with prime rib being served and an afternoon of free golfing. Ron made the motion to do this. Teresa seconded. Dr. Alex Neira had talked to Vienna about his rent. Due to the loss of some of his equipment and the damage to his space, he was asking if his rent could be lowered to $100.00. He had been thinking he might have to close his clinic. After discussion, Ron made a motion, seconded by Teresa, to lower his rent to $100 until the end of the year. Vienna also told the Commissioners that Rachel Lebeda pays $100 per month in rent but she is five months behind. The Commissioners told her to tell Rachel to get this amount caught up. Charley Tucker reported that the dead landscape plants had been replaced. There are now two dumpsters behind the civic center. He also said there seems to be a sink hole by the light post in the back parking lot. Ron will call Charley McKinley to have him look at this. The new flag pole came in but it is the wrong color. The correct pole should be in this week. The golf course grounds crew has done the mowing. The high school reunion and the theater group performance went very well. The sound system has some issues but Charley thinks he can fix them. The caterers for both the reunion and the Grassland Heritage Festival were very appreciative of the kitchen facilities. The sneeze guard on one of the steam tables needs some adjustment. Charley has called TREX and they will be sending the correct parts to fix the guard. Charley brought in prices from two places for window shades for the west windows. After some discussion, Teresa made the motion to buy shades from Lowe s and have them cut to fit. Ron seconded this motion.
The only scheduled events for the rest of the month are the zumba classes during the week. They are also scheduled through July. Eric Witcher has reserved some space on June 21 st for a Meet the Candidates. Charley will discuss charges at a later time. Charley discussed the upcoming fair. He said no campers would be allowed on the civic center parking lot. American Implement and Scott Power will have implements on the grass in front of the civic center. The fair board will be putting their inflatables on the ground behind the civic center. There will be no Country Showdown this year as they have changed the date at the state level. Charley told the Commissioners the fair board room is full of tables but when the board needs that room he will have the tables moved out. At the next meeting the Commissioners will discuss reappointments to SW Kansas Area Agency on Aging. Laura Bookstore and Cassie Coen came to the meeting to discuss the fair. They need to make room for more vendors. They were asking if it would be OK to have campers and 5 th wheels park behind the pens in order to free up more parking for cars. They also want to keep all food vendors on the fairgrounds. Laura has contacted Tri-County Electric about the possibility of putting up a pole behind the pens to accommodate the campers. She has not heard back from them. The Commissioners were in agreement with everything presented to them. They said they would help in whatever way possible to make the fair successful. July meetings will be July 12 th and July 26 th. At 3:50 pm Bob made the motion to adjourn. Teresa seconded.