March 28, 2005

ELLSWORTH COUNTY COMMISSION MEEETING

MINUTES

MARCH 28, 2005

The Board of Ellsworth County Commissioners convened this 28^th day of March 2005 at the Ellsworth County Courthouse.

Members Present:

Lavel Heitschmidt, 1^st District Commissioner

Kermit Rush, 2^nd District Commissioner

Terry L. Kueser, 3^rd District Commissioner

1. OPENING BUSINESS:

Chairman Rush called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

Commissioner Kueser moved to approve the Agenda with changes.

Commissioner Heitschmidt seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

Commissioner Kueser moved to approve the Minutes of March 21, 2005 as presented.

Commissioner Heitschmidt seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

Al Oller from Holyrood was present for the Public Forum but had no issue at that particular time. He wanted to be there for the Ellsworth County Council on Aging appointment later in the morning.

2. APPOINTMENTS:

Kevin Ludlum & Gaye Woods, EMS Co-Directors, reported personnel had attended a grant workshop and were interested in writing a grant for a Land Pride Treker. The Treker is a custom built vehicle built in Lorraine, KS designed for emergency care in remote locations. The approximate cost of the Treker and a trailer would be $23,000 but the cost to the county, if the grant were awarded, would be only $1,300. The Commissioners urged them to continue with the grant application.

Rick Nondorf, Road & Bridge Supervisor, presented the State’s Five-Year Plan for their signature. The Plan is for replacement of bridges or roadwork with an 80/20 division of funding.

Commissioner Kueser moved to go into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel from 10:03 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. Commissioner Heitschmidt seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. County Clerk, Janet Andrews, was included in the executive session. The Commissioners returned to open session at 10:15 a.m.

Members of the ECCA Board, Jean Pflughoeft, President and Eleanor Hunter, Treasurer, and Laura Neuman, Coordinator, met with the Commissioners to discuss the Holyrood request and complaints on funding allocations. Mrs. Hunter explained that the money Holyrood has received in the past has gone only for the operation of the bus and the money was directed into the city’s funds and approximately $7,500 is in the fund at the present time. She was not able to get an accounting of the expenses, but since the bus was purchased with senior funds and it has not all been used for that purpose, the city should give those working with the meal program some of that money. After a lengthy discussion in which Mr. Oller was a participant, Mr. Oller was going to talk with the city and see if they formed a senior organization, they could take over the operation of the bus and handle all the funding for the bus and meal program.

Sheriff Ploutz had nothing to report.

Chairman Rush moved to go into executive to discuss with the County Attorney, Joe Shepack, to discuss the acquisition of real property from 11:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Commissioner Kueser seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. Commissioners returned to open session at 11:30 a.m. and Commissioner Kueser moved to continue the executive session to discuss the acquisition of real property with the County Attorney from 11:30 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. Commissioner Heitschmidt seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. The Commissioners returned to open session at 11:45 a.m.

Scott Moore, Ellsworth City Administrator, gave the Commissioners an update from the consultant hired to work on the prison expansion and asked that the County Clerk disseminate it to the other cities.

3. OLD BUSINESS:

There were no old business items on the Agenda.

4. NEW BUSINESS:

Commissioner Kueser moved to approve Abatement 53 in the amount of $70.86.

Commissioner Heitschmidt seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

5. ADJOURNMENT:

Chairman Rush adjourned the meeting at 12:15 p.m.

 

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Janet L. Andrews, Ellsworth County Clerk