Minutes, April 14, 2008

ELLSWORTH COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING

MINUTES

APRIL 14, 2008

The Board of Ellsworth County Commissioners convened this 14^th day of April 2008 at the Ellsworth County Courthouse.

Members Present:

Albert W. Oller, 1^st District Commissioner

Kermit Rush, 2^nd District Commissioner

Terry L. Kueser, 3^rd District Commissioner

1. OPENING BUSINESS:

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

Commissioner Rush moved to approve the Agenda as printed. Commissioner Oller seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

Commissioner Kueser moved to approve the Minutes of April 7, 2008. Commissioner Rush seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

No one was present for the Public Forum.

2. APPOINTMENTS:

Becky Crowder, The Austin Peters Group, met with the Commissioners and presented her salary survey results. Also, attending were Nancy Hysong and Sheriff Ploutz. Mrs. Crowder reported the survey showed the county was definitely behind 1 ½% in their ranges and some individual positions were significantly lower. She suggested some changes that could be made in the 2009 budget year and suggested more increases could be phased in during the next couple of years. The Commissioners asked that she gather additional information as to the total implementation cost and get back with within the next two weeks.

Stacie Minson, Watershed Specialist with K-State Research & Extension, Pam Hays and Brad Kratzer, Soil Conservation District and Teresa Shut, Noxious Weed-Landfill Supervisor met with the Commissioners on several items. Mrs. Minion and co-worker James Leakier discussed water quality from the Smoky Hill River Basin after the recent rains and the new testing methods they are using to get their results. Also, Mrs. Minion has a grant to be used to collect old tires and has selected Ellsworth as one of the site for funding. It was decided the county would set April 26^th through May 3^rd for free dumping of old tires. Businesses would not be eligible and tires with rims are not acceptable. The grant money will pay for the tires to be picked up and processed.

Per the Commissioners' request, Teresa Shut, Noxious Weed-Landfill Supervisor presented the Commissioners with an updated bid from TRIB Construction for a 54' x 72' metal building. Commissioner Kueser moved to accept the bid from TRIB Construction for a metal building in the amount of $48,397. Commissioner Rush seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. In the meantime, Mrs. Shute will clean out the small shed where the new building will be located and place an ad for selling the shed.

Michelle Maze, EMS Director, has had several inquires about the open Paramedic position, but the five hour deduction for sleep time is a problem. Mrs. Maze presented a new schedule whereby each full-time would have two 24-hour shifts each week and she would use part-time employees during the weekend with full-time staff. The purpose of this rescheduling would be to do away with the 5-hour non-paid sleep time. The Commissioners will take the recommendation under consideration. Mrs. Maze reported there had been a glitch in some billing with Medicare with some claims not being submitted and the time frame for filing the reports has expired. Therefore, the county will take an approximate loss of $7,000 on those claims. New policies and procedures have been established to keep this situation from occurring again.

Sheriff Tracy Ploutz reported he had applied for a grant to replace vests for the deputies. The grant will pay 50% of the cost of the vests. Also, he has applied for funding to replace the lifescan fingerprint machine. Legislation passed now requires palm prints to be taken and the present machines cannot be retrofitted, so they will have to have a new machine. The grant will not pay for the total cost of replacement and the additional amount will have to come from the Sheriff's budget.

 

3. OLD BUSINESS:

Commissioner Rush will check with ECMC Board Member, Deb Hyman, to see if she is interested in a seconded term on the ECMC Board of Directors.

4. NEW BUSINESS:

Commissioner Rush moved to approve 2007 State Assessed Abatements 164-190 in the amount of $6,185.74. Commissioner Oller seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.

5. ADJOURNMENT:

Chairman Kueser adjourned the meeting at 12:10 p.m.

 

 

____________________________________________

Janet L. Andrews, Ellsworth County Clerk