The Board
of County Commissioners met in regular session with all members and the County
Clerk present.
Marty Long
made the motion to approve the minutes of the July 5, 2005 meeting and the
claims against the various funds of the county. Carl Higgs seconded the motion.
Following clarification of several vouchers, the motion passed unanimously.
Carl Higgs
made the motion to adopt Resolution 05-03 to reestablish the ability to levy an
annual tax not to exceed one (1) mill for a period of not to exceed ten (10)
years upon the taxable tangible property in the county for the purpose of
continuing the county’s building fund. Marty Long seconded the motion and it
passed unanimously. The building fund was established over 20 years ago and has
been used when new roofs are needed,
Faye Trent,
Great Plains Development, presented two loan applications for the Community
Development Block Grant Micro-Loan Program, that have to be approved by the
commissioners. Marty Long made the motion to approve the micro-loan for the
Fuel Barn in the amount of $16,000.00. Carl Higgs seconded the motion and it
passed unanimously. Marty Long also made the motion to approve the micro-loan
for Marsha’s New for You in the amount of $15,000.00. Carl Higgs seconded the
motion and it passed unanimously.
Henry
Helmke, Administrator for Southwest Kansas Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Foundation, Inc. (SKADAF), presented a report on the number of clients from
Grant County his organization has helped during the past year. He requested the
commissioners budget $3,000 for next year, which is the same amount as the past
two years. Carl Higgs made the motion to budget $3,000 for SKADAF for 2006.
Marty Long seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Lisa
LeNeve, Prepaid Legal Services, explained her program to the commissioners. She
also provided information on “Identity Theft Shield”. Ms. LeNeve explained the
costs for employee participation in the programs. She said the basic plan would
be $14.95/employee for the basic plan on prepaid legal services and
$9.95/employee for identity theft protection if purchased with the legal
services. The cost for identity theft by itself would be $12.95/employee. The
employee will pay the premium through payroll deduction with commissioner
approval. The commissioners said they would present the information to
department heads to determine if there is enough interest in the plans to
justify another payroll deduction.
Douglas
Campbell, Attorney, talked to the commissioner regarding the BP AMOCO tax
appeals. He said the mediation process is ready to begin. He also explained the
mediation would be much less expensive than proceeding to court, and he is
hopeful that mediation may bring the cases to an acceptable conclusion. One
commissioner will travel to Topeka for the process.
Marlyn
Redetske, Western State Bank, informed the commissioners that his bank has a
leasing program for all types of equipment except titled vehicles. He explained
that quasi-governmental units generally get a lower rate than individuals. Mr.
Traster explained that the county usually budgets and pays for equipment needs
without using lease/purchase plans in order to save taxpayers interest costs.
Gary Cheek,
contractor, talked to the commissioners about the old hotel project. The
decision was made to waive the fees at the transfer station for disposing of
the demolition material.
Brian
Burton, Nex-Tech, talked to the commissioners about the CAMA servers, and he
explained that they have the capability of managing the servers and pushing out
patches remotely. He presented cost estimates for this service. The
commissioners said they would talk to the appraiser about this before a
decision is made.
Frank
Goldsby, Public Works Administrator, Tom Kramer, Road Foreman, and John Duran,
Traffic Control Officer, met with the commissioners. Mike Olson, Engineer with
Kirkham Michael, also attended this portion of the meeting. Mr. Goldsby
requested approval to purchase a new copier for his department. Carl Higgs made
the motion to purchase a Minolta copier from SPC at a cost not to exceed
$4,452.80. Marty Long seconded the motion. Following discussion the motion
passed unanimously.
John Duran,
Traffic Control Officer, reported that it is up to the commissioners to approve
allowing Pioneer Natural Resources to put a warning light on county
right-of-way and maintaining the light. Carl Higgs made the motion to approve
allowing Pioneer Natural Resources to construct and maintain a warning light on
county right-of-way on the road to their plant. Marty Long seconded the motion
and it passed unanimously. Mr. Duran will draft a reduced speed resolution for
the same area.
Mike Olson,
Engineer, presented cost information on possible truck routes for traffic to
and from the proposed ethanol plant. Discussion was held regarding different
routes that might be used. Gene Pflughoht and Rod Kreie with Economic
Development attended this portion of the meeting. It was decided to use as many
existing black top roads as possible for now with improvements to be made at intersections.
Marty Long
made the motion to adjourn. Carl Higgs seconded the motion and it passed
unanimously.
Linda McHenry, County Clerk Madison
Traster, Chairman