BOARD OF McPHERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
JUNE 24, 2003
10:00 A.M.
REGULAR MEETING - COURTHOUSE
ALL PRESENT
Commissioner Schroeder made a
motion to approve the agenda as presented.
Commissioner Patrick seconded. All voted aye.
Mr. Witte presented a letter of
resignation from Leon Hobson, Public Works Director, effective July 30,
2003. Commissioner Schroeder made a
motion to accept Mr. Hobson’s resignation.
Commissioner Patrick seconded. All voted aye.
No one spoke during Public Input
Session at 10:08 a.m.
Fern Hess, Health Department
Director, joined the meeting at 10:10 a.m. to present the Health Department’s
2004 Budget request. The Department is
requesting a 17% increase over 2003 because of two program additions/changes. One is the Bio-Terrorism program, which
appears on the budget for the first time in 2004 and the second is a change at
the state level in the State’s guidelines for paying for vaccine supplied to
county health departments. The State
Immunization Department will no longer supply free vaccine to children who are
covered by insurance. This will affect
approximately 50% of the Health Department’s clientele. Children with no insurance will still get
free vaccinations but the Health Department will have to bill the insurance companies
of children covered by their family’s health insurance. The Health Department will have the up-front
cost of the vaccine and will probably have to hire an insurance billing clerk. Two other options are to 1) send clients to
their family physician or 2) require up front payment to the Health Department
and have families bill the insurance company themselves. Both of these options would put a financial
burden on the families and the second option would probably cause an excessive
caseload to Doctors’ offices already overflowing. No action was taken on the 2004 Budget request at this time.
Gerry Bley, Public Works Project
Engineer, joined the meeting at 10:40 a.m. to request signature on the contract
agreement with LMK Concrete Construction, Inc. for seven R.C Box bridges and
related road construction in the amount of $233,964 plus one additional culvert
for an additional $30,000, and with a 10% contingency. Commissioner Patrick made a motion to sign
the contract as presented. Commissioner
Schroeder seconded. All voted aye.
Richard Nelson, Public Works Road
& Bridge Supervisor, joined the meeting at 10:45 a.m. to present a proposed
natural gas contract with ONEOK Energy to purchase gas for the asphalt plant at
a fixed rate for one year, based on the current market price and past
usage. The other available option would
be to purchase gas on a month-to-month basis.
It was the consensus of the Commission to wait two months and check
market prices at that time.
Dick Beasley, Community
Corrections Assistant Director, joined the meeting at 10:55 a.m. with the
following agenda items:
A. Request to re-appoint Carol Hueske to the JJA Advisory
Board. The appointment would run from
July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2006. Commissioner
Schroeder made a motion to approve the appointment as requested. Commissioner Patrick seconded. All
voted aye.
B. Request to purchase a vehicle, copier and computers with
unexpended (fiscal) year-end funds and reimbursements. Mr. Beasley recommended the vehicle bid from
Lacy-Regehr of McPherson for a 2003 Dodge Intrepid (subject to availability)
for $11,795 with trade of the department’s 1998 Dodge Stratus. Commissioner Schroeder made a motion to
accept the bid from Lacy-Regehr for a 2003 Dodge Intrepid as recommended. Commissioner Patrick seconded. All
voted aye. Two bids were received
for a new copier. Mr. Beasley
recommended the bid from Sunflower Office Products for a Xerox Document Centre
425 copier for $3,690, with trade-in of a 2010 Minolta. Commissioner Patrick made a motion to
approve the purchase of the Xerox Document Centre 425 for $3,690 with trade as
recommended. Commissioner Schroeder
seconded. All voted aye. Mr. Beasley
presented bids from three vendors for the purchase of 8 computer workstations
for the McPherson and Harvey County offices, he requested they be allowed to
purchase the computers from Dell Computers at a cost of $1,288.60 each for a
total of $10,308.80. Commissioner
Patrick made a motion to approve the request to purchase 8 Dell Workstations at
$1,288.60 each. Commissioner Schroeder
seconded. All voted aye.
C. Presented a Personnel Change Notice (PCN) for a promotion for
James Novak, from ISO I (22/A State) to ISO II (23/B State), effective July 7,
2003. Commissioner Schroeder made a
motion to approve the PCN as presented.
Commissioner Patrick seconded. All
voted aye. Mr. Novak will be moved
from the Newton Community Corrections Office to the McPherson Community
Corrections Office.
There was lengthy discussion on
landfill special assessments and the Solid Waste Utilities’ request from last
week for a $200,000 increase. Mr. Bill
Ridge, General Manager and John Hawk, Operations Manager of the Utility were
both present for the discussion. Mr.
Ridge pointed out that the Utility is already increasing some of their fees but
still needs a $200,000 increase to cover expenses. Commissioner Patrick favored charging a gate fee, thus passing
the extra expense to those using the service.
After further discussion, Commissioner Schroeder made a motion to
approve a $10 increase to the current annual service fee for residential and
commercial users. Chairman Terry
seconded. Chairman Terry voted aye. Commissioner Schroeder voted aye. Commissioner
Patrick voted nay.
Commissioner Schroeder made a
motion to approve the minutes of June 17, 2003 as presented. Commissioner Patrick seconded. All
voted aye.
Commissioner Patrick made a
motion to approve the checks and claims and payroll. Commissioner Schroeder seconded.
All voted aye.
Commissioner Patrick made a
motion to approve the adds and abates and landfill register of June 20,
2003. Commissioner Schroeder
seconded. All voted aye.
As required by changes to the
SCKEDD Articles of Incorporation approved by the member counties recently, the
number of county appointed delegates has changed. McPherson County now needs to appoint two designated representatives
and two alternates. Mr. David O’Dell
and Commissioner Don Schroeder have agreed to serve as designated
representatives. Chairman Terry made a motion
to approve Mr. O’Dell and Commissioner Schroeder as designated representatives
to the SCKEDD Board. Commissioner
Patrick seconded. Commissioners Terry and Patrick voted aye. Commissioner
Schroeder abstained. Alternates to
the SCKEDD Board will be selected later.
Mr. Witte presented Contract
Amendment/Request #6 to the Multi-Community Diversified Services’ CDBG Grant
for an extension of completion date of four months, to August 31, 2003. Commissioner Patrick made a motion to have
the Chairman sign Contract Amendment/Request #6 as presented. Commissioner Schroeder seconded. All
voted aye.
At 12:25 p.m. Commissioner
Schroeder made a motion to adjourn.
Commissioner Patrick seconded. All voted aye.
Commission minutes taken by Irene
R. Goering.
Harris G. Terry, Chairman
Don L. Schroeder, Vice-Chairman
Duane J. Patrick, Commissioner
Attest:
Susan R. Meng, County Clerk