The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a

Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for April 17, 2008

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

9:05 Patricia Vice, Executive Director, and the Board of Directors of the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation to discuss funding

9:30 Public Health Director Tonda Scott to present for signature limited amendment #1 for the Traumatic Brain Injury contract

The Board will interview the following individuals for the part time position at the county landfill:

10:00 Penni Malody

10:20 Nanette Peeters

10:40 Marilyn Gillis

11:00 Jennifer Head

1:00 Patricia Patton

1:30 Rob Duncklee will be interviewed for the full time position at the county landfill

1. Approve the minutes from the April 7^th meeting

2. Review the March reports from the Assessor, County Clerk and Veterans Service Officer and the report of revenues and expenditures for County General

3. Review and sign a proposal from Plains Heating and Air Conditioning for work on the HVAC systems at the courthouse and the Sheriff’s Office

4. Review information received from the Town of Genoa concerning issues raised after an inspection of the town’s water system and the corrective actions taken

5. Review a copy of a letter from Toni Crismon to Hugo Mayor Patsie Smith concerning the cat nuisance situation at the Bee Hive

6. Review a letter from the Colorado Department of Revenue concerning the designation of an individual to receive monthly confidential sales tax distribution information for Lincoln County

7. Review notice of a Community Development Block Grant loan approval for Mullen Guitar Co., Inc.

8. Review a proposal from Matt Powell to provide basic end-user troubleshooting services for PC systems for county offices

9. County Commissioners’ reports

10. County Administrator’s report

11. County Attorney’s report

12. Old business

a. Review a letter to an individual in south Limon concerning construction of a fence across property deeded to Lincoln County for use as a street

13. New business

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on April 17, 2008. The following attended: Chairman Ted Lyons, Commissioners Steve Burgess and Gary Beedy (from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. and returning again at 11:30 a.m.), County Administrator Roxie Devers and Clerk to the Board Corinne M. Lengel. County Attorney Stan Kimble attended from 11:30 a.m. until noon, and Helena White with The Limon Leader and Eastern Colorado Plainsman was present for a short interval.

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Patricia Vice, Executive Director of the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation, met with the Board to discuss funding. Several other Lincoln County Economic Development board members were also in attendance, including President Jim Herron, Secretary/Treasurer Joe Kiely and board member Tim Daum. Carl Stogsdill also attended, as well as Social Services Director Colette Barksdale.

Ms. Vice explained that in the past the organization was in the start-up phase, but they are now established and have progressed to where they will soon be recognized as a source to come to for development. They will obtain an outside facilitator this year, as well as better define their goals and strategic plan for the next five-to-ten years. She gave a summary of projects specifically connected to LCEDC, adding that the contacts and networks that she has helped to set up are extremely important in this year of transition. Large corporations rarely contribute to economic development, and Ms. Vice felt that a stronger presence from the county would show other businesses that do contribute to them how important the organization is to the county. They would like a commitment of $20,000.00 from the county this year, as well as a three-year commitment of $15,000.00 each year, since funding for day-to-day operations seem to be what they lack the most. Ms. Vice commented that she was dedicated to the program and the job, and wanted to let the commissioners know that she was honored to have been chosen by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to attend the 2008 Executive Energy Leadership Program.

Mr. Lyons asked if passing a lodging tax in Lincoln County would have any bearing on economic development, and Joe Kiely spoke up, saying that the funding from any lodging tax could only be used for tourism activities. He explained that sometimes chambers may be supportive of economic development, but other times they are concerned with bringing in new businesses because of the effect they may have on the local businesses already in operation. He believes that a Chamber of Commerce and an Economic Development Corporation really need to be two separate entities, and emphasized that there is approximately a month-and-a-half window left to decide whether or not the organization remains active or they choose to discontinue it. According to Mr. Kiely, trying to run LCEDC through volunteers, or even on a part-time basis, is not a feasible option. He went on to say that if the county would consider increasing their contribution amount back to $20,000.00, he would ask the Town of Limon to increase theirs to $10,000.00. He felt that there are a lot of pieces coming together at this time, which is why it is so frustrating to end up in such a critical need for financial assistance.

Jim Herron echoed the same feelings as Mr. Kiely; adding that one of the key components of economic development is making contacts and having those individuals and organizations feel comfortable with the person they are negotiating with. He continued by saying that they would have to lay Ms. Vice off if they did not come up with more funding, commending her for doing such an excellent job and being passionate about the county. Mr. Herron added that he would speak to the board at Mountain View Electric Association and ask that they increase their $2,500.00 contribution amount to $5,000.00.

Carl Stogsdill said that LCEDC has done wonders for the town of Karval, adding that if it hadn’t been for Ms. Vice, none of it probably would have happened, and even suggested that the Karval Community Alliance may be able to donate some money to the cause.

Past Economic Development Corporation President Tim Daum addressed the Board with the recommendation that LCEDC be kept operational, if at all possible. His feeling was that opportunities will be coming soon, and if Lincoln County is unable to cash in on them, they will be lost to Fort Morgan and Burlington, which will be most detrimental to Lincoln County, particularly the schools.

Ms. Barksdale also spoke up with a view from the aspect of the Social Services department: good economic growth and good jobs with benefits would also mean a decline in DSS enrollment. Thus, she was definitely a supporter of economic development.

When asked his opinion, Mr. Beedy commented that he helped to spearhead the organization, and his feeling was that it would be damaging to the county to lose all of the contacts and everything else they had worked so hard for when they are just now starting to see the benefits.

Mr. Burgess remarked that since the Coleman packing plant will close late this spring, Lincoln County will lose a huge employer, and his biggest concern was what may happen to the rest of the county. He felt that the county might be able to increase their contribution a little bit, but could see no way to commit to the full amount.

Mr. Lyons agreed with Mr. Burgess, but added that his opinion was that they could not afford to lose the Economic Development Corporation, for fear of more areas in the county becoming like Boyero. He asked if the loss came from all other businesses and entities cutting back their contributions, but Mr. Herron told him that it was more because they had cash reserves in the beginning, but they have spent them down. Mr. Lyons said that was exactly what they were seeing in the county, and pretty much everywhere else.

Ms. Vice discussed the importance of marketing, and how expensive it is, and Mr. Kiely put in that when things get bad, it is usually the advertising that is cut first, which is the worst thing an organization can do. The only way to grow tax revenues is to increase assessed valuation, and new businesses would do that. He mentioned that if an entity were to contribute $10,000.00, and even one business locates in the county, they would make that money back.

Ms. Devers asked Ms. Vice how aggressive she had been trying to recruit new members for funding, and Ms. Vice explained that she felt she had been very aggressive, naming the numerous businesses she had contacted and what their guidelines were for giving contributions to various organizations. Most of the larger companies, such as Florida Light and Power, TA and Cargill, either don’t have community programs or are not locally owned. She added that most grants don’t allow for administrative costs to be taken from the funding, or if they do, it is a very small percentage.

Mr. Lyons felt the discussion should be tabled until the next meeting, and the members of the LCEDC thanked the board for taking the time to listen.

Once they had gone, Ms. Barksdale informed the Board that the Fatality Review on the Weaver case had come out, and distributed a packet of information, she said none of which was confidential. She added that there are corrective measures that need to be taken within forty-five days, but she had learned that Tanya Lindley was leaving employment with Cheyenne County, and they were the ones who had consented to supervise the case. Ms. Barksdale contacted her and asked if she would consider keeping the case as a temporary employee of Lincoln County; otherwise, the case would have to come back to Lincoln County. Ms. Lindley said she would think about it.

Ms. Barksdale also informed the Board that she was told that the new TA truck stop is already cutting employee hours. It was discussed that TANF funds could possibly be used to contribute to economic development for a year or two, since they are designated for employment, anyway. Ms. Barksdale felt they could easily give about $5,000.00 and told the Board that she has approximately $60,000.00 in reserve at this time. Those funds have to be spent down or they will lose them.

Since Public Health Director Tonda Scott could not make her scheduled meeting with the Board at 9:30 a.m., the Board approved the minutes from the meeting held on April 7, 2008, as submitted, and then conducted interviews with the following applicants for the part-time position at the landfill: Penni Malody; Nanette Peeters; Marilyn Gillis and Jennifer Head. Landfill Manager Mick Jaques was also present.

Between interviews, the March reports from the Assessor, Clerk and Veterans Service Officer were reviewed, as well as the March revenue and expenditure report from the County General fund. Also reviewed were a copy of a letter from Toni Crismon to Hugo Mayor Patsie Smith concerning the cat nuisance situation at the Bee Hive, and information received from the Town of Genoa concerning issues raised after an inspection of the town’s water system and the corrective actions taken.

After reviewing a letter from the Colorado Department of Revenue concerning the designation of an individual to receive monthly confidential sales tax distribution information for Lincoln County, Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the letter designating County Administrator Roxie Devers as that individual. Mr. Lyons seconded the motion, which carried.

Notice of a Community Development Block Grant loan approval for Mullen Guitar Co., Inc. was reviewed with no action needed or taken, and then County Treasurer Jim Covington met briefly with the Board to discuss a letter he’d received from the Front Range District Board of Grazing Advisors regarding the Taylor Grazing Act. The purpose of that board is to review and approve range improvement projects on BLM lands within a twenty-three county district along the Front Range. Funding for those projects comes from the Taylor Grazing Act; a percentage of which is returned to the counties where the grazing took place. The letter explained that there are two ways for counties to deal with the money they receive; to set it aside in a separate account to be used when a project is approved by the board or; to deposit the money into the Front Range District Board of Grazing Advisors account in Canon City. Mr. Covington admitted he hadn’t known the money was to be put aside into a separate account, and asked what the Board wanted him to do. The average collected per year is approximately $230.00, so the decision was made to set up an account and go forward from this time.

Mr. Burgess asked Mr. Covington if he thought it was necessary that the landfill employees bring their receipts down to Hugo every day, since the price of fuel is so high. Mr. Covington said that twice a week would be sufficient, as long as they were sure to get them in at the end of the month.

After Mr. Covington left, the Board reviewed the contract with Plains Heating and Air Conditioning for work on the HVAC systems at the courthouse ($12,326.00) and Sheriff’s office ($8,192.00). Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the contract, Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, and it carried.

Sheriff Tom Nestor stopped by to serve the Clerk to the Board with a copy of the Summons and Complaint and Answer form in the Wayne E. Ewing and Linda S. Ewing vs. Tiara Bard and the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Lincoln case.

Mr. Kimble explained that Ewings’ attorney, Stephen Monks, was claiming negligent construction and maintenance of a county road in the death of their son, and that the first step would be to send the paperwork to the county’s insurance carrier, CTSI.. If coverage is provided, they may grant an extension to the twenty day response period.

Mr. Lyons asked for the County Attorney’s report, and Mr. Kimble said that he’d sent a letter to the Cunningham Group to request repayment of the employee’s retirement overpayment that Ms. Devers discussed at the previous meeting. He also briefly went over the information they had received earlier from Ms. Barksdale.

Mr. Kimble was asked to review the Court Security Grant award contract, which he did, and when Mr. Kimble could find no problems with it, Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the contract. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed the March RSVP and Fair reports, and then further discussion was held on the Ewing case. Mr. Kimble advised that no discussions be held regarding the matter outside of a regular commissioner meeting, unless the county’s council was present. He added that they would most likely try to dismiss the county’s portion of the case as soon as possible through the filing of a Summary Judgment, and if CTSI agreed that the county had coverage, the rest of it would be handled through their attorneys.

Mr. Kimble commented that Ms. Devers had done a good job with her subpoena in the Perez case, and a brief discussion was held regarding the recent articles in the newspaper regarding the case and District Attorney Carol Chambers.

Mr. Burgess said he had spoken with Mr. Kimble earlier in the week regarding selling gravel to Asphalt Specialties, but Mr. Kimble told him the county could not do so unless the sale had a county purpose. Mr. Burgess said he had made a “trade” agreement with them and let them have some gravel.

Land Use Administrator Ken Morrison had prepared a letter to Floyd Woods regarding putting a fence across property deeded to Lincoln County for use as a street, and Mr. Kimble gave his approval of the letter. Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the letter prepared by Ken Morrison. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

At 1:00 p.m., the Board interviewed Patricia Patton for the part-time position at the landfill, and then at 1:30 p.m., Rob Duncklee was interviewed for the full time position. Shortly thereafter, Allen Chubbuck was interviewed for the same position.

Since there was some time before the next applicant’s interview, the Board reviewed a proposal from Matt Powell to provide basic end-user troubleshooting services for PC systems for county offices. Mr. Burgess asked what type of service they were talking about, and Ms. Lengel responded that she has wasted numerous hours with technical support questions regarding the various systems in her office. She added that most of the time the staff can determine what the problem is, and she certainly didn’t expect to call the gentleman for minor issues, but there were times when someone with greater computer knowledge was needed. Ms. Devers said she would show the proposal to other department heads in the building and see what they thought. Mr. Burgess commented that he did not like the idea that Mr. Powell was asking for the standard IRS rate for mileage reimbursement, and Ms. Lengel said they could certainly tell him that the county’s policy was for thirty cents per mile and see if he would reconsider. She added that they could always choose not to contract with him if he wouldn’t change his mind.

The decision was made to offer Nanette Peeters the part-time position at the landfill if she would accept it.

Mr. Lyons called for commissioner reports and Mr. Burgess reported that he stopped by the landfill after the last commissioner meeting on April 7, and then spoke with LeRoy Johnson on April 8 and agreed to move some concrete for him. He also repeated that he’d talked to Gary Stillmunkes with Asphalt Specialties regarding the county giving him gravel, and that he had received a complaint from Wayne Brown regarding dirt blowing from Linnebur’s onto his property. Mr. Burgess told him he would need to come to the commissioner meeting to make a formal complaint, but Mr. Brown said that for now he just wanted it on record in the minutes. On April 10, Mr. Burgess was scheduled to attend the Centennial Mental Health meeting, but it was cancelled due to the snowstorm. On the Fourteenth, he stopped by Carla’s Cluster Care to observe RSVP in action, and felt it was very nice and that they did a good job. On the Sixteenth, he helped Roger Noakes move concrete for LeRoy Johnson.

Mr. Beedy reported that he participated in a conference call on April 8 to set up the agenda for Community-based Wind Energy Development in Colorado workshops, and on the Tenth he participated in the CHP board meeting by phone. He attended the STAC meeting and CCI on April 11, adding that the transportation budget is looking pretty grim. There was talk that a two hundred and fifty million dollar reduction in funding may be possible, leaving no money for bridge replacement and road repairs. He added that at CCI they discussed keeping an eye on the Republican River water issues, and the public health re-organization was also discussed. Mr. Beedy also informed the other board members that the joint Northeast Region commissioner and Social Services meeting would be held on June 23, from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., in Akron.

Mr. Lyons reported that he’d been approached by a citizen concerned about the commissioners pushing the lodging tax. Mr. Lyons explained that they were certainly not pushing it, but that they had simply allowed Tim Anderson to discuss it during one of the recent board meetings, since the Board of County Commissioners are the ones who have to certify that it be placed on the November ballot. On April 15, Mr. Lyons attended the Southeast Colorado Recycling meeting and reported that the new compactor and bailer are now operational. The last thing Mr. Lyons had to report was that he spoke with Shawn Smith, who told him that he cannot find anyone with a window the size and shape of the one above the courthouse entrance. He is also still trying to obtain prices for the doors. Mr. Burgess said it looked like they would have to stucco where the window was.

Ms. Devers reported that there will be a check presentation for the loan and grant received from USDA Rural Development at the hospital at noon on Tuesday, April 22, and that the Board’s presence is requested. Also, Ken Morrison looked, and there were no records found in regard to administrative costs for the Calvert case.

Since Emil Lazich did not pick up the 1972 Chevy pick-up or the 1986 Ford pick-up, the vehicles went to the next highest bidders. Those were Hostetler Ranches for $377.00 on the 1972 Chevy, and Dick Lyons for the 1986 Ford for $210.00.

Ms. Devers said she’d had a call from Bill Noyce with Pershing/Walnut Street Securities, and he would like to move the funds from the Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund to Blackrock Global Allocation and from Dodge & Cox Stock Fund to American Funds Fundamental Investments. Their performance is not meeting the criteria the county has set. The Board agreed to allow Mr. Noyce to make the necessary adjustments.

The biggest issue at the Retac meeting on April 15, Ms. Devers reported, was the budget. The end result was that Kim Schallenberger received a three percent raise, which will take him from $46,000.00 annually to $47,380.00. That, along with an increase of $1,500.00 to Cheyenne County for administration will cause each county in the Retac to be responsible for a contribution of $1,500.00 for capital expenditures—which has been done for several years—plus an additional $3,000.00. Mr. Beedy stated that he felt they needed to set up a meeting and re-address the entire subject, as it was his understanding that there had been several problems with Mr. Schallenberger in the past. Ms. Devers admitted that she had been the only dissenting vote at the meeting, and Mr. Lyons also agreed that a meeting involving all entities should take place.

Ms. Devers said she intended to update the Board on courthouse janitor Nova Waite’s medical condition and upcoming surgery, but she had not yet learned anything new. She also presented the Board with several old photographs which Jim Lundy had given to her. The Board discussed finding a place to put them in the courthouse.

Discussion was held regarding what to do with the old patrol car that Social Services had turned back in, and then Ms. Devers informed the Board that the bumper on the county van would need to be fixed, as the last person to drive it had brushed a curb and pulled it loose. She added that Chris Monks could fix it.

The Board then interviewed Robin Tibbetts for the full time position at the landfill, but once the interview was over, Mick Jaques commented that Bob Eberle was interested in returning to his old position because, apparently, his new job wasn’t what he’d expected. After some discussion, Mr. Burgess said that Bob was an excellent employee and if he wanted to return, they would hire him back. It was agreed that he could return at the same rate of pay, but that he would have to wait the thirty days probationary period to be put back on the health insurance, and his anniversary date would change. In the event that Mr. Eberle does not want to return, Allen Chubbuck will be hired.

Mr. Burgess told Mick that he’d spoken with Jim Covington about bringing the receipts down to the Treasurer’s office less frequently, unless someone had a reason to come to Hugo anyway.

As for old business, Mr. Burgess said that he’d received a call from Kevin Rogers with the Genoa Motor Sports project and he still seems to think they will make it work. He also reminded the board that at one time they had discussed sharing expenses for the Regional Health Planner position, and wondered if they needed to look into it again.

Mr. Burgess spoke with Travis Nall about the windows he’d been replacing in the courthouse, and he has one left to put in at the Assessor’s office. Mr. Burgess wanted to know if the others agreed that they should continue trying to replace more as Travis’s time allowed, or if they just wanted to quit where they were. Mr. Lyons felt they should buy at least five more and the Board discussed which windows were the most vitally in need of replacement. They decided that the one in the Clerk’s office, one in the Administrator/Land Use office, at least two or three more in the Social Services department, and possibly one in the Treasurer’s office, were the worst. Mr. Burgess said that one of the employees had told him they felt the new windows were helping, and Mr. Lyons put in that he still felt that the county may be able to get its own wind generator.

Mr. Burgess asked if anyone was going to summer conference in Vail, and Mr. Beedy commented that they had only budgeted for one attendee, but that he would like to go. Mr. Burgess won the coin toss.

When asked about new business, Mr. Burgess said that he’d written to Colorado State University at Pueblo regarding engineering students there evaluating energy alternatives for the courthouse, and had received a response. After reading the letter and discussing solar panels on the roof, Mr. Burgess asked if the others had a problem with him doing further research, which they did not.

Ms. Lengel informed the Board that as part of the Secretary of State’s conditions for use of the Hart InterCivic electronic voting equipment, a Trusted Build would be installed into each piece of equipment that the county owns. The Trusted Build involves completely wiping each component clean and then reinstalling new components in order to comply with the requirements of the Secretary to allow use of the equipment in the upcoming elections. Ms. Lengel had learned that the vendor would be charging each county to attend the project with the Secretary of State’s office representatives, as not doing so would void the warranties on the equipment. Although there had been no definite fee set yet, she had heard at her two-day conference in Burlington earlier in the week that it would possibly be $2,000.00 per day for each Hart representative. She added that the county clerks were attempting to get the Secretary of State’s office to use federal HAVA funds to pay the fees, but at this time the SOS had not made any decisions. Ms. Lengel said she simply wanted the Board to be aware of what was going on, and Mr. Burgess commented that he didn’t feel like there was really a choice in the matter.

The Board reviewed three Notices of Purchase of Mineral Rights at Tax Lien Sale and of Application for Issuance of Treasurer’s Deeds issued to Lincoln County for mineral rights owned by Jack Wells Clarke and then, with no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on April 29, 2008.

_________________________________________ _______________________________

Corinne M. Lengel, Clerk to the Board Ted Lyons, Chairman