Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for April 30, 2008

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

9:05 Public Health Director Tonda Scott to present for review and signature the Traumatic Brain Injury Limited Amendment #1 and the STEPP contract

10:00 Social Services Director Colette Barksdale to give her monthly report

11:30 Extension Agent Linda Yoder to give her monthly report

1:30 County Assessor Estelle Thaller to discuss painting and carpeting her office

1. Approve the minutes from the April 29^th meeting

2. Cancel County General check #8186 written on March 31, 2008 for $30 to Roger Jackson since it was not received

3. Review the 2007 Local Highway Finance report

4. Review a letter from Troy McCue with the town of Arriba concerning funding for the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation

5. Review sample ballot language for the proposed lodging tax referendum

6. County Commissioners’ reports

7. County Administrator’s report

8. County Attorney’s report

9. Old business

a. Additional funding for the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation

10. New business

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on April 30, 2008. The following attended: Chairman Ted Lyons, Commissioners Steve Burgess and Gary Beedy, County Administrator Roxie Devers and Clerk to the Board Corinne M. Lengel. County Attorney Stan Kimble was present in the afternoon and Kay Christie with The Limon Leader and Eastern Colorado Plainsman arrived at approximately 1:45 p.m.

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Public Health Director Tonda Scott met with the Board to present the Traumatic Brain Injury Limited Amendment #1 and the STEPP grant for signature. STEPP Coordinator Stacy Phythian was also present. The new amount on the STEPP contract through June 30, 2009, is $25,044.00, but Ms. Scott said they continue to decrease the funding and she is not sure what will happen next year. She added that there are a few issues in the work plan; one of which is that they must keep the board of commissioners informed of the progress of the program through monthly updates.

Mr. Lyons asked if they had many participants, especially in the younger residents, and Ms. Phythian said that she has had a few people interested in obtaining the Quit Line information. Ms. Scott explained that residents cannot actually come to the STEPP Coordinator for patches and things, but they give out as much information as they can.

Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the STEPP grant in the amount of $25,044.00 that runs through June 30, 2009. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed the Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, grant and Ms. Scott said they would not get any money from it unless an incident occurred. If so, the money would be reimbursed through the grant. Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the TBI grant for the period of July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Ms. Scott handed out copies of the Family Planning Survey and discussed the results, and then informed the Board that she intends to meet with Kindra Mulch and Liz Pautler to determine what exactly may be needed here in Lincoln County. Although she felt that she may be able to administer shots or give out oral contraceptives, they might have to have someone else come in on a monthly basis to be sure any procedures and guidelines were being followed properly. Ms. Scott said she would speak with Ms. Mulch and Ms. Pautler and then schedule another meeting with the Board at that time.

Ms. Scott said she was still enjoying the van that the commissioners had given her office, and Mr. Beedy wanted her to be sure they understood it is a county vehicle and can be used by any of the other departments when she or her staff aren’t using it. Mr. Burgess said he’d noticed that it would soon be needing tires and felt the money to pay for them should come out of the General Fund. Mr. Beedy added that fuel usage, on the other hand, would come out of each individual department’s budget.

Once Ms. Scott and Ms. Phythian had gone, Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on April 29, 2008, as submitted. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Beedy made a motion to cancel County General check #8186, written to Roger Jackson on March 31, 2008, in the amount of $30.00, since it was never received. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed 2008 Oil and Gas permits for the year, the 2007 Local Highway Finance report, and a letter from Troy McCue with the Town of Arriba concerning funding for the Lincoln County Economic Development Corporation. Also reviewed was sample ballot language for the proposed lodging tax referendum submitted by Tim Andersen. Ms. Devers said the verbiage was taken from the Prowers County ballot question placed on their ballot in 2005, and added that she’d faxed the information to the county attorney for his opinion.

Mr. Lyons called for commissioner reports and Mr. Beedy said he’d spoken with David Seymour this morning about a welder that Mr. Burgess had for sale.

Mr. Burgess reported he stopped by the landfill on his way home last night and Mick told him that Allen will start on Saturday. He also dropped some blank vouchers off to the coroner, and spoke with Kevin Rogers with the Genoa Motorsports group. Kevin told him that he had meetings both yesterday and today and would not be able to contact the Board as Mr. Burgess wanted him to. Earlier this morning, Mr. Burgess talked to Mike Mosher about the fencing project at the fairgrounds.

Mr. Lyons reported that he’d received a complaint regarding the county possibly giving additional money to Economic Development.

Ms. Devers had an appointment regarding a grant and Ms. Lengel needed to run her poll books for the Mock Election exercise at 10:00 a.m., so Ms. Barksdale said she would come back later if someone would call and tell her when.

At 11:15 a.m., Social Services Director Colette Barksdale met with the Board to give her monthly report. She said she had no financial reports to share, but that she would in May. The Fatherhood Initiative meeting was cancelled last month, but they have been working diligently with programs, including the model car project for the Hugo and Limon car shows, a swimming night at the municipal pools, and the Languages of Love project coordinated with Pastor Bill and Centennial Mental Health.

Since Rural Solutions had contributed $1,500.00 to the initiative last year, Ms. Barksdale wanted to know what the Board would prefer she did with the matching funds that were submitted but not actually required. She said she’d received a questionnaire asking whether or not the county wanted the money returned, or if it could be used in other programs. She added that the county match was TANF dollars, so asked if it would alright if they kept it. The Board agreed.

Ms. Barksdale discussed the State Fatality Review, stating that even though the results were published, the state never actually sent a letter to DSS activating the forty-five day period in which they have to take corrective measures. Mr. Burgess asked what those measures would be at the county level, and Ms. Barksdale said that they had gone through all of the points and bulletins in the review, but that she could not discuss measures taken with specific staff members. She added that some recommendations in the internal portion had been implemented immediately after the fatality, but that they still need to put together protocols with other counties and Centennial Mental Health. She did say that an Action Plan has been started on everything, and that she and Patricia Phillips are being stricter with staff members when it comes to addressing issues that need immediate attention. Ms. Barksdale said that a portion of those protocols would be to understand that the priority in any future cases was to admit the child and determine the factors, and then worry about who was responsible for paying for it later on.

Ms. Barksdale informed the Board that HB08-1404 was introduced, which was a bill to allow the state to access employee personnel records, although she felt it may end up they could only do so if they were not violating any federal or state laws.

Ms. Barksdale updated the Board on the progress they were continuing to make with Centennial Mental Health, although they did have a couple of issues recently. She said that they are bringing those issues forward immediately and trying to get them worked out.

Ms. Barksdale also told the Board that the 15^th Judicial District, plus Lincoln County, were earmarked to adopt a rural Drug Court, which is a voluntary program allowing children to be placed into an immediate program if the parents are arrested for drug-related crimes.

Ms. Barksdale mentioned that she had met with Jennie Ritter, and reminded the Board of the joint meeting with commissioners and DSS directors on June 23 in Akron. She also said she’d met with Plains Medical Center’s new director, Dr. Page, and that they had discussed what behavioral health services they would need.

She added that she had checked to see if TANF funds could be used for Economic Development, but found out that they only could if they were tied to specific clients. However, they do have some additional money in the Work Participation fund that could be given to LCEDC. She said there was between $5,000.00 and $7,000.00 and that they would probably never get that money again, but felt it would be a good cause to give all, or some, of it to Economic Development. The Board said they would make a decision on it when they discussed the issue later in the day.

At 11:30 a.m., Extension Director Linda Yoder met with the Board to give her monthly report. Tree sales went from 4,660 trees sold in 2007 to 6,360 in 2008, and rolls of barrier went from 29 in 2007 to 65 in 2008. Master Gardner Ken Morrison helped with the distribution and answering of questions.

EFNEP educator Gretchen Blackwelder is doing classes and looking for more clients. Mr. Lyons asked if it would be possible for her to speak with Ms. Barksdale, as he would like to know if clients coming in to receive Social Services aid would benefit from obtaining the information. Mr. Lyons asked Ms. Yoder if they had seen much participation from DSS, and when Ms. Yoder told him they had not, he asked if there was anything the commissioners could do to help. Ms. Yoder said she would love to have any support, adding that the employees in both Social Services and the Extension office have changed and it seemed that they had kind of lost track of each other. When Mr. Lyons commented that he had been approached by someone complaining about the types of food people using food stamps were buying, he said he wondered if there would be a way for DSS to educate those people or work with EFNEP to provide better solutions. Ms. Yoder said that in Elbert County, anyone receiving TANF assistance is required to take the EFNEP class, and although Mr. Beedy said they certainly couldn’t make anyone purchase healthier foods with their assistance funding, they could definitely encourage them to do so.

Ms. Yoder reported that she had helped with the Career Fair in Limon and it had been a very productive day, and that three judges from Lincoln County attended training in Pueblo for 4-H table-top projects. She went on to say that Jason Vermillion, the 4-H livestock judging coach, has held several practices and is taking the members to several contests. She mentioned that the members are very young, or have not judged for a few years, and commended Clay Patton for being high individual in beef and also placing high in the sheep division.

Animal Ethics was April 22 and they conducted a 4-H/FFA educational program for livestock members. Speakers were Gary Teague, who has bought the sheep and swine floor for their sale the past few years, feedlot manager of Ordway Feeds, Luke Larson, and Eric Larson of Fowler, who is a livestock nutritionist. She added that Gary Teague told her that he would work with them this year, but that next year they would be required to have a Premise ID.

Ms. Yoder also explained the Meat Quality Assurance program for those showing livestock at the fair, stating that she and FFA instructors work together on the program.

The Strong Women Strong Bones program is still going very well and Ms. Yoder is planning a day with RSVP Director Melody Maskus to train more helpers for the program.

Ms. Yoder’s last item to report was that they have a training program coming up on Regional Animal Agro Security, and provided information for the Board to review.

When the Board re-convened after lunch, Ms. Barksdale, and Gretchen Blackwelder with the EFNEP program, stopped in at the Board’s request. Mr. Lyons explained what Ms. Yoder had told them regarding Elbert County requiring its TANF recipients to take the EFNEP classes and, after some discussion, both Ms. Barksdale and Ms. Blackwelder agreed to do what they could to help educate certain DSS clients with food and nutrition classes. However, Ms. Barksdale cautioned that the only requirement for food stamps was that items purchased must be a food product.

Ms. Blackwelder also shared an MOU between WIC and EFNEP from the early nineties, stating that even though the MOU declared it was good until a new one was signed, the WIC people would like to have an updated one. She said that they were both USDA programs, and that she would let the Board know if the state sent a more updated version.

At 1:30 p.m., County Assessor Estelle Thaller met with the Board to discuss painting and carpeting her office. Mr. Burgess said she had asked him some questions about what the procedure was to be since Travis Nall had completed the window installations, and he told her to come and meet with the Board. Discussion was held as to where the carpet would be purchased, who would do the installation, and what days it could be done. Ms. Thaller assured the Board that they would do their own furniture moving, and then they discussed painters. Chuck Pierce and Gene Amann were the two names brought up, and Mr. Lyons commented that Gene had done some painting in the courthouse in the past, but that he had had to do it over because of poor quality paint. Ms. Devers put in that he had told her if he ever painted again for the county he would get his own paint, and she felt it needed to be done through a bid process. It was decided that Ms. Devers would place an ad in The Limon Leader, the Eastern Colorado Plainsman and the Mile Saver Shopper, and Mr. Lyons felt they should coordinate both projects so that they only had to move their furniture once.

Ms. Thaller asked if it would be acceptable to modernize the offices a little bit, especially if the commissioners were still planning on doing one office each year beginning in 2008, and they agreed to let her consult a decorator she knew, as long as anything that was done did not increase the cost. When asked when she would like to start, Ms. Thaller said as soon as possible, since her re-appraisal project will begin soon.

Ms. Devers reported that she’d received a request from the Northeast Colorado Travel Region in the amount of $500.00 for 2008 dues and asked if the Board wanted her to pay it. Mr. Burgess commented that he would prefer to give money to Economic Development, and the others agreed. She also reported that the ad for the free day at the landfill would appear in next week’s paper.

Mr. Lyons called for the attorney’s report, and Mr. Kimble said that since nothing was found in the file about expenses incurred by the county for the Fal Calvert case, he would like to know how the Board wished him to proceed in the matter. The options were discussed, and Mr. Kimble offered to file a motion to release the $5,000.00 to the county. He said if Mr. Calvert decided to contest the fact, they would then have to prove that there were costs other than attorney fees associated with the case. Mr. Lyons told him that Mr. Calvert had filed several false liens on county officials, that the Land Use Administrator had taken numerous pictures and made countless trips to Limon to do so, and that he felt sure there had been insurance costs due to CTSI’s representation. Ms. Devers said she thought there had probably been a deductible; possibly $500.00. She asked if she needed to research specific dates and amounts, but Mr. Kimble told her they would wait to see what happened once the motion is filed.

Mr. Kimble reported that he had not received a response in regard to the collection letter he had sent requesting the return of the employee’s retirement overpayment, and that he felt the wording on the information sent in by Tim Andersen regarding the lodging tax issue for the November ballot was acceptable. He added that DOLA also has some other examples if the Board were so inclined to obtain them. Ms. Devers will see what she can find.

In regard to the subpoena that Ms. Devers received to testify in the Perez case in Douglas County, Mr. Kimble said he thought they would just be able to do an Affidavit, although he hadn’t gotten it yet. He also said he’d received a phone call from the attorney who will be representing the county in the Ewing lawsuit and added that he would try to obtain the CSP accident report when Mr. Burgess said he would like to see it.

Mr. Lyons asked if it would be an advantage or a disadvantage for the county road foremen to have digital cameras in order to take pictures in such an instance, and Mr. Kimble replied that it was really a toss-up. Although a picture could be very good evidence, it may in some ways cause more problems. He felt it would be best to let the law enforcement investigators handle it. Mr. Kimble said that any indications he’d heard from people was that the road in question is a good one.

In regard to old business, the Board discussed further funding for Economic Development and how much the county could afford. Mr. Burgess said he felt they could give up to a total of $15,000.00 from the county, but he didn’t want to allocate the entire $7,000.00 of the Work Participation funds that Ms. Barksdale had offered. He felt that $3,500.00 would be enough, plus an additional $5,000.00 from the county, making the total 2008 county contribution $18,500.00. He added that he did not think they should make a three-year commitment at this time, but that they should address it at budget time. He also said that his recommendation would be for Patricia Vice to contact every business in the county to raise contributions.

Mr. Beedy agreed with the amounts proposed by Mr. Burgess, adding that the rest of the needed funding would most likely be made up by other area businesses.

Mr. Lyons said he did not disagree that Economic Development was important, but felt that it may not be necessary to have a full time person running it. He saw no problem with cutting the position back to part-time, if need be.

Kay Christie spoke up and said that it seemed ironic to her that the funding had run out right when they were finally beginning to show some signs of progress.

Ms. Devers stated that she felt the county had to continue funding the program, especially since things are finally starting to happen. She added that if it came down to cutting the position to part-time, she hoped that Ms. Vice would stay on, as people are just now learning her name, and she has been the one to devote so much time and effort to the cause. However, she wasn’t sure if committing a set amount, even at budget-time, was wise.

Mr. Beedy stated that he would rather they use $5,000.00 of the money Social Services was offering, since it was directly related to the work force, and use $3,500.00 from the County General fund. Mr. Lyons felt that was an excellent idea, and Mr. Beedy made a motion to spend $5,000.00 from the Department of Social Services’ Work Participation funding and $3,500.00 from the County General fund later on in the year when the money is needed, to support Lincoln County Economic Development. There will be no commitment for future funding at this time. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Lyons called for new business and Mr. Burgess said that in light of the fire ban put on yesterday, Roger Noakes had an idea to allow county residents free trips to the landfill with household trash, rather than setting trucks out at various locations around the county. After some discussion, the Board agreed to leave the trucks out, and Mr. Burgess said that he would look into purchasing a couple of dumpsters for Arriba, since it would be cheaper to do that than have a truck and a man going over there with the price of fuel and man-hours involved. He said that he had checked into the cost, and it would be sixteen dollars a month, per dumpster.

The last item of new business was the request to purchase a new vacuum cleaner for the courthouse. Mr. Burgess said that the employee doing the cleaning while Mrs. Waite is out for her surgery had trouble with it and possibly burned up the motor in it. After some discussion, Mr. Burgess said he would take it to Fred Wyler in Limon to see if he could fix it before they ordered a new one.

Mr. Lyons asked if anyone had any further information regarding a countywide IT person, but Ms. Devers said she had received no more proposals, and that they had agreed to show the one from Matt Powell to the other department heads at the meeting on May 6.

With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on May 6, due to the Department Head meeting at 9:30 a.m.

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