Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County  

Agenda for August 29, 2008

 

 

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

 

9:05 Scott Ravenkamp with Citizens Against Railroad Relocation to give an update on the proposed railroad relocation project from the Front Range to eastern Colorado

 

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

 

 

1.      Approve additional expense vouchers if necessary

2.      Approve the minutes from the August 28th meeting

3.      Review final determinations of Notice of Forfeiture from the Division of Property Taxation concerning property owned by the Karval Community Volunteer Fire Department and by Peoples Regional Clinic

4.      Review letters from Mary Jo Cline and Margaret Robeson concerning expansion of the transmission capacity from the Kansas border of eastern Colorado to the Front Range

5.      County Commissioners’ reports

6.      County Administrator’s report

7.      Old business

8.      New business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on August 29, 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. 

 

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Scott Ravenkamp with Citizens Against Railroad Relocation met with the Board to give an update on the proposed railroad relocation project from the Front Range to eastern Colorado.  They’ve been to several meetings and gotten numerous bits of information, and Scott shared that they have put together their official list of concerns as a board.  He commented that they are trying to use documentation that comes directly from CDOT, rather than information that may not be accurate in newspapers or from other means.  They referenced both the Eastern Colorado Mobility Study and the Public Benefits and Costs Study in their official concerns.  At the Stewards on the Range meeting that Travis Taylor attended, the suggestion was made that the county commissioners look into putting a “coordination plan” into place, so Scott provided a copy of that documentation, as well.  He also discussed the Farmland Protection Policy Act and said he would take a copy of what he had found over to the NRCS office for them to look at.

 

Scott said that the C.A.R.R. organization was also interested in becoming a member of the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, but wasn’t sure if they could legally do so.  There is concern with the fact that Burlington-Northern has apparently sold three hundred miles of track to the state of New Mexico, and Scott seemed to think that this project has been going on a lot longer than anyone seems to think.  He added that they are looking for new sources of funding, and they had heard that the Colorado Rail Authority was looking to be funded by a sales tax, as they were actually seeking legislation to create a type of CDOT for rail projects.  He said he wasn’t sure if it wasn’t legislation that was being proposed or legislation that had not passed in a prior session, so Ms. Devers said she would contact CCI to see if they had heard anything.

 

At 10:00 a.m., Social Services Director Colette Barksdale met with the Board to give her monthly report.  As they reviewed caseload reports, she updated them on old business, which consisted of a re-cap of the Bridges out of Poverty training, the Law Enforcement Protocols meeting, the Early Childhood Council meeting and the Fatherhood Initiative meeting.  There are more meetings scheduled for September.

 

Mr. Burgess commented on his attendance at the Child Welfare Action Committee meeting and said he had spoken with a couple of Ms. Barksdale’s employees recently about the number of kids they have to manage.  He said he was appalled that forty-to-fifty percent of their time is spent on paperwork, and Ms. Barksdale confirmed that fact.  She added that they are often spread way too thin due to the amount of paperwork, and updated the Board on what she termed “Dragon-Speak” software, which allows for dictation straight into the computer, rather than typing everything.  Gilpin County has the software and has used it for about six months now.  Ms. Barksdale did say that it costs about $200.00 per person.

 

Mr. Burgess brought up the fact that the state pays for his lodging at the Child Welfare Action Committee meetings, but that he felt he would take a great portion of the commissioners’ travel budget if he continued to pay for mileage.  Ms. Barksdale said that Social Services could certainly pay for his mileage and meals when he attends those meetings.

Ms. Barksdale went over the Close-out Report for FY 2008 in detail, explaining why the department was over-budget in numerous areas.  If a department is less than ten percent over-budget in a certain area, their chances of being reimbursed the entire amount are much greater than if they are over-budget by eighty percent.  For example, they were over in county administration by $20,297.05, but they were “bailed out” and received all of the money from the state, so no county funds were used.  They overspent Colorado Works by $33,082.52, but after all the close-out was done, they received $4,082.52 from the mitigation pool, so used $29,000.00 of their reserves to make it up.  Core Services was under-spent by $77,000.00, and Child Welfare was over-spent by $161,000.00, but they got bailed out there, as well as in Child Care.

 

Ms. Barksdale then explained that they have approximately $137,000.00 in TANF reserves, and they are required to spend down to $100,000.00.  They have recently been discussing options to use the excess in reserves, and would like to do something for the community with that money.  Crowley County has utilized their excess by purchasing laptop computers, backpacks and school supplies for all of the children in their school, and Ms. Barksdale said that her department had decided that they would like to do something similar, although Lincoln County cannot afford a laptop for every student in all of the schools.  However, she believed that they may have enough to purchase school supplies, if they bought in bulk and got them locally.  Since TANF funds can only be given to families with an annual income of $75,000.00, she felt that most residents in Lincoln County would fall into that category anyway, and this would be a way to benefit far more people in the county.  She asked for the Board’s approval to contact the schools in the county to see if they could begin working on it for next year and the Board thought it was an excellent idea.

 

Other options for spending some of the funding would be to require mandatory drug tests of all TANF applicants, purchase backpacks, or pay local libraries that do not have extended hours to stay open later at least one evening a week.

 

Mr. Beedy said that there is probably grant money available for purchasing laptops, as there are several schools in the state already that provide a computer for each student.  He thought that it may be a project for the Early Childhood Council.

 

Mr. Burgess asked if Ms. Barksdale was more satisfied with Centennial Mental Health, as it is getting close to budget time, and she responded that things were much better now.

 

The last item of business Ms. Barksdale had was to present the Core Services three-year Program Plan, but the Board informed her that they had voted to sign the document at the meeting on August 18, when Patricia Phillips presented it to them.

 

Mr. Burgess returned to the subject of the TANF reserves and asked what happens if the reserves are spent down below the required $100,000.00.  Ms. Barksdale explained that the dollars had always been put back into a pot and redistributed, which meant that the small counties rarely got much back.  She proposed a different system and presented it and was met with excellent reception.  Her idea was to backfill all the counties that were in need of TANF reserves the first year, and then each year after that they would distribute to the counties that were low.  $500,000.00 is always left in the pot for emergencies, but since there are currently fifteen counties below the $100,000.00, the $655,000.00 that is in the reserve would be distributed to them first.  She added that the large counties have a million dollar pot to draw from, as well as there being numerous other sources.

 

Wayne Shade stopped by the meeting to let the Board know that Kelly Uhing had said the county should be able to take recourse for what Linneburs have done to the ditches and county roads up north.  She told him there is way too much erosion, bindweed and thistle, and that they definitely have a case.  Mr. Burgess commented that the landowners with property in Washington County should be sure to contact the Washington County commissioners with their complaints, as well.

 

A phone call was placed to Tim Andersen with the Limon Chamber of Commerce to discuss the lodging tax issue, and Mr. Burgess explained that the county could be looking at up to $5,000.00 in election costs, due to the number of issues that will possibly appear on the ballot.  Mr. Andersen said he had no idea it would be so costly, and Mr. Lyons said that he didn’t feel the issue had been publicized enough to pass.  Tim said he hadn’t felt like he could promote the issue until the Board decided to go ahead and allow it to be on the ballot, which was why no one had heard much about it.  Mr. Beedy recommended a strong coalition supporting the issue, such as area chambers and the HIP organization, and Mr. Andersen said he would be willing to wait until the November 2009 election.  Ms. Devers asked if he had ever gotten figures for projected revenue the tax would bring into the county, and was told that it would be about $109,000.00.

 

Mr. Burgess made a motion not to adopt the resolution supporting the lodging tax issue at this time.  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

The minutes from the meeting held on August 28 were approved with a minor correction suggested by Ms. Devers, and then the Board reviewed final determinations of Notice of Forfeiture from the Division of Property Taxation concerning property owned by the Karval Community Volunteer Fire Department and by Peoples Regional Clinic.

 

Letters from Mary Jo Cline and Margaret Robeson concerning expansion of the transmission capacity from the Kansas border of eastern Colorado to the Front Range were reviewed, and Mr. Beedy said he felt the commissioners should also write a letter encouraging them to consider development in our area and not to ignore east central Colorado for their projects.

 

Mr. Beedy reported that he participated in the Eastern Colorado Services for the Developmentally Disabled meeting by phone last evening, and Mr. Burgess said that he went to the hospital board meeting and acted on a complaint about trash being thrown out by a fence in south Limon.  Mr. Lyons also attended the hospital board meeting and said that they had collected a little over $50,000.00 by offering the twenty percent discount in August, so they had met their goal.  Mr. Lyons also suggested that the county agree not to charge landfill fees when the hospital completes its electrical project, and it appeared that they had a bid for the work.

 

Mr. Burgess made a motion to waive the landfill fees for both the Lincoln Community Hospital electrical project and the project to reconstruct the wall at the roundhouse.  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

Ms. Devers had nothing to report, so Mr. Lyons called for old business.  The Board discussed the Automatic Access bid regarding the rubber bumpers for the doors at the Ellis Allen building, and Mr. Beedy felt that the county shop could probably make something that would work just as well and be far less than $200.00 per door.

 

Mr. Beedy made a motion to proceed with the automatic doors at the east end of the Ellis Allen building at the county fairgrounds for handicap accessibility, but to explore other options for the rubber bumpers on the other doors in the building.  Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

Ms. Devers said she’d received an e-mail from Melody Maskus regarding the lighted billboard in Flagler, and there is a fifteen dollar set-up fee, as well as monthly charge of thirty dollars.  The Board agreed that was far too costly for her to add an advertisement for RSVP.

 

Ms. Devers also said that she’d received word from the historical architect Merrill Wilson, who told her that she thought it would be fine to go ahead and do the project without her, although she would be available by phone, if needed.

 

The only item of new business was the bids for the truck in District Three that Mr. Beedy had discussed the day before.  The options were an International, a Volvo and a Mack.  He said he had roughly $30,000.00 left in Capital Outlay this year, but wondered if the county auditor would require that purchases be made out of the current year budget if possession were taken next year.  Mr. Devers assured him that would be the case, so Mr. Burgess suggested making the purchase this year and reducing the District Three 2009 budget by that amount.  That way it would save interest, as well as problems with the way the auditor required payments be made.

 

Mr. Beedy made a motion to purchase a 2007 Volvo tandem axle dump truck for District Three in the amount of $101,230.00.  Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on September 9, 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________________                 _______________________________

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