Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County  

Agenda for September 29, 2008

 

 

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

 

10:00 Meet with Tony Wernsman and Gerald Knudsen at the Lincoln County landfill to discuss removal of a portion of the berm from cell two, the location of a new cell and other engineering issues regarding the facility

 

1:30 Extension Director Linda Yoder to discuss how 4-H members in El Paso County will be affected by the closure of the Extension Office in that county

 

 

 

 

1.      Approve payroll and expense vouchers

2.      Approve the minutes from the September 17th meeting

3.      Review a letter from the State Board of Equalization concerning public hearings for requests on exempt properties

4.      Review and act on the employer options for the 2009 County Health Pool plan year

5.      Review a fax from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment giving approval for the disposal of 2,400 cubic yards of petroleum contaminated soil at the county landfill

6.      Review proposals from All Access for courthouse keyless entries

7.      County Commissioners’ reports

8.      County Administrator’s report

9.      Old business

10.  New business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on September 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 Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on September 17, 2008, as submitted.  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

The Board reviewed a letter from the State Board of Equalization concerning public hearings for requests on exempt properties, and then the employer options for the 2009 County Health Pool plan year were reviewed.  Ms. Devers had prepared the proper documentation with the assumption that the Board would choose what they have gone with in the past, which is the PPO Plan Option A.

 

Mr. Burgess made a motion to continue health insurance coverage for county employees using the County Health Pool PPO Plan Option A for 2009. The motion also allows employees’ choice under the dental and vision plans, giving those employees not taking the full health insurance benefit the option to be covered with dental and vision insurance.  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

Mr. Burgess also commented that physicals are now required each year if a person has high blood pressure.  Since the current county policy is to allow its employees holding commercial driver licenses a physical every two years, he felt it may be worth checking into.  Ms. Devers said she would do so.

 

The Board reviewed a fax from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment giving approval for the disposal of twenty-four hundred (2,400) cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil at the county landfill.

 

Also reviewed were proposals from All Access for courthouse keyless entries.  Ms Devers said there had been a huge misunderstanding regarding what was to be done with the DOLA funding for the keyless entries, as she, and everyone else, had assumed that four keyless entries meant each of the four major courthouse entrances.  That was not the case, as when they came out to do the work, they were going to install all four systems on the court side of the building.  They were also working on keyless entries for the back doors into the two courtrooms.  Ms. Devers asked why they were doing so when the county had not even signed a proposal for the work to be done, and after discussion with the supervisor, she learned that their information had come from Arapahoe County.  The sixteen thousand dollar DOLA grant was for keyless entries for the courthouse, but All Access understood it to be only for the court side of the building. After some discussion, Arapahoe County agreed to pay for the unauthorized work for the keyless entries for the courtroom doors.  Since a portion of the total cost will come from the Courthouse Security grant if the county is approved, and another portion from the DOLA grant, Ms. Devers asked for another proposal, which is what she now shared with the Board.  To install the keyless access at the employee entrance would cost approximately three thousand dollars.  Adding the lobby doors and the back entrance doors would be an additional cost.

 

Ms. Devers said Steve Stedman with the Court Administrator’s office was scheduled to come out on Friday to complete a walk-through to see what security measures had been taken or what needs to be done.  She informed the Board that they did have to purchase a computer for the keyless system, but that it was included in the original bid.

 

The Board felt that they needed to continue with the project, so they discussed using contingency funds from the DOLA grant and money out of the Capital Projects fund to complete it.  Mr. Burgess felt they should clean up the DOLA grant money first, and then use the other funds, if necessary.

 

Mr. Beedy reported that he attended the CHP board renewal meeting with Ms. Devers on September 18, after which he attended the Clean Energy Development Authority board meeting. 

On the Nineteenth, he attended CCI where he vocalized his thoughts regarding some of the proposed legislation, adding that he felt he had helped to stop some of the ideas that were not quite feasible.  On September 22, Mr. Beedy attended the Economic Development board meeting, on the Twenty-fourth he met with David Seymour in Karval and looked at roads, and on the Twenty-sixth he attended a meeting regarding SB100.  He said that writing the letter had helped regarding adding Zone 2 back into the transmission project plan, as it seemed that they had indeed added it back in as a potential location. Also, there was talk that transmission companies need to look at different ways of paying landowners rather than just offering a one-time, up-front fee. 

 

Mr. Burgess reported that he’d spoken with Jo Downey on September 17 after the board meeting, and she said that trying to split a DOLA grant between three districts would not be practical and suggested that they just apply for the full $200,000.  On the Eighteenth, Mr. Burgess said he talked to Mick Jaques, and the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth he attended the Child Welfare Action Committee meetings.  He also had a phone call from Wayne Shade on the Twenty-fifth regarding Linneburs’ weed problem, so he set up a time with Joe Linnebur to meet with the commissioners; which will be at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.

 

The Board, Ms. Devers and Ms. Lengel then met with Tony Wernsman and Gerald Knudsen at the Lincoln County landfill to discuss removal of a portion of the berm from cell three, the location of a new cell, and other engineering issues regarding the facility.

 

Mr. Knudsen agreed that it would be feasible to use the current berm on cell three, rather than starting the work on Cell 4 in order to obtain enough dirt for cover.  He said that if the county got to a point where they needed a bigger berm, then they could rebuild it.  All board members felt that there was no reason to begin Cell 4 at this time; rather, they would like to wait until Cell 3 is closer to reaching its capacity limit.

 

When the Board reconvened after lunch, Mr. Lyons reported that he took a complaint from Kerry Halde on September 23 regarding hauling loose sacks of trash to the landfill.  Mr. Lyons contacted Mick Jaques who told him that they were blowing into the fence, so Mr. Lyons called Kerry back and told him he would need to secure his loads like everyone else does.  On September 25, Mr. Lyons visited the landfill and spoke with Doug Eikenberry from the State, who said that he would personally discuss the Stormwater discharge permit issue with others, since it is not really needed.  Mr. Lyons also attended the hospital board meeting that evening and reported that all is going well.

 

Mr. Burgess said he wanted to add that he’d received a phone call from Leesa McCue with the Limon Veterinary Clinic, who felt the county should make it mandatory that all pets be vaccinated for rabies, in light of the recent animals that have been found in the county with the disease.  The Board felt there was no way they could require such a thing.

 

Ms. Devers reported that Wally Piccone with GOCO told her that using grant funds to purchase the trailer with restrooms and showers was not an acceptable use of the funding, as they only fund fixed assets. 

 

Someone attempted to break into the Resource Center the night of September 23 and was almost successful.  The Hugo marshal’s office suggested that Juliet Lundy put a deadbolt on the door, which she did. 

 

Ms. Devers also reported that one of the inmate’s at the county jail attempted to commit suicide on September 21 and was air-lifted to Denver General Hospital where surgery was done.  The inmate was returned to jail on September 24, but Ms. Devers wanted the Board to be aware that there would be a bill to pay.

 

Gary Higgins with Frontier Telephone was out on Friday to complete installation of the courthouse intercom system, and while he was here, he told Ms. Devers that the lobby payphone is costing approximately fifty dollars per month because it has limited use.  Since it could be considered a security issue as a result of its location, Ms. Devers told him to take it out.

 

Ms. Devers’ final item to report was that Melody Maskus will be working different hours for three-to-four weeks, due to a back injury and her physical therapy exercises being scheduled during her work hours.

 

There was no old business to discuss, so Mr. Lyons called for new business.  The only items were the August Landfill, Library and Road & Bridge reports and a question from Mr. Burgess regarding what would happen if he does not get the invoice for the new road grader prior to November 1.  Since there is still a full month yet, everyone felt that the invoice would probably show up in time.

 

At 1:30 p.m., Extension Director Linda Yoder met with the Board to discuss how 4-H members in El Paso County will be affected by the closure of the Extension Office in that county.  She provided a copy of a letter from the Edison Drylanders 4-H Club giving the specifics of their club and the fact that there are a total of twenty kids enrolled there.  Ms. Yoder also had a detailed statement from Joel Plath, Southern Region Director for Colorado State University Extension regarding a new policy for the upcoming 4-H year.  If a county Extension Program is closed down because of a lack of funding, 4-H members residing in that county will be allowed to join a 4-H program in a neighboring county, only if they have been participating in the 4-H program in the neighboring county, in which case they may continue to do so with the approval of the Extension office in the county in which they have been participating.

Feeling that not allowing twenty kids to be allowed to participate in Lincoln County’s 4-H program was extremely unfair, the Board agreed that if Ms. Yoder could handle the extra responsibility, they should allow that club to participate.  Ms. Yoder said she actually felt that this club in particular would be a contributing club to Lincoln County, and that it could still be possible that El Paso County will somehow come up with the funding.

 

Mr. Burgess asked if there were other 4-H clubs that would want to participate in Lincoln County if they allowed this particular club in, and Ms. Yoder responded that she had been approached by a total of three separate clubs.  She told the other two that if something were to change she would let them know.  Ms. Yoder also commented that her Advisory Committee said they would support whatever the commissioners agree to.

 

Mr. Burgess made a motion to send a letter to the state 4-H office asking for a waiver allowing the Edison Drylanders 4-H Club members to participate in the Lincoln County 4-H program.  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 

 

Regarding Extension Advisory Boards, Ms. Yoder stated that CSU now wants county commissioners to appoint the board.  She provided a list of current board members, which the Board approved, and added that they also now require that a commissioner be a representative on the board.  Mr. Burgess said he would sit on the Advisory Board, and since one other current member would like to be replaced, Ms. Yoder asked if they had any suggestions.  Mr. Burgess thought it would be wise to see if someone from the new 4-H Club coming from El Paso County would like to serve.

 

Ms. Yoder presented the contract with Joey Wernsman for conducting the West Nile Virus mosquito program for the year, stating that they were finished and he had brought everything back to her this morning.  Since she had contracted with him to pay a total of $500 for his work, she asked if it was still okay to do so.  The Board agreed.

 

The Board approved the September payroll and expense vouchers for the month and then, with no further business to come before them, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on September 30, 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________             _______________________________

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