Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County
Agenda for October 31, 2008
9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance
9:05 Travis Nall to discuss purchasing a snow plow for the mower
9:30 Assessor Estelle Thaller to present a Petition for Abatement or Refund for Quest Corporation
10:00 Extension Agent Linda Yoder to give a report on office activities
1:30 Conduct the annual jail inspection
1. Approve additional expense vouchers if necessary
2. Approve the minutes from the October 30th meeting
3. Cancel County General check #8191 written on March 31, 2008 to LEDS, LLC for $263.79 since it was never received
4. Review the September reports from the Assessor and the Veterans Service Officer and the reports of revenues and expenditures for Library, Landfill, Road & Bridge and the individual road districts
5. Review and sign a lease with Dean R. Rains on a tract of land owned by the county
6. Discuss and act on a request for an exemption from Subdivision Regulations on a parcel of property owned by Barbara and John Vandal
7. Discuss extension of the contract with Shayla Morgan for janitorial services
8. County Commissioners’ reports
9. County Administrator’s report
10. County Attorney’s report
11. Old business
12. New business
The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on October 31, 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. Kay Christie with The Limon Leader and Eastern Colorado Plainsman arrived at 9:45 a.m. and left at noon, and County Attorney Stan Kimble was present from 1:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.
Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Travis Nall met with the Board to discuss purchasing a snow plow for the mower. With hitch, attachments, an eighty pound weight and tire chains, the unit would come to about $2,000, according to Travis; however, the Board felt the weight and tire chains were not necessary and Travis agreed.
Mr. Burgess was hesitant to spend the money since the Skid Steer was purchased, in part, for the purpose of plowing the parking lot, but Travis felt he did not want to try and run it on the sidewalks and said that he uses the snow blower, but is usually soaked before he is ever close to finished clearing the sidewalks.
Mr. Lyons informed everyone that the Skid Steer actually broke down again, and then Mr. Burgess asked if the purchase would be made from the Capital Projects budget if they were to approve it. Ms. Devers responded that there was enough in the Grounds and Buildings budget to cover it.
Mr. Burgess made a motion to spend approximately $1,500 on a snow plow attachment for the mower, with the stipulation that if there is more than six inches of snow, Travis will need to use the Skid Steer. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
Mr. Burgess also said that the total cost for the concrete in front of the sheriff’s office came to $812, as it was $116 per yard.
Once Travis was gone, Mr. Burgess asked Mr. Beedy if he would prefer to drive one of the county cars, rather than use his own vehicle when he goes to meetings, but Mr. Beedy said there are too many times that he either takes his children with him somewhere, or attends to other personal business on his way to, or from, doing whatever county business he is doing.
The Board approved some additional expense vouchers, and then the minutes from the meeting held on October 30 were reviewed. Mr. Beedy asked for a slight correction in wording, and once the change was made, the minutes were approved.
Mr. Beedy made a motion to cancel County General check #8191 in the amount of $263.79, written on March 31, 2008 to LEDS, LLC, since the check was never received. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
The September reports from the Assessor and Veterans Service Officer were reviewed, as well as the reports of revenues and expenditures for the Library, Landfill and Road & Bridge funds and the individual road districts.
Mr. Burgess then made a motion to sign the lease with Dean R. Rains on a tract of land owned by the county. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
At 9:30 a.m., County Assessor Estelle Thaller and Jessie Meier met with the Board to present a Petition for Abatement or Refund for Quest Corporation. Since the correction of value came through the Division of Property Taxation, Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the Petition for Abatement or Refund in the amount of $1,448.38. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
The Board discussed a request for an exemption from subdivision regulations on a parcel of property owned by Barbara and John Vandal; Ms. Devers explaining that the woman is Roy Murphy’s sister. She added that she had checked and discovered that there was a plat filed, but could not find where the exemption from subdivision regulations had ever been given. Mr. Beedy made a motion to adopt a resolution allowing an exemption from subdivision regulations on a parcel of property in the Southeast Quarter of Section 4, Township 11 South; Range 54 West of the 6th P.M., owned by Barbara and John Vandal. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
At a regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County, Colorado held in Hugo, Colorado on October 31, 2008 there were present:
Ted Lyons, Chairman Present
Steve Burgess, Vice Chairman Present
Gary A. Beedy, Commissioner Present
Stan Kimble, County Attorney Absent & Excused
Corinne Lengel, Clerk of the Board Present
Roxie Devers, County Administrator Present
when the following proceedings, among others, were had and done, to-wit:
RESOLUTION #699 It was moved by Commissioner Beedy and seconded by Commissioner Burgess to adopt the following resolution:
WHEREAS, application has been made by Barbara Vandal and John Vandal for exemption from the Lincoln County Subdivision Regulations on a parcel of land in Lincoln County described as follows:
A portion of the Southeast Quarter of Section 4, Township 11 South, Range 54 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, County of Lincoln, State of Colorado, being more particularly described as follows:
Commencing at the southeast corner of said Section 4; thence due west along the south line of Section 4, 1407.64 feet to the true point of beginning; thence continuing due west, 354.58 feet; thence northeasterly on a deflection angle to the right of 98º56’40”, 232.82 feet; thence easterly on a deflection angle to the right of 80º16’50”, 318.40 feet; thence due south, 234.29 feet to the point of beginning. Said tract contains 1.7922 acres therein.
Said parcel of land is subject to any rights-of-way or other easements as granted or reserved by instruments of record or as now existing on said tract of land; and
WHEREAS, the request for this exemption did not include a request for a change of use of the property; and
WHEREAS, under Section II-27-D-Subdivision, the Board of County Commissioners may exempt from this definition of the terms “subdivision” and “subdivided land” any division of land if the Board of County Commissioners determines such division is not within the purposes of this article;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County that the tract as described in the application be excluded from the provisions of the Lincoln County Subdivision Regulations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this exemption from the provisions of the Lincoln County Subdivision Regulations excludes any future division of the property without subsequent approval by the Board of County Commissioners.
Upon roll call the vote was:
Commissioner Burgess Yes; Commissioner Beedy, Yes; Commissioner Lyons, Yes.
The Chairman declared the motion carried and so ordered.
Board of County Commissioners
of Lincoln County
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ATTEST: _____________________________________
_________________________________ _____________________________________
Clerk of the Board
Ms. Devers said that Shayla Morgan has agreed to continue with the courthouse cleaning until November 14, but does not want to do it once that date has passed. Ms. Devers had revised the contract and Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the contract with Shayla Morgan for courthouse cleaning through November 14, 2008. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
Mr. Beedy reported that he e-mailed the Eastern Colorado Services for the Developmentally Disabled, as he was displeased with the way the agendas read. He did not attend a recent meeting, due to the fact that the agenda was unclear; and therefore, missed a very important discussion regarding the audit. He also said there was an issue with the director not submitting receipts with her credit card bill, and felt those were very important issues.
Mr. Burgess attended the RC&D meeting last night and reported that Gary Ensign has resigned his position as president. He also spoke with Cheyenne County Commissioner Nancy Bogenhagen about prairie dogs, but she told him she would like to wait until later in November to discuss it further.
Mr. Beedy stated that he felt the Board needed to meet with the fair board and others in order to develop a long-term plan for the fairgrounds.
Ms. Devers reported that she’d received notification that the Cooper-Clark Foundation would not fund any portion of the hospital’s electrical project.
Mr. Lyons reported that he had a message on his answering machine from Cory Gardner, but he had not called him back yet.
As for old business, Ms. Devers said she had a call in to the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority regarding the cost for membership, but she had heard nothing so far.
At 10:00 a.m., Extension Director Linda Yoder met with the Board to give a report on office activities. They finished out their 4-H year with the Achievement Program on October 5, enrollment is open for next year, and she is having a leader training sometime in the near future. The county 4-H Council is going to elect new senators at the meeting in November and she intends to stress parliamentary procedure. The Dare to be You Camp for eleven-to-thirteen year-olds is to be held November 14-16, but since that Saturday is the beginning of a basketball tournament, she only has two boys that will attend.
Forty-six boys and thirty-three girls attended the Farm Safety 4 Just Kids program at the fairgrounds this year, and with FFA presenters, leaders and helpers there were about one hundred and twenty-five in attendance.
Gretchen Blackwelder has been working with the Limon Child Development Center with the EFNEP program and is now trained to work with the children, which will make it easier to meet the goals for the grant numbers.
The Radon Grant for the year was finished on September 30, and Ms. Yoder said she will not reapply next year. They distributed one hundred and ten short-term test kits and eleven long-term test kits and provided publications with the kits. Most who took radon test kits came back saying they did not need to test further.
Ms. Yoder said that the mosquito surveillance program went well this summer, although they did not catch many mosquitoes until late July after it started raining. Then there was a large outbreak, and the most mosquitoes that were caught were of the Culex Tarsalis variety, which is the carrier of the West Nile Virus.
Ms. Yoder’s final item was that she intends to have an Advisory Committee meeting sometime in November and will let Mr. Burgess know when that is. She also told the Board that she appreciated what they had done when they contacted CSU regarding the kids in the El Paso County 4-H Club being allowed to join a club in Lincoln County, although she has tried several times to contact the El Paso County Extension Agent to no avail. The Board suggested she use e-mail rather than telephone him, so that she had a paper trail of her efforts.
Mr. Lyons told Ms. Yoder that the NRCS had received a grant for tree wind breaks, and asked if any of the local clubs would be interested in helping with those projects when the trees come in. Ms. Yoder thought that perhaps the Hugo and Arriba clubs could help, since they are always looking for community projects.
Mr. Beedy asked if the Extension office or CSU would be able to help the county in developing a master plan of some sort for the fairgrounds, at little or no cost to the county, adding that if they could get input from everyone, including the Advisory Council and Fair Board, it may be more beneficial. Ms. Yoder said she would check into it.
The Board discussed the DOLA Energy Impact grant until Sheriff Tom Nestor arrived to discuss the CBM food service again. After further thought and discussions the previous day, the sheriff didn’t believe that having the company supply meals for the jail was actually going to save the county any money at all, which was his original goal. He explained that the cost of $2.20 per meals was actually based on forty inmates, and since they usually average thirty inmates, the price per meal would increase considerably. He did believe that the structure and the decrease in liability would be very beneficial, but otherwise, he was a bit disappointed in the outcome.
Mr. Lyons suggested that they try to sign a one-year contract if Sheriff Nestor felt confident enough in their abilities to provide a better working environment, and he said he would ask them to send one and would then have Mr. Kimble review it. Mr. Beedy added that he would need to make sure there was an opt-out clause included in case they wanted out of the contract mid-year.
Discussion moved to whether or not the sheriff felt the solid ceilings still needed to be put in the restrooms at the courthouse since there is now a full time officer at the metal detector. The sheriff did believe that they should still be done and since work will need to be completed before March because they are part of a DOLA grant, Mr. Lyons put in a call to Shawn Smith to see if his bid is still good for the project. However, there was no answer, so Mr. Lyons left a message.
The sheriff informed the Board that Lynn Stone had fixed the light on the radio tower, and although he mentioned that there are some other problems with the tower, he would not be afraid to climb it again.
As for new business, Ms. Devers provided a letter from the Department of Local Affairs agreeing to de-obligate the CDBG funds that the Board requested be done at a previous meeting, as well as a letter from the Colorado Department of Human Services regarding a reimbursement of $3,082.28 to the county, per quarter, for the 2007 County Cost Allocation Plan.
Discussion of the 2009 budget ensued, during which time Shawn Smith called back to discuss the issue of the solid ceilings. He said he would re-calculate the bid, as the price of sheet rock and lumber has increased since the original bid was done, and he will meet with the Board on November 7 to discuss it.
The Board briefly discussed the request from the Weed Coordinator to purchase a new weed truck and decided that the current truck is still in good enough shape that a new truck is not warranted.
Mr. Beedy said he would like to see the county go back to contributing $15,000 to Economic Development, but the other members said they did not agree and that they did not want to give more than $10,000. Both felt that Ms. Vice needs to work harder to bring economic development into the county, and expressed their disappointment with some of the articles she has put in the newspaper. Mr. Burgess added that the Genoa off-load project ended up almost a bigger headache than it was worth, and Mr. Beedy agreed that they should have made Asphalt Specialties get a development permit in the very beginning.
The Board reviewed the October sheriff’s report, and then Mr. Lyons asked for the County Attorney’s report. Mr. Kimble said that he had not yet had time to speak with the sheriff about filing motions requiring restitution regarding inmates with pre-existing or self-inflicted medical problems, so the sheriff returned to speak with them. He said that there are currently two inmates that they might be able to file the motions on, but that they are in the pre-trial stage at this time. Undersheriff Nall had accompanied the sheriff into the meeting, and commented that it may be better to file a lawsuit against them, rather than a motion for restitution, but Mr. Kimble did not agree. He stated that restitution gives a better result, as the inmate can be returned to jail if they do not pay the fine; whereas, in the case of a lawsuit, the county may be out attorney fees and other costs, as well as possibly losing the lawsuit.
Mr. Kimble went on with his report to say that he could find no statutes regarding cattle chronically getting out, although there is a statute that allows the county to implement safety regulations, which may be an option.
Mr. Burgess asked if the county could sue the state for the declining tax base in relation to the prairie dog issue, and Mr. Kimble said he would have to look into it, as there may be a problem with the Governmental Immunity Act.
Mr. Lyons felt that they should proceed on the authority that the state owns the prairie dogs, just as they do the elk that destroy hay supplies up in the mountain counties. He said he’d asked the question at the meeting in Eads of who actually owns the prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets, and was told that the state does, which is where he came up with the logic. He added that the de-valuation of real property is destroying the county tax base, and believes that if Lincoln County will take the initiative, other counties such as Bent, Baca, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa and Prowers will follow suit.
Mr. Kimble said he would research that aspect of the problem and see what he could find.
At 1:30 p.m., the Board conducted their annual inspection of the county jail facility and then, with no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on November 7, 2008.
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Corinne M. Lengel, Clerk to the Board Ted Lyons, Chairman