Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for November 17, 2008

10:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

10:00 Sheriff Tom Nestor to discuss a cold case investigation

1:30 Social Services Director Colette Barksdale to discuss the attorney bids

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

2. Review the October monthly reports from the Assessor, County Clerk and Treasurer

3. Review the October reports of revenues and expenditures for County General, Landfill, Library, Road & Bridge and the individual road districts

4. Cancel County General check #9863 written on November 3, 2008 to Denver-Vail Orthoped for $17,650.06 since it was written to the wrong vendor

5. Review and act on an application submitted by Mike Patton to charge at the county landfill

6. Review and sign a form to Hartford Life for renewal of the Useful Public Service insurance

7. Review a revised bid from Shawn Smith Construction LLC to remove false ceilings and replace them with sheetrock ceilings in various locations in the courthouse

8. Review information received on the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority

9. Review information from County Attorney Stan Kimble concerning the appointment of a tourism board

10. County Commissioners’ reports

11. County Administrator’s report

12. County Attorney’s report

13. Old business

14. New business

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 10:00 a.m. on November 17, 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.

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and although Sheriff Tom Nestor was scheduled to meet with the Board to discuss a cold case investigation, Mr. Burgess said he had been called away and would meet with them later if he could.

Mr. Beedy made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on November 7, 2008. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. The Board then reviewed the October monthly reports from the Assessor, Clerk and Treasurer, as well as the October reports of revenues and expenditures for the County General, Landfill, Library and Road and Bridge funds and the individual road districts.

Mr. Beedy made a motion to cancel County General check #9863 in the amount of $17,650.06, written on November 3, 2008 to Denver-Vail Orthopedics, since it was written to the wrong vendor. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Burgess questioned why Mike Patton had made application to charge at the county landfill rather than Asphalt Specialties, so he called Mr. Patton to ask him. Mike said that he and the company had an arrangement for him to be reimbursed, so Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve Mike Patton’s application to charge at the landfill. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

At 10:00 a.m., Christie Gay with RC&D met with the Board at Mr. Burgess’ request to discuss possible improvements of the fairgrounds facilities. After giving a brief overview of what projects she has been instrumental in, Ms. Gay said that the drainage problems at the fairgrounds seem to be the biggest concern. She felt that she would need to meet with the Ag engineers, but that they would have to fit it into their schedules. She will meet with Brian Johnson with NRCS and discuss options for drainage plans, adding that they will need to do a survey to learn the current grade.

Mr. Beedy explained his idea of a long-term goal for the entire facility by creating a master plan, and Ms. Gay said she would list those things that were critical and work her way down to the “wish list.” Drainage, handicapped-accessible restrooms and lighting are the most important issues at this time. GOCO deadlines have not been advertised yet, but Ms. Gay seemed to think there was plenty of time, as she thought it would be late spring or early summer.

The Board thanked Ms. Gay for her help, and then after a form to Hartford Life for renewal of the Useful Public Service insurance was reviewed, Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the renewal form. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Travis Nall stopped by the meeting to inform the Board that the fifty-gallon hot water heater that heats the water in the employee restrooms, the Social Services kitchen sink and the sink in the Administrator/Land Use office is starting to rust out and needs to be replaced. He had checked on several different units, as he felt a fifty-gallon tank was too big. He can get a thirty-gallon unit, a unit without a tank, or smaller units that may fit underneath each sink.

A call was placed to Tony Bandy with Black Hills Energy to see if he could make any suggestions, and he did say that a heat-on-demand unit might be the best idea as they save money in the long run. Travis will check on electric heat-on-demand units and report back to the Board.

Sheriff Nestor arrived to meet with the Board and he briefly discussed the cold case that he intends to re-open. Mr. Burgess then asked how he was progressing with the food service company. The sheriff still doesn’t like the fact that contracting with the company won’t really save any money, but he does believe that alleviating the liability issues will be worth it, so he intends to pursue the contract. He added that it will be possible to terminate the contract mid-year if he feels it isn’t working out.

While Sheriff Nestor was still there, Mr. Lyons said they had reached the point on the agenda where they intended to review the revised bid from Shawn Smith Construction, LLC to remove false ceilings and replace them with sheetrock ceilings in various locations in the courthouse, so he would like for him to stay. Shawn will complete the work on approximately eight hundred and fifty square feet for $23.50 per square foot, which comes to $19,975.00.

Mr. Beedy felt they should still do the hallway by the kitchen, so Mr. Burgess made a motion to accept the bid from Shawn Smith Construction, LLC to remove false ceilings and replace them with sheet rock ceilings at several locations in the courthouse at $23.50 per square foot, but to determine afterward if there was enough money left to complete the ceiling in the hallway by the kitchen in the jail. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

When the Board re-convened after lunch, Mr. Beedy said he and Travis had found some information regarding on-demand water heating units that were about $175.00 each, so Travis said he’d do further research.

County Attorney Stan Kimble asked the Board if they would like him to leave at 1:30 p.m. when they meet with Ms. Barksdale to discuss the Social Services attorney bids, so Mr. Lyons asked him to give his report and then he could be excused.

He reported that he’d received a phone call from the attorneys representing RES and they were concerned that Anadarco may show up at the hearing tomorrow evening asking for a Surface Use Agreement. The hearing is being held because RES wants to amend the wind farm permit by changing to smaller wind turbines and increasing the number of them. The concern with Anadarco is that they are extremely difficult to work with and RES doesn’t believe they need the Surface Use Agreement, anyway. Apparently, Anadarco showed up in Elbert County and requested the agreement there as well, but Elbert County said they did not need one. Mr. Kimble was of the opinion that there is no need for the agreement, either, but wanted to know the Board’s position on it. Lincoln County is satisfied with the development permit just the way it is.

After reviewing information from Mr. Kimble regarding the appointment of a tourism board and determining what would be needed in the way of board members and rules and regulations, Mr. Burgess made a motion to adopt a resolution establishing a lodging tax fund and creating a five-member panel. Rules and regulations for the administration of the fund will be established at a later date through by-laws of the organization, but the county commissioners will have the authority to approve or disprove final decisions made regarding those rules. Mr. Beedy 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 November 17, 2008, there were present:

Ted Lyons, Chairman Present

Steve Burgess, Vice Chairman Present

Gary A. Beedy, Commissioner Present

Stan Kimble, County Attorney Present

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 #700 It was moved by Commissioner Burgess and seconded by Commissioner Beedy to adopt the following resolution:

WHEREAS, on November 4, 2008 the electors of Lincoln County approved a lodging tax pursuant to C.R.S. §30-11-107.5, such lodging tax not to exceed 2%; and

WHEREAS, approval of the lodging tax requires the creation of a special fund and the appointment of a citizen panel to administer said fund;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County that the Lincoln County Lodging Tax Tourism Fund is hereby created to account for the receipt and expenditure of the lodging taxes collected pursuant to C.R.S. §30-11-107.5(4)(a); and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all revenue collected from such county lodging tax, except for that retained by the Colorado Department of Revenue pursuant to §30-11-107.5(2)(b) for the collection, administration and enforcement of said tax, and that pursuant to §30-11-107.5 (II) (c) for reimbursement to the Lincoln County General Fund for the costs of the election, shall be credited to said special fund; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a five member Citizen Panel composed of one representative from each municipality in the county and one from the Karval area shall be appointed to administer the Lodging Tax Tourism Fund; the rules and regulations for said Citizen Panel to be established at a later date, with input from the panel members and the County Commissioners, with final approval by the 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

Mr. Kimble’s final item to report was that he would be attending the county attorneys’ winter conference next week and would talk to his colleagues regarding the prairie dog issue.

Ms. Devers asked if the Board wanted Mr. Kimble to review the information on the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, as she was unclear as to whether or not they could appoint a representative such as Scott Ravenkamp. The decision was made that Ms. Devers would contact someone with the Authority to clarify the issue.

Ms. Devers also said that there was some concern with county treasurers statewide regarding the new public health bill affecting their bonds in terms of additional responsibilities. She said that she was under the impression that nothing much would change in Lincoln County, other than the department name and Tonda Scott’s title. Mr. Kimble said he would check into it.

Mr. Lyons said he would also like Mr. Kimble to check into whether or not Kit Carson County could sublease the property the radio tower sits on at Cedar Point to Lincoln County, as we would like to buy the tower if possible, and Ms. Devers added that the county owns two repeaters on the tower. She gave him a copy of the lease agreement that was made, but said she had not been able to find anything regarding subleasing, and Mr. Burgess clarified that the tower is actually in Elbert County at Cedar Point.

Stacey Phythian stopped in to thank the Board for hiring her as the new RSVP Director and said she would like to continue working on the bookmobile this week and will need to fill in for Katie Zipperer on December 11, as she had already scheduled to attend a meeting that day. She will continue her job with the Tobacco grant until December 5 and added there are some things there that she would like to see through. She will start as full-time RSVP Director on November 24. Ms. Phythian added that she would like to request that Melody Maskus be allowed to assist her at least for five more days, as there is too much for her to learn at this point.

When the Board agreed that she could have Ms. Maskus help no more than a total of ten days, Ms. Phythian asked if she would need to contact Kit Carson County and let them know. Mr. Lyons said it would probably be a nice courtesy and Mr. Beedy asked that she check with the Kit Carson County commissioners to see if they would be willing to allow her to do the training as part of her new job, rather than paying her twice. He added that Becky Carter might be able to offer her some assistance also.

Ms. Phythian asked what had been agreed to regarding salary, and Mr. Burgess said they had agreed on $1,908.00 per month, with a six-month review.

Social Services Director Colette Barksdale and caseworker Mimi Lyons then met with the Board to discuss the attorney bids. After discussing how much each attorney had bid and determining that Darla Scranton Specht came in with the low bid, Mr. Burgess said he just has a problem with so much money being taken out of the county. Ms. Barksdale said she would agree to a compromise of allowing Stan Kimble to take over the Child Support and Juvenile Delinquency portions and would leave the Child Welfare cases with Ms. Specht, if the Board were so inclined to split it up that way.

Mr. Burgess made a motion to allow Stan Kimble to take over the Child Support and Juvenile Delinquency portions at $110 per hour and to allow Darla Scranton Specht to continue on with Child Support Enforcement. The motion died due to lack of a second.

After further discussion, wherein it was determined that the county is actually paying less for the attorney services with Ms. Specht than they would be with Mr. Kimble, Mr. Beedy made a motion to renew Darla Scranton Specht’s contract as the Department of Social Services attorney, at the current rate, for 2009. Mr. Lyons seconded the motion, which passed with Mr. Beedy and Mr. Lyons voting yes, and Mr. Burgess voting no.

Mr. Lyons asked Ms. Barksdale if she would continue to monitor how much is spent and if she could break out the paralegal fees, and she said she would do so, both for 2008 and 2009.

Mimi Lyons suggested that when they send the contract out for bid the next time they could break it apart then and ask for separate bids on the different components.

Once Mimi Lyons had gone, Mr. Burgess asked Ms. Barksdale to clarify her request for a step raise. He said they were under the impression that she is a contract employee; not on the same Step and Level scale that the other county employees are, but Ms. Barksdale said they had always just treated her pay increases in the same manner. She added that she hasn’t ever asked for more than the normal raises that the other employees get. The Board also discussed office closures, meetings and other issues with Ms. Barksdale.

After Ms. Barksdale’s departure, Mr. Beedy reported that he participated in the Northeast All-Hazards meeting by phone on November 13, and then attended the Plains Medical Center event that evening. On the Fourteenth, he attended the STAC meeting in Denver. He said it did not appear that Lincoln County would be getting the funding to have Highway 287 redone, as the funding continues to decrease. He added that the recommendations for the 2010 budget have already dropped considerably.

Mr. Burgess reported that he and Mr. Lyons attended the meeting with Kit Carson County officials in Flagler on November 7, and they had hired Stacey Phythian for the RSVP Director position. On November 10, he attended the Baby Bear Hugs meeting in Yuma, and also talked to Katie Zipperer regarding lack of attendance at the bookmobile. They are planning to add a small flyer to the newspaper to get interest back. On November 13, Mr. Burgess attended the Centennial Mental Health meeting, as well as the Plains Medical Center fundraiser. There was a Rural Solutions meeting on November 14, but since the weather was bad, he and the other board members decided not to attend.

Mr. Lyons reported that he went by the ASCS office and talked to Brian Johnson about the tree windbreaks for District One, and that he’d also spoken with Christie Gay with RC&D. He commented that he may decide to be on the board if they still need him to. Mr. Lyons also went by the landfill and Mick told him they are going to start hauling manure, so he suggested that they take at least half of the fuel cost out of the landfill budget. He added that everything at the landfill had been baled and wanted to know if they should put in some type of windbreak along the fence on the north side. Mr. Beedy said there had been some pine trees there at one time, but that Eric Angus removed them; although no one really knew the reason why. Mr. Lyons also attended the Lincoln County Stockmen dinner on November 15 and said he’d explained what was happening with the prairie dog issue and several said they planned on attending the December 8 commissioner meeting.

Ms. Devers reported that the Genoa Fire Department would like to rejoin the EMS Council and asked if the Board would vote to approve it. Mr. Beedy made a motion to allow the Genoa Fire Department to rejoin the EMS Council. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Janitor Nova Waite will be out for at least another six weeks on medical leave, and since Shayla Morgan is no longer willing to clean the courthouse, Ms. Devers said she had asked Dean Waite to work the extra hours with the understanding that he gives them to Nova. Mr. Waite did not have a problem with that, but Mr. Burgess said he felt they would need to meet with the Waites as soon as possible to discuss what will happen at the end of that six weeks.

Ms. Devers said she’d spoken with Greg Etl regarding the DOLA grant for the loader, and he told her to ask for fifty percent of the amount after the trade-in, so the total request will be for $92,700. She still has a bit of work to do on the application.

Ms. Devers had received an e-mail from Northeast Colorado Department of Public Health requesting a letter of support for developing a debris management plan that would be utilized if a community disaster occurred resulting in large amounts of property damage, so Mr. Burgess made a motion to send a letter of support for the plan; Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously.

Ms. Devers had checked into the cost of a new county van, and Limon Chrysler had one new 2008 and two used 2008 Dodge Caravans. The cost of the new van was $28,000, while the used ones were $19,995 and $17,200, depending on their mileage. Anderson Motors had a couple of used vans as well. Mr. Burgess said Chris Monks might be able to tell them if there is anything on state bid, but she had done so and there were no vans available. Discussion ensued as to whether or not they should purchase a car instead, but everyone agreed that a van is better. No decision was made and further discussion was tabled for the time being.

Travis Nall came back and said he’d spoken with electrician Leo Hurtado, who told him that they would have to run a line back to the breaker box in order to use a unit with twenty-five amps. He said that Mr. Beedy had mentioned using a timer and Mr. Burgess asked Travis if he would be able to put in whatever they decided to purchase, which he could. The Board chose to purchase a gas hot water heater as small as they could get and Travis will check on timers.

New business included an e-mail to Mr. Beedy from Pat Vice regarding a prospective manufacturing facility in the county wanting to know if the county had tax incentives to offer. Mr. Beedy said he would find out if there was a need for the commissioners to send a letter of support of the project.

As for old business, Mr. Burgess said he’d been looking at the large difference in what each district had been using in regard to fuel, and wondered if they should consider contracting with a local company for fuel purchases. He said that the only disadvantage would be that some companies require you to take whatever fuel you contract for, even if you don’t use that much, and they would have nowhere to store it. Mr. Lyons said he had already had a conversation with Chris Monks about it.

Greg King had stopped by during Ms. Barksdale’s meeting with the Board, and Mr. Burgess said that he’s received notice that Lincoln County hadn’t qualified for the livestock feed program because there had not been eight consecutive weeks of drought in the county. He wanted to know if the Board should send letters to Senator Salazar and Congresswoman Musgrave complaining about the outcome, and Mr. Burgess said he would put something together.

Mr. Lyons brought up the issue regarding the two percent sales tax on agricultural chemicals and fertilizer, and again no decision was made. Mr. Burgess asked Ms. Devers to bring the information back again to the next meeting and they would put the issue to rest. Mr. Lyons asked Ms. Devers to contact the Colorado Department of Revenue Sales Tax Division and see how they would penalize the companies who have not been charging the sales tax.

Ms. Devers had received a letter from Jo Downey stating that the CDBG contract was on hold and in order to finalize it there was need for a signature from the chairman. Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the CDBG Disclosure Report. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously and then, with no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on November 25, 2008.

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