Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for February 26, 2009

 

 

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

 

9:05 The Road & Bridge Foremen to discuss road & bridge general operations and issues concerning their individual districts

 

11:00 The members of the Lincoln County Tourism Board will meet with the Commissioners to discuss the procedures necessary to organize the Board

 

 

 

 

1.      Approve payroll and expense vouchers

2.      Approve the minutes from the February 18th meeting

3.      Cancel Public Health Agency Fund check #10682 to Source Business Systems for $738.30 since the check was not received

4.      Review and sign a client information form for the county’s retirement account with Walnut Street Securities, Inc.

5.      Review information from Colorado Counties, Inc. concerning appointments to the Mineral Production Employee Residence Report Oversight Committee

6.      County Commissioners’ reports

7.      County Administrator’s report

8.      Old business

9.      New business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on February 26, 2009.  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 about 10:30 a.m. and left at noon.

 

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then the Road & Bridge foremen met with the Board to discuss general operations and issues concerning their respective districts.  Chris Monks had information for a striping company out of Castle Rock that they may want to consider using for project layout of any striping projects, as the state doesn’t want to be liable for them.   He assumed that County Road 109 should be done between Genoa and Hugo, but didn’t know of any other areas that needed striping.  Mr. Burgess asked if Tony Wernsman could do it, but Chris thought they would probably have to be certified.

 

Chris also said he’d learned a little bit more about crack-sealing the parking lot from the training he and Roger attended last week.  Apparently, making the cracks wider with the router and using more sealant will allow for better expansion and contraction of the asphalt.  He would like to pick up the router and begin the project the first of next week.  Also, if a few French drains or some perforated pipe was put in, it may help to get some of the water from beneath the asphalt.

 

The total to purchase decals for the old style signs at the shop will be $2,686.  District Two has fifty-one signs, which will cost $980.  The Board agreed to spend the money rather than waste the signs.  At least it will put the county closer to being in compliance with the new rules.

 

District One has been hauling gravel and working on the concrete crushing project in Limon, and have also graveled about three miles of road.  They have extended tubes in the eastern portion of the district, and will begin building fence soon.

 

District Three has also helped with the crushing project in Limon and the crews have been hauling concrete and rip-rap.  They are preparing to tear out two bridges and put in tubes on County Road J.

 

District Two has been hauling chips, working on the crushing project, stock-piling rip-rap, fixing areas in the Breaks that were damaged due to storms, and will now begin work crack-sealing.

 

Mr. Burgess told the foremen that the grant for the loader was approved and according to the letter from DOLA, the county would receive $92,700.  Ms. Devers put in that the funding is contingent upon the county developing an Equipment Replacement Plan, and that the contract will not be signed and no funds will be received until that plan is in place.  Discussion was held regarding what would be put in the plan, and Ms. Devers will type it up for the Board to sign at tomorrow’s meeting.

 

Mr. Burgess brought up sharing equipment amongst the road districts; at least dozers and backhoes.  He felt it is hard to justify only putting three or four hundred hours of usage on a piece of equipment in a year’s time, and thought that there should be one piece of equipment and one operator.  District Four would be in control of them.  Mr. Lyons wanted to know how usage would be scheduled, as he felt that would be the biggest problem with attempting such a plan.  Chris said he did not want to be responsible for repairs or making sure that the equipment was taken care of, and Mr. Burgess said that was why he felt they should have one operator per unit, but there were several concerns with the idea.

 

Ms. Devers said she wanted everyone to know that she’d spoken with Greg Etl at DOLA, who told her that DOLA would no longer fund specific pieces of equipment.  They would rather fund a specific dollar amount to counties to purchase new equipment.

 

Mr. Burgess said he wanted to split the grant money evenly among the districts, and would like to pursue the purchase of a fuel storage tank for District Two with their share.  David Seymour agreed that they would like to have more storage in District Three, as well.

 

Chris wanted to know if the Board wanted to purchase the extended warranty for the new loader, and everyone agreed that they are well worth the cost when it comes to equipment.

 

Ms. Devers said that Steve Marshall with COBITCO let her know that the company will now be using a month-to-month price structure, and he will send one out for March.

 

A brief discussion was held regarding the tandem axle truck wanted by the Edison Fire Department, and Mr. Beedy and David agreed they would sell theirs for $5,000.  Mr. Lyons wanted to know if the Board needed to send the fire department a letter, and Mr. Beedy said he would do so when he found out for sure if they wanted the truck, since they had not even looked at it yet.

 

Roger Noakes wanted to know if the county could charge a tip fee for taking rip-rap, as they have been stock-piling it in Genoa.  He doesn’t want Genoa to become a dump site, but since they cannot stock-pile concrete at the landfill, due to state regulations, he said they need to keep it somewhere, and if he is approached by contractors, he would like to be able to charge for it.

 

Ms. Devers said she could make a new category in the budget for the fees so that they could be used from year-to-year, kind of like the bridge fund, and Roger said they would have to develop some guidelines for accountability of the money.  Mr. Beedy said he would rather not stock-pile it in Genoa, and didn’t understand why the state wouldn’t allow it to be kept at the landfill.  He thought they should check with the state again to see if there wasn’t something they could do since they would reuse the material again.  The decision was made to ask Mick Jaques to contact the state and see if they would be allowed to stock-pile at the landfill for the purpose of recycling.

 

Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on February 18, 2009, once the following correction had been made:  change “forty-two” to “one hundred and sixty-one".  Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

 

Mr. Beedy made a motion to cancel Public Health Agency Fund check #10682 to Source Business Systems for $738.30, since the check was not received.  Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed and signed a client information form for the county’s retirement account with Walnut Street Securities, Inc., and also reviewed information from Colorado Counties, Inc. concerning appointments to the Mineral Production Employee Residence Report Oversight Committee.  The letter to the High Plains Soil Conservation District regarding the High Plains Invasive Weed Grant was also signed.

 

Mr. Beedy reported he attended CCI on February 20 and the bill to take away some of the control that DOW has regarding oil and gas permits died in committee.  On the Twenty-third, he attended the Economic Development Council board meeting in the morning, and that evening all of the commissioners attended the C.A.R.R. meeting.

 

Mr. Burgess reported that he received a call from Wayne Brown with CDOT on February 20, and they have used up all the dirt from the Fisher pit that was available.  Since the county still owes the state nine hundred loads of dirt, they will try to take down a portion of the hill at the Gaede pit.  On the Twenty-third, Mr. Burgess checked both the Gaede pit and the Fisher pit, and put in a call to Ken Morrison to find out for sure what portion of the Gaede pit is permitted.  On February 25, he attended the Child Welfare Action Committee meetings, and Lincoln County has been selected as one of eight counties that will work on organization.  Earlier this morning, Mr. Burgess stopped at K.C. Electric and spoke with Ben Orrell regarding alternative energy resource promotion and whether or not it would greatly affect them if the county would try solar or some other resource.  He said they may want to meet with the commissioners.

 

Mr. Lyons reported that he received a phone call from Christie Gay with RC&D, who told him that they are looking into a grant for wind generators for some of the local schools.

 

At 11:00 a.m., members of the Lincoln County Tourism Board met with the commissioners to discuss procedures necessary to organize their board.  After several questions, the group decided to hold their first meeting, and did so in the courthouse lounge.

 

Ms. Devers reported that there had been a small issue with a past county employee who was on the county’s retirement plan for several years.  The fund that his payments were coming out of was finally closed, so she asked if it would be acceptable to just send the employee a check on a quarterly basis.  The Board agreed.  She also updated the Board on the Energy and Security grant; the x-ray machine that was originally quoted at $14,000 is now closer to $20,000, so she asked Greg Etl what to do to transfer some of the money that wasn’t used when the false ceilings were replaced.  He told her to send him the information.  Travis Nall ordered the mirrors, and is also working on the restroom ceiling in the courts, since it was missed when the other restrooms were done.

 

As for old business, Mr. Lyons said he’d received some other information from T.S. Dudley, but had neglected to bring it.

 

Mr. Burgess asked if the next day’s meeting time could be changed, as he would like to attend Representative Cory Gardner’s presentation in Limon at 8:00 a.m., which goes until 9:00 a.m.  Since he is also coming to Hugo, the Board decided they would see if Ms. Barksdale could meet with them later today rather than at 10:00 a.m. on the Twenty-seventh, so that they could all attend Mr. Gardner’s presentation in Hugo. 

 

Kay Christie said she’d put an article in the newspaper regarding Elbert County increasing the stipulations on their fire ban, and wanted to know if Lincoln County intended to put a ban into effect, or if she could help by further cautioning the public through the paper.  The Board all agreed that they did not yet want to put on a fire ban and encouraged her to continue articles such as she had written.

 

Discussion was held regarding utility lines at the fairgrounds and when the Board returned at 1:00 p.m., they approved the February payroll and expense vouchers for the month.

 

The decision was made to start the following day’s meeting at the regularly scheduled time, and to call Ms. Barksdale when they were ready for her report.  They will attend Representative Gardner’s presentation in Hugo at 10:00 a.m.

 

With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on February 27, 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________                      ____________________________

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