Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for September 29, 2009

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

9:05 Public Health Director Tonda Scott to present and discuss the job applications for her position. Lincoln Community Hospital CEO Herman Schreivogel and Hospital Emergency Preparedness Response (EPR) Coordinator Mark Morrison will also discuss a combined EPR position for the hospital and the county. Mr. Schreivogel will present the hospital’s 2010 budget request.

10:00 Social Services Director Colette Barksdale to give her monthly report and Joe Carrica, Field Administrator with the Colorado Department of Human Services, to discuss human services issues and to answer questions

1. Approve payroll and expense vouchers

2. Approve the minutes from the September 17 and 22, 2009 meetings

3. Review the August reports of revenues and expenditures for Road & Bridge

4. Review and choose the Employer Options from the County Health Pool for 2010

5. Review information from the Assessor’s Office concerning additional employee costs due to the training of two new employees

6. Review a letter from Frogard Ryan with The Nature Conservancy giving an update on fencing issues and spraying of noxious weeds on the Brett Gray Ranch and an email inviting you to lunch at the Rush Café on October 3, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.

7. Review a letter from the State Board of Land Commissioners concerning the process of evaluating whether to dispose of 6,289.85 acres of property in Lincoln County

8. County Commissioners’ reports

9. County Administrator’s report

10. Old business

11. New business

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

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then Public Health Director Tonda Scott, Lincoln Community Hospital CEO Herman Schreivogel, and hospital Emergency Preparedness Response (EPR) Coordinator Mark Morrison met with the Board to discuss numerous issues.

Ms. Scott needed to present and discuss job applications for her position, Mr. Schreivogel and Mr. Morrison—along with Ms. Scott—were there to discuss a combined EPR position for the hospital and the county, and Mr. Schreivogel also needed to present and discuss the 2010 budget request for the hospital.

Ms. Scott began by saying that she actually did not have any job applicants, but presented the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Scope of Work, stating that the total contract in the amount of $19,736.00 was split up with $16,438.00 being the Core EPR funding, and the remaining $3,298.00 set aside for H1N1. She added that funding will be received in three phases, and the original amount is for Phase I alone. Phases II and III will bring in another $33,236.00. The funding will not be given in a lump sum, but rather, Ms. Scott said whoever is in charge of the program will be required to submit vouchers and will then be reimbursed after the expenditures are approved. The question was asked as to what the funding award is based on, and Ms. Scott responded that much of it is paperwork; such as, developing a plan and medical surge drills, as well as performing the actual required activities.

Mr. Lyons felt that the problem in hiring a person just to perform the EPR duties was that if the grant funding is taken away, then the employee is out of a job, too. Ms. Scott disagreed; stating that PPHR, or Project Public Health Readiness, will be the EPR allocation tool in the future. Her feeling is that EPR is far too important for it to ever go away, so PPHR is more than likely to take over the funding.

Discussion again ensued as to having a nurse or paramedic hired to carry out the EPR job duties, and Mr. Schreivogel asked if there was a job description available for the Public Health Director position. Ms. Devers said she was sure she had one and then asked Ms. Scott if she felt the hospital and county sharing an employee for the EPR duties would be a workable solution. Ms. Scott said it probably would, although she felt there would be some crossover.

Mr. Schreivogel asked Ms. Scott for a chronological list of deadlines for the various portions of EPR, and her response was that the majority of things need to be done by June of 2010.

Ms. Devers asked Mark Morrison if there was someone at the hospital who might be interested in the position and was told that there might be, but they would not be available for at least a year.

Mr. Schreivogel asked Mr. Morrison if he thought he could go through the Scope of Work that Ms. Scott had provided and make a chronological list of activities and deadlines so that it was more easily understood what the priorities are. Mark agreed and they will get together with Ms. Scott to see what they can come up with.

Mr. Burgess asked when they might have something compiled, and Mark said it would depend on what else he had going on, but that it would take a few hours to put it all together. It was decided that if the Board needs to hold a special meeting, they will do so.

Ms. Devers asked the Board if they still wanted her to advertise for a Public Health Director, and they agreed to put ads in the Denver Post and Mile Saver Shopper.

Mr. Schreivogel produced a copy of the 2010 budget summary for Lincoln Community Hospital and went over it with the Board.

At 10:00 a.m., Social Services Director Colette Barksdale met with the Board to give her monthly report. Joe Carrica, Field Administrator with the Colorado Department of Human Services, accompanied Ms. Barksdale to discuss human services issues and to answer any questions the Board may have. Robert Kraxberger was also in attendance.

The Board reviewed the financial and attendance reports for the department, and Ms. Barksdale shared more thank-you notes for the school supplies. She then informed the commissioners that there were already a couple of changes to her 2010 budget, and that there would most likely be other changes, as well.

Ms. Barksdale said that she had briefly discussed the AND program with the Board at a prior meeting, and had come up with what she felt was a viable solution. There are currently two Lincoln County residents on the program, and they will be able to put one of them back on TANF. The other is working on an appeal process for social security and has no family. Since the state telephone assistance funding is being eliminated, and the rule with HUD is that if the party has no income, their housing benefits are taken away, Ms. Barksdale felt it would be best to use the county share of $1,000 and provide the person with a monthly income. That way, they will get to keep their housing and someone from the Social Services department can help them with their appeal process. Ms. Barksdale said that if it was agreeable with the commissioners, she would put together a resolution that adds guidelines to the policy so there is no question of discrimination, and present it to the Board the next time she meets with them.

Brief discussion was held regarding funding and state changes within the department, and since the Board had no questions for Joe Carrica, they thanked him for coming.

Robert Kraxberger commented on a new program that will allow on-line applications for food stamps and family medical, and Ms. Barksdale added that Lincoln County is to be a pilot county for Child Care starting next May. She explained some of the details of the program and then said she would come before the Board at a later time as there would need to be some county policy changes made.

Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on September 17, 2009, as submitted and to approve the September 22, 2009, minutes with the following correction: add “once the hydraulic study has been completed,”. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

After reviewing the August reports of revenues and expenditures for the Road & Bridge fund, the Employer Options for the County Health Pool for 2010 were reviewed. Ms. Devers and Mr. Beedy had attended the CHP meeting on September 24 and learned that the medical insurance will only increase by four percent, while the dental and vision coverage will remain the same.

Mr. Burgess made a motion to make no changes to the Employer Options for the 2010 plan year for the county’s health insurance, which means employee coverage remains the same as 2009. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Information from the Assessor’s office concerning additional employee costs due to the training of two new employees was reviewed, and then the Board read a letter from Frogard Ryan with The Nature Conservancy giving an update on fencing issues and spraying of noxious weeds on the Brett Gray Ranch, and an e-mail inviting the commissioners to lunch at the Rush Café on October 3, 2009, at 1:30 p.m.

A letter from the State Board of Land Commissioners regarding the process of evaluating the disposal of 6,289.85 acres of property in Lincoln County was also reviewed.

Mr. Beedy reported that he attended the rail meeting on September 17, which was the reason he’d left the commissioner meeting early that day, and really had nothing to report as a consequence of the meeting. He informed the others that Scott McGuiness, candidate for governor, is scheduled to speak in Limon on October 20, which brought up discussion regarding the commissioner meeting on the Nineteenth. Since there was another conflict, the commissioners decided to re-schedule their meeting for October 16. Mr. Beedy also attended the CHP meeting with Ms. Devers on September 24.

Extension Director Linda Yoder dropped by the meeting with the news that the letter the commissioners sent to CSU Extension Director Deb Young had been approved, meaning the county would be allowed to hire an extension director as a county employee, as long as changes are made to the MOU. Ms. Yoder was very excited and said the Board would be receiving a letter from Ms. Young making things official, and added that Ms. Young had said the letter from Lincoln County was one of the better composed letters she had ever received. The Board gave Ms. Devers the credit, stating she was the one who had actually written the letter.

Mr. Burgess reported that he’d attended the CCI Child Welfare Action Committee meeting on September 21, and met with Chris Monks and John Rowe, the CAT representative with Wagner Equipment, on September 22 regarding the grader they traded in that was having so many mechanical problems. Wagner agreed to absorb the finance charges from March through September, and also took an additional $7,000 off of the price, so Mr. Burgess said they had saved roughly $14,000. If they can pay it off in 2010, then they will save a total of approximately $29,000. On September 24, Mr. Burgess attended another Child Welfare Action Committee meeting in Denver, and on the Twenty-eighth, his road district put a ten-foot pipe in on County Road 28.

Mr. Lyons reported that he received a phone call from a gentleman by the name of Guy Walkingstick on September 23, who said he was interested in leasing minerals that the county owns on Section 3, Township Thirteen; Range 54 West. Mr. Lyons told him they would agree to do so for $10 per acre/per year, for a term of three years. He also received a phone call from Scott Ravenkamp and another from Charlie Allis. He attended the hospital board meeting on September 24.

Ms. Devers said she had nothing to report other than the fact that the roundhouse roof project had become something of a nightmare, as she had learned that CDOT will not agree to the Board’s reasoning for not accepting the lowest bid from McCauley. A couple of gentleman with Sprung Constructors had been out with one of the subcontractors that McCauley had said they would use for work on the roof, and the sub hadn’t even seen the building yet, even though he was listed in McCauley’s bid as the one selected to do the work. Ms. Devers could not understand why CDOT would not accept the Board’s decision, and the commissioners wondered if CDOT would then cover the remainder of the cost if they are forced to have McCauley do the work and they find that they can’t do the project for the amount they originally bid, or worse, ruin the building in the process.

Ms. Devers said she intended to call Richard Ott, the gentleman at CDOT who has said they will not allow the Board to take Sprung Constructors bid. She also said she put it on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting when Mr. Kimble can be in attendance.

A phone call was made to Carl Dutro to see if he would be interested in taking over the vending machines in the courthouse lobby, as Wes Randolph said he doesn’t have time to service them, and he said he would check into it and get back to the Board after lunch.

When the meeting reconvened after lunch, the Board continued with old business.

Mr. Burgess said that Ken Morrison told him he’d heard from Greg King that RES is buying out the contracts on CRP ground so that they can begin putting up wind towers next August.

He also had checked out a pick-up with a camper shell that an individual was interested in selling, in the hopes that it may be used for a coroner vehicle, but it only has a six-foot bed on the pick-up, so it wouldn’t be feasible.

Mr. Burgess asked Ms. Lengel if she had received a quote from ImageBASE, LLC for record digitization, since she had asked for $30,000 to begin the project in her 2010 budget request. She said she had not yet received anything, and it would most likely be mid-October before it was finished. Mr. Burgess asked if Cooper-Clark would fund or partially fund a project such as that, but Ms. Devers said the organization had to be a 501c3.

Ms. Lengel said that she had picked the number simply as a place to start, as she felt the whole project will run $300,000, if not more. She added that she had no idea what the ramifications would be if her office could not produce a document for someone requesting a copy of one, and that it is never going to get cheaper to begin the digitization.

Mr. Beedy agreed that it is definitely something that needs to be done.

Two checks had come in the mail from Newfield Productions, addressed to Mr. Lyons, and he said they must be from Guy Walkingstick, who had left him the phone message about the mineral leases on September 23. Ms. Devers said there was no cover letter or explanation of any kind on the checks, and the check amounts did not coincide with what Mr. Lyons had told him it would cost for a lease, nor was there any lease paperwork included in the envelope. One was in the amount of $273.00 and listed 54.60 acres in Section 3-13-54, but the other check in the amount of $291.80 only listed 58.36 acres in 13-54, with no section number. No one could understand the name of the company Mr. Walkingstick was with when they listened to Mr. Lyons’ phone message, so a call was placed to the number given by Mr. Walkingstick. However, when the Board called him back, he was not there, so they left him a message.

Carl Dutro was then called again to see if he had checked into purchasing or leasing vending machines, and he said the best bet would be to buy a used one, as new ones cost about $2,500. He said the pop machines would not be a problem, but the candy machine might be more difficult to obtain. He said he could easily get a pop machine from Pepsi and the Board let him know that there is actually one in the building that does not belong to Wes Randolph, so Pepsi might allow him to take that one over. Carl said he would come over and look at what machines are in the courthouse, and then he will contact Pepsi and see what he can do.

A phone call was placed to Floyd Bierd with BOCES to let him know that a Public Health Director would not be hired anytime soon, as Ms. Scott had not received any applications yet. Mr. Bierd said he was working with Plains Medical Center, as he has to have someone with a BSN/RN sign off on several documents by next Friday.

Guy Walkingstick called back, but could not answer any of the Board’s questions regarding the mineral leases, so he said he would do further research and then call them back. Mr. Lyons suggested that he fax a contract or lease agreement to the Board, and gave him Ms. Devers’ fax number.

There was no other new business, so the Board approved the payroll and several expense vouchers for the month of September, 2009.

Betsy Rumely with Newfield Productions then called and informed the Board that both lease files had been misplaced. She asked if someone could check into whether or not the minerals had ever been sold at tax sale. The Board agreed to do so and said they would call her back during tomorrow’s meeting.

With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on September 30, 2009.

_________________________________________ _____________________________

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