The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on October 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. Kay Christie with The Limon Leader and the Eastern Colorado Plainsman attended as well.

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though Perry Brewer, Kit Carson County Extension Agent, was scheduled to meet with the Board at 9:05 a.m., he was unable to make it at that time, due to inclement weather. Ms. Devers said she had told him to come as soon as he could make it.

Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on October 16, 2009, with the addition: "transit and". Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Beedy then made a motion to cancel County General check #12533, written on October 6, 2009 to Matt Powell, in the amount of $277.02, as the check was never received. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed the September report of revenues and expenditures for the Public Health Department, as well as renewal information for the employee Cafeteria Plan. After a brief discussion, Mr. Burgess made a motion to determine that the 2010 limits remain the same as those in 2009. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

After reviewing a letter of intent to participate in and support the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Community Energy Coordinator Regional application, Mr. Burgess made a motion to sign the letter. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

A letter of support for Plains Medical Center to obtain funding through the PHHS Block Grant Program was reviewed, as well as the signed Notice of Award with McCauley Constructors, Inc. for the roundhouse roof.

Additional forms for the USDA Rural Development grant application from the county for an 800 MHz console and storage for county generators were reviewed, and Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign forms AD1048 and AD1049. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Beedy reported that on October 19, he attended the Eastern TPR meeting in Akron. He was scheduled to attend the Colorado East meeting on the Twenty-second, but it was cancelled, due to bad weather. On the Twenty-eighth, he went to Karval to see the new fuel tank being set, but again, because of the weather, the project was put on hold.

Mr. Burgess reported that he attended a mental health meeting in Akron on October 20, where Jeannie Ritter was the speaker, and on the Twenty-second, he checked roads in his district because of the weather.

Mr. Burgess said he also talked to Pete Niemann with Big R, who said he would come out and meet with the commissioners one day and they would look at some of the bridges in the county to decide how they wanted to address replacement.

Mr. Burgess asked Ms. Devers if the bill for the soil testing done at Thompsons would come out of the bridge fund, to which she replied that it would. He added that he had received an e-mail from Ojukwu Abiakam, with CDOT Traffic Operations, asking if the county would be using county funds to pay for the design phase. Ms. Devers said that if the county doesn't pay for it and they try to use the other funding, they will be required to provide an RFP. Mr. Burgess said his idea was to use about $10,000 on the project in his district and $25,000 to $30,000 for the bridge in District Three.

Mr. Beedy said it would depend on whether or not they chose to replace the bridge in District Three with another bridge, as the design phase for an actual bridge would be far more than $30,000. He added that he felt the cement work should be done by someone professional, and Mr. Burgess agreed.

Mr. Burgess also said he spoke with Chris Monks the day before and he had said the road crews worked between twelve and thirteen hours to clear the roads after the recent storm. Mr. Burgess commented that he felt it was working out quite well to have given Chris the power to move equipment around.

Mr. Lyons reported that he was called for jury duty on October 21, but he did not have to report, and on the Twenty-fourth, he met with Jay Jolly, who had requested he do so to discuss his road getting too flat. Mr. Lyons will speak with Chris about it. On October 24, Mr. Lyons checked the road by Jay Jolly's, as well as County Road 25. He said that any problems seem to have come from the weather. On October 25, Mr. Lyons spoke with Merlyn Stum regarding parking at the old People's Regional Clinic during commodity pick-up days. He talked to Herman Schreivogel about it on the Twenty-seventh. Earlier this morning, Mr. Lyons received a phone call from Cheyenne County Commissioner Bob Paintin regarding The Nature Conservancy's interest in purchasing the south half of the Cage Ranch that Harold Yoder leases. Apparently, a portion of the ranch lies in Lincoln County. Mr. Paintin told Mr. Lyons that Scott Johnson and several others are attempting to obtain GOCO funds for it. Since the Cheyenne County commissioners are also having a meeting today, Mr. Lyons told Mr. Paintin to call if they had any questions.

Mr. Paintin also told Mr. Lyons that the Southeast Colorado Recycling has worked out a deal for a five-year lease for the building. On the Twenty-seventh, Mr. Lyons went by the landfill and also stopped by Genoa to watch them set the fuel tank.

Ms. Devers reported that she had paid the first bill for the hospital electrical project and submitted a request to DOLA for reimbursement. She wanted to know if she should continue to bill LCH on a monthly basis or if the Board preferred she submit one bill when everything was completed. Mr. Burgess' only comment was that he would like to have it all finished up by the end of the year, if possible, and he felt that one bill would be sufficient.

Ms. Devers also said that she was to attend a Local Agency meeting in Limon the day before, as someone from the county must attend; otherwise, they are not eligible for funding. However, the meeting was cancelled without her knowledge and re-scheduled for November 18, which is a commissioner meeting date. She asked if the Board wanted to change the date of the meeting or if she should just be absent that morning. Since the Local Agency meeting is from 8:00 a.m. until noon, the Board agreed that she should attend that and skip the commissioner meeting.

Mr. Lyons called for old business and Ms. Devers submitted a copy of the proposed 2010 salaries for Social Services.

As for new business, Ms. Devers said that the commissioners were invited to a coffee in honor of Mark Udall on Saturday, October 31, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Limon Town Hall. Mr. Beedy said that Mr. Udall also plans to be at the hospital at 1:00 p.m. that same day, so Mr. Lyons said he would try to drop in there.

At 10:00 a.m., Perry Brewer, Extension Agent in Kit Carson County, arrived to speak with the Board to discuss any issues concerning the office. He wanted it to be clear that he has no intention of taking over the Lincoln County Extension Office; his only purpose is to keep a good program going and make sure that everything continues to run smoothly. He said he has a very good working relationship with Amy Solomon, and that he believes in neighbors helping neighbors. He asked if the Board had any current concerns, and Mr. Burgess said that he just wanted to be certain that the 4-H program not fall behind in any way, as far as enrollments for the new year. Mr. Brewer said he and several others, including Ms. Solomon, would be attending training in La Junta for the new enrollment program, and he would do his best to keep the program running efficiently.

Mr. Burgess asked Mr. Brewer if he had any information regarding the hiring of a director, and Mr. Brewer's response was that if everything goes well, it should take anywhere from eight-to-ten months. On the other hand, he warned that it has been known to take two years or more if things do not work out.

Ms. Devers said that she had only received one response regarding providing auditing services to the county, and the commissioners would be meeting with Ronny Farmer the next afternoon. However, she wanted to know if the Board would like for her to continue searching, as there were some other companies that she had not sent letters to that do audits for larger counties. The Board agreed that they should have more than one option, so Ms. Devers will contact some of the other companies.

The Board had received information that the roads were being closed due to the weather, so Mr. Burgess made a motion to adjourn the meeting until the following day, in order to allow employees to leave. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Ms. Devers asked how long she should keep the courthouse open, and the Board agreed to close the building at noon.

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

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