Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County
Agenda for October 30, 2009
9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance
10:00 Robert Kraxberger with Social Services to give the monthly report
1:30 Interview Ronnie Farmer, owner of Rfarmer LLC, about providing audit services for the county
1. Approve additional expense vouchers if necessary
2. Approve the minutes from the October 29, 2009 meeting
3. Review the September and October Tourism Board meeting minutes
4. Review a letter from United States Senator Mark Udall concerning the rescission of transportation funding from Colorado
5. Review information from GMS, Inc. concerning the Town of Arriba’s water system improvements project and requesting a signature on the Application for Drinking Water Construction Approval
6. County Commissioners’ reports
7. County Administrator’s report
8. County Attorney’s report
9. Old business
10. New business
The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:30 a.m. on October 30, 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. County Attorney Stan Kimble attended in the afternoon.
Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then the Board reviewed applications for the Public Health Director position.
Mr. Burgess made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on October 29, 2009, as submitted. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
The Board reviewed the September Tourism Board meeting minutes, and then at 10:00 a.m., Robert Kraxberger with Social Services met with the Board to give the monthly report. After reviewing the September financial and the October case count reports, Mr. Kraxberger submitted a document shredding proposal for the department, stating that they have approximately fifty boxes of old files that must be shredded. State bid options will require a trip to Denver with the documents, as neither of the companies will come onsite for shredding, since they only have the fifty boxes. The cost would be between $200 and $300, including trip expenses. DSS can work with the Limon Chamber of Commerce to have Shred-It come onsite, and Tim Andersen will speak with the chamber members to see if it would be a viable option for them. Shred-It charges $5 and $7, depending on the size of the box, and require a minimum of one hundred boxes before they will come out. Mr. Andersen thought it would not be a problem to come up with another fifty boxes of documents to shred.
Mr. Lyons suggested that something be put in the paper, and that Mr. Kraxberger check with the hospital and other departments to see if they can meet the quota.
There is also an internet option through Docu-vault, which would cost a little less than $350, and they will shred onsite.
The Board reviewed a letter from United States Senator Mark Udall concerning the rescission of transportation funding from Colorado, as well as information from GMS, Inc. regarding the water system improvements project for the Town of Arriba. Since a signature was required on the Application for Drinking Water Construction Approval, Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the application. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
The commissioners had nothing to report, other than weather-related issues; neither did Ms. Devers have a report. They did briefly discuss the fact that trees planted too close to some of the county roads were causing problems with drifting snow, and Mr. Beedy commented that it might benefit them to ask NRCS to educate those that they sell trees to in that regard. He also felt that if NRCS is actually planting the trees, they should be asked to keep them farther back from the roadways.
Also briefly discussed were 2010 budget issues, property tax credits for the proposed wind farm, the Public Health department, and Landfill employee Alan Chubbuck being due a step raise. Ms. Devers had Mick Jaques complete the employee evaluation form, but asked the commissioners to sign off on it.
As for old business, Ms. Devers said she was still a little confused on the Newfield oil and gas leases, and asked the Board what they wanted her to do, since no one had heard anything further. The commissioners all agreed that the checks that were submitted should be accepted, so Ms. Devers will deposit them with the County Treasurer.
Harold Yoder called the commissioners to request a letter of support in order to obtain GOCO funding to help bring down the cost of approximately 37,150 acres of the Cage Ranch so that individuals will be able to purchase it. He said there is a group attempting to purchase a portion of the place, with easements to The Nature Conservancy.
The question was asked as to whether or not they would be perpetual easements and the Board explained that they are not in favor of what happened with the Smith Ranch down south when the Nature Conservancy became involved. Mr. Yoder acknowledged that they would be perpetual easements; however, this situation would be nothing like the Smith Ranch because no public land is involved. He said that it is all private land and private landowners who will be making the purchase and they will split it into individual tracts with individual easements. There will be no loss or decrease of taxes, as the land will be solely maintained for agricultural purposes.
Mr. Beedy said he felt there should be an expiration date on the easements for further generations, but Mr. Yoder said he thought they were continuous.
Ms. Devers asked who the letter would need to be written to and when Mr. Yoder would need it, and he replied that it should go to GOCO and he would like to have it for Monday’s meeting.
The Board all agreed that they would approve the letter of support, and Ms. Devers said she would try to have it finished so they could have it for Monday. Mr. Beedy added that he would like to see a statement in the letter explaining that they felt there should be a thirty-or fifty-year sunset clause requiring payments to future generations.
The October payroll and several October expense vouchers were approved prior to the meeting being adjourned for lunch, and when the meeting re-convened, the Board reviewed the Quarterly Financial Status Report and the Quarterly Employment Report from Prairie Development Corporation.
Ronnie Farmer with Rfarmer LLC then met with the Board to discuss providing audit services for the county. He explained that he had been auditing county records since 1974, he owns a very small firm, and he does all of the audit work himself. He added that he understand the department of Social Services requirements and their computer system, and one thing he is adamant about is that they never get behind in their bookkeeping. Mr. Farmer also said that he does complete the Cost Allocation Plan and the Highway Users Report, when Ms. Devers asked about them, and added that he is very familiar with the landfill reports, as well. Since he has already reviewed the county’s 2008 audit, Mr. Farmer added that he really didn’t see any problems with his performing future audits for Lincoln County if he is chosen for the job.
Mr. Burgess asked if he would charge by the hour and how much that would be if he discovered that he could not do the first year’s audit for the $12,500 he submitted in his proposal. Mr. Farmer responded that it did not matter; however long the audit took, he would not charge more than that amount the first year.
Mr. Lyons asked if he would consider a three-year contract if he is selected for the position and Mr. Farmer said he would actually prefer it that way.
Ms. Devers said he would have to work closely with the Clerk’s office employees and may have to be conscientious of their schedules, which he did not feel was a problem.
Once Mr. Farmer had gone, Mr. Kimble gave his report, stating that he had found several items on the County Attorney list serve lately regarding medical marijuana and the problems it is causing with zoning regulations. He asked if the Board wanted him to stay on top of the issue, as they may want to take a proactive stance to avoid future problems. The commissioners agreed.
Mr. Kimble said the only other item he had to report was that Ms. Devers had sent him the contract for the roundhouse, and the two of them went over it while the Board continued approving the remaining expense vouchers. Ms. Devers had several questions regarding the contract that Mr. Kimble helped her to answer, including several having to do with American Institute of Architects documents, a way to monitor and verify that the sub-contractors are actually being paid throughout the process, and amounts of liability insurance coverage.
Since the Board had pulled the voucher to Hasler, Inc., a company that the Extension Office uses to rent a postage machine, a call was placed to Amy Solomon at the office to ask about it. She said that Ms. Yoder had used it quite a bit, but she didn’t think she would use the machine enough to justify paying over $400 a year for it. She added that if the new director decided they needed one or she discovered that she used it more than she thought, they could always get another one. She was not aware that there is a postage machine in the County Treasurer’s office, and felt that she may be able to use it if she needed to, and said she would cancel the agreement with Hasler, although they would have to pay the current bill since it is for the past quarter.
Mr. Burgess requested that they work on the EPR job description, Road & Bridge supervisor job description, and the Public Health job description at the next meeting, and Ms. Devers said she would set aside some time for that.
With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 9:00 a.m. on November 6, 2009.
__________________________________________ ______________________________
Corinne M. Lengel, Clerk to the Board Ted Lyons, Chairman