Board of County Commissioners of Lincoln County

Agenda for November 25, 2009

9:00 Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance

9:05 Approve payroll and expense vouchers

1. Approve the minutes from the November 18, 2009 meeting

2. Review and sign a letter to the District Attorney, 18^th Judicial District, requesting the Miscellaneous Revenue report from 2003 through 2008

3. County Commissioners’ reports

4. Old business

5. New business

The Board of Lincoln County Commissioners met at 9:00 a.m. on November 25, 2009. The following attended: Chairman Ted Lyons, Commissioners Steve Burgess and Gary Beedy, and Clerk to the Board Corinne M. Lengel. County Administrator Roxie Devers was absent and excused.

Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, and then the minutes from the meeting held on November 18, 2009, were approved as submitted.

Land Use Administrator Ken Morrison was called in to discuss the commissioners’ decision to deny the economic incentive to RES America Developments, Inc. for the Cedar Point Wind Energy project. His comment was that he’d spoken with Kara Cubage and told her that the fact that RES had no one present at the commissioner meeting didn’t help their situation any, but he also let her know that he really didn’t think it would have made a difference in the outcome. Mr. Morrison also explained to the Board that he’d been told by Logan County that they should not give RES incentives, as they really didn’t need them, and Mr. Burgess added that he’d spoken with Land Use board member John Reid who told him that when negotiations first began, part of the benefit to Lincoln County was that it would receive so much money in taxes.

Mr. Beedy said he would like to meet with RES representatives again, as they needed to work out an agreement for determining how much sales tax would be paid per tower.

Mr. Morrison responded that Logan County came to a pre-arranged agreement for each tower, which included everything, including the transmission lines. That way they wouldn’t have to go through all the invoices and receipts for everything. He added that Ms. Cubage told him RES would be in to get the building permits next spring, and there will be a total of eighteen permits; sixteen to individual landowners and one for the batch plant and one for the maintenance and operations building. She also told him that they are finalizing the details with Excel Energy at this time.

Mr. Burgess commented that he had received a couple of phone calls from concerned citizens, worried that RES would simply move all the towers over to Elbert County and that Lincoln County and the Limon school district would lose all of the benefits, but Mr. Morrison said that Florida Power & Light had made it clear that there is not room in Elbert County for their transmission lines, and Mr. Burgess felt that RES would not back out now as they have too much invested in the project at this time.

Mr. Morrison said that Ms. Cubage had told him that receiving the incentive from Lincoln County would have “made it economically viable quicker,” which led him to believe that they certainly had no plans to stop the project now.

Mr. Lyons asked about new oil and gas activity, and Mr. Morrison said that Running Foxes is in the process of drilling nine more wells. Mr. Beedy asked if the county receives any sales or use tax on oil drilling equipment, but Mr. Morrison told him that he thought the only components that are taxed are the special mechanical equipment and the service rigs. The Assessor’s office would have better knowledge on that subject.

Mr. Morrison also commented that even if the wind farm were to begin operations tomorrow, the school wouldn’t be likely to see any profit from it for at least two years.

When asked about other development in the county, Mr. Morrison said that he is not issuing as many building permits, but that the money is actually staying pretty steady, as there is quite a bit of construction going on in the county.

After reviewing a request to District Attorney Carol Chambers for the Miscellaneous Revenue Report showing money returned to the counties and the Limon Correctional Facility from 2003 through 2008, Mr. Beedy made a motion to sign the letter. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Mr. Burgess made a motion to cancel Road & Bridge check number 12608, issued on October 30, 2009 to B.K. Enterprises, in the amount of $513.60, as it was sent to the wrong address. Mr. Beedy seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

The Board reviewed two letters from County Attorney Stan Kimble; one regarding term limits for the Karval Cemetery District board, and the other in reference to the coordination letter that the CARR board would like the commissioners to send.

Mr. Beedy reported attending the transit and rail committee meeting on November 19, stating that there really was nothing new to report from it except that he did mention that local governments need to coordinate with them. On November 23, he attended the Economic Development board meeting and commented that there is the possibility of a business locating in the Limon area. The Ports-to-Plains organization is also planning an energy conference for sometime in April in Broomfield and Mr. Beedy felt they should consider attending at least a portion of the conference, which will be focused on all types of energy sources.

Mr. Burgess attended the Child Welfare meeting in Brighton on November 19, as well as the hospital board meeting that evening. On the Twenty-third, he and Chris Monks went over the remainder of the 2009 budget. He also received a couple of phone calls from concerned citizens about the Board’s decision to deny the RES incentive application. He also spoke with John Reid, as he had mentioned earlier when Mr. Morrison was in. Mr. Burgess said that John had also voiced his concern that The Nature Conservancy still had not done anything about the fencing situation around the Smith Ranch, so they had considered putting up a hot wire. Mr. Burgess said that was illegal, according to state statute, and Mr. Lyons confirmed that it would have to be three-wire fencing.

Mr. Lyons commented that he didn’t feel that TNC had done anything they had promised they would, and Mr. Burgess suggested setting up a phone conference with Frogard Ryan on December 7.

Mr. Burgess also said that the road crew will be hauling rock next week while the foremen are at conference, and that he heard from Ken Williams that the fence on the east side of the Genoa shop yard is indeed on a state right-of-way line, so they will not be able to move it after all. He was grateful to Mr. Beedy for mentioning it.

Mr. Burgess also spoke with Pete Niemann with Big R who had met with Ojukwu Abiakam who believes they should not consider a one-source vendor and that they should put the bridge project out for bid to companies with comparable products.

Mr. Lyons reported that he attended the hospital board meeting on November 19, and also checked the road by Forristalls. After the oil rig moves out, they will do some work on the road. On the Twenty-third, Mr. Lyons spoke with Alvin Kelly about a tree windbreak on his property, and he is definitely interested if they can work something out with NRCS. Mr. Lyons also talked to Shaun Deeney with the DOW about coordinating a prairie dog poisoning operation from County Road 2G to State Road 94, as well as County Road 37 to County Road 109. He said it would require a lot of cooperation from all the landowners and named off several, but Shaun had told him that his hands were tied, as the state had no money to put toward prairie dog control at this time. Mr. Lyons also talked to Brian Johnson with NRCS this morning, and they approved $5,000 for about a mile of tree windbreak at Kellys’.

There was no old business or new business, so the Board approved the November payroll and expense vouchers for the month, and then, with no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned until 8:00 a.m. on November 30, 2009.

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