COUNTY COMMISSION Tuesday, September 3, 2013 6:45 PM Ellis County Courthouse Order of Business I. Opening A. Call to Order B. Pledge of Allegiance C. Clerk Calls the Roll D. Approval of Agenda II. Approval of Prior Minutes Regular Meeting of August 19, 2013 III. Consent Agenda A. Approval of Employee Status Changes as presented B. Approval of Refunding Warrants as presented C. Approval of Tax Roll Adjustments as presented D. Approval of Escape Tax Orders as presented E. Approval of Accounts Payable and Payroll as presented F. Approval of RWD 1C KANSTEP Project Response to Audit Letter Enclosure G. Approval of RWD 1C KANSTEP Project Payment Request #7 Enclosure IV. Regular Agenda A. Lesser Prairie Chicken Report on Regional Concerns by Gove County Commissioner Mahlon Tuttle B. Rural Water District #1C KANSTEP Water Line Extension Project Update Report C. Information Technology 1. Cell Phone Contract Report/Consideration Enclosure D. Fire District #1 1. Surplused Fire Tanker Truck Consideration of Selling Truck to RPM Speedway 2. ISO Review Report on upcoming review of Rural Fire District Enclosure 3. Advisory Board Changes Consideration of changes to Board Make-up E. County Clerk 1. Oil & Gas Tax Rebates Report on Rebates before Commission Enclosure F. County Administrator 1. Joint Planning Commission Appointment Consideration of Commissioner Wasinger’s Nominee 2. Adams Brown Beran & Ball Lease Amendment #4 Consideration of lease amendment for former United Way Office Space in Ellis County Administrative Center Enclosure 3. KDOT Economic Development Grant Application Consideration of Authorizing Submission of Application Enclosure 4. Resolution Request – Federal Budget Discussion of Request from Alan Snodgrass, Jetmore Enclosure 5. MOKAN Take Charge Challenge Report Enclosure 6. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas Rebate Check Report on Accounting for Check Enclosure 7. Monthly Financial Report – July 2013 Report Enclosure G. County Commission 1. Commissioner Reports V. Adjournment Meeting Memo To: County Commission From: Greg Sund CC: Order of Business Recipients Date: 8/30/2013 Re: Order of Business for the September 3, 2013 Regular Meeting Please Note: Commissioner Haselhorst informed me that he anticipates an obligation that will make it impossible for him to attend this meeting. For this reason, he asked me to move my evaluation to the meeting on September 9. III. Consent Agenda F. Approval of RWD 1C KANSTEP Project Response to Audit Letter – The audit letter was presented to the County Commission on August 12, 2013. At the time, Ms. Cox of Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission and representatives of the rural water district and the project were working on a response. That response has been prepared. I put the cover letter on letterhead with the County’s logo. The deadline for response is September 6, 2013. I recommend approval. G. Approval of RWD 1C KANSTEP Project Payment Request #7 – This is the next payment request on this project. I recommend approval. IV. Regular Agenda A. Lesser Prairie Chicken – Gove County Commissioner Mahon Tuttle requested time on the Order of Business to seek the County Commission’s support in opposing the federal government’s proposal to put the lesser prairie chicken on the endangered species list. If the Commission supports this request, I will type up a resolution for consideration during the next Commission meeting. B. Rural Water District #1C KANSTEP Water Line Extension Project Report – During the last meeting, Commissioner Haselhorst said he would arrange to have a representative of this project appear before the Commission and 1 provide an update on the status of the project. He confirmed he will invite one or two people to attend and provide an update. C. Information Technology 1. Cell Phone Contract – I am enclosing an email from I.T. Director Mike Leiker regarding the County’s cell phone contract and an account summary from Nex‐Tech provide on August 29, 2013. I am also enclosing a copy of the account consolidation agreement signed in 2010 after approved by the County Commission in August 2010. In researching this issue, we have been unable to locate an actual contract. We have several service agreements on phones, but nothing pulling everything together other than the account consolidation agreement. The problem with the account consolidation agreement is it does not have a term. I take it this means it is in effect as long as we have phones with Nex‐Tech. For this reason, it appears the proposal from Nex‐Tech should be considered a service agreement, not an amendment or contract because the amounts are subject to change whenever a new phone is acquired or upgraded. Since his last appearance on this issue, Mr. Leiker sought and received a quote from Verizon. Based on the level of service provided by Nex‐Tech, the nearly identical cost, and the fact that Verizon does not have the capability of local service for corporate accounts, he recommends approval of the Nex‐Tech contract. Please note that the account summary that applies to all phones, governs pooled monthly minutes, data plan, roaming, etc…. In addition, there is a contract for each individual phone for two year periods. Because people can obtain phones at any time, none of the phone contracts are concurrent with the others. Suggested Motion: To approve the service amendment with Nex‐Tech that applies to all cell phones under contract with the County. D. Fire District #1 1. RPM Speedway Request for Surplused Truck ‐ Glenn Unrein, a representative of the RPM Speedway contacted Commissioner Haselhorst asking whether the County would be willing to grant or sell the surplused tanker truck formerly assigned to the Victoria Company to them das they nee a truck with a tank this size to more effectively wet the track. If the Commission agrees, I would ask Mr. Jeter to draw up a sale document similar to the one we used to sell RPM Speedway the last truck. RPM Speedway offered to return the truck they will retire if this sale is approved to the County but given its condition, I do not recommend taking that one back and then selling it. Page 2 Suggested Motion: To approve selling the former fire tanker truck that was assigned to the Victoria Company to RPM Speedway for $1. 2. ISO Review – The Insurance Service Office (ISO) is a national organization that reviews the capabilities of firefighting agencies to respond to fires. They assign numbers to each agency. Ellis County is scheduled for an ISO Review in the near future. Because a large portion of the rating given to fire services is based on water availability and we have a rural water district, we do not get a very high rating. Agencies serving municipalities typically have much higher ratings. For instance, the city of Hays has a rating of 3. The higher the number, the higher the cost of insurance charged to those benefitting from the fire department (district). I understand our current rating is 9, which is typical for rural fire districts. I am enclosing a couple documents to provide more information on ISO Ratings. 3. Fire District Advisory Board Changes – Chief Klaus has reported that there are a few changes on the advisory board that need to be recognized and considered by the Commission. For Company 7, Gary Haas has resigned as chief and also resigned as a member of the advisory board, he will be replaced by Mike Werth. For Company 4, Chris Brungardt has resigned from the advisory board and will be replaced by Tom Tholen. For Company 9, Mark Fisher and Rustin Wiese are exchanging positions so Mr. Wiese is now the Chief and Mr. Fisher is now the Assistant Chief. Chief Klaus and I recommend approving the changes. Suggested Motion: To approve the following changes to the Rural Fire District #1 Advisory Board: 1. Replace Company 7 representative Gary Haas with Mike Werth 2. Replace Company 4 representative Chris Brungardt with Tom Tholen 3. Replace Company 7 Fire Chief Gary Haas with Mike Werth 4. Replace Company 9 Fire Chief Mike Fisher with Rustin Wiese 5. Replace Company 9 Assistant Fire Chief Rustin Wiese with Mike Fisher. E. County Clerk 1. Oil & Gas Tax Rebates – Clerk Maskus is requesting Commission discussion and possible consideration of a solution to a situation we face annually with oil wells that become exempt from the Oil & Gas Property Tax when their average production falls below five barrels a Page 3 day. The County is currently processing $402,210.44 in rebates of taxes paid in 2012 and 2013. Please note the email from Ms. Maskus in the packet was written after 26 of the rebates were processed. Since that time a few others were processed. Two possibilities for addressing these concerns is 1. To tighten up the law so only the current year and future years are affected by the exemption. Under the current law, the exemption goes back one year before the application for exemption was filed. And 2. Suggest a law that grants the County clear authority to hold back a portion of the tax distribution to taxing units in anticipation of these rebates rather than distributing all of the taxes and then requesting a reimbursement or holding a portion of the following year’s taxes to cover the difference. It is not right that the County is currently required to distribute all of the tax collections and then serve as a bank to “loan” other taxing districts this money until they can pay it back at a later time. The problem with this concern is it is probably too late already to get this issue on the Kansas Association of Counties Legislative platform for the upcoming year.