Friday, October 29, 2010

County Commission 2010

BOCC October 28, 2010

All commissioners present

Barry Wilkerson, County Attorney told the Commission that the work load is getting heavier, partly because of more complicated sentencing guidelines which makes it difficult to get work done in a timely manner. Getting DNA evidence analyzed is taking 279 days because of understaffing at the laboratory..
He said that there is a capital case scheduled for next Summer. When asked about trends, he said that there is an increase in offenders in the 18-26 year old range which also coincides with the age of University students and many of the military at Ft. Riley.

Johnette Shepek gave the budget and planning report. She reported that the remaining 2010 Budget Authority for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) was $458,380, for the Building fund - $2,445, for Economic Development - $519,242, for Road and bridge 1/2 cent sales tax - $2,802,282. The LEC expansion fund has $106,086 remaining and about $50,000 will be used for the overlay of the parking areas.

Ann Smith from ATA Bus said they are looking for the most economic financing for the new building. She estimates the amount to be $100,000 with about $5000 being cost of the interest.

Julie Merklin, observer

Thursday, October 28, 2010

USD 383 Board of Education

Oct. 27, 2010
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Board retreat:
The district's director of maintenance and transportation is retiring, and Dr. Bob Shannon, Superintendent, presented information about splitting the position into two separate positions when new people are hired. Other districts the same size as USD 383 have two separate positions. Nancy Knopp said she would support creating two positions only if other adjustments were made in the budget to account for the additional salary. Other board members were in agreement to consider dividing the current position into two separate positions.

The board discussed the citizens facilities committee which had been created to provide oversight of the bond projects, help to prioritize capital outlay projects, and communicate other community concerns about facilities. Dr. Bob Seymour, Assoc. Superintendent, reported that the committee had met monthly for one year, and during that time, it became apparent that it was difficult to ask the committee members to monitor the bond activities because the available information about the bond was budget information and not design guidelines. The committee had been suspended while administration reviewed how to proceed. Dr. Seymour recommended that the group be relaunched in the fall of 2012 when the majority of the construction projects will be completed, and then the committee could be charged with helping with long-term facility planning, prioritizing capital outlay projects, and monitoring community concerns. Board members expressed agreement with Dr. Seymour's suggestions.

Dr. Seymour presented the board with information about local birth rates and enrollment trends, and based on that information, board members predicted that the district will need two additional elementary schools in five years. When the construction projects are completed, elementary enrollment capacity will be 3,299, and current elementary enrollment is already above that total at 3,341. The trend data showed that more students are staying in USD 383 during the elementary years. Doug Messer suggested contacting other school districts that have experienced rapid growth to find out how they have managed it, and Dave Colburn suggested hiring a professional education planner or demographer to help the district determine when a new school is needed.

The board reviewed the list of items that had originally been part of the bond projects but had been removed to reduce the overall total of the bond. Some of the items that had been removed included improving parking, student drop-off/pick-up areas, artificial turf for sports fields, and second gyms for the middle schools. Pete Paukstelis suggested prioritizing the list for completion through the capital outlay budget. Susan Marshall said she was concerned about spending money on these items when funds will be needed for new elementary schools. Walt Pesaresi said that maybe the district could create a bond package that included an elementary school and a few of the larger ticket items, such as the middle school gyms. Paukstelis suggested using a sales tax to fund maintenance, bond repayment, and for a short-term loan to build the middle school gyms.

Board members discussed the vacant property the district owns in Miller Ranch that could be the site for an elementary school. Messer thought the district should hire an engineer to help the board determine if the site is appropriate for a school.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Riley County Commission Oct. 25, 2010

Joan Strickler, observer

All Commissioners present, Kearns presiding.

In considering the issue of providing for health care needs of inmates at the jail, Commissioner Kearns said it was his understanding that the police chief preferred to place a nurse on his staff and contract the rest of care out to Advanced Correctional Health Care. As submitted, the Advanced Care proposal would be to provide its own nurse. The Commissioners questioned the wisdom of separating the nurse operation from the entity under contract, particularly the legal implications should disagreements occur between the nurse and ACHS.

Jerry Haug, with the Kansas Department of Transportation, gave an update on construction activities on K-18. Traffic will be disrupted on K-18 east of Ogden as trucks hauling dirt work from the hours of 7:00 pm to 5:00 am beginning Sunday. The disruption will last approximately three weeks. Lights and flag personnel will be on hand to direct traffic during these hours.

Tim Haggarty, with the RCPD, reported crime statistics for September were about 5% below last year. Nationally, and in much of Kansas, crime statistics appear to be rising. Most criminal activity in the County involves property crimes.

Assistant County Attorney Craig Cox reported taxes, interest and costs on 103 of the 127 parcels of land up for tax auction were redeemed prior to the auction thus bringing $183,704.23 to the County. All remaining 24 parcels were sold. Tax sale proceeds amounted to $22,699.00 totaling $206,403.23in tax collections.

Johnette Shepek said the County’s 2011 budget is now available online. The 76 page document covers all anticipated revenue and expenses for the coming year.

County Clerk Rich Vargo encouraged voters to pull up sample ballots available on the County website. Two constitutional issues will be voted upon as well as candidate elections and judge retentions. A reported 2666 advanced voters have been counted as of the morning of October 25. One constitutional issue involves adding specific individual gun rights to the State Constitution and the other would remove the power of the State Legislature to deny voting rights to persons with mental illness.

USD 383 Board of Education

Oct. 20, 2010
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Work session:
The work session focused on course and schedule development for MHS. Board members have been concerned about sections with small numbers of students in them. Terry McCarty, MHS principal, and Tony Wichmann, MHS counselor, explained that the small sections are more complicated than they appear. For example, an advanced art class with 3 students in it may be embedded within an intermediate art class and offered at the same time within the same classroom. McCarty also said that in order to maintain flexibility for students who move into the district during the school year, all sections can't be at their maximum enrollment.

Regular meeting:
Dr. Bob Shannon, Superintendent, reported that all of the schools had received letters from the City of Manhattan notifying them that the City Commission is considering ceasing to offer free drinking water to schools (the district already pays for irrigation and sewer). The district's estimated cost for drinking water used in 2009 was $27,200. Dr. Shannon and board president Susan Marshall will draft a response to the city.

Board members were presented with an annual report on capital outlay projects. Completed projects included new roofing for East Campus, new surface on the track at Bishop Stadium, a new fence at Lee Elementary, a new generator to support the network operations center, and moving mobile units at MHS, Roosevelt, and Northview.

Carol Adams, executive director of teaching and learning, presented the board with a report on the district's 2009-10 assessment scores. Nine schools achieved the state's standards of excellence building-wide in reading, 8 schools achieved it in math, 4 schools achieved it in science, and Eisenhower Middle School achieved the standards of excellence in reading, math, and science. The scores also showed there were student gains in reading and science compared to previous years.



Friday, October 22, 2010

BOCC October 21, 2010

McCulloh and Kearns present


Doug Messer, Assistant Fire Chief, gave a virtual tour of all the fire stations and equipment in the 600 square miles of Fire District #1. It was interesting to see how many trucks were able to be in service after many years of use. It seems that spare parts are more easily obtainable for the older trucks.

Debbie Regester, Register of Deeds reported that revenues which include mortgage registration tax, recording fees and copy fees, are $800,348, $21,000 behind the same time last year .

Clancy Holeman brought up policy concerns with the flu season beginning. Last year's concerns with H1N1 are somewhat out of date with the new vaccine widely available but it was thought that Chuck Murphy should give the Commission an update on the situation and talk about any policy changes.

A presentation on Character Education Through Livestock Projects informed the Commissioners that 4-Hers discussed the Six Pillars of Character and learned how they could demonstrate these positive traits through livestock project work. The reasoning behind this was concern about possible off-label drug use on livestock during the Riley County Fair. The Fair Board approved a pilot testing and also took a proactive approach by requiring Livestock Quality Assurance training for all market beef, sheep, swine, and goat exhibitors. The kids and their parents discussed how they could demonstrate Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.

Brad Schoen, RCPD Director discussed with the Commission contracts for medical care of inmates. The possibility of having a nurse on staff, funded separately, was mentioned. It was agreed that more evaluation will be needed.
Schoen also discussed traffic after football games. One citizen had expressed to a Commissioner his concerns that traffic was being diverted down his residential street but Schoen assured the commission that this was not the case.


Bids for replacement of Pillsbury Crossing Lane Culvert were opened. They ranged from $118,353.20 to $257,787.00. The Engineers estimate was $224,723. The bids were referred to staff for recommendation.
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Julie Merklin, Observer

Monday, October 18, 2010

Riley County Commission Oct. 18, 2010

Joan STrickler, observer

Commissioners Kearns and McCullogh present, Kearns presiding.

Assistant Public Works Director Rod Meredith provided an update on several projects. Work is expected to begin on preparing an area for a playground for children at Fairmont Park. Also, a river trail is being developed at the park that will extend for approximately a mile and tie into the hotel/convention center to be located in the new downtown development. Some brush and trees will be cleared at 100 foot breaks to provide “vista” sights of the river as people walk or drive along the area.

Only one bid was received for inmate medical services at the Law Enforcement Center. Advanced Correctional Health Care out of Peoria, Illinois submitted a bid containing three options for services. Staff will review the proposals.

R.C. Historical Society and Museum Director Cheryl Collins reported the Wolf House Museum will close November 1 for restoration work. Funds from the Caroline Peine Charitable Foundation amounting to $10,000, matched by gifts from Friends of the Wolf House and a generous donation from Steve and Debbie Saroff, have made the restoration possible. The parlor and upstairs west bedroom will be authentically historically restored with an 1880’s interpretation of Manhattan home life.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month. AHA! Manhattan is an association of over thirty Manhattan area organizations wishing to create connections through art, humanities and natural history. For further information contact Cheryl Collins at 785-565-6490.

The emergency management and fire chief for Riley County, Pat Collins, reported a banquet honoring volunteers will be held December 11. He encourages ranchers to consider doing their spring burns early in January and February in an effort to minimize the environmental impact of large-scale spring burns. Such a smoke management effort would help to reduce the impact of spring burn smoke that can range as far as St. Louis or beyond.

Commissioner McCullogh is serving on the Kansas Environment, Energy, and Land Use Steering Committee. The group formulates positions on various issues and refers them to a national committee which presents these to the President and Congress.

A County tax sale will be held October 19. Approximately 14 bidders have pre-registered with others expected to appear prior to the auction.

Advance voting will end November l. Requests for mail in ballots are currently being accepted.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

County Commission October 14, 2010

BOCC Oct 14, 2010
McCulloh and Kearns presesnt

Commissioner Kearns went to a meeting where representatives from emergency services, the Crisis center and KSU discussed the need for emergency nurses in the ER to receive specialized training that involves collection and preservation of evidence from victims in cases of rape. This is vital so that DNA and other evidence is preserved for prosecutions and trained nurses are key in this procedure. In the past, funding for this training came from forfeiture funds but outside firms are handling forfeitures and the existing funds are low. There is a need for $2000 to tide the program over until next year. The Commission voted to give $2000 for this training.

Ty Warner, the new Executive Director for the Flint Hills Regional Council, gave a short update on the main goals of the Council. He explained that the funding right now is from the Office of Economic Adjustment and this will last 3-5 years. His office will be somewhere at Ft. Riley for a while but he still doesn't have a permanent office.
As those of us who heard Mr. Warner at Lunch With League know, he has a great deal to say and only was allotted 15 minutes on the BOCC agenda so this was a cursory but enthusiastic overview.

Eileen King, Treasurer, gave her monthly report. Sept. 2010 sales tax revenues were down 5.16% from August 2010, they were up 2.27% from a year ago. Year to Date sales taxes reported in Sept 2010 were up 4.96% from YTD reported in Sept 2009..

The Commission went into executive work session and had no business scheduled after that.

Julie Merklin, Observer

Thursday, October 7, 2010

USD 383 Board of Education

Oct. 6, 2010
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Regular meeting:
Dr. Bob Seymour, Assoc. Supt., reported that the official enrollment count for the 2010-11 school year was a net increase of 140 students.

The board received a report on iQ Academy, which is the district's online virtual school. Enrollment has doubled since the program began in 2007, and there are currently 259 full-time students and 180-190 part-time students. Virtual students take state assessments, and Nancy Knopp expressed concerns about how virtual students' scores affect the district's adequate yearly progress and its drop-out rates. If a student is enrolled through a partner school, his/her scores stay with the partner school and don't affect USD 383.

The board also received a report on 2010 summer programs. Due to budget constraints, the district had offered reduced summer education options for 2010. The district had offered driver's education, credit recovery programs, and programs for special education students. A total of 348 students had participated in summer programs. Ninth graders with insufficient credits to advance to 10th grade were required to attend to keep them on track to graduate with their class. Board members were interested in making the same requirements for struggling 10th and 11th graders and wanted to continue to offer the credit recovery program in the summer.

Dr. Seymour presented to the board a proposed timeline for redrawing school boundaries, which will be necessary when the construction projects are completed. The proposal recommended forming a redistricting committee in the fall of 2011 that would work on redrawing boundary lines, the board would finalize the new boundaries in the spring of 2012, and the changes would go into effect with the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

The board reviewed the district's policy for accepting out-of-district students. This year, USD 383 started later than surrounding districts, so out-of-district families who were hoping to transfer into USD 383 didn't find out if they had been accepted until after their resident school district had already started. Administration did not recommend making a change to the current policy. Board members suggested giving priority to out-of-district students who are the children of district employees.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Riley County - Manhattan Health Board Report

RILEY COUNTY - MANHATTAN
BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING

September 29, 2010

The meeting began with another “Department Highlight’ to continue updating
knowledge of the Department for the Board. Josh Jones demonstrated the newly redeveloped web site showing how easily information was made available to people needing the service of the Health Department. Comments from the Board members were positive approving the clarity and uncluttered look of web’s design and its ease of use.
Varney and Associates CPA LLC presented the results of the 2009 audit. She commended the Department for its clear and accurate accounting stating that there
were no issues that need attended. Brady Burton, President of the Board, also commended Shelley Hays, head of the finance department, for such a good report. The Board voted to approve the report.
The Board went into executive session to consider the Administrator’s evaluation and contract. When the meeting resumed the evaluation was accepted by the Board but the contract and salary issue was continued until the next Board meeting. Members of the Board had not seen the contract before the meeting and wished to have time to review it and several members indicated a wish to have better knowledge of
the last few years’ contracts.
Mr. Murphy indicated that the contract held his salary the same as last year with a clause that if the economic picture changed sufficiently that a review might
be held in December relating to salary. Dr. Winter made a motion that the members
be given until October 8th to review the contract and send their ideas concerning it to Brady Burton and that the executive committee come up with a contract to be voted on at the next meeting. The list of the contract salary for the last five years will also be sent to each member to provide helpful background. The motion carried.
The board reviewed and discussed the bids received for the replacement of the HVAC and voted to approve them as presented. The board also approved asking the county to go ahead and bid the parking lot.

Sue Cohen, Observer