Monday, March 14, 2011

Riley County Commission mtg 3-14-11

All Commissioners present. Rich Vargo gave the Year-to-date report on budget and expenditures. He reported the finishing of 2010 and to date on 2011. No funds have exceeded budget enough for concern. The contract with a medical services manage-ment firm for RCPD inmates has proven to be economical already. Hospital and physician visits off-site have been decreased by the presence on-site of a qualified Physician Assistant, who is able to deal with many cases.
Chris Welchhans, GIS Coordinator, said his department is replacing PCs next week. He reported on his meetings with State GIS division, Legislators and Governor in Topeka
Brad Schoen, Director RCPD, reported on activities of PD, Fire Dept, Emergency Management, Community Corrections, KSU Police, and other entities on "Fake Patty's Day." Between 7:00 a.m. Saturday and 7:00 a.m. Sunday police received 766 calls for service, up 65% from last year. So far they have catalogued 202 citations (incomplete report). Most calls were actually outside Aggieville, but usually related to Aggieville activities (drinking, fighting, falling down, etc).Every sworn officer on the force was on duty 12 hours. Last year overtime cost $5,000. It will be more this year. Schoen said he was grateful that were NO very servious incidents this year. Police remained friendly with the crowd and received many compliments and thanks from the public. As far as businesses are concerned, Schoen said this is not a profitable day. A large majority of the citations and calls for service were because of out-of-town visitors. Hotels are full and bars serve a lot of beer, but these people do not come to shop. They have one aim: to "get drunk and puke on our streets."
Larry Couchman, Emergency Services, said they received 53 calls (4 of them not related to Patty). They were mostly alcohol problems or related to alcohol (fights, unconsciousness, accidents of drunken people). He does not yet know how many Emergency Room visits there were. Last year there were 100. By way of comparison, he said that in the 5 days of the Country Stampede, there were 14 ambulance transports in 2010, as compared to 20 transports on this Fake Patty's Day. Again, Country Stampede people mostly come for another purpose than getting drunk and puking. Couchman and Schoen agreed that, operationally, this event was successful, with great cooperation of services and efficient planning.
Doug Messer, Asst Fire Chief of Riley County, said it is time to change clocks (yesterday) and to change batteries in your smoke alarms--even if they seem okay. This is life or death. Use the old batteries in a toy or something not vital.If alarms are more than 10 years old, they should be replaced. The date is printed inside. If it isn't, the alarm is more than years old. Also, families should have exit drills and learn their meeting place.
Rich Vargo said 2011 turkey permits are now available for $22.50 ($12.50 for youth).For the City/School election on April 5, advance voting begins March 26 and ends noon April 4. Registration closes March 21.
Leon Hobson gave an update on projects. They will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony in late April (26 or 27, probably) at the shop site for the wind turbines. The Governor is invited. Date depends on his convenience.
Clancy Holeman held an Administrative Work Session, updating Commission on Legislative matters. Craig Cox explained the complex situation of the property near Fairmont Park where County wants to install soccer fields. Ownership is in question, since Deutche Bank accidentally foreclosed on some County Property as well as that owned by a private person. DB apparently is refusing to discuss the matte, since they bundled that property into a "Toxic" fund and sold it. Cox proposes to try using a suit for "quiet title." They need to locate an agent for the Bank, since papers must be delivered in person.Commissioners agreed by consensus that Ogden City may receive "specials" tax payment from The $l.9 million KDOT paid RIM Corp for land needed for K-18 work. (RIM is in bankruptcy). They owe $300,000 approx. in Riley County property taxes, and $505,000 to Ogden for the specials (water, sewer, etc.) Since Ogden has bond payments to meet, County agrees to allow them first payment. Commissioners agreed to refuse the offer of Larry Prawl of "deed payment" for his property tax bill of $67,000. Cox said the land has been sold, so Prawl owns only the housing on it, much of which is decrepit and uninhabitable.The propert is the Maple Wind mobile home park in Ogden.
Cheryl Collins, Curator of Historical Museum, requested permission to change her title from Curator to Director. Other employees of the Museum now have Curator titles according to their specialties, so she felt the title of Director was more appropriate for her level of responsibility. Approved (enthusiastically) 3-0. Collins said the KS Museum Association will meet in Manhattan on March 28, in the Public Works Training Room. Collins expressed thanks to County employees for all the work they have put in on Museum properties, especially the beautiful blue outline painted on the parking lot, indicating the dimensions of the Hartford steamboat. Goodnow House and Wolfe House will both be ready for opening by May, if all goes well.
Pat Collins, Emergency Management Director, asked permission to dispose of old fire trucks and an air compressor. Com- mission agreed 3-0 to allow the fire trucks to be sold at auction and the air compressor to be sold to a fire equipment company. The fire equipment company will be responsible for bringing the compressor up to new standards before selling it. County can use payment to apply toward cost of new compressor.
All before noon! Adjourned. Submitted by Lyndal Nyberg.

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