Riley County Commission September 27, 2012

Joan Strickler, observer 

All Commissioners present, Johnson presiding.

A favorable 2011 financial audit report was presented indicating no exceptions were found and nothing was out of compliance.

A public hearing was held to discuss the creation of the Lakeside Heights Sewer District.  All property owners except one signed the agreement to develop the district.  The dissenting property owner said his one room property could not be lived in full time and is only used occasionally on trips to the lake.  No one spends the night there.  Commissioners voted to approve the formation of the district with the exception of the one property.

Susie Kufahl, Riley County Health Department Director, asked for permission to restructure a staffing arrangement by boosting the authority level of one position at a cost of approximately $1500.  Permission was granted.  She also asked for approval of a software upgrade required by regulatory authorities to meet the standards of accreditation of a medical facility.  Commissioners voted to approve the purchase.

County Counselor Clancy Holeman reported the County has had one request from an individual to have the person’s personal information withheld from public records in accordance with the passage last year of HB 2427.  Apparently Johnson County has had six such requests. Holeman stressed the importance of pursuing efforts to have the law overturned in the next legislative session.  He said it is a costly mandate in that, to comply, software would require extensive retooling to handle the changes.  He said decisions in Topeka can have heavy impacts fiscally on local governments.

A public hearing was held on shifting the definition of the Sanitarian’s position location to the Health Department in compliance with the law.  There were no questions or disagreements.

Anne Smith, director of the aTa Bus, asked the Commission to extend the timeline for payment of the promissory note pertaining to the building of the transportation facility.  The time period for the note needs to be extended due to delays in getting construction underway.  Federal funds to reimburse the costs will not be received until the construction is completed.  The Commissioners voted to approve the request.  According to Smith the busses are well used and she expects some 100,000 passengers will have received services  by the end of the year.  New requests come in daily.

Community Corrections Director Shelly Williams spoke of her concerns about future funding of the Community Corrections programs.  Her office has been asked to submit a budget proposal reduced by 10% from that of the current year.  Since most of the budget pertains to staff, such reductions could result in dropping seriously, chronic violent offenders currently supervised in the community.  Services to juveniles would be extensively cut.  The loss of State funds also could possibly reduce access to some federal funds.  The passage in last year’s Legislative session of extensive tax cuts to business firms is expected to greatly reduce State revenues.  Such reductions could result in property tax increases at the local level to pick up the loss of State support.