Riley County Commission November 29, 2012

Joan Strickler, observer

All Commissioners present, Johnson presiding.

County Counselor Clancy Holeman announced the local delegation of State legislators will meet with the Commission on Thursday, December 6.  The entire delegation has agreed to attend.  Holeman said one overall issue to be discussed is the impact of unintended consequences when legislation is passed without a thorough review.  One example was passage of HB 2427 in the last days of the previous session and the impact it has had on public agencies presented with conflicting obligations.

Holeman also discussed a resolution the Commissioners must pass as a statutory hoop they have to jump through to formally levy the tax authorized by voters in the recent election.  The County’s current taxing authority collects funds through February.  The new taxing authority takes effect in April.

Human Resource Manager Cindy Volanti and Health Department Director Susie Kufahl presented a revised staffing request for the Health Department.  Previously the Commission had approved the position of lead clerk and the position has been difficult to fill.  They presented a proposal to combine two existing open positions into the one of office manager.    The change would result in  reduced personnel costs.

Volanti discussed plans for the Commissioners to evaluate department heads.  It was agreed each department head would prepare a list of accomplishments as well as short and long term goals for his/her department.  These would be sent to the Commissioners who then would hold 30 minute meetings with each individual.  Commissioner Lewis asked that future goals include projections of the effect technology changes may have on future operations.

   

 

 

Riley County Commission November 26, 2012

 

Joan Strickler, observer

All Commissioners present, Johnson presiding.

The dedication of the Alvan Johnson Law Enforcement Center will be held at 2:00 p.m. on December 7 at the Center.

Shelly Williams, Community Corrections Director, described juvenile detention visitation policies and practices at the North Central Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Facility.  Only parents and guardians are allowed to visit incarcerated family members.  An issue has been raised about the rights of grandparents and siblings to visit as well.  Another question involves personal property of the juveniles.  Usually parents take their child’s property home for safe keeping but, occasionally, a situation arises when no family or guardian is available.  Staff at the Center does not want to be held responsible for storing the property and no storage space is available in the facility for that purpose.

The Commissioners generally agreed that some of the restrictions appeared overly harsh.  Commissioner Lewis and Ms. Williams will meet with NCKRJDF officials to address concerns.

Mary Jo Harbour said she will no longer be representing the Riley County Council on Aging and introduced John Allard, the incoming president.  A major activity of the organization at the present time is getting out information and help to seniors now making decisions about which drug insurance plan to select.  Ms. Harbour expressed concerns about efforts by a private business to get the City to sell a parking lot adjacent to the Senior Center.  Apparently the lot actually assigned to the Center has only 20 parking spaces and the additional space is necessary to accommodate persons using the Center.  Ms. Harbour said many such individuals would find it difficult, if not impossible, to park and walk a distance.  There are reports that some Manhattan City Commissioners seem to be in favor of the sale.

Cheryl Collins, director of the Riley County Historical Museum, encouraged people to view the temporary exhibit “Forces” at the Flint Hills Discovery Center.  The exhibit will run through January 13, 2013.  A website containing information about the exhibit may be found at www.rileycountyks.gov/museum. 

A tax foreclosure auction will be held in mid January.  A subdivision located in Riley may be part of that sale.  The lots are ready for building but currently no houses have been constructed.

Leon Hobson, Public Works Director/County Engineer and Cindy Volanti, Human Resource Manager/Deputy Clerk, presented their recommendations about filling the position(s) of Assistant Public Works Director/ Parks Director.  The Commissioners appeared to favor having both positions under Public Works and have both a public works manager and a parks manager.  Volanti will check with McGrath consultants about setting salaries and compensation for those positions.  A second recommendation, to eliminate two nine month seasonal positions to create a permanent facilities and grounds technician position, will be delayed until the new commissioners are on board in January

County Commission November 19, 2012

County Commission Nov 19, 2012
Commissioners Johnson and Lewis present.

Action on the agreement with Blake Robinson for Dec 12 , 2012and the year 2013 to serve on the dndigent defense panel was approved.

Cheryl Collins, Museum Director, said that there would be an organizational meeting concerning the Freedom’s Frontier Heritage area. The discussion will include ideas concerning what we might suggest locally in preparation for PR "from the top".

Greg Eyestone discussed fall lawn care - soil testing and fertilizing.

Rich Vargo explained the handling of provisional ballots. He said 50 to 70 percent of provisional ballots cast were determined to be valid. He said that the envelope that provisional ballots go into (the ones that one signs) includes a voter registration so that, for the next election, the person is registered.

Eileen King talked about the new drivers' license location east of town on the south side of Highway 24. It is in the shopping center that includes Ramblers, near Dick Edwards Ford. It will have more room and be able to handling motorcycle road testing nearby.. Hours will be Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Ginny Bernard, Riley County Extension Agent gave advice for cooking turkey this Thanksgiving.

Only one bid was submitted for the Lakeside Sewer Benefit District. It was higher than the engineers’ estimate. Bid was sent to staff for evaluation.


Julie Merklin observer

Riley County Commission mtg 11-15-12

Mr. Lewis was absent, attending the meeting of Kansas Association of Counties (KAC).

Pat Collins, Emergency Management Director, discussed the advantages of contracting out for the training of County firemen. The 26 new recruits are eager to have training; old hands not so eager, wanting only minimal refreshers. The company Mr. Collins is considering has training available partially on-line. This would serve the needs of all the firemen. He has money available in next year's budget. He stated that he would like for every fireman in the County to be certified "Firefighter I," eventually, though it is not a requirement for certification of the department. The Commission reconvened itself as "Fire Board" and approved his request, then reconvened as "County Commission."

Amy Manges, Deputy Register of Deeds, reported on revenue for her department. All numbers are up except the copy fund. They have taken in $315,778 more than anticipated. Their new employee began work on Oct. 29. The indexing of back files is almost complete.

Clancy Holeman, Counselor/Director of Administration, presented a draft of an agenda for the Riley County Legislative Conference to be held on Thursday, Dec. 6, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. As of now, all of the County's Legislators are intending to attend. Subjects to be discussed include 1) machinery and equipment tax exemption (which RC and KAC are opposed to, as, at worst, it would bankrupt several counties, and at best it would present severe difficulties to all counties); 2)TABOR legislation, which RC opposes on grounds it simply complicates County procedures, which are already transparent and publicly clear; 3) H.B. 2427, which exempts certain employment categories from revelation of personal information, such as home address; 4) State financial support of counties, including loss of revenues through sales and property tax exemptions, impact of state income tax reductions, and unfunded mandates. Commissioners made some suggestions, which Mr. Holeman will incorporate.

Rich Vargo, County Clerk, and Jolene Keck, Election Officer, conducted a presentation of results from the Nov. 6 election. Ms. Cindy Volante was appointed to fill the third Commission seat in Mr Lewis's absence, for the canvass only. Ms. Keck read results from each precinct in the County, including total number of voters, number of provisional ballots, number accepted, number rejected, and the reason for rejection. All of the rejections except 8 were because the voter was not registered in Riley County. One envelope had no signature. Another had an obviously suspicious and faked signature that did not in any way match. Three voters had no ID, and failed to come to the Clerk's office with ID before the deadline. Three voters insisted on receiving a paper ballot AFTER they had already voted on the IVO machine. None of these 8 ballots were counted. A certain number of provisional ballots were accepted for partial counting (by hand) because the voters voted in the wrong precinct. No races were changed by the counting of the provisional ballots. Commissioners accepted the results and validated the election 3-0. Adjourned.

Submitted by Lyndal Nyberg.

USD 383 Board of Education

Nov. 7, 2012
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

The school board planned to have a public hearing on the topic of senior release, but no members of the public stepped forward to address the board on the topic.  However, over 300 parents had completed an online survey about senior release, with the majority of respondents favoring the continuation of senior release.

Keith Noll, Director of Maintenance, presented the board with information about building improvements that have been completed using either capital outlay funds or bond funds.  The completed items included a new bus lane for Amanda Arnold, new playground fencing at Ogden, a new roof on portions of MHS and also at Woodrow Wilson, and new playground equipment and drainage improvements at Northview.

The board discussed a request for proposals (RFP) for a facility analysis for MHS East Campus.  Projects planned for the building as part of the bond projects had been re-prioritized, with the main focus being to create a secure exterior envelope and improvements to the gym, and with the understanding that the building needed additional work than what had been outlined in the bond.  Beth Tatarko thought the facility analysis should consider whether the district should continue to invest in using the building for educational purposes and to take into account the cost of continuing to do so.  Other board members expressed similar thoughts, with Pete Paukstelis' wondering about the cost comparison between renovating East Campus and building a new school, and Leah Fliter's wondering about the possibility of moving 9th graders to the expanded West Campus.  Walt Pesaresi, who serves of the district's Facilities and Growth Committee, explained that the committee's thinking had been that constructing 2-3 new elementary schools may be a more immediate need, and the facility analysis would help determine what should be done to East Campus to get it through the next 15-20 years, and by then, a second high school might be needed.  Board members were in agreement to table the RFP to allow administration to make the changes discussed.

The board approved 5-2 to close lunch for sophomores and to keep lunch open for juniors and seniors beginning with the 2013-14 school year.  Paukstelis and Pesaresi dissented.