Riley County Commission mtg 8-30-12

All Commissioners present.

Clancy Holeman, Counselor/Dir. of Admin Services, offered Monty Wedel, Planning, time to speak about the jurisdictional maps for the regional planning body, for budget purposes. He noted that of Ft Riley is included in the population counts, Riley County soars in percentage of budget responsibility. Since no roads, or bridges, for instance, in Ft. Riley are under the County's jurisdiction, this does not make sense. Commissioners decided by consensus that Mr. Holeman would draw up a letter to the effect of NOT including Ft Riley in Riley County in the jurisdictional map; to be sent to the City of Manhattan.

Commissioners went into Executive Session. After the Executive Session, Mr. Holeman said a date for the Legislative Conference is still being sought. It will likely be in early December.

He said that KAC is giving priority to the question of machinery exemption from sales tax, so no additional lobbying on the subject is necessary for RC Commission.

Dennis Peterson, Director of Noxious Weeds Dept, presided over bid opening for herbicides. County received six bids. After formal reading, Commissioners referred bids to staff for evaluation and recommendation.

Frank Beer, Area Chamber of Commerce, led discussion of the Chamber's Legislative policies and positions (this had been submitted previously to Commissioners). Ms McCulloh said that Riley County's primary concern at this time is the repeal of the tax exemption for machinery. The original idea arose from requests of 5 small rural counties, 54 of which have oil rigs; the other has an agricultural manufacturing plant. Ms McCulloh cited sources saying $42 million in tax revenues had been lost. Mr Holeman said one peculiar factor in the bill is that each tax payer gets to appraise his own property and classify it as real property or personal property.

Commissioners told Mr Beer that the many small cuts in various programs throughout the State Budget were a burden on Counties. Many are unfunded mandates; others are a result of withdrawal of State funds from established programs with previous matching. The Voter ID program was an example of unfunded mandate. It is an expense which Counties bear, and since there has never been significant (or even detectable) voter fraud in Kansas, perhaps unnecessary. Another matter worth considering is proposed traffic control projects. Fort Riley Blvd is NOT a bypass. One person remarked that he met 18 traffic lights between one side of the city and the other. Mr. Beer said the Chamber is eager to promote local buying, rather than internet. Local businesses pay taxes--both property and sales. So far, dot-com business do not; furthermore, dot-com business can (and often do) go out of business easily--no returns, no refunds, no complaint answers. He proposed asking local units of government to give local businesses a chance to compete and to not just go the "easy way" of the dot-coms.

Leon Hobson, Public Works Director/County Engineer, was warmly welcomed back from sick leave. He led the discussion of how to proceed on replacing retiring Rod Meredith as Assistant Public Works Director/Parks Director. Commissioners said Mr Meredith's unique experience, background and abilities will be hard to replace. They want to retain the cooperative attitudes of employees in both departments, and the overlapping duties of Roads and Bridges and Parks. Hobson said he felt he had very capable people at the second administrative level, who could carry on the work for a certain amount of time so that no undue haste was necessary for Mr Meredith's replacement. They might feel able to carry on a three-month process to formulate any structural changes needed and to find the right person. Hobson and other employees of the departments, along with Ms Valenti in Human Resources, will put together proposals and present them to Commissioners in a work session in about a month. Adjourned. Submitted by Lyndal Nyberg.

Riley County Commission mtg 8-27-12

All Commissioners present.

Johnette Shepek, Budget and Financial Officer, gave an overview of the status of various funds. Capital Improvement Projects fund will have adequate budget authority for the rest of 2012. The Riley County Building fund has a significant cash balance. The Economic Development fund as of this date has nearly $300,000 balance in budget authorization. There were no expenses charged to the Road and Bridges sales tax fund during July (though work continued). It has a healthy balance. Ms Shepek distributed copies of the suggested 2013 Budget Overview brochure. It is a very comprehensive summary of Riley County Budget, including historical mill levy rates, proposed General Fund Expenditures and Revenues, listing of all categories of revenue sources and expenditures. The Riley County Budget for 2013 totals $39,690,224.

Anne Smith updated the Commissioners on the AtA bus. She gave Commissioners copies of the most recently produced brochure. They have added 5 stops on their fixed routes. In the first four days of last week, they transported 3642 rides, averaging 910.5 rides per day. Jardine residents have requested addition of two new routes: lunch time and dinner time between Jardine and Derby Food Center. They have 16 vehicles, one of which is a minivan. They received an allocation of $20,ooo from the United Way. Ogden residents have requested a shuttle on Saturday to and from Walmart. Commissioners commented that Target is in Riley County. They are still working with KSU an KSOT on signage. There may be some detours on the fixed routes on game Saturdays. At a conference in Dodge City, Manhattan/Riley County AtA bus system received an award as the highest percent ridership increase in the State in the class of over 10 vehicles. (8.9%)

Gregg Eyestone commented gratefully on the recent rains. Coverage is now very crucial for soil. It is time to fertilize or re-seed lawns. Soil testing is availabale at the Extension Office (539-6350). Cool grasses such as tall fescue and bluegrass work best in our climate, but if you have very sunny yard, hot weather grasses such as zoyzia, bermuda, and buffalo grass will grow.

Tim Hegarty, RCPD, (not present) forwarded a message for Riley County residents: Lock your house and your car.

Gary Rosewicz said drivers should avoid Alert Road beginning Aug 29 for two days. The realignment work on Mineral Springs Rd begins Sept 4 and continue to April 2013. No inconveniences are expected.

Kim Nies, Health Department, said the County is ready to administer flu shots. All insurance plans are accepted. She said they are seeking members for the Health Advisory Board. Questions about West Nile virus may be answered on their web site.

Cindi Valenti, Human Resources, said the Noixious Weed dept and Hazardous Waste office will be closed Wed Aug 29 from 9:d0 to 12:30 for a staff member family funeral.

Clancy Holeman requested an Executive Session. When they returned, they approved 3-0 action discussed in the exec session. Mr Holeman discussed Legislative requests for KAC. Commissioners decided to set the date for the Riley County/Legislative conference for sometime between the November election and Thanksgiving. The Indigent Defense Panel accepted the County's latest offer: no step increase, only COLA. The panel requested reimbursement of half the cost of software for "child in need" cases. Commissioners agreed to pay $175. (This amount is for each of the attorneys). Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a policy to meet IRS guidelines to see that bonds stay tax-exempt. This is called "Post Issuance Compliance."

Ron Fehr, City Manager, and a representative of the Chamber of Commerce joined the Commission in consideration of the presentations for the 1/2 cent sales tax ballot question. Ms McCulloh reminded all present that they may not legally advocate, merely educate. The presentation under consideration includes both County and City interests. It includes an inventory of (County) roads and bridges and culverts large and small; list of deficiencies;undesirable results of postponement of certain work; projects completed in the last 10 years; collage of businesses that have received development funds; number of jobs created; pie chart of spending, and leverage of private funds; recruitment and retention of many businesses and services. The proposed sales tax would be paid by an estimated 130,000 people. Property tax is paid by about 30,000 people. There are over 1,000,000 visitors per year. The ballot question is printed in its entirety. In 2012, by the end of the year, retail sales are expected to have exceeded $1,000,000,000 (one Billion dollars). Lots of taxes. Certain adjustments and additions will be made to the presentation.

The League of Women Voters will of course have a least one presentation to members!?!?Submitted by Lyndal Nyberg.

BOCC August 24

CountyCommission August 23, 2012

All present.

From almost the beginning of the session the question of the 1/2 per cent county sales tax became the background of the meeting. When there was a "break" in business the discussion went back to the slide show which is designed to inform voters of the need for the tax, where the current tax (that expires in Dec) money was spent, and possible plans for the new tax. The tax will be spent on repairing roads, culverts and bridges. The photos of projects - old and new- show the needs and results of this sales tax. The Commissioners took great pains to edit out redundant information and illustrations in the attempt to make the presentation comprehensive, concise and complete. It was edited down from 90 slides to about half that number.

Near the end of the morning, Manhattan Mayor Peppard and City Manager Ron Fehr met with the Commission to voice their feelings on what should be in any joint presentation showing the needs of the City of Manhattan and their proposed 65% of the 1/2 per cent sales tax. Most of what the City spent the last sales tax on was economic development and some infrastructure and salaries. All this was illustrated in pie-charts. Mayor Peppard initially stated that any presentation should be very concise, suggesting five minutes for the County, five minutes for the City and five minutes for the Chamber of Commerce. The City seems to have decided on infrastructure and property tax relief as their main use of the money. The article in Thursday’s Mercury (or at least the headlines) suggested that the City was asking (or appealing) for inclusion in the presentations. From what I observed of the discussions in the county meetings, they have always mentioned including the City of Manhattan in the educational presentations.
The city and county were to meet later that day (Aug.23) to go over the presentations.

In other business

The Riley County Domestic Violence Task Force requested and was granted a permit for an event using Courthouse Plaza space for a presentation on Domestic Violence Awareness Month from 11:30 to 1:30 on October 15.

Robert Nall, Director of IT reported that the GIS section is continuing work on projects affecting the ATA bus, Planning, Emergency Management and Appraisers' dept's. They successfully deployed the "find my polling place" website for the Elections office which lets people visually see the route from their registered address to their proper polling site. They have also met with District Courts about putting in a new wireless network after attorneys discontinue use and support of the law library. The County's video conferencing system has expanded to go beyond first arraignments to also handle appearances with Osawatomie, reducing the cost in man hours and delays.

Susan Kufahl, Director of County Health said that they had a school vaccination clinic August 3 where 54 children were given a total of 116 shots including Tdap, Varicella, Meningococcal, MMR, HepA, Hep B and Gardisil.

She announced that the flu vaccine is arriving and they will start giving shots Sept 5th. No appointment necessary. Cost will be $27 with other types, like the nasal spray and "high dose" for those over 65 will cost a bit more. No one is refused for inability to pay. County Health bills insurances, Medicaid, and Medicare. Getting one's shots at the local health dept does help support the department.

On the subject of West Nile, the last reported case was in 2009. there is no immunization available for humans (although there is one for horses!) In 2012 there were 13 confirmed cases of Pertussis, age range from 26 days to 80 years.. KDHE reported 56 cases statewide. She emphasized the importance of people getting Tdap shots to protect new babies who can't get the shots..

Julie Merklin, observer

Riley County Commission August 20

All present

The Commission agreed on the wording of the Resolution presenting the proposition of levying a one-half of one percent countywise retailers' sales tax in Riley county

Cheryl Collins, Museum Director told the Commission that she and three other staff attended the Kansas Museums Association Director’s forum held in Manhattan. The subject was “Leadership and Civic engagement, Creating Museums for the future”. . Collins is Chair of the Membership Committee of the KMA.. In January she was appointed by Gov. Brownback to the Kansas council on Travel and Tourism.

Captain Tim Hegarty of the RCPD reminded people, especially students, on the common sense rules for avoiding burgleries. He said to remove valuables from your car and lock the doors. Residents should remember to lock their doors. Hagarty also cautioned students who are new to the University that people who are intoxicated are more likely to robbed. Always be with another person when heading home.

Commissioner Lewis said that the Commission is offering to have someone come eto speak to groups and give a 15 - 20 minute presentation with Q&A about the proposed one half of one percent sales tax. This can be arranged by calling 537-6300.

Julie Merklin, observer

"Riley County Commission August 13, 2012

Riley County Commission August 13, 2012

Commissioners Johnson and Lewis present, Johnson presiding.  

Judge Wilson provided information to the Commissioners regarding changes now allowed for court hearings involving persons receiving treatment for mental illness at Osawatomie State Hospital.  Court hearings are now authorized to be heard through video conferencing to avoid the need for transporting persons to and from the hospital at considerable cost and loss of time for police officers.  Wilson said he hopes a similar agreement can be worked out with Larned State Hospital.

A public hearing was held on the proposed Riley County budget for 2013.  No concerns were expressed.  Commissioner Lewis offered a motion to approve the budget, motion passed.

Budget and Finance Officer Johnette Shepek arranged for a teleconference with Greg Vahrenberg with Piper Jaffray & Company in regard to bids for insurance pertaining to the 2012 General Obligation Bond.  The lowest bid was for 1.69% from Central States Capital.  The Commissioners agreed to proceed with the process to accept that bid.

Commissioner Johnson presented a plaque to Assistant Public Works Director and Parks Director, Rod Meredith.  Appreciation was expressed for Meredith’s accomplishments in developing the new Public Works shop site, assuring for the maintenance of roads and bridges and for the development and maintenance of parks.

A Back to Gardening workshop will be held August 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Pottorf Hall.  On September 7 an all day training will be held for Master Gardening volunteers from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm, also at Pottorf Hall.

 

 

USD 383 Board of Education

Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

The board discussed the budget for the 2012-13 school year.  Budget items discussed included an expected enrollment increase of 140 students, no change in costs for health insurance, a 3% increase in salary and benefits, and transferring $620,000 from the contingency fund to the general fund.  The Local Option Budget would be set at 26% (an increase from 25%), and the capital outlay mill levy would be unchanged at 6.0 mills.  The total mill levy would be set at 50.390 mills.  The total mill levy reflects a decrease of 1.235 mills as a result of increased valuations.  The board approved  publishing the notice for the public hearing on the budget, with the public hearing set for Aug. 15th.

Riley County Comission July 30, 2012

 Joan Strickler, observer

All Commissioners present, Johnson presiding.

The Commissioners signed a letter of support for a transportation grant for Big Lakes Developmental Center.  They questioned how the BLDC grant tied into the newly established regional transportation system funded also by the Department of Transportation .  It was explained  there are several different grant sources currently available to targeted populations through DOT but that these are likely to be consolidated in the future.

County Counselor Clancy Holeman reported that a law passed in the final days of the Kansas Legislature this year is creating confusion and conflicts in the State.  The law presumably would require the removal of names and home ownership identification from public records.  Apparently there is no possible way this can be done administratively or legally.  Commissioner McCulloh said this should be an issue placed on the legislative agenda of the Kansas Association of Counties and that would need to be done so prior to the KAC’s August 30 deadline.

It was mentioned that a person attending the County Fair slipped and fell and sustained an injury.  More information will be available later.

Mr. Holeman said he was running into problems in negotiating a new agreement with the Indigent Defense Panel.  Commissioners made the decision to offer a new contract on the same terms as the existing to cover the coming year.

The Riley County Fair will wrap things down tonight.  Attendance figures are not yet available but appeared to be positive.

Tom Fryer described plans for the Kansas Honor Flight to fly four Manhattan WW II soldiers  to Washington, D.C. this week.  Those honored are Rix Shanline, John Roberts, Dr. Norbert Stigge, and Charles Niernberger.  The men will spend two nights and three days in the Capitol.

County Treasurer Eileen King said the vehicle renewal and registration system has become much more stable over the past three weeks.  She cautions that lines still may continue to be longer than people are accustomed to and it is wise to arrive early and be patient.

County Clerk Rich Vargo reported 482 persons have participated in advance in person voting but that opportunity ends at noon on August 6.  Mail ballots are available on the Riley County website as well as by mail or stopping at his office.  He cautioned that voter ID is required.  In response to a question about checking voter ID’s with mail ballots, Vargo responded certain information is required but that issue does present a loophole in voter ID requirements.

Riley County Commission July 26, 2012

Joan Strickler, observer

All Commissioners present, Johnson presiding.

Two 4-H members distributed cookies to the Commissioners to express appreciation for their support and to call attention to the upcoming Riley County Fair.

The auditing firm of Sink and Gilmore presented the findings of their recent audit of the County Health Department.  There were no deficiencies cited and no evidence of non-compliance was reported.  They provided their highest level of approval.

County Attorney Barry Wilkerson gave his general update to the Commission.  A murder trial that started in 2009 looks like it will be finalized early in August.  Wilkerson noted more serious offences often take a long time to get through the court system.  He expects the newly appointed 3^rd District Court Judge to be located in Riley County early in September.

Assistant County Counselor Craig Cox discussed difficulties in resolving issues involving a house located in Fairmont Park.  The property is not habitable.  Apparently it was foreclosed on years ago and the title bought and sold numerous times by various debt bundling entities.  He has been trying to find the owner for 4 years.  Commissioners discussed the advisability of initiating a condemnation proceeding to solve the problem. 

County Counselor Clancy Holeman presented Commissioners with proposed language regarding the ballot question to allow a ¼ cent sales tax to be issued on behalf of the County.  A question was raised about the length of the wording. Holeman explained that such ballot issues generally should be phrased in one sentence that is a question that can be answered yes or no.  Approval was given also to a draft of a proposed interlocal agreement with the cities of Randolph, Leonardville, Ogden and Riley to distribute ¼ of any sales tax amount received. The proposal will be provided to the cities for input prior to being submitted to the Attorney General’s Office for approval.

Mary Jo Harbour, Chair of the Riley County Council on Aging, discussed concerns her board has about a funding request from the Randolph Blue Valley Senior Center.  The concerns relate to requests to improve property used by the Center but not owned by the Center.  Commissioners were not pleased with a letter sent to the Center director that implied it was the County Commissioners who were raising questions when the questions actually were those raised by the Council and Ms. Harbour..  It was agreed that any decisions for the distribution of funds should be made by the Riley County Council on Aging since the board was appointed by the County Commission for that purpose.

County Commission July 19, 2012

All commissioners present.

The Commission agreed with Pat Collins’ proposal to let Jackson County, per their request, use our Mobile Command Center  while their dispatch center is being renovated.  This would be from July 30 to Aug 14 or earlier.  The agreement with Jackson County specifies that the Center will be returned if there is an emergency here and it is needed.

Rod Meredith showed the Commission a series of slides of information on the proposed 1/4cent sales tax. (The current city/county ½ cent sales tax will expire at the end of this year).

   The presentation stressed the extent that non-residents will be contributing, including people coming to sports events, graduations, conventions, etc. as well as people from our larger trade area..  The money will be used for reconstruction, repair, and upkeep of our roads, bridges and culverts.  The Commission made some suggestions for editorial changes.  This material will be used in presentations to the public to gain their support and votes this Fall.

The Commission looked at the proposed 2013 budget numbers presented by Johnette Shepek as part of the ongoing discussion of the budget.  They made a number of adjustments resulting in a proposed 34.902 mil levy, up only .119 mils. One goal,  particularly important to Commissioner McCulloh,  was not having to reduce  personnel. 

Julie Merklin, observer

USD 383 Board of Education

July 18, 2012
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

The board discussed the budget for the 2012-13 school year.  Board members were presented with information regarding projected operating needs resulting from increased student enrollment and larger facilities (e.g. more teachers, bus routes, fuel costs, custodians, maintenance workers, software licenses, etc.).  Assessed valuation was projected to increase by 2.6%, which will mean an increase of available revenue for the district.  Options for financing operating costs included using approximately $620,000 from the contingency reserve fund, reducing the special education fund transfer to $100,000, and increasing the Local Option Budget (LOB) from 25% to 26%.

Board members were presented with two options for the mill levy.  Option 1 would keep the mill levy at its current levels, with the LOB set at 25% and the capital outlay mill levy set at 6.0 mills.  Option 2 would maintain the capital outlay mill levy at 6.0 mills and increase the LOB to 26%.  Increasing the LOB to 26% would increase the property tax on a $180,000 home by $15.  The board's consensus was to use Option 2, and the board directed staff to develop the budget using Option 2.

The board approved the design for the south parking lot at MHS West Campus, the purchase of weight racks for West Campus, replacement of floor tile for Marlatt Elementary, and to do field grading at Northview Elementary to address drainage issues.