Minutes, December 19, 2011

ELLSWORTH COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING

                                                                                 

MINUTES

 

DECEMBER 19, 2011

 

The Board of Ellsworth County Commissioners convened this 19^th day of December 2011 at the Ellsworth County Courthouse. 

 

                                                            Members Present:

                                                            Albert W. Oller, 1^st District Commissioner

                                                            Kermit Rush, 2^nd District Commissioner

                                                            Terry L. Kueser, 3^rd District Commissioner                

                                                                                                           

OPENING BUSINESS:

 

Chairman Kueser called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

 

Commissioner Kueser moved to approve the Agenda as amended.  Commissioner Rush seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

Commissioner Rush moved to approve the Minutes of December 12, 2011. Commissioner Oller seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

APPOINTMENTS:

 

Peggy Svaty, Clerk of the District Court, presented a letter from the Office of Judicial Administration stating that the E-Citation Project would be completed in early January and asked that the departments encumber funding for the project from the 2011 budget.  Commissioner Kueser moved to allow $4,000 from the District Court 2011 budget to be carried over for expenditure in 2012 for the E-Citation Project.  Commissioner Rush seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

Roderic Rees, EMS Director, reported he had checked on the lease for the monitors and it was a financial lease only.  He met with the Phillips representative and they recommended a new heart monitor at an approximate cost of $21,000 with a 2-year warranty.  The other direction they could go would be to buy a base refurbished monitor at $12,000 with a one-year warranty.  Commissioner Rush moved to allow the purchase of a new Phillips monitor at a cost of $21,891.86 to be taken from the Equipment Reserve Fund.  Commissioner Kueser seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.  Mr. Rees asked the Commissioners if they would schedule a Department Head meeting as he would like to discuss random drug testing with other departments.  One will be scheduled for January.

 

Appraiser, Carl Miller, and Rob Fillion, Smoky Hill Economic Development Director, met with the Commissioner to discuss the new Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.  Mr. Miller presented a new guideline with four plans included. Plan A would include the City of Ellsworth, USD 327 and the County;  Plan B would include the City of Kanopolis, USD 327 and County; Plan C&D would be the City of Wilson and USD 112.  Plans  A&B are five year plans with different appraised value increments and percentages of rebates for the five years.  Plan C&D uses a $5,000 appraised increment and rebates for ten years.  The Commissioners agreed with the plans presented but were adamant that they would not join any plan that offered ten year abatement.  Mr. Miller will send the guideline and plans to each of the cities and school districts and ask that they respond as to whether they want to join any three of the proposed plans or want to present a plan of their own.  A deadline of January 31, 2012 has been set for a response from the cities with a date of February 13, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. set for the Commissioners to make a final decision.  Mr. Miller requested the purchase of a new computer at a cost of $1,111.50 plus $400 for installation.  Commissioner Kueser moved to authorize purchase of a computer for the Appraiser's office at a cost of $1,111.50 plus $400 for installation.  Commissioner Oller seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.  Mr. Miller reported he, the County Clerk and Commissioner Rush had attended a very informative meeting with the Ellsworth City Administrator and Kevin Cowan of Gilmore & Bell regarding the new TIF District.  Also, he has had discussions with Western Cooperative about their new building and they have indicated that it would be locally assessed instead of state assessed.

 

Sheriff Tracy Ploutz reported that the paper work on the new truck was finished but he was going to delay the actual purchase in order to see where he is on his budget.  Before finishing the paper work, however, he did some comparative pricing and did see that a 2-wheel drive was priced higher than a 4-wheel drive.  Also, he looked into the Chevrolet Impala and one other car, but found that getting in and out of the vehicle was difficult when wearing the vests and gun belts.  The Commissioners thanked him for taking the time to check out the costs.  Sheriff Ploutz reported that he had bought new pants for the deputies and changed the color.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

There were no old business items.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Commissioner Rush moved to approve two cereal malt beverage licenses for the Dry Dock and a special license allowing them to stay open until 2:00 a.m. on January 1, 2012.  Commissioner Oller seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

Commissioner Rush moved to approve 2011 Abatements 57,59,61-64 in the amount of $857.13 and 2011 Added Tax 60 for $112.36.  Commissioner Oller seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

Commissioner Oller moved to approve the donation of sick leave as requested.  Commissioner Kueser seconded the motion.  Motion carried 3-0.

 

ADJOURNMENT:

 

Chairman Kueser adjourned the meeting at 11:50 a.m.

 

 

________________________________________

Janet L. Andrews, Ellsworth County Clerk