REGULAR MEETING OF THE KOOCHICHING COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Held on Tuesday, April 7, 2009; 10:00 a.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioners Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck
MEMBERS ABSENT: None

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Dennis Hummitzsch, Terry Murray, Susan Congrave, Doug Grindall, Judge Leduc, Phil Miller; Reporter Laurel Beager

2009/04-01 Motion by Adee, seconded by McBride to approve the agenda with additions and deletions. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-02 Motion by McBride, seconded by Adee to approve the minutes from the March 24, 2009 regular meeting. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-03 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to approve payment of the monthly county Board expense claims in the amount of $11,080.90; authorizing the Board Chair’s signature to the March vendor payment listing verifying its review; to approve payment of the 2009 Laurentian RC&D membership dues in the amount of $400.00. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-04 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride accepting the recommendation of the County Assessor to grant the following abatements: Koochiching County and City of International Falls, Parcel #15-030-00610 for tax exemption status; Denise Romanowicz, Parcel #92-109-02010 to reinstate homestead status due to clerical error. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-05 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by McBride authorizing the Board Chair to appoint two Board members to serve on a committee and to request the participation of the City of International Falls and Chamber to review the Custom Station Expansion options and find mutual agreement as to the best option to support the local economy to present to GSA and federal legislators for support. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried. (The Board Chair appointed Commissioner Lepper and Commissioner McBride.)

2009/04-06 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Pavleck to adopt the following resolution in opposition to cuts to Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes to Minnesota Counties and submitted to the Governor and State Legislators:
WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota provides Payment In Lieu of Tax (PILT) funds to counties to provide a measure of property tax relief to taxpayers who may live in counties that contain tax exempt state public lands; and
WHEREAS, one of the state goals related to the Payment In Lieu of Tax (PILT) payments to counties is to encourage the retention of the public land base and to foster sustainable natural resource management programs by counties over the long-term for the benefit of future generations of the entire State of Minnesota; and
WHEREAS, the retention and stability of state owned, county managed, natural resource lands plays an important role in the continued viability of Minnesota’s forest products industry and public land recreation opportunities which directly impacts numerous regional economies in Minnesota; and
WHEREAS, many of the counties that receive the highest levels of PILT funding from the State of Minnesota are those rural counties that have very low property tax capacity and a high incidence of poverty factors; and
WHEREAS, Koochiching County utilizes PILT proceeds to help fund state-mandated services and also to meet locally determined service needs related to public safety and county roads; and
WHEREAS, PILT proceeds not only benefit counties but, through apportionment formulas, school districts, townships and other entities receive PILT funding to assist them in meeting service needs in jurisdictions where property tax opportunities are limited due to the presence of tax exempt state lands; and
WHEREAS, Governor Tim Pawlenty has proposed a 20 percent reduction to Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) to counties as part of his strategy to correct the state budget deficit for the next biennium; and
WHEREAS, Koochiching County received a 2008 PILT Payment of $1,066,204 (approximately 29 percent of the county property tax levy); and
WHEREAS, the proposed 20 percent cut would result in an annual funding reduction of approximately $213,241 to Koochiching County; and
WHEREAS, the proposal to cut PILT funding represents a disproportionate funding cut to Minnesota counties as many poor rural counties would receive a greater reduction in state funding than more wealthy counties.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Koochiching County Board of Commissioners respectfully requests that the 2009 Session of the Minnesota State Legislature reject proposals to cut PILT funding to counties as a mechanism to balance the State of Minnesota budget deficit for the coming biennium. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.
2009/04-07 Motion by Adee, seconded by Lepper authorizing the Complex Superintendent to expend up to $3,000.00 from the Sinking Building Account to repair the elevator in the LEC as recommended by the Complex Superintendent. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.
000 The Board Chair appointed Commissioner Lepper to the ALS Ambulance Service Task Force and appointed Commissioners Pavleck and McBride as Board representatives on the proposed Extended Sewer Project.
2009/04-08 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride that due to the national economy being in deep recession which affects the wood consuming mill capacity and therefore timber harvesting and also due to recent mill closures in 2006 and 2008 which have depressed the Minnesota timber market, the Koochiching County Board approves the following interim County Timber Policy change to improve timber sale operation conditions for the logging community and timber industry to ensure harvesting of County timber: to grant a one year free extension for timber contracts expiring in 2009 thereby requiring the timber sale installment payment of 20% of the total sale value be postponed for one year for said permits. This change in policy does not include permits already in extension as of January 2009. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.
2009/04-09 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee adopting the following resolution in opposition to the Governor’s proposal for redesign of Human Services as proposed in his State Budget and with said resolution to be sent to the Governor, State Legislators and the DHS Commissioner:
WHEREAS proposed legislative language entitled the “Human Services Authority Act” has been reviewed and discussed, and

WHEREAS the Governor’s proposal is motivated by a need to create greater accountability for human services between counties and the state; maximize the expertise to enable counties to more effectively administer many highly complex human services programs, and reduce variability in core or safety net services, and

WHEREAS Koochiching County agrees with these underlying goals, but questions whether this proposal will achieve those goals, and

WHEREAS Koochiching County is fearful the legislation, in its current form, may lead to unintended consequences, and undermine the successful collaboration and partnerships already in place, and

WHEREAS Koochiching County is concerned that no fiscal note of state wide savings has been prepared, there is no funding to support counties for analysis and implementation, nor is the potential risk of increased cost and burden to local taxpayers considered, and

WHEREAS in real effect, the Human Services Authority Act simply adds another layer of government, with all the overhead and cost that entails, without measurable increase in efficiency, and

WHEREAS the Human Services Authority Act appears to assume inefficiency lies in the local administration of human services bureaucracy while all available evidence indicates the inefficiencies are inherent in the complex State and Federal programs and bureaucratic mandates that have little or nothing to do with service delivery;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Koochiching County Board of Commissioners opposes the “Human Services Authority Act”, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, to request that the Governor and Legislature develop improvements to human service management and delivery in a transparent manner that includes counties as partners throughout the planning process. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-10 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Adee to send a letter to the Department of Human Services Commissioner to request he travel to Koochiching County to meet with the Koochiching County Board to discuss firsthand the Governor’s proposal of redesign of the human services delivery system as it would relate to delivery of needed public service in Koochiching County. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-11 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to defer the Health Director’s request to fill a .60 FTE Public Health Nurse position to the Personnel Committee for review and recommendation. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-12 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper accepting the recommendation of the Highway Engineer to award low bid for the Car Pool vehicle replacement to Waschke for a 2009 Chevy Impala in the amount of $16,460 with trade in of a 1998 Ford Taurus. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-13 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride accepting the recommendation of the Highway Engineer to award low bid for the hired tandem axle dump truck and tractor and trailer combination to James Kennedy for all zones with second award on the hired tractor and trailer combination for Zones 4 and 7 to Tim Miovac. Detailed bid information on file in the Highway Department. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-14 Motion by McBride, seconded by Pavleck accepting the recommendation of the Highway Engineer to award Nuisance Beaver Removal bids for county maintained roads and County land to Brent Bacon, Harvey Cole, Dave Thomas, Adam Miles, Orville Schultz, Gerald Palm and Larry Thramer with specific zone and bid award on file in the Highway Department. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

000 The Highway Engineer informed the Board that the Culvert Bids will be presented at the next meeting.

2009/04-15 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee accepting the recommendation of the Highway Engineer to award low bid for road striping to AAA Striping Service Co. in the amount of $141,278.60. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-16 Motion by Pavleck, seconded by Lepper accepting the recommendation of the Highway Engineer to award low bid to Bowman Construction for SAP 36-602-15 in the amount of $791,732.00, SAP 36-702-03 in the amount of $148,476.00, SAP 36-694-08 in the amount of $214,925.00 and CP 2009-01 in the amount of $161,399.00. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.

2009/04-17 Motion by McBride, seconded by Adee (to allow for discussion), Whereas the legislative intent of Trunk Highway 332 is to provide a truck route that would not impact the residents/retail areas of International Falls; Whereas the Koochiching County Board resolution of February 19, 2002 states: …this proposed road would be heavily used by tourist heading into Canada; Whereas, the proposed County State Aid Highway 155 route would be economically disastrous to the City of International Falls and surrounding areas. Now therefore be it resolved that the Koochiching County Board rescind the County Board’s support of the establishment of proposed County State Aid Highway 155 and ends it participation in the proposed reroute of Trunk Highway 332. Voting yes: McBride; voting no: Hanson, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion fails.

000 The Board Chair called for public comment at 11:15 a.m. No comment was presented. Board recessed for lunch and reconvened at 1:30 p.m.

000 The Judge and County Board discussed pending claims as they relate to the County Board’s directive of non payment of claims for legal counsel for parents in CHIPS and TPR cases due to the State Court System in June 2008 making the decision these expenses were non-mandated services of the State court public defender system and thereby turned the expense over to counties as court appointed attorney expenses. Though understanding the County’s frustration with this matter, the Judge explained to the Board that procedurally if the County denies payment of the claims he would have to order payment of the claims, which the Board understood and preferred over just accepting this pass down of cost. In summary, the County Board when agreeing to the State’s take over the court system, never understood the agreement to mean the county would still be liable for court service costs, which as of 2008 was $54,000. And as a result of the State takeover, the State took the County’s court fine revenue and at the time of taking over the court system, the County lost a portion of their state general aid which was reallocated to the State’s court budget. Since this time, the County’s cost continues to rise with no return of the lost court fine revenue or general aid and no say in the financial decisions of the court system. The Judge submitted a transcription of court proceedings claim in relation to a CHIPS case in which the parent’s legal counsel is appealing the decision, which was in question under the Board’s non-payment directive. He informed the Board that a parent’s appeal on a CHIPS court decision has never been handled by the State’s public defender system and would be transferred to a court appointed attorney which becomes the responsibility of the county along with related cost. The Board thanked the Judge for informing them on the procedures as they move forward on a decision to approve these claim payments. The County Attorney at the request of the Board, advised that the pending claims be placed on the next agenda and by which time he will advise on the County participating in pending county lawsuits which are challenging this very issue.

2009/04-18 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to adjourn the meeting at 2:20 p.m. voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper, Pavleck. Motion carried.