Koochiching County Board Minutes

Board Minutes

for

December 15, 2009

REGULAR MEETING OF THE KOOCHICHING COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Held on Tuesday, December 15, 2009; 2:35 p.m.

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Pam Rooney, Brian Youso, Terry Murray, Terry Glowack, Dennis Hummitzsch, Dan McCarthy, Ken Krueger, James Hartje; Reporters Laurel Beager and Sheldon Slaubaugh

2009/12-09 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to approve the agenda with additions and deletions. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-10 Motion by McBride, seconded by Lepper to approve the minutes from the December 1, 2009 Regular County Board. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-11 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee accepting the following recommendations of the Personnel Committee: 1) in evaluating options for the County in retaining a Senior Accredited Assessor as required under State Law, to accept the recommended C52 County Assessor position with 100% salary payment to the appointed incumbent for completion of the current four-year appointment; 2) in evaluating options for the County in retaining a Civil Engineer as required under State Law, to accept the recommended D63B County Engineer Position with 100% salary payment to the appointed incumbent for completion of the current four-year appointment; 4) that in evaluating overall and department structuring and resource allocation and for providing clear and concise job descriptions of responsibilities and duties with a corresponding job pay ranking, to accept the recommended County-Wide Job and Pay Evaluation for all county positions to include the elected Department Heads to be conducted in 2010 by Bjorklund Compensation Consulting at a cost not to exceed $20,000 and with the process to include completion of job questionnaires by employees and department head interviews with the consultant providing the final position description, ranking and pay scale recommendations to the County Board. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-12 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride accepting the Administration Director’s recommendation for the final 2009 County Budget to include retaining a 5% cut to the outside entities, cutting the Project Contingency Budget by $31,000, deferring the unallocated Personnel Contingency to the 2010 County Budget for 2009 and 2010 group settlements, transferring $8,995 from the General Revenue Fund to the Highway Fund to finalize the Phase I 911 Signage Project and that due to the lateness in the budget year to deal with any further unallotment of 2009 State General Aids, to have the General Revenue Fund take the loss should further unallotment occur and manage the revenue reduction in the 2010 County Budget Plan. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-13 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to approve payment of the Courthouse claims in the amount of $72,015.54; to approve payment of the Highway claims in the amount of $42,437.37; authorizing the Board Chair’s signature to the November County Vendor Payment Listing verifying its review; to approve the following Jackfish Bay Sewer Project expenditures with funding from the MPFA Sewer Project Loan: $20,000 to Attorney Steve Shermoen for easements; $3,532 to Wagner Construction for pit filling services and $83,569 to Wagner Construction as the final payment due under contract for the Jackfish Bay Sewer Project construction; to approve expenditure up to $3,100 from the 2009 Sheriff Zero Tolerance Account for a voice activated recording alarm as recommended by the Sheriff. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-14 Motion by McBride, seconded by Lepper to revise the contract amount approved under Board Motion 2009/03-22 to Kvien Document Imaging for the County Recorder’s document scanning project from $24,500 to $35,000 based on the decision to use paper documents in lieu of scanning microfilm for better quality output with funding from the County Land Record Projects Account, legislatively reserved for land records management as recommended by the County Recorder. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-15 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee that due to a temporary and unique situation whereas the federal government has ordered increased security on our borders and the fact that there is insufficient numbers of local law enforcement to provide this additional cover, the Undersheriff be provided overtime at time and one half for work hours beyond his normal work as Undersheriff for a period of January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 to provide border security under the federal directive; providing there is a need for the position to serve in this capacity. For funding purposes the Department of Homeland Security requires that hours of service be reported and reimbursed on an hourly basis and it is for this reason the Undersheriff as a salaried exempt employee, will be compensated on an hourly basis for this particular extra duty. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-16 Motion by Adee, seconded by Lepper to approve a Snowmobile Safety Enforcement Grant Agreement between Koochiching County and the State of Minnesota- Commissioner of Natural Resources for the period of October 15, 2009 through June 30, 2011 for $5,506 each year and further, authorizing the County Sheriff and County Board Chair to sign the Grant Agreement. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried.

2009/12-17 Motion by McBride, seconded by Adee to approve a 2010 Tobacco License to “The Junction” as recommended by the Administrative Assistant. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

2009/12-18 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to reappoint Commissioner Brian McBride and Phyllis Karsnia to the Tri-County Community Health Board effective January 1, 2010 and under a three-year appointment per the Tri-County by-laws. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

2009/12-19 Motion by Lepper, seconded by Adee to table a recommendation for the Joint Rural Fire Meeting until the next County Board meeting for further information. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

2009/12-20 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride accepting the recommendation of the Community Service Director to renew the following contracts contingent on the County Attorney’s approval: AEOA Congregate Meals with a change in the rate charged to the customer; AEOA Home Delivered Meals with required state rate reduction; Friends Against Abuse for supervised visitation services with no change; NEMOJT Employment and Training with no change; School District 362 for social worker services with no change. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

000 The Complex Superintendent reported to the Board that one of the two Courthouse boilers (backup) will need to be replaced as it will not seal. Estimates show a cost of $45,000 and would look to apply for the twenty-five percent federal stimulus rebate for public facilities energy efficiency improvements and use County forces to remove the old boiler. In addition, the Complex Superintendent reported that the phone system serving the County is 12 years old and he would like to explore options and cost for future replacement. The Board agreed to have the Complex Superintendent work with Administration and Management Committee to review options for the phone system replacement with information to come back to the Board for further review and consideration.

2009/12-21 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride authorizing the Complex Superintendent to seek bids for a Courthouse boiler and seek confirmation of the 25% federal stimulus rebate for public facilities energy efficiency improvements and come back to the Board for further review and decision. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

000 The Land Commissioner reported the results of the 2009 Land Auction: 22 tracts sold at auction for a value of $56,780 plus 1 tract selling recently for $2,800.

000 The Board Chair called for public comment at 3:25 p.m. Dan McCarthy again requested that the County Board tape record its meeting for transparency when the record comes into question. With no further comment, the Board Chair recessed the meeting at 3:30 p.m. for the Committee of the Whole session. The Board Chair called the regular meeting back to order at 5:40 p.m.

2009/12-22 Motion by Lepper, seconded by McBride to approve an employment separation in the Health Department of LPN RaeAnn Taylor effective December 23, 2009. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

2009/12-23 Motion by McBride, seconded by Adee to ratify contract settlements with the Koochiching County Courthouse Unit and the Koochiching County Community Services and Public Health Unit represented by AFSCME 65 Local 510 for 2009 through 2010 as recommended by the Board’s Negotiation Committee. Voting yes: Hanson, McBride, Adee, Lepper. Motion carried

000 The Board Chair opened a public hearing at 6:15 p.m. for the purpose of reviewing and discussing the proposed 2010 County Budget and County Tax Levy. After review of the Budget and Levy, the Board Chair called for public comment. Two members of the public had no comment on the proposed budget or levy but attended the hearing with concerns on their increased market valuation and resulting tax increase. The property valuation and budget/tax levy processes were explained and written information was provided on the valuation process. With no further comment from the public or Board members, the Board Chair closed the hearing at 7:00 p.m. and adjourned the regular meeting.