The Board of Ellis County Commissioners met in regular session at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, April 18, 2011, in the

Transcription

1 April 18, 2011 The Board of Ellis County Commissioners met in regular session at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, April 18, 2011, in the Commission Room at the Courthouse, 1204 Fort Street, Hays, Kansas. Chairman Glenn D Diehl called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. Clerk Alberta Klaus called roll. Chairman Glenn D Diehl, Present Commissioner Dean F Haselhorst, Present Commissioner Swede Holmgren, Present All Commissioners were present. Also present were County Administrator Greg Sund and County Clerk Alberta Klaus. ORDER OF BUSINESS There was one change in the Agenda because Diehl requested, on advice of counsel, to move Resolution to the next meeting, May 2, 2011 MOTION: Holmgren SECOND: Haselhorst To table Resolution to the May 2, 2011 Commission Meeting CONSENT AGENDA Approval of employee status changes as presented The Commissioners signed the change of employee status form for Gerald Weber, an employee in the Public Works Department, Road and Bridge Division, who resignation is effective at the end of the day on May 3, Approval of Refunding Warrants as presented Refunding Warrant Number 1003 was reviewed and approved. Approval of Tax Roll Adjustments as presented Tax Roll Adjustment Numbers through were reviewed and signed. Approval of Escape Tax Orders as presented Escape Tax Order Numbers and were reviewed and signed. Approve Accounts Payable as presented Accounts Payable dated April 29, 2011 in the amount of $613, were reviewed and payment was authorized. Payroll Register dated April 15, 2011 in the amount of $6, for payroll for election board workers was reviewed and signed by the Commissioners. Declare five Nonin 8500 model Pulse Oximeters and one Palco Model 300 Pulse Oximeter as surplus The oximeters are at Emergency Medical Services Department and will be donated to organizations in Ellis County that may still be able to use them. Approve contract with Northwest Kansas Regional Homeland Security Council UNION IMPASSE REGARDING 2010 CONTRACT OPENERS The proposal is to adjust the pay scales up by 2.5% with a minimum of $0.23 per hour for Emergency Medical Services Contract scales and a minimum increase of $0.37 per hour for the other scale. And require employees to pay a health

2 insurance premium share of 5%. Sund said the minimum adjustments will insure pay increase will cover the 5% premium share for the employee, employee plus children, and employee plus spouse premium levels. Haselhorst asked Sund to address the cost of insurance for employees. What is 5% of the premium cost to the employee? Sund said that under the proposed plan employee premium share of 5% would begin June 1 but premium withholding from paychecks would begin in May. By doing this, the County will have one month of premium share from employees on hand when the June 2011 premium is due. The premiums are as follows: Single Employees would pay $26.81 per month Employees with Children would pay $53.59 per month Employee Spouse would pay $57.59 per month Employee, Spouse and children would cost $84.37 Lisa Campbell presented two spreadsheets showing what 2.5% increase would be and how giving different rates to different employees will affect the scale. Holmgren asked if this had been discussed by the County previous. Sund said the proposal was discussed with Commissioners and was also discussed with Department Heads during the last meeting. DISCUSSION Vernon Befort questioned why we keep priming the pump on insurance. Emergency Medical Services Director Kerry McCue addressed the Commissioners about the recruitment and retention tools that the County has and part of that is benefits and better pay. He is aware that employees will pay 5% of their premium but he asked the Commissioners not to take the recruitment and retention tool away. Alberta Klaus commented that she would like to see employees on the established pay scale and not put them in between pay steps. Lisa Campbell said certain people with the family plan would not be funded to the level of their cost for the health insurance premium. Sund said the minimum pay increase proposal does not include covering the 5% premium share at the family level as Commissioners were not supportive of doing this. Wanda Gipson asked What s the next thing that will be taken away. I see the wage increase and health insurance cost as a loss. Gipson added We re $5.00 to $7.00 behind the City in wages. Diehl said that if we would have stayed where we were the cost of health insurance would have been 3.1 million. The County is in between a rock and a hard place. Scott Braun thanked the Commissioners for allowing people to speak. The employees are willing to discuss insurance because employees are taxpayers to. He feels that employees want to work with the Commissioners. He wants to sit down with Mr. Sund to come up with an agreement that would be acceptable to both. Glenda Tholen said that she sees them making a decision tonight and asked them to consider beginning the withholding of the premium out of employees paychecks in July. She said that way the County will pay 100% of premium costs for one-half of the year and the employees will pay 5% of the premium costs for one-half of the year. Haselhorst was fine with employees paying one-half and the County paying one-half of the premium for the year. Holmgren said that the Number One asset that the County has are the employees. He said that Unions are in trouble and only seven counties in Kansas have unions. He said that unions need to tighten down the screws on spending. We

3 can not pay $2.8 million for 176 employees in this county. The union should be as committed to coming to agreement, as well as the Commissioners should. There should be no impasse. To resolve the 2010 impasse regarding contract openers in each of the four union contracts as follows: Employees will pay 5% of their health insurance premiums starting August 1, 2011 with 5% for health insurance policy being deducted from paychecks starting with the first paycheck in July 2011 and adjust the two pay scales up by 2.5% with a minimum increase of $0.23 per hours for the EMS Contract scale and minimum of $0.37 per hour for the other scale. Motion carried two to one. Diehl and Haselhorst vote yes, Holmgren voted no. ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACT Jeff Flathman of Energy Solutions Professionals, LLC (ESP) discussed the energy performance study that his firm had with Ellis County. They were hired to do an energy performance study on county facilities. Mr. Flathman reported here are issues with the new chiller for the Law Enforcement Center but added we will have cooling before the season. He said the State program allows up to 30 years financing for projects, but he would not recommend a thirty year loan because the projected life of most of the equipment replaced is less than 30 years. He presented a plan wherein the reduction in spending on utility costs would cover financing costs. The plan includes lighting, temperature controls, air leakage, cracks in walls where the roof meets the walls, etc. Flathman recommended financing for a year term, but he projected the life of much of the equipment to be over 20 years. Flathman recommended that if we do the improvements in phases that we address energy, chiller installation in the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) and install a mini-split air conditioning unit in the LEC Jail Office in phase 1. Water efficient improvements were dropped from the project in the Courthouse because actual water use in the Courthouse is lower than expected. Lighting in the storage area is not included in the project because the energy savings payback is too long a time frame due to the limited use of lighting in storage rooms. The County would contract with ESP and they would sub contract the lighting, controls, chillers etc. ESP guarantees their price for the project. The manufacturer has informed ESP that the chiller for the LEC cannot be delivered until May 3 or 9, Flathman said ESP will pay for a temporary chiller until the new chiller can be installed approximately around May Haselhorst asked if a local contractor is being used. Flathman said ESP is still waiting for a bid price from Glassman Corp for the LEC energy performance work. The other company that has submitted a bid is F M, a mechanical contractor, out of Kansas City. The owner of that company is from Hays and proposes using local subcontractors. Currently interest rates are 4.2% to 4.5% but he will look into possible lower rates. There will be no need to move prisoners during the chiller installation. In response to a question from Commissioner Haselhorst regarding plans to expand the LEC, Mr. Flathman said the new chiller would be able to handle additional square feet, but not double the size. The steam boiler system is inefficient and operates at 74% efficiency. He recommended installing condensing boilers that operate a much higher efficiency. Sund recommended doing during the projects in phases to give Commissioners more time to consider whether to replace the chiller in the Courthouse and the boilers in the Courthouse and LEC.

4 Flathman recommended that we proceed with the energy efficient improvements, the LEC chiller, and Mini-split air conditioner in the Jail Office. Flathman said that there are warranties on the lamps, ballasts and chiller but he was not sure of the length of time. The chiller is expected to last 25 years or longer. In response to a question from Commissioner Holmgren, Flathman said the equipment, parts, and controls are American made. Flathman said that the chiller and boiler in the Courthouse are past their life. The boiler in the LEC needs help. Flathman would be willing to assist in obtaining financing. This would take 2-3 weeks to process. Sund recommended that we let ESP get the financing because they do this as part of the project for no additional cost. Flathman said the total cost of Phase 1 as proposed would be $524,127 and that is covered by the energy savings. Tom McClelland asked about the payback and the $524,127 Mr. Flathman reiterated the projected savings. To enter into an energy performance contract with ESP for $524, for Phase 1, which includes energy efficient improvements, a LEC chiller, and mini split air conditioning unit in the Jail Office PUBLIC WORKS ELLIS SHOP BUILDING Sund said that he did on research on the County Shop at Ellis. He said the city of Ellis purchased the building and considerably more property from the Union Pacific in the early 1960 s. They later sold the building and immediate property to a private party. The building and immediate property was sold to a bank under a sheriff s sale in about The bank sold the building and immediate property to Ellis County in In 1987, Ellis County bought the additional adjacent property from Union Pacific. Sund recommends offering to give the building to the city of Ellis along with a check to cover the cost of demolishing it. The other option would be to give it to Ellis if they want to renovate it and if not we will demolish it and do something with the land. Holmgren asked if we ve talked to the City of Ellis about the building or could be advertise it and find a viable buyer. Sund said he visited with Ellis City Clerk Phil Martin about this proposal some time back. Diehl would like to make a formal offer to the City of Ellis to give them the building along with $85,000. He wants the City of Ellis Council to make the decision regarding the future of the building. He would want to keep four (4) acres for the County. The Commissioners want Sund to present this at Ellis City s meeting next Monday evening. To offer to give the County Shop Building in Ellis to the City of Ellis along with $85,000 and one acre of property. Motion passed on voice vote 3-0. AGENDA CHANGE Several persons in the audience asked if Agenda Item E could be moved to the end of the meeting since it was an executive session. The Commissioners agreed to hold the executive session later in the meeting. DIRECT DEPOSIT POLICY FOR NON-UNION ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES

5 Sund presented a draft resolution that, if passed, will make it mandatory for pay checks to employees to be direct deposited. He said there is no hurry on this proposal. He said if Commissioners want to move forward with it, he will place it on a future Order of Business for consideration. BUDGET POLICY Diehl said that he would like it on the agenda for next week. INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY Haselhorst is concerned about requiring employees to use leave time if the County mandates that administrative offices are closed. Sund said the proposed policy was changed to the current version when questions were raised during a department head meeting about giving some employees time off with pay while others are required to work at their normal rate. Sund said a policy that does this has the effect of creating a special holiday. Holmgren would like this issue to be discussed at the Commission/Department Head meeting in May. Wes Alstatt said that special holidays are those that are called by the Governor or the President. COMPREHENSIVE COMMITTEE Diehl said that Tom Denning is not interested in serving on the Steering Committee. He plans to participate in one of the stakeholder groups. Sund stated that the following additional persons are interested in serving on the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee: Rick Kuehl, Tyler Thompson, Dean Gottschalk, Amy Befort, Raemona Herrman and Klint Spiller. Lance Russell said that the Comprehensive Plan will affect people outside of the three mile city extraterritorial zone. He said people in that area should be majority representation on the Steering Committee. He said having a Commissioner on the Committee creates the appearance of a conflict of interest. He feels that the Administrator on the Committee could be the liaison to the Commissioners. Martha McClelland said to Diehl If you are on this steering committee and you vote on the plan, it is a conflict. Diehl said it was not a conflict. Russell said that the Commission should not be influencing the development of the Comprehensive Plan Policy. He does not believe that the Administrator is to offer policy. It is the Commissioner s job to do that and it is the Administrator s duty to administer it. It was noted that the Steering Committee will make a recommendation to the Stakeholders Committee who will make recommendations to the Commissioners regarding the plan. MOTION: Holmgren SECOND: Haselhorst To appoint the followings persons to the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Rick Kuehl, Tyler Thompson, Dean Gottschalk, Amy Befort, Raemona Herrman and Klint Spiller EXECUTIVE SESSION 2011 UNION NEGOTIATIONS To enter into executive session for twenty minutes at 9:07 p.m. with Greg Sund to discuss 2011 union negotiations Open meeting resumed at 9:27 p.m. with the following action taken. MOTION: Holmgren SECOND: Haselhorst To continue with the executive session to discuss 2011 union negotiations at 9:28 p.m. for an additional twenty minutes with County Administrator Greg Sund.

6 Open meeting resumed at 9:48 p.m. with no action taken. EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR A NON-ELECTED EMPLOYEE ISSUE MOTION Holmgren SECOND: Haselhorst To enter into executive session for employer employee relations for a non elected employee issue for fifteen minutes at 9:50 p.m. with County Administrator Greg Sund. Commissioner Dean Haselhorst did not enter into the executive session due to a conflict of interest. Open meeting resumed at 10:02 p.m. with no action taken. ADJOURN To adjourn at 10:10 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is set for Monday May 2, 2011 in the Commission Room in the Courthouse. ATTEST: ALBERTA KLAUS, ELLIS COUNTY CLERK BOARD OF ELLIS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: GLENN D DIEHL, CHAIRMAN DEAN F HASELHORST, MEMBER SWEDE HOLMGREN, MEMBER