The Kiowa County Commissioner’s Regular Meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chairman Richard Scott on January 26, 2017. Scott opened the meeting with a prayer and Pledge of Allegiance. Those in attendance were:

Richard Scott, Chairman

Cindy McLoud, Commissioner

Donald Oswald, Commissioner

Delisa Weeks, County Clerk

Tina Adamson, County Administrator

Dennis Pearson with the Department of Social Services entered meeting to discuss the Caseworker position. Oswald moved and McLoud seconded the motion to move Audrey Johnson to Lead Worker and promote Kailey Meardon to Caseworker at $16.00 per hour starting in February 2017. All Commissioners voted Affirmative. McLoud moved and Scott seconded the motion to utilize the C.O.R.E. services and 100% of Child Welfare which will pay for the salary increase for Kailey Meardon. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Pearson thanked the BOCC and exited the meeting at 9:20 a.m.

Craig Kerfoot entered the meeting at 9:20 a.m. to seek support for creating a grant writer position. He wanted to see if there was any interest from the county for such a position. The Commissioners thought this would be something the County would be interested in. Kerfoot said he was going to visit with some of the other local entities to see if there was any interest from them. Kerfoot said he would try to set up a time for everyone to sit down and discuss the possibility of creating such a position.

Tammi Clark, Prowers/Kiowa County Health Nurse and Lisa Thomas, CMG Coordinator entered the meeting at 10:06 a.m. Scott moved and Oswald seconded the motion to recess the regular Commissioner’s Meeting and move into the Board of Health Meeting at 10:08 a.m. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Oswald moved and McLoud seconded the motion to move back into regular session at 11:13 a.m. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Oswald moved and Scott seconded the motion to sign the IGA for Public Health. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Road Foremen, Jack Howard and Rick Spady entered the meeting to discuss the landfill issues that are ongoing. The two landfills in Kiowa County are out of compliance with State regulations. Sheriff Sheridan also entered the meeting and confirmed that EPA had been in contact with his office in regards to the procedures that the Sheriff’s Office has in place as far as burn permits.

By September 1, 2017; the county will need to have a plan stating how they are going to become in compliance to keep the landfills open, or to close one or both of the landfills. Adamson contacted APEX and they will do formal plans showing Kiowa County is attempting to be in compliance. The Commissioners will be sending John Higgins, Landfill Operator to training for landfill operations and hazardous waste screening.  Mr. Higgins will log random inspections of those using the landfill. The residents of Kiowa County will need to be vigilant in what they are disposing of and to follow the guidelines that Administrator Adamson is putting in the paper. One option the State said they are considering is making a centrally located landfill in Kiowa County or possibly making it a transfer station. The State said there were 22 small landfills in violation and if they can not get control of the trash being brought in, they will have no choice but to close these facilities. The State is requiring Kiowa County to drill up to 4 new test water wells and the fee for drilling each of these are in the $10,000.00 range for each one. The Commissioners will be meeting with the State on February 1^st to discuss the deficiencies, test wells, monitoring of explosive gas and signage for the landfills.

Scott moved and Oswald seconded the motion to recess the meeting at 12:15 p.m. for lunch. All Commissioners voted Affirmative. The regular meeting reconvened at 1:30 p.m.

Erica Chaves with Congressman Ken Buck’s office met to discuss the different issues Kiowa County may be facing. The one concern is broadband in rural Colorado. The Commissioners felt that Kiowa County is covered well. The Commissioners did ask Ms. Chaves to take the landfill issue back to Congressman Buck and see if he could help these small counties that are having landfill issues some kind of assistance.

Pricilla Waggoner with the Kiowa County Independent entered the meeting at 1:45 p.m.

Kemma Alfano, Kiowa County Library Director entered the meeting at 1:50 p.m. to provide an update on the Library. Alfano said the E-Book Program has gone up significantly. E-Books can be checked out for usage on a tablet or nook for 21 days. Alfano said the summer reading program was well attended, especially with the help of some Plainview School employees; the east end youngsters were able to attend the summer program. Laura Lindholm and Vicki Rogers are the Library District’s newest employees since the retirement of Charlene Blakeley.

Sheriff Sheridan, Undersheriff Six and Howard Votruba enter the meeting at 2:30 p.m. Sheriff Sheridan and Undersheriff Six discussed the position of the County Fire Chief and to request an increase on the Sheriff’s charge card. Sheridan said his deputies have been attending trainings and had to pay for food and lodging out of their own pockets due to the credit card being maxed out. He requested that his credit line have a $2500.00 dollar limit and that the other two deputy’s cards have a $2,000.00 limit. The Commissioners felt there was no reason to oppose this request.                                              

Discussion followed with the County Fire Chief position. Oswald moved to appoint Howard Votruba as the new County Fire Chief and McLoud seconded the motion. All Commissioners voted Affirmative. The BOCC welcomed Votruba as the new County Fire Chief. Votruba said one of the first items of business would be to find an Assistant Fire Chief.

Oswald moved and McLoud seconded to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Kiowa County for Cooperative Wildfire Protection.  IGA #17-FIRE-94558. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Chad Hart with Canyons and Plains and Janet Frederick with National Park Service entered the meeting to provide information in regards to tourism in southeast Colorado.

McLoud moved and Oswald seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Oswald moved and McLoud seconded the motion to approve vouchers as presented. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Scott moved and McLoud seconded the motion to approve the agenda as presented with the following additions being approved D.O.L.A. Budget Letter, CEDS Letter and Public Health IGA. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

OLD BUSINESS:

Board Vacancies: Oswald moved and McLoud seconded to approve Keegan Donavon to the Planning and Zoning Board and to the Central Recreation Board. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Oswald moved and McLoud seconded to approve Jimmy Brown to the Pioneer Cemetery District. All Commissioners voted Affirmative

Oswald moved to rescind the job offer for road and bridge district 1 from David Marble and offer it to Curtis Pettitt. Mr. Marble declined to accept the job offer. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Meeting Reports: McLoud reported the current generator at the hospital will run for one day on diesel, if there is a power outage. She also reported the hospital had received some funding from DOLA.

Oswald reported on SEBREA and the broadband with DOLA.

Scott reported SECED had closed on five loans for housing and nine new loans are being reviewed for the region and that the enterprise zone had produced $96,278.00 in tax credits for Kiowa County in 2016.

NEW BUSINESS:

Oswald moved and Scott seconded to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with KCEDF. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Scott moved and McLoud seconded to designate Oswald as the Official County Health Pool Member for meetings and McLoud as the Alternate. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

McLoud moved and Oswald seconded to sign the contract with DOLA for the REDI Grant. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

McLoud moved to accept the amended contract number 2015-01-017-B for the State Historical Fund Grant and Oswald seconded the motion. The amendment to the contract was for a change of date. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Oswald moved and McLoud seconded to sign the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Impact Assistance Grant in the amount of $2008.11. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

The Transit Board will need to meet to discuss policy and procedures for the transit van and drivers.

LAVAA Resolution of Participation for 2017 was discussed. Scott moved and McLoud seconded to approve the $433.00 to the LAVAA Program. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

The DOLA Budget Letter was discussed and reviewed. Oswald moved to sign the letter that approves the architects budget changes to the DOLA Grant for the Murdock Project. Scott seconded the motion. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

CEDS: SCEDD is to collect and compile county demographics available information for all 13 counties in our region. This document will have Kiowa County’s information available for use when seeking grants or other projects requiring verification information.

Time off Request: Oswald moved and McLoud seconded the motion to grant the Time Off Request. All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

Scott moved and McLoud seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:45 p.m.

All Commissioners voted Affirmative.

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County Clerk                                                        Chairman