County Commission Meeting - 01/24/2013

[Patriot]

After an earlier viewing by commissioners, and on motion made & seconded, all three commissioners voted to officially close Pioneer Road between Roads 23 &  24.  This item has been pending for many months with no action having been taken by the previous board.

During department reports, Mr. Ritz questioned the Ambulance Director regarding one employee having claimed over 100 hours of overtime in a recent pay period.  After discussion, the matter was not further addressed.

Maintenance advised that a controller in the new boiler was defective and had resulted in some problems that had been resolved.  The defective part will be replaced under warranty.  Also presented were photos of a large exterior crack in the driveway and part of the Sheriff's building.  More information will be forthcoming.  Cracking & damage to the basement floors in the courthouse were also discussed.

Beyond the regular department reports, about a dozen citizens presented comments regarding their displeasure over the commission's recent decision to eliminate the part time Youth Development position.  Mr Taylor, of the Prairie Star was even present & snapped a picture or two.  After listening patiently for over an hour, the commission moved on to other business.

Having received financial information that was not available at the last meeting, & on a motion made & seconded, Mr. Hebb & Mr. Ritz voted in favor of tentatively allocating $420,000.00 of the unused PILOT funds that were recently received toward the 2014 budget for the purpose of directly reducing property taxes.  Commissioner Liebau voted against the measure.

The board also accepted a proposal to spend about $90,000 to put a 3" asphalt cap on the Grenola Cemetary road.  Contracts need to be finalized, but the work should be completed by October of this year.  All three commissioners supported the decision.

After approval of some routine tax abatements & payment of bills amounting to something over $79,000, the commission adjourned.

[Bullwinkle]

       Thanks , Patriot. So the matter of the overtime was settled ?

[Patriot]

      Thanks , Patriot. So the matter of the overtime was settled ?

Settled?  Only by an agreement to disagree.  Mr. Ritz thought a better scheduling of unused part timers could have been employed to minimize the overtime.  Mr. Mitchell said there was no other way than the way things were done.

[Bullwinkle]

     No other way than the way it was done.

     Now why does that sound familiar ? 

[Wilma]

I think that Commissioner Ritz should familiarize himself with the part time EMS employees and why they are unavailable to do ambulance runs.  When Janet was sheriff, all her deputies were EMT's and were available to help if needed.  They made a practice of attending ambulance calls in case they were needed.

[Patriot]

I think that Commissioner Ritz should familiarize himself with the part time EMS employees and why they are unavailable to do ambulance runs.  When Janet was sheriff, all her deputies were EMT's and were available to help if needed.  They made a practice of attending ambulance calls in case they were needed.

Sounded like Ritz IS familiar with the options that were available. 

[Wilma]

Then why are you worried about it?  He is taking care of it, isn't he?

[Janet Harrington]

The EMS does not have very many part-timers. I actually only know of two. One is a teacher at West Elk and the other has his own business in Howard. However; there could be more. The teacher obviously cannot work except on weekends and I am sure that he doesn't want to do that every weekend. One of the full-time EMTs was off on maternity leave, so that is probably why someone clocked OT. If commissioners want to keep OT down, then they need to see if they can get more people to take classes and become certified. Then pay them a decent wage so they will be willing to work. Of course, our EMS COULD be paid a decent salary for all I know. I have been out of the business for 8 years. Do I want to go back? Nope.

[Old Yellow]

Why not just get Janet Harrington & Wilma & Patriot & Bullwinkle all to become EMT and become part-timers or full time and if not. 

Then why are you worried about it?

Just asking.

[Janet Harrington]

Well, Old Yellow,

I have been there and done that. Have the T-shirt. Am not doing it again.