The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners convened in special session on Monday July 26th at 10:00 a.m. Present were Commissioners, Richard Malm, Lynn Luck and Roy Dunnaway and County Clerk, Linda M. Buttron. Jan Hayes, County Counselor was absent.
The Board reviewed the draft budgets submitted by departments for 2011. Pay raises for 2011 were discussed. Transferring funds from Equipment Reserve (and other equipment funds) to lower the mill levy increase needed to fund the 2011 budgets was discussed. Linda will re-work the budget with the suggested changes and submit a revised draft to the Board for next week’s meeting.
The Board convened in regular session at 1:00 p.m. Vouchers were reviewed and approved by the Board. The Counselor reviewed and approved the vouchers by phone on Friday July 23rd.
Tax change orders were signed. Lynn moved that the minutes of July 19th be approved as presented. Roy seconded. All voted in favor of the motion. Richard was designated as the voting delegate to the November Kansas Association of Counties meeting. Linda presented the Board with a petition from a group in the Meriden area who want to form a Community Library under the authority of K.S.A. 12-1236 et seq. They are asking that the Commissioners put the question of creating a library district composed of the boundaries of USD 340 (in Jefferson County) to the voters of the proposed district at the November election. Linda stated that the County Counselors will review the petition for sufficiency when they return next week and make a recommendation to the Commissioners.
Francis Hubbard, Road and Bridge met with the Board. He reported he purchased a 2002 Dodge truck from Federal Surplus for $11,500. Road work was discussed. Work on the Big Slough Bridge was discussed. Approximately 80’ of the bridge deck has been removed to date.
Cindy Williams and Sherry Seifert, Meadowlark Extension District #7 met with the Board. Cindy discussed the upcoming 4-H Fair and activities. She asked that the Board judge the decorated gift baskets at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday August 4th. Sherry discussed the Clover Buds program for 5-7 year olds, (sponsored by the 4-H Ambassadors).
Eileen Filbert, Health Department met with the Board. The Board signed the school health services contracts (for all schools) for the upcoming school year. She requested permission to raise fees for those applying for day care licensing. New law requires that all providers to be licensed and not merely registered. The Board discussed the request. Richard moved that the request be approved. Roy seconded. Richard voted in favor of the request. Roy voted in favor of the request. Lynn voted against the request. Eileen presented a recommendation for special assessments in the sewer districts for the 2011 budget. State grants submitted for fiscal year 2011 have been approved. The Board signed an amended contract with KDHE for public health emergency preparedness. The Board signed a travel request for staff.
Stephen Euston & Phillip Drescher, Bukaty Agency met with the Board regarding Health Insurance coverage for County employees. Phillip reported that they met with the Employee Committee a couple weeks ago and it was recommended by the Committee that they present their proposal to the Commission. They are proposing a partially self funded plan that uses the Cigna network. The plan coverage is identical to our current coverage under Blue Cross Blue Shield and the network includes St. Francis Hospital, Stormont Vail Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the Cotton O’Neill clinics. Under self funding, any unused premium is retained by the County as claim reserves. In a year where claims exceed premiums, stop loss insurance will keep any one employee from using all the premium funds and any claims reserves could be used to offset future premium increases. Bukaty can also provide options for voluntary benefits for employees and will provide employee education to help employees make the best use of their health insurance plan. They are proposing that the plan year begin on September 1. Any increases in premium would not be due until January 1 allowing for the 2011 budget to take effect first.
Pat Winsor & Sarah Hollis met with the Board. Pat asked that the 4-H Improvement Committee be included in the 2011 budget with an allocation of any amount of money the County could spare. The Commissioners indicated that they are working on the budget now and will take their request into consideration.
Richard moved that the Board go into executive session to discuss matters of non-elected personnel. Roy seconded. All voted in favor of the motion. The Board recessed at 3:45 p.m. Present during the session was the Board. The Board reconvened at 4:00 p.m. The chairman announced that no binding action was taken during executive session.
There being no further business to come before the Board they adjourned to meet in special session at 10:30 a.m. for discussion of the 2011 budget and at 1:00 p.m. for their regular session on August 2, 2010.