Marshall County Commission Meeting Minutes – 9/13/2021

The Board of Marshall County Commissioners met in regular session with Keith Bramhall, chairman, Barbara Kickhaefer, member, Fritz Blaske, member and Sandra Wilson, County Clerk present for the meeting. Chris Pannbacker with the Marysville Advocate was also present for the meeting.

Commissioner Bramhall called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. The meeting was opened with the flag salute.

Barbara Kickhaefer moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to approve the minutes of the 09/07/21 meeting and the agenda for today’s meeting. Motion passed 2-0 (Commissioner Bramhall abstained).

2022 Marshall County Budget Hearing – there were no guests or patrons present for the budget hearing. Commissioner Kickhaefer feels the County is going in the right direction and points out that in 2018 the mill levy was 51.008 and the proposed levy is 47.092.

Keith Bramhall moved, seconded by Barbara Kickhaefer to approve the 2022 Marshall County Budget as presented with an anticipated mill levy of 47.092. Unanimous.

Public Works Administrator Mike Craig met with the Board. Frankfort shop is continuing to clean out ditches and will begin putting down asphalt millings North of Axtell. The crews will also continue to mow the roadsides. The new Frankfort shop has noted termites. Scott Drinkgern with United Pest Control has been contacted to evaluate the situation. As a follow-up from last weeks report of possible issues with the roof, Public Works Administrator Mike Craig went on the roof for inspection. He reports that there are no issues with the roof.

Public Works Administrator Mike Craig and Public Works Coordinating Supervisor Roy Yungeberg will be looking at bridges this week to determine if any can be removed from inventory to enhance the grant application.

Keith Bramhall moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to approve the following purchase orders. Unanimous.

Clerk of the District Court, Marysville, KS
For Diversion payments to be disbursed into Court Cases
$1,189.00-Diversion Fund-P.O. #6493

Underground Vaults & Storage, Hutchinson, KS
For Lease Rental Agreement Fee (Sept 2021 to Sept 2022)
$2,801.88-District Court Fund-P.O. #6458

Relentless LLC dba Desert Snow, Libby MT
For training Kenworthy/Jones
$1,198.00-County General (Sheriff) Fund-P.O. #6325

Merck
For Private Vaccines
$21,875.04-Health Dept. Fund-P.O. #6287

County Counselor Jason Brinegar met with the Board. Mr. Brinegar reported that Kansas is not subject to President Biden’s Executive Order in regards to mandatory vaccinations for any employer with greater than 100 employees as Kansas is not an OSHA state.

Fritz Blaske moved, seconded by Barbara Kickhaefer to approve vouchers as presented and issue manual warrants. Unanimous.

Keith Bramhall moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to approve the following Home Sewer bill to be paid out of the appropriate funds. Unanimous.

Gilmore & Bell, PC, Bond Refinance Fees $2,500.00

County Health Nurse Sue Rhodes met with the Board to discuss KDHE and CDC COVID guidelines. She reported that the county’s COVID numbers fluctuate daily but she is seeing a gradual decrease in positive cases.

Josh Link of Waterville joined the meeting briefly, was asked to stop interrupting the meeting and then left after a few minutes.

Barbara Kickhaefer moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to terminate any and all COVID pay from this point forward. Unanimous.

Matt Simpson, Assistant Chief of Police for the Marysville Police Dept. met with the Board. Red Ribbon week is October 23-31, the Marysville PD brought forth a proposal for Awareness bracelets, pencils and t-shirts to promote Red Ribbon Drug & Bully prevention. The initial proposal was for $907.26 but after further discussion, the Board encouraged Officer Simpson to move forward with the purchase of the bracelets, pencils and to order enough t-shirts for all 400 Marysville Elementary students. The Board recommended coordinating with Sheriff Tim Ackerman and expanding this to all the elementary schools in the county. Officer Simpson will talk with Sheriff Ackerman.

Barbara Kickhaefer moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to approve $5,000 donation to the Marysville Police Department for Red Ribbon week supplies. Unanimous.

Barbara Kickhaefer moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to approve abatements as presented with a value of 18,698 and a tax amount of $2,8762.97. Unanimous.

The Board discussed the City of Blue Rapids request for funds to help construct a “County Park”. The consensus of the Board is that they would like to see some more concrete plans before deciding upon a donation.

Barbara Kickhaefer moved, seconded by Keith Bramhall to enter into a contract with HR Partners out of Topeka, KS for 4 leadership sessions, dates to be determined. Unanimous.

County Clerk Sandra Wilson presented the Board with a Kansas County Commissioners Association Code of Ethical Conduct for County Commissioners. This form in the past has been signed by sitting commissioners and after conferring with County Counselor Jason Brinegar, felt it was a good idea to routinely adopt this Code of Ethical Conduct.

Keith Bramhall moved, seconded by Barbara Kickhaefer to sign the Code of Ethical Conduct as presented. Unanimous.

County Clerk Sandra Wilson presented the Board with letters from Property Valuation Division stating that the Appraiser is in statistical and procedural compliance for the 2021 appraisal year.

Clerk of the District Court Nancy Koch met with the Board. Nancy is looking to update 2 laptops for the judges and is in need of replacing a 5 year old copier. A bid from Central Office Systems and a bid from Networks Plus were received for the laptops. Networks Plus will be installing all the Court software and Nancy would prefer getting the bid of the Dell computers from them. Commissioner Kickhaefer asked if Mrs. Koch received a bid from Network Computer Systems for the laptops. Mrs. Koch’s response was “no”, our court services are all provided through Networks Plus.

Eakes Office Supply provided a bid for a leased copier and an outright purchase of a copier. The service agreement is primarily the same for both but an outright purchase would save the County approximately $957.

The Board gave directive for Clerk of the District Court Nancy Koch to go forward with the purchase of the laptops through Networks Plus and the outright purchase of the copier from Eakes with a $200 trade in for the old copier if no one else in the courthouse wants this copier.

Keith Bramhall moved, seconded by Fritz Blaske to adjourn the meeting at 11:18 a.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, September 20, 2021 beginning at 8:30 a.m.