March 3, 2016
COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
March 3, 2016
Commissioners Doug Tucker, John Grewell, and John Prinkki were present.
8:30 Pledge of Allegiance.
Sheriff Josh McQuillan met with Commissioners to discuss the letters received from Blue Wave requesting stop payment to Industrial Communications as they have not paid Blue Wave for the simulcast system repeaters; there are no outstanding payments to Industrial Communications at this time. They also discussed Homeland Cyber Security Grant as a funding source for relocating dispatch. Architect Susan Hovde is reviewing the jail building for possible remodel plans.
8:45 Commissioner Tucker moved to accept Clerk & Recorder’s Monthly Deposit Reconciliation for February 2016; Commissioner Grewell seconded; motion carried.
Commissioner Tucker moved to accept District Court Fines and Fees Receipts Summary for February 2016; motion carried.
Commissioner Tucker moved to accept Treasurer’s Cash Report for February 2016; Commissioner Grewell seconded; motion carried.
Commissioners discussed the Road and Bridge Superintendent position; they will not increase the salary offer to Mike Black who declined the previous offer. Commissioner Grewell moved to offer the position to David Ohnstad at $68,000 annual salary. Commissioner Tucker requested to review his application. Commissioner Prinkki believes the position would increase the efficiency of the Road Department. Commissioner Tucker agreed there would be efficiencies with one person overseeing all three districts. Commissioner Tucker offered to take an active role in overseeing the whole road/bridge department without overseeing the day to day activities of the other department crews if the other Commissioners would like to fill that role. Commissioner Grewell noted that the Road and Bridge Superintendent position was already established and if it is not going to be filled they would need to go through the reduction in force process to eliminate it. Commissioner Prinkki questioned if the Road Superintendent duties for the County could be assigned to an individual Commissioner. Commissioner Grewell would like a more consistent command structure for the Road/Bridge Department that lasts past the current Commission; he also noted there are challenges with splitting management of the department. Commissioner Prinkki agreed that he would rather have one person oversee the department. Commissioner Grewell noted he does not want another Commissioner overseeing his road district and is only willing to relinquish oversight of the district to a Road Superintendent.
9:15 Ron Kapor met with Commissioners regarding alternative fire plan impact fee. The issue will be placed on the agenda at a later date.
9:20 County Attorney Alex Nixon joined the meeting. He discussed the letter from Blue Wave regarding Industrial Communications non-payment. Commissioners requested he write a response.
9:30 Health Insurance Committee Meeting. Those present included employees Jane Swanson-Webb, Lola Ashby, Alex Nixon, Jerrid Bergum, Jeff Schmalz, Rochelle Loyning, Pam Schwend, and Pam Walling from the Health Care Trust. Commissioner Prinkki, who sits on the Health Care Trust Board, noted the rate increase is a blended rate based on usage, preliminary rate increase for the Trust has been set at 3%; Carbon County would have an additional 4.7% on top of what the trust wide increase would be because of high utilization. The Trust is considering plan changes including: adding nutrition services for cancer patients; covering medically necessary treatments for birth defects such as clef lip and clef palette; and changing the language in the Weight Management Program to requires a participant to be on the Program for two consecutive years to be eligible for gastric bypass/lap-band procedures. She noted there will be no changes to the dental plan, but the Vision plan premium will increase by $5/mo. The additional premium will also come with an increase to the annual exam payment and will increase reimbursements for hardware to $350 annually and will now cover transition and reflective lenses. Lola expressed concerns about the cost of dependent coverage; she worried about future employee recruitment because of the cost of health insurance for families. Jerrid echoed Lola’s concerns and noted he “couldn’t have taken the job if his wife didn’t have insurance for their kids.” Pam noted the Affordable Care Act has increased the cost of Health Insurance exponentially and has significantly increased premium costs. She noted that the County could not allow spouse coverage so those individuals would be eligible for a subsidy on the Health Insurance Exchange. Pam also noted the Trust has issued a Request for Proposals for alternate Life Insurance providers. The Committee reviewed the Health Care Blue Book which shows the varying costs for procedures by facility.
10:30 Clerk & Recorder Marcia Henigman, Christine Stovall, and Tom Kohley met with the Commissioners and Angela to discuss her maternity leave. They discussed who will be responsible for Angela’s various job duties while she is on leave.
11:10 Brent Moore and Monica Plecker met with Commissioners regarding the Planning Board’s update of the Development Regulations. They discussed the various issues raised by the public with regard to oil and gas developments including water testing, setbacks, flaring, dust control, noise, open pits, and emergency response services. 11:20 Contract Deputy County Attorney Jacque Papez joined the meeting.
Brent and Monica gave an overview of the Planning Board’s discussions on regulations under the and Oil and Gas Development Conditional Use Permit. The Commissioners agreed with the Planning Boards concerns with regard to dust control on County Roads, baseline water testing, and setbacks and would like to see these issues addressed in the regulations. The Commissioners acknowledge there are regulatory gaps in regard to flaring, but do not want to address the issue in the local regulations.
Commissioner Tucker left the meeting for another appointment.
11:30 Commissioner Grewell moved to accept resolution 2016-05 Designating Josh Juarez as Floodplain Administrator; Commissioner Prinkki seconded; motion carried.
Jacque met with Commissioners for a conference call with the Department of Revenue (DOR) regarding the wind farm impact fee. Doug Reem from the Industrial Bureau and Jill Gallagher and Industrial Appraiser were on the call. Under DOR practices a projects start date is established when ground is broken and concrete work begins. Jill noted that DOR performed a site visit for the Mud Springs Wind project and did not consider the project to have started for 2015 Tax Assessments. She also noted for assessments the tax is based on what structures are on the ground as of January 1. Commissioner Prinkki asked if the Impact Fee should be set on estimated construction costs; Doug will need to look into that further. Commissioner Prinkki asked if there were any tax breaks for wind farms at the state level; Doug noted the New & Expanding Industry Classification that could be set at the County level.
12:00 Adjourned
Respectfully submitted: Angela Newell, Administrative Assistant