May 13, 2019

COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS
May 13, 2019
Commissioners Robert ‘Pits’ DeArmond, Scott Blain, and Bill Bullock, and Administrative Officer Angela Newell were present.
8:30 Pledge of Allegiance
Ann Davey met with Commissioners regarding BLM road closures. Ann is concerned that BLM will close roads and restrict access to her property, noted 300 properties that could have access issues if BLM closes any roads. 8:40 Judy Joerndt joined the meeting.
Commissioner Bullock moved to approved Justice Court End of Period Disbursement for April 2019; Commissioner DeArmond seconded; motion carried.
Commissioner Blain moved to appoint Mary Cameron to represent the County on the HRDC board; Commissioner DeArmond seconded; motion carried.
9:00 Mary Cameron met with Commissioners for the DUI Task Force preliminary budget. Diane Dimich was present. Mary noted she has reduced salaries as the total salary budget has not been used historically. She has increased the advertising budget and the purchased services budget to purchase items for local law enforcement agencies. Mary noted changes to the plan include removing Sarah Mahoney as she is no longer a prevention specialist. Red Lodge City Attorney Rebecca Narmore and Assistant Chief of Police Scott Cope were also removed as the City of Red Lodge has requested to be removed from the DUI Task Force. The Task Force will also be holding only 1 coffee with a cop event next year, which will be held in Bridger on the national “Coffee with a Cop” day as that has been where they get the best turn out. Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service trainings will be reduced because there are more trainers in the County. Mary will be presenting at the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation’s States of Mind series in the fall.
Commissioners discussed fuel bids and the volumes allocated in the bid. Commissioner Bullock noted fuel use at the Red Lodge shop has decreased with the City of Red Lodge’s police department using fuel cards.
9:30 Pam Hellerud met with Commissioners for the Youth Court Preliminary Budget. Pam noted a number of minors were charged as adults in this budget year, which reduced her costs. Pam noted the budges is specifically for expenses related to the incarceration of minors. Pam noted there are some other options like Alternatives and Job Corps and the National Guard Challenge program, which have been utilized and have helped reduce costs.

10:00 BLM Representatives Nancy Bjellend, Dave Lefevre, Jenny Alexander, and Jeff Heiufod met with Commissioners regarding road maintenance. Ann Davey, Judy Joerndt, Dave Bush, Sis Parson, Sheri Leslein, Wayne Parson, Mike Bornus, Cynthia Doke, Nate Arve, Bill Davey, Earl Shetler, and Lorna Shetler were also present. Commissioner Blain noted the agenda item is regarding a request for the County to assist with road maintenance; he requested members of the public hold their comments to the end. BLM requested the meeting to inquire about road maintenance especially in the Grove Creek area. Jeff noted the roads are public roads but that does not always mean they are maintained roads. Jeff noted the Field Office has one equipment operator and a skid steer; but the maintenance position has been vacant for two years. Jenny noted the Field Office has very little funding appropriated to road maintenance it is included in general maintenance budget and tend to focus is on maintaining roads to the most heavily used sites mostly around Billings. The Office is looking to partner with other jurisdictions to expand its road maintenance capacity. Commissioner DeArmond noted many of the BLM roads are in his district but the County also has limited man power and equipment. Commissioner Bullock noted the County has partnered with residents to spread gravel the individual has purchased. Commissioner Bullock noted Meeteetse maintenance this year was above and beyond historic and future maintenance. There was a discussion regarding securing right-of-ways so landowners could maintain the roads. Dave noted if there was one entity to coordinate this for the subdivision rather than individual landowners BLM would be agreeable to providing the right-of-way. He noted it is problematic to deal with the same parcel year to year but with different owners. There was a discussion regarding the Travel Management Plan which shows which roads would be opened and closed. Ann asked if this Plan will guarantee that roads will not be closed in the future. Jenny noted there is the possibility that at a later date this could change. Mike noted the Landowners agreed to form HOA when they purchased the property and that needed to be followed through with.
11:00 Beartooth Billings Clinic CEO Kelly Evans, Director of Community Services Brandy Mains, and Public Health Nurse Roberta Cady met with Commissioners for the Public Health preliminary budget. Kelly noted the State made cuts to the City Readiness Initiative that is part of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant. Kelly noted Carbon County was declared a metropolitan statistically significant area and is tied to Yellowstone County. Historically some of Yellowstone’s deliverables were credited to Carbon County but that has changed. Kelly noted if we don’t comply with the grant deliverables it would affect Yellowstone County. She suggested there needs to be a discussion with Helena and Riverstone Health regarding funding. There was a discussion regarding RiverStone Health’s practices and their resistance to work cooperatively with other agencies.

Commissioner DeArmond moved to approve employee time as presented; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried.
Commissioner Bullock moved to reject fuel bids and re-advertise over concerns that volumes in the bid notice were not accurate and to insert a penalty if tanks go dry; Commissioner Blain seconded; motion carried. Bid volumes were based on 2015-2017 figures; Commissioner Bullock believes volumes are down due to the City of Red Lodge using gas cards rather than County tanks.
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Treasurer / Superintendent of Schools Lori Lynde met with Commissioners for her preliminary budgets. She discussed Treasurer Office staffing; Lori anticipates using her part-time clerk time more and would like to move the part-time clerk to the mid-clerk wage to be better in line with other staff. Would also like to raise postage. With regard to the Superintendent of Schools budget Lori would like to add a line for temporary employee assistance on special projects. She also noted she would like a new printer but would like it to be paid for by County Building budget since the one purchased through the Superintendent’s office in 2013 has become the main Administration printer. Lori Kane noted wages probably more 60/40 between the two positions. Lori would like to spend more time getting caught up on the Superintendent side and would like to keep the travel budget at $2,000.
1:45 Adjourned