IRON COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING
November 24, 2008
Minutes of the Iron County Commission meeting convened at 9:00 a.m. November 24, 2008 in Commission Chambers at the Iron County Courthouse, Parowan, Utah.
Officers in attendance included:
Lois L. Bulloch Commission Chair
Wayne A. Smith Commissioner
Alma L. Adams Commissioner
Michael Edwards Deputy County Attorney
David I. Yardley County Clerk
Reed Erickson County Administrator
Also Present:
H. Eugene Adams County Auditor
Dennis W. Ayers County Assessor
Patsy T. Cutler County Recorder
Geraldine S. Norwood County Treasurer
Mark O. Gower County Sheriff
Margaret Miller Justice Court Judge
SYNOPSIS :
APPROVAL OF MINUTES November 10, 2008
APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 27, 2008
APPROVAL OF WARRANTS & ADJOURN
COUNTY TV UPDATE AND BILL APPROVAL
MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATE DISCUSSION
REQUEST TO AMEND PERSONNEL POLICY RE MAXIMUM VACATION HOURS
ROLL BACK TAX PAYMENT APPROVAL
RURAL PUBLIC LANDS BUDGET DISCUSSION
SUR TECHNOLOGIES REQUESTING COUNTY FUNDING
Those assembled were led in the pledge of allegiance by Geri Norwood.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 27, 2008 :
Minutes of the Iron County Commission meeting held October 27, 2008 were approved as amended on a motion by Wayne Smith. Second was by Alma Adams. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES November 10, 2008 :
Minutes of the Iron County Commission meeting held November 10, 2008 were approved as amended on a motion by Wayne Smith. Second was by Alma Adams. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye.
Kal Kahler reported that he has a copy of the Blair Maxfield report on water resources in the Cedar Valley. He will get a copy to Reed Erickson for distribution to the Commissioners. Mr. Kahler also reported that the CICWCD Board voted to deny a citizens request to withdraw from the District. The request was submitted by Carlyle Johnson. With the denial it will allow the citizens group to pursue legal action to remove their area from the District.
The Water Conservancy District will change their meeting schedule beginning in January 2009 to the second and fourth Thursday of each month.
Reed Erickson reported that he attended the UAC new elected officials workshop in Salt Lake City on November 21. He stated the training was very helpful. Reed also reported that there will be a meeting on December 11 in Cedar City to discuss an Eastern Iron County Transportation Plan. Commissioner Adams will attend this meeting.
Geri Norwood reported that tax collections are very slow so far. Except for two mortgage company payments, collections are well behind 2007 for this far in the tax season.
Jared Wilson reported that the basement remodel project for Data Processing offices is progressing. It is anticipated that it will take two days to move the servers to the new location which is anticipated to be after January 1. The IT Department will plan on making the change on a Friday afternoon and Saturday to cause minimal disruption to County operations.
Margaret Miller reported on case management concerns regarding cases filed during the time Enoch was sending cases to the Parowan Justice Court. The Court Administrator ruled this was illegal and the cases were transferred to the Iron County Court. These cases needed to be refiled which was not done and now those cases are being dismissed by the Parowan City Attorney.
Patsy Cutler reported that the first batch of microfilm submitted through a digital converter has been completed. The system appears to work well and will eliminate hours of labor in microfilming documents to be submitted to the State.
Dennis Ayers reported that the four day work week appears to be well received in the Cedar City Motor Vehicle office. Customers like the extended hours so they do not miss work to get their vehicles registered.
Michael Edwards reported that the Featherhat trial was completed and Mr. Featherhat was found guilty of attempted murder. Sentencing will be done after recommendations from APP. Mike also reported that he is working on interlocal agreements for the County participation in financing the Cedar City Recreation Center and Reverse 911.
SUR TECHNOLOGIES REQUESTING COUNTY FUNDING :
Michael Fletcher met with the Commission to present a request for the County to provide funding and a location to construct and operate a plant to convert organic waste to fuel. Mr. Fletcher indicated that SUR was operating one plant capable of handling up to 100 tons per day of waste. The plant he proposed for Iron County would process up to 200 tons and would utilize the waste stream coming into the landfill. Estimated County participation would be twenty million dollars to construct the plant.
The Commission referred Mr. Fletcher to the Iron County Economic Development director and to the Zoning Administrator for future presentations. Firm numbers were not presented for commission consideration. No additional action was required of the Commission at this time.
MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATE DISCUSSION :
Alma Adams presented for discussion a proposal to change the County mileage rate from the established IRS rate of $0.585 per mile to $0.505 per mile. Commissioner Adams stated that due to a sharp decline from summer gasoline prices the reduction back to the 2007/2008 rate was warranted.
Alma Adams made a motion to reduce the reimbursement rate from $0.585 per mile to $0.505 per mile effective December 1, 2008. Second by Wayne Smith. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye. Reed Erickson was requested to inform Departments of the change.
Colette Eppley presented a request for a promotion for Exilda Seranno from Associate Appraiser to Licensed Appraiser effective upon her completion of the certification process. Wayne Smith made a motion to approve the promotion as presented. Second by Alma Adams. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye.
Colette also presented for approval a status change for Danny Abbott from EMT on call to EMT Part Time. Pay rate would remain the same but Mr Abbott would be able to work additional hours as the lead worker in Parowan. Alma Adams made a motion to approve the change as recommended. Second by Wayne Smith. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye.
Colette requested approval of an Insurance Committee recommendation that the County fund the health insurance benefit for employees with a $1,000 annual deductible with the employees having an option to fund a portion of the plan to reduce the deductible to $500. The Commission approved in principal the proposed plan however this is a budget item and will be approved in the budget for 2009.
REQUEST TO AMEND PERSONNEL POLICY RE MAXIMUM VACATION HOURS:
Chad Nay met with the Commission to request an amendment to the County Personnel Policy regarding maximum vacation hours an employee is allowed to carry. Mr. Nay explained that the policy as currently written would result in a major loss of vacation time in his case, much of which accrued prior to a policy change limiting vacation to a maximum of 320 hours. The Commission explained that the County employees were placed on notice several years ago that this policy would be enforced and that excess vacation should be used. Mr. Nay responded that because of the work load in his office and the shortage of manpower, he has been unable to use enough vacation to get his hours in line.
Colette Eppley also strongly disagreed with the proposed change stating that eight years was ample time to use excess vacation time.
The matter was tabled to allow the County Attorney to research whether there are legal implications regarding vacation time accrued prior to a policy change. The Commission at this time is unwilling to change the current policy.
RURAL PUBLIC LANDS BUDGET DISCUSSION :
This item was tabled without action as it is a budget item and will be considered within the final budget.
COUNTY TV UPDATE AND BILL APPROVAL :
Dennis Johnson met with the Commission to review progress on the development of the Levan Peak TV site. The building is complete and most of the equipment is installed and working. More testing will be completed before the system is cut over to the new equipment.
Dennis reported that he has spent 23 days of his vacation from his full time job along with numerous weekends and holidays installing and testing this equipment. He requested reimbursement for his labor and travel in compliance with the contract between Sprint/Nextel which paid for the equipment and labor to install.
The Commission was reluctant to approve the payment requested by Mr. Johnson until the Sprint/Nextel agreements were reviewed by the County Attorney to determine if the charges will be reimbursed to the County as this is above the budget approved for the TV Department.
Wendell Shallenberger commented briefly on the budget process and thanked the Auditor and Mr. Erickson in helping to understand the budget process.
Reed Erickson reported that the UPDRIP committee would be meeting in Cedar City on November 25th at the Heritage Center. The UPDRIP group is pushing for a permanent Director of the group. The Commission stated that the group is too new and a clearly established guideline and work goal needs to be established by the Counties prior to a Director being appointed.
Reed also reported that it appears Bastian Homes is turning back ten approved take of prairie dogs for 2008 on the Nichols Landing project. These will be eligible for allocation to another project if one is ready to move forward.
ROLL BACK TAX PAYMENT APPROVAL :
Wayne Smith made a motion to approve the payment of roll back taxes on parcels deeded to the County for roads. Parcels approved included Serial # E-0262-0002-00RD, Account # 491677, $279.79; Serial # E-0262-0003-00RD, Account # 491678, $219.21; and Serial # E-0226-0002-00RD, Account # 491819, $53.60. Second by Alma Adams. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye.
APPROVAL OF WARRANTS & ADJOURN :
After the bills were reviewed and approved or rejected, the meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. on a motion by Alma Adams. Second was by Wayne Smith. Voting: Lois Bulloch, Aye; Alma Adams, Aye; Wayne Smith, Aye.
Signed: Lois L. Bulloch, Chair
Attest: David I. Yardley
County Clerk