Public Notice No. 5372

Posted

The  County Commissioners’ meeting was called to order on this date at 9:02 a.m. with Chairman Patrick H. Wade, Vice-Chair John Midkiff, Commissioner Elaine Griffith, and County Clerk Becky L. Freeman, present.  
Chairman Wade led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
 Road & Bridge- Foreman Fred Thomas met with the Commissioners and discussed roads.  He said they are busy trying to clear roads and will need to make minor repairs to plows as a result of the recent storm.   
 Kody Nelson, Chief Operating Officer for the Niobrara Community Hospital, met with the Commissioners and updated them on the progress of the construction projects from the 2017 1% tax project.  Also in attendance was Treasurer Keri Thompson.  
He said they are working on a steady repayment plan for Hospital O & M account and are working towards paying $5,000 a month at a minimum.
He updated the Commissioners on construction projects and noted that they are fully staffed.  He said the director of Life Flight in Casper would be coming down to help train nurses.  
 Lastly, he said that he is recruiting a dentist, Rick Jones from Laramie, to come to Lusk to practice.   
County Attorney- County Attorney Anne Wasserburger met with the Commissioners and discussed county business.  
She discussed the Workers’ Comp Employers’ Group Memorandum of Understanding. She said she has not heard of any counter-offers from ONEOK relating to the cash settlement in place of road work on the roads which were impacted by the Elk Creek Pipeline.   She also said she hadn’t heard anything more on the Tri-County Joint Powers Board or the courtroom technology upgrade.
Executive Session- Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to enter into executive session at 10:12 a.m. to discuss personnel matters.  Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.
 Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to leave the executive session at 10:34 a.m., and  Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.  No action was taken.
The Commissioners discussed an email they received from the National Association of Counties (NACo) that was sent to all Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Secure Rural Schools counties.  The email asks that they sign onto a coalition letter NACo is leading in support of full PILT funding and reauthorizing SRS.
Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to sign the support letter for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and reauthorizing the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) programs, urging congressional leaders to fund the above programs fully.    Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.
Elected Officials & Dept. Heads- Chrisanna Lund, Clerk of Court, Keri Thompson, County Treasurer, Teri Stephens, County Assessor, Denise Smith, Extension Educator, met with the Commissioners to discuss items of interest in their offices.

Clerk of Court Lund discussed upcoming training for an automated juror selection program.  She said there are no trials scheduled soon.  
Treasurer Keri Thompson said the audit should be winding up and tax collections are about 40% collected.  
 Assessor Teri Stephens said her office is continuing to work on and input information from the summer reviews, and she plans on printing declarations soon.  She also reminded the Commissioners that she and her staff would be attending a GIS training in Casper and that Dawn Godfrey would be filling in to answer phones for the day.
Extension Education Denise Smith discussed the Wyoming Business Council and SLIB grants and noted that meetings for these grants would be sometime in March and April.  
She mentioned that there was water bubbling up through a drain by the electrical outlet in the kitchen.  She also noted that there are upwards of 25 kids ranging in ages from five to fifteen attending 4-H Friday at the fairgrounds.
The Honor Camp inmates will be here on December 19th and 20th and will move everything out of the offices, meeting rooms, and kitchens so the floors can be refinished and carpets cleaned.    
Commissioner Griffith encouraged everyone to attend the chili cook-off on Saturday, December 7th, in which the Commissioners are participating.
Chairman Wade asked Treasurer Thompson if she had received any new information about filing liens for delinquent mineral taxes and she said she has not.    
Commissioner Griffith said the Silver Springs Center for Excellence daycare group sent their business plan to Wyoming Child and Family Development, and it sounds like they are interested in working with the Center.  
Dale Miller stopped in and extended his thanks to the road and bridge department for plowing open streets in Van Tassell.   
Consent Agenda- Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to approve the consent agenda.  Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried.  Items on the consent agenda were the minutes of the November 19, 2019, regular meeting and the November 26, 2019, Special Meeting, receipts for the month of November from the County Clerk for $3,652.75 and the Sheriff for $675.00 and a Petition of Affidavit for Rebate of Taxes for Harry Krejci from the 2019 Tax Roll for a rebate amount of $184.71.
    Payroll and the following vouchers were approved for payment: Aflac Insurance- Supplemental Insurance- $9,195.50; Allbright’s True Value- Supplies, parts- $361.74; Alsco- Shop towels & coveralls- $262.12; Becky L. Freeman- Travel expense- $120.64; Benzel Pest Control- Pest control- $97.00; Black Hills Chemical & Janitorial- Supplies- $720.05; Black Hills Energy- Utilities- $1,574.42; Blue Cross Blue Shield- Health insurance- $14,062.00; Bluffs Sanitary Supply- Supplies- $950.46; Body Builders Body Shop- Vehicle repairs- $408.89; C & H Tire & Trailer Repair, LLC.- Tires- $2,149.52; Cally Lund- Office rent- $500.00; Canon Financial Services, Inc.- Copier service agreement- $380.00; Century Link- Telephone- $1,364.02; Century Link Business Services- Telephone- $89.81; Chantry Filener- New equipment- $5,251.16; Clark Plumbing Service- Maintenance- $271.83; Community Consulting & Advocacy- Technical assistance for Prevention Grant- $2,000.00; Computer Projects of Illinois, Inc.- Computer expense- $180.00; Connecting Point Computer Centers- Copier service agreements- $270.62; Cory Wilcox- Deputy county coroner- $100.00; D & W Law- Supplies- $56.50; Decker’s Market- Supplies- $48.63; Delta Dental- Supplemental insurance- $1,037.05; Dennis Meier- Office rent- $1,000.00; Doyle J. Davies- Supplies- $71.24; Frank Parts Co.- Parts- $330.44; Fusion Cloud Service- Telephone- $896.59; Geographic Innovations- Professional mapping- $1,300.00; Goshen County Sheriff’s Office- Inmate housing- $1,721.40; GreatAmerica Financial Services- Copier service agreements- $326.81; Great-West Trust Co.- Deferred Compensation- $16,520.00; Hiway Brake & Alignment- Vehicle repairs- $676.61; Jameson Cleaning & Maintenance, LLC.- Fairgrounds cleaning contract- $6,800.00; Jub Jub, Inc.- I T expense- $30.00; Kerry Steward- Operational supports, I T expense, travel, telephone- $257.33; Lusk Herald- Publications- $1,292.14; MasterCard- Travel, new equipment, supplies, transports, vehicle repairs, computer expense, medical supplies- $5,369.81; Matthew Bender & Co., Inc.- Supplies- $173.33; McKesson- Medical supplies- $23.30; Monika D. Davies- Office rent- $500.00; Newcastle Ambulance Service- Involuntary commitment transport- $2,615.00; Niobrara County Circuit Court- Garnishment- $963.31; Niobrara County Hospital District- 1% Option tax, inmate and employee medical- $27,522.64; Niobrara County Library- Deferred compensation- $1,725.00; Niobrara Electric Association- Equipment repairs, radio tower billing- $1,444.13; NMC, Inc.- Heater rental- $406.00; Office Depot- Supplies, new equipment, computer software- $246.78; Peggy DesEnfants- Part time Extension Office- $80.00; Pine Ridge Enterprises, LLC.- Courthouse, Library, Sheriff cleaning contract- $4,700.00; Plainsman Printing & Supply- Supplies- $335.28; Porter, Muirhead, Cornia & Howard- Audit- $15,000.00; Rancher’s Feed & Supply- Supplies- $138.50; Rawhide Drug Company- Inmate medical- $54.10; Safeguard Business Systems- Supplies- $104.41; Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc.- Supplies- $338.42; Schindler Elevator Corp- Quarterly maintenance fee- $1,248.63; Sylvestri Customization- I T expense- $100.00; Team Laboratory Chemical, LLC.- Supplies- $165.00; Terry Griffith- Travel expense- $107.88; Tharpe Consulting- Schools- $375.00; Thomson Reuter-West- Supplies- $150.00; Torrington Office Supply- Supplies- $411.37; Town of Lusk- Utilities- $5,103.38; Transwest Ford- Vehicle repairs- $4,917.72; TruGreen- Lawn care prepay- $622.25; Tyler Technologies- Computer expense- $82.69; Valley Motor Supply- Parts- $553.59- Verizon Wireless- Telephone- $383.28; Vision Service Plan- Supplemental insurance- $433.90; Visionary Broadband- I T expense- $538.80; WalMart- Supplies, travel expense, inmate medical- $693.74; Walt’s Lathe & Machine- Equipment repair- $258.72; WEBT- Life insurance- $207.00; Westco Oil- Diesel fuel- $3,690.97; Whitaker Oil- Fuel- $2,529.16; WYDOT- Financial Services- Supplies- $180.30; Wyoming Behavioral Institute- Involuntary Commitment- $3,016.00; Wyoming Lawn Sprinklers- Maintenance- $100.00; Wyoming Network, Inc.- I T expense- $200.00; Wyoming Women’s Center- Inmate meals- $3,077.12; Wyoming Woolgrowers Auxiliary- Dues- $15.00; Xerox Corp.- Copier service agreement- $131.76
Grand total- $164,397.90
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.

                    NIOBRARA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
                    /s/ Patrick Wade, Chairman

Attest:
/s/Becky L. Freeman, County Clerk
Public Notice No. 5372. Published in The Lusk Herald on January 1, 2020