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 and Bridge- Foreman Fred Thomas met with the Commissioners to discuss road and bridge business.
Landowner Barb Kizer met with the Commissioners and Foreman Thomas to discuss McConaughey Road and other county road conditions. Her main concerns on all the roads was the lack of height or crown on the roads and the loss of gravel. She asked if there was some type of equipment the County could purchase that was small enough to work in the barrow pits to help reshape the roads. Mr. Thomas stated that it wouldn’t work very well for other roads.
They also discussed snow fence and she said she has put some rubber tire wind breaks up that have helped alleviate some of the drifting.
County Attorney- Anne Wasserburger, County Attorney met with the Commissioners and discussed county business.
The group had a phone conference with Jerimiah Rieman, Wyoming County Commissioners Association Executive Director to discuss the proposed Workers’ Compensation Employers’ Group Agreement.
Attorney Wasserburger presented a letter for the Commissioners to sign regarding the towing and storage of seized vehicles. After some further discussion and amendments, Commissioner Griffith moved to sign and submit a letter to Jordan Towing stating the County would be using out of county towing companies to tow and deliver seized vehicles to the county’s storage lot until further notice. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
She briefly discussed the Tri County Broadband Joint Powers Board. There have not been any new developments on the matter. Elected Officials and Department Heads- James Santistevan, Emergency Management Coordinator, Keri Thompson, Treasurer, Teri Stephens, Assessor, Cary Gill, Sheriff, Chrisanna Lund, Clerk of Court, and Kellie Chichester, University Extension Educator 4-H Youth Development, met with the Commissioners to discuss county business and office operations. Coordinator Santistevan discussed the Emergency Operations Plan and said that there would be a Local Emergency Preparedness Committee meeting on January 21, 2020 at 1:30 p.m.
Treasurer Thompson said her office had collected 2.8 million dollars in taxes and the audit is complete.
Assessor Stephens said that personal property and oil and gas declarations had been mailed out and staff is busy inputting personal property tax information.
Sheriff Gill said that he has a deputy attending the law enforcement academy and that it was business as usual in his office.
Clerk of Court Lund talked about the audit and said she is working in conjunction with the Supreme Court and the auditors to reconcile the checking account in WyUser, which is the Case Management System that her office uses to receipt fees such as filings, passports, and restitutions. She said that some problems are within the system and those are being worked out. She also discussed connectivity issues she is having between her computers and the copier in her office. She also mentioned that she needed authorization from the Commissioners to open two new checking accounts for the Clerk of Court office; one for child support payments and one for the new online jury program- Clearview Jury. She also discussed the two day training she attended for the new online jury program, which is implemented by the Supreme Court. She felt the program should make the process of juror selection and jury trials much easier from start to finish.
Mrs. Chichester discussed the upcoming site visit with the Wyoming Business Council for the State Land and Investment Board grant and said that there is LED lighting being installed in the kitchen and lights in the grandstand will be switched to LED. She also stated that 4-H Fridays is a success with an average of 20 youth attending. She thought that around 2/3rds of the attendees are not 4-H youth.
Chairman Wade discussed the proposed 1% Specific Purpose Excise Tax for the Town of Lusk and Vice-Chairman Midkiff mentioned the Workers Compensation County Employers Group.
RESOLUTION 20-01- Vice-Chairman Midkiff moved to adopt RESOLUTION 19-01- ACTION SUPPORTING COUNTY CUSTOM, CULTURE AND HERITAGE IN DECISION MAKING REGARDING FEDERAL LANDS IN NIOBRARA COUNTY, STATE OF WYOMING. Commissioner Griffith seconded, motion carried. A complete copy of the resolution is on file in the county clerk’s office and on the county’s website.
RESOLUTION 20-02- Commissioner Griffith moved to adopt RESOLUTION 20-02- ACTION SUPPORTING COUNTY CUSTOM, CULTURE AND HERITAGE IN DECISION MAKING REGARDING STATE OR PRIVATE LANDS IN NIOBRARA COUNTY, STATE OF WYOMING. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried. A complete copy of the resolution is on file in the county clerk’s office and on the county’s website.
RESOLUTION 20-03- Commissioner Griffith moved to adopt RESOLUTION 20-03- 911 ENHANCED SURCHARGE. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried. A complete copy of the resolution is on file in the county clerk’s office and on the county’s website.
Designation of Depository of Public Funds- Commissioner Griffith moved to approve Lusk State Bank as the depository of public funds. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Banking Disclosure Statement from Treasurer- The Commissioners acknowledged receipt of a letter from Keri Thompson, County Treasurer disclosing all her interest in any banking institutions in which Niobrara County has funds invested. Treasurer Thompson disclosed that she conducts personal business with Lusk State Bank.
Authorization of Investment of Public Funds- Based upon the recommendation of the County Treasurer, Commissioner Griffith moved to authorize the investments of public funds in the following depositories: Geneos/Kaiser Wealth Management, Lusk State Bank, Multi-Bank Securities, Inc., Wyoming Bank & Trust, Wyoming Government Investment Fund, and Wyoming State Treasurer/WYO-STAR and WYO-STAR II. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Based on previous discussions with Clerk of Court Lund, Commissioner Griffith moved to authorize Chrisanna Lund to close the bank account at Bank of the West and open the above mentioned accounts with Lusk State Bank. Vice Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
Road Crossing Permits- The Commissioners laid back the road crossing permits from Bridger Pipeline, LLC. until the next meeting.
The Commissioners discussed the upcoming Violence Dynamics training that will be held on January 19th at the fairgrounds. They thought it would be beneficial to pay for any county employee that would like to attend the class. The cost is $30.00. Commissioner Griffith moved to approve paying for any county employee that wants to attend the upcoming class. Vice-Chairman Midkiff seconded, motion carried.
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 December 15, 2019 meeting, receipts for the month of December from the County Clerk for $5,338.90 and from the Sheriff for $1,055.00 and a tax roll supplement for the 2019 Tax Year from Moser Engine Service, d/b/a Moser Energy Systems for $116.75.
Payroll and the following vouchers were approved for payment:
9392.11 Aflac Insurance; 750.61 Allbright's True Value Hardware; 262.12 Alsco; 199.90 BAM Document Destruction & Recycling LLC; 18.05 Becky Blackburn; 7511.34;BenchMark of Torrington P.C.; 97.00 Benzel Pest Control, Inc.; 1042.17; Black Hills Chemical & Janitorial; 1749.71 Black Hills Energy; 14606.00; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming; 3761.44 Boldon Diesel Service, LLC.; 500.00 Cally Lund; 418.00 Canon Financial Services, Inc.; 553.75 Casper Fire Extinguisher Service, Inc.; 1364.12 Century Link; 98.14 Century Link Business Services; 198.94 Chrisanna Lund; 632.25 Connecting Point Computer Centers; 100.00 Cory Wilcox; 91.00 Dawn Godfrey; 21.39 Decker's Market; 1037.05 Delta Dental of Wyoming; 1000.00 Dennis C. Meier; 100.00 Elaine Griffith; 150.00 Eric McGregor; 28.40 Floyd's Truck Center, Inc.; 55.92 Frank Parts Company; 901.83 Fusion Cloud Services, LLC.; 19650.00 G W Mechanical, Inc.; 1300.00 Geographic Innovations; 1650.00 Goshen County Sheriff's Office; 16920.00 Great-West Trust Company, LLC.; 490.00 GreatAmerica Financial Svcs.; 50.00 Heartland Ag-Business Group; 396.19 Herren Brothers True Value; 416.78 Hiway Brake & Alignment; 200.00 IAAO; 285.06 Ideal/Bluffs Facility Solutions; 6856.58 Jameson Cleaning & Maintenance, LLC.; 7204.70 Johnson Controls; 268.00 Jordan Towing; 30.00 Jub Jub, Inc.; 80.00 Keri Bennett; 59.53 Kerry Steward; 9999.19 Long Building Technologies, Inc.; 1256.00 Lusk Does; 1071.20 Lusk Herald; 3307.62 MasterCard; 4233.45 Mobile Concrete Inc.; 500.00 Monika D. Davies; 100.00 Niobrara Chamber Of Commerce; 818.50 Niobrara County Circuit Court; 26810.82 Niobrara County Hospital District; 1725.00 Niobrara County Library; 400.78 Niobrara County Public Health; 91.14 Niobrara County Sheriff's Office; 52.48 Niobrara Electric Association; 2159.35 Office Depot; 260.00 Palen Law Offices, LLP; 4700.00 Pine Ridge Enterprises, LLC.; 914.69 Plainsman Printing & Supply; 850.00 Rancher's Feed & Supply, Inc.; 54.10 Sylvestri Customization; 86.20 Team Laboratory Chemical, LLC.; 252.00 The Radar Shop, Inc.; 154.50 Thomson Reuters-West; 277.58 Torrington Office Supply; 2922.08 Town Of Lusk; 5641.30 TrueNorth Steel; 24708.13 Tyler Technologies; 6199.50 UW Extension; 1706.76 Valley Motor Supply; 368.10 Verizon Wireless; 450.68 Vision Service Plan - (Wy); 530.34 Visionary Broadband; 131.54 Wal Mart Community; 578.63 WALT'S LATHE & MACHINE; 211.50 WEBT; 2921.30 Westco; 3587.54 Whitaker Oil; 3626.00 Wyoming Behavioral Institute; 7923.29 Wyoming Dept. Of Workforce Services; 1930.80 Wyoming Machinery Company; 200.00 Wyoming Network, Inc.; 687.00 Wyoming Sheriff's Association; 3259.46 Wyoming Women's Center; 132.20 Xerox Corporation;
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: 268,844.43
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
NIOBRARA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Patrick Wade, Chairman
Attest:
Becky L. Freeman, County Clerk
Public Notice No. 5385. Published in The Lusk Herald on February 5, 2020
