RICHLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS JUNE 18, 2012 The Richland County Board of Commissioners met on June 18, 2012 at the Richland County Courthouse with Commissioners Sid Berg, Tim Campbell, Jason Heitkamp, Perry Miller and Dan Thompson. Also present were Administration Personnel Bailey and DelVal; and a Daily News Reporter. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORT Hazard Mitigation Grant for Generator for County Highway Shop - We applied for grant funds and received approval last week for $12,159; our local cost will be $1824. Lambrecht will proceed to get bids for a generator. Radio Reprogramming Grant - We received confirmation of $3,066 in additional grant funding for 37 more radios for Richland County Health Department, NDSCS Police Department and Richland County Highway Department. Salvation Army Assistance for firefighters, law enforcement, volunteers, etc. - Lambrecht received notice from the Fargo Salvation Army that the easiest way to request assistance is through Cass Dispatch; team members carry pagers and respond when paged. SHERIFF LESHOVSKY- BUDGET/WEAPONS - The Sheriff has made a decision to replace the Sheriff Department weapons with Sig Saur 226 pistols. They will be purchasing 15 new weapons and the old weapons will be traded in. The cost for the new weapons is $8385; they will give us a trade in allowance of $4430 for our old pistols. So the total cost will be $3955 after the trade. The only other cost is for holsters of $2,114. The total cost will be $6,069.86 for weapons and holsters for the entire department. The Sheriff Dept has approximately $20,000 in the Capital Outlay Budget and the only expected expense is for a computer and some equipment so he could take the cost for the new weapons from Capital Outlay. A motion was made by Campbell to authorize the purchase of weapons as proposed by the Sheriff; motion seconded by Heitkamp. Vote was unanimous. MISC/CORRESPONDENCE - Notice of 5-County Meeting July 12 th in Sargent County A motion was made by Thompson to approve a Game Site Authorization for the Hankinson American Legion for gaming at Wakeside; motion seconded by Page 1 of 6
Campbell. Vote was unanimous. A motion was made by Berg to approve a Raffle Permit Application for the Galchutt American Legion; motion seconded by Thompson. Vote was unanimous. A motion was made by Thompson to approve the sale of County property in Hankinson to the city of Hankinson; motion seconded by Campbell. Vote was unanimous. Bailey reported the only negative received from the State Auditors was in reference to pledging. Bailey and Hage will visit with the banks about the bank procedures. Bailey reported on the June 12 Primary Election - There was good voter turnout. Not everything is balanced so there is no final abstract or results yet. HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT Highway Personnel in attendance were Tim Schulte, Harlan Bladow and Lowell Bladow. BRO-0039(039) Bridge 118-35 over the Wild Rice River - Bid opening was held June 15 at the NDDOT building in Bismarck. Industrial Builders was the low bidder at $912,690.45. Schulte requested Board Authorization for the Chairman to sign the award letter when we receive it from NDDOT. A motion was made by Campbell to authorize the Chairman to sign the award letter for project BRO- 0039 when it arrives; motion seconded by Heitkamp. Vote was unanimous. State Highway Distribution Fund Projections - The NDACo has sent out projections for the SHDF for the rest of 2012 and 2013. The projections show a modest increase, but new projections will be available after the July reports. Access Control - Schulte distributed a copy of the guidelines for new development adjacent to the ND State Highway System (dated June 2012). Several of the Board members as well as Schulte commented that they have received some feedback on the new fees for county permits. Yield Sign Project - Over the past few years we have had several crashes at intersections with paved county roads and gravel townships roads. When there are no signs at the intersections the rules of the road apply, which results in people on the paved roadway having to yield for those on the gravel. We have Page 2 of 6
almost completed signing on all these intersections - approximately 200 signs have been installed. Other Departmental Matters - - Harlan s crew started working on CH#22 last week, the speed limit will most likely remain the same Upcoming Meetings - June 28 Road Advisory Meeting July 2 County Board Meeting Thompson asked about Jim Anderson wanting an additional culvert. Schulte replied: - Anderson wants the State Water Commission to look at the site - Where Anderson wants the culvert is a concern for us - Schulte has not spoken with Randy Gjestvang (Fargo State Water Commission) for a while, he will followup with Gjestvang and see where it is at TELEPHONE PROPOSAL Joan Oland, Jill Breuer and Jodi Sander met with the Board. Oland reported the following: - Oland included $110,00 in the Data Processing Budget for a new phone system for the Law Enforcement Center and Courthouse - Oland worked closely with Breuer so the new system would work with the 911 System in Dispatch and they narrowed it down to two systems - Demonstrations were given on the two phone systems to a Committee of Oland, Breuer, Sander, Bailey and DelVal - The recommendation after the presentation was for the Allworx system from Page 3 of 6
Red River Telephone - The Allworx system would include all new wiring and every user would have a call assistant. Following Oland s report a motion was made by Thompson to approve the purchase of a Allworx phone system from Red River Telephone; motion seconded by Heitkamp. Vote was unanimous. ORVILLE FENSKE - WATER BOARD COMPLAINT Arv Burvee from the Water Board was also in attendance; along with Highway Personnel Tim Schulte and Lowell Bladow. Orville Fenske and Bruce Fenske met with the Board to express dissatisfaction with the Water Board on their application submitted for drain tile. The property is in Section 7 of Brandenburg Township. They started the application December 10, 2011; certified letters were mail ed to the parties December 12, 2011 and they did not meet with the Water Board until March 5, 2012. When they met with the Water Board and the interested parties, no decision was made by the Water Board - they suggested it be worked out between the parties. Because of the delay the Tile Company pulled out their equipment and in the meantime 3" of rain fell and they had to mud the tile in so now it is a complete disaster. Fenske s feel the Water Board should have stepped in with direction because when he applied, he asked what is the procedure for disagreement from downstream landowners and was told the Drainage Board will make a decision one way or the other. He knew that signatures would be a problem, that is why he asked. Burvee replied that the office staff goes through the application process and conditions with the applicants and informs them that they need to contact the downstream landowners. When numerous parties are involved, the Water Board becomes the Arbitrator and all the parties are brought into a Water Board meeting to discuss. In this case it was no different, the application process was no different than what we normally do. Fenske s agreed that they had no objections to the action of the Water Board - their concern is that they were told by the office that the Water Board makes a decision one way or the other and they were not told until March what they had to do - they should have had the guidelines from the beginning - they would have had all winter to work with the people downstream instead of not finding that out until March. Thompson commented that the issue here is Fenske s believe they were not Page 4 of 6
given clear instructions at the application time. Thompson asked if anything is spelled out on the application form. Burvee replied with the application form they receive a list of conditions. Miller suggested the Commission review the language on the Water Board Application. UNFINISHED/NEW BUSINESS Heitkamp reported he has spoken with Department Heads in the Law Enforcement Center about space concerns. The Sheriff Department could use additional space for interview rooms, locker rooms, secure storage rooms for evidence and there are issues with the garage when the Van comes to pick up inmates because they cannot back into the garage. Social Services and the Health Department also have space concerns. Heitkamp suggested a Committee be put together to review space concerns and discuss issues they are having. Miller replied - typically the Department Heads come to the Board if they have a concern. Campbell replied a space committee was formed some time ago that reviewed storage concerns and the upper floor of the LEC was redone for the Health Department. We are now very limited on what we can do because we have grown and provide more services. Bailey indicated a Department Head meeting will be coming up in a few weeks to discuss budgets and we can put space concerns on the Agenda. Heitkamp suggested the Board also address the issue of ice on the north side of the Law Enforcement Center, there have been several individuals fall during the winter and become seriously hurt - this is a liability to the County. Page 5 of 6
Being there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:50A.M. ATTEST: CHAIRPERSON Harris Bailey Perry Miller Auditor/Administrator Board of Richland County Commissioners Page 6 of 6