Fiscal Court Committees - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to join us today. First thing on the agenda is Becca. She's going to talk about a couple of things here.

Yep, I'm going to pass these out.

Everybody sign in. Thank you.

Sorry, I don't mean to throw you back. Just kind of.

Okay, so this is the rapid response officer job description. It's already established job description. Just kind of bringing this back. We did take it to second grade committee who has

forwarded on to resources.

I will turn the floor over to Bonnie and or Shana, if you all have any additional comments of kind of where we are with this.

Well, Shana, if y'all have any questions, they've already gone over this and been working on it for a few months on what they really need. to fill this position and fill the role in the coroner's office for the rapid response. A lot of it, it's taken down from a grade 19 down to a 16. It's all within the budget. And they removed really the bachelor's degree and added more for experience. This is their meet. I don't know if you have any other questions. It has been reviewed by the separate committee. We made one little minor change, which is in there. And as far as I know, everyone agreed to move it to this committee and then to move it on into the school board. You want to add any comments?

Well, like I said, just the job description is somewhat, the pay grade was really the one we stepped down and basically the EOI would be $8,000. That's less than what the last position was.

Can you all share something?

Yeah, that's Those were quite alarming. Shayna, can you share?

So from January 1, which was when we had some changes in the office through July 1, we had 33 referrals in January, 55 in February, 19 in March, 8 in April, 18 in May, and 24 in the month of June. 36 individuals with housing assistance, whether that's income-based housing applications, independent living referrals. We were able to help one with her first month's rent, and that person, she is in our program. We've helped 26 with transportation needs. We repaired three vehicles, and this is through some of this through our grant, our opioid grant money that we got early on in the year. We've given out six bikes. We've helped 23 with clothing, 10 with employment assistance. We've given out nine female backpacks. We've given out a total of 65 fentanyl test strips. We've helped 81 with food nourishment. We've had six assisted with IDs. We've given out 18 male backpacks. We've assisted with getting insurance because for those to be able to get into rehab, you have to have So we've learned to navigate that to help those people that didn't have insurance. We've given out 25 doses of naloxone, 26 sleeping bags. We've connected six veterans to veteran services and we've handed out 31 xylose.

What about those that have gone through treatment?

And we have connected In January, two, we've connected to treatment. Seven in February, five in March, four in April, five in May, five in June. And we have three that have completely completed their social distribution program. We have three that have graduated.

I would like to say the original one job description for this was for somebody to actually set up this the department's program from scratch. And now it's developed, that's in place now, and now it's developed for a boots-on-ground person.

Lisa, do you want to speak to the funding?

Well, we just run some numbers before the meeting, and we may have to come back if the employee they choose, if they bring them in, because you know they can bring them up to five. Um, and then to if they choose by family plan insurance, the county would have to fund them. So it just depends on who is chosen for this position, whether or not we'll have to adjust because the opioid settlement is capped at 90,000 position in the knee. So we may have to do some kind of budget change if they choose the higher of insurance going on the committee.

I think on that.

So you're saying if it comes in over the 90,000, then it would come out of the would no longer be opioid funds. It'd be the county.

The difference would be out of the gym.

The 90,000. So when they start, health insurance also would start right away. Right away.

So there's some myths. Yeah, we can run those numbers.

So what could be the total of the insurance and everything?

Do you have any idea? Worst case scenario?

We just roughly figured it before we came in here, and it was almost $92,000. But that is if they took family plans, which they may not.

Yeah, and that's at a step five.

No, that's a step EOI. Step five is like 96.

Remember, we funded, the court funded the original with $61,000 because that election was coming on. It didn't want to be kept. So that went away, so there's no intention. That's when we dropped it to two grades and brought it to VUF. It would essentially be $18,000 under grade 19. Grade 19 was 58 at VUF, and then this would be $18,000.

Any other questions?

I don't have a question. I just, you know, I know we've always talked about this, and at the end of the day, what kind of price can you put on saving someone's life? I think it goes to show that at least three that have competed, and they've been continuing this without a person here full-time, and I can see it's unfair for them to continue to take this on on top of their current duties.

So,

And we have some grant money that still needs to be spent. Roughly, I don't know the exact number, but the grant was $27,000. There's roughly $20,000 still that needs to be spent. And if we don't spend it, it goes bye-bye. It goes back.

Well, the big thing of it is the position is needed. The issue is not going to go away anytime soon. And... Like Karen said, they are having success with this program. And we owe it to the county to build this position and to provide this service. Are there any other questions? E.G., do you have a copy of this for E.G.? We're talking about... Oh, that's all right. All right. We're talking about the rapid response officer position at a grade of 16. Hopefully putting that on the next report agenda that we can get moving on this position and get it filled.

I just think this is important. When we first started this initially, there was some pushback from law enforcement from different From our region in general, from the different departments, I know specifically of one. But ironically, since then, since having other meetings and moving forward, EPD is now going to have a situational table. And if some of you may or may not be familiar, and I can let one of them speak to it, but I'll say it. But it'd basically be like this kind of table, all the different community partners come to it, and all representing different aspects of health. And so they'll bring up a situation, whether or not, they don't mention names or anything until after the fact. They just say, hey, this person is experiencing this, this, this. They need this. We need help with X, Y, and Z. And then all those different departments or all those different entities help with whatever it may be. And the fact that it went from we don't want to participate to we're not holding these tables. They just show the need and the sincerity in trying to help them. The hospital is making referrals back to QRT. They've had success from EMS. Now, I think in my experience, what I've seen and what I heard, the problem was the openness of the job in the first place and the uncertainty of how it was set up.

I think they've got it. The resolution that I'm basing that $90,000 on was 2024-109. that cap that. Nothing says that court cannot go back with another resolution and say cap it at 95 to make sure that those funds go out of the old way. It's a good one.

So when Hardin County went through their ready recovery certification process, we're certified as a recovery ready community, which means that we score high enough to get certification. It doesn't mean we're perfect. And in the suggestions for future initiatives, this position was something that they recommended that we have placed in Park County and did that. So it was something that even that certification process, the syringe exchange program, but they're both evidence-based strategies for dealing with opioid epidemic and overdose rate and proven to produce those. So anyway, it's evidence-based. That means it's already been vetted and shows that it, that it works. And it was something in a report that we've received back to that certification.

Did we have it at physician field at the time? Okay.

But you were in the work to do it like it was in the work. And so then it happened right after that.

Any other comments?

I just want to say I appreciate Shana and all the massive amount of work. I know it wasn't just you, there's a team, there's been others, but you've been leading it, so very impressive. I just want to publicly say thank you. Hopefully we can get this through here and get some help.

She hung tough. She stayed the course and made sure she saw it through.

I do want to say I appreciate your support and consider this again. I want to say this to the 7th grade committee. If you've ever been to one of the graduations, I know a lot of the masters have been part of it. If you've ever been to one of the veterans graduations, it will absolutely touch you. just to see they tell their story. As you know, it really does.

It really, really brings it all full circle. Hearing no objections, I'll make a notation that this will be placed on the agenda for the 28th of July. Sound good? Thank you, Beth. And you got one more thing.

Okay, so this is a revision to the holiday policy that just went through. So the holiday policy that we put through was not intended to change any existing practices that we have within county government except for the EMS. And then we clarified just kind of how we're doing some existing practices. So we have lots of 24-hour services, as you all know, with some administrative staff. Once we kind of implemented this, we realized a tweak that needed to be made, which was you can see that in the red there, that number one. So basically establishing the holiday, putting that 12 a.m. to midnight is not in accordance with our time system. So the way that our timekeeping and schedules are made within 24-hour departments is where we had that. adjustment so that's why we put the wording in there to say that they will observe the holiday the holiday shall begin at the end and beginning in the end according to the department's established workday as defined by our time system so based off the timekeeping system that's how our holiday is established so I mean basically we're just trying to not make any changes to any other department That's exactly how the existing practices are going, and we're just clarifying that here.

No changes actually are occurring. You're just eliminating and clarifying, yes, clarifying how that should define. We had a lot of, I guess, questions about this.

Well, just with earthly fire services, when we tried to clarify it, like I said, it's kind of hard sometimes. They're establishing PMS is a 24 hours, like they're here 24 hours a day versus some of our 24 hour services have different schedules.

That's kind of where the question came in. And then now you'll have it in variety.

So we're basically not changing anything. We're just clarifying that.

Any comments on the committee?

The departments didn't want to change anything. They were like, we're not changing anything, right? And I'm like, no.

So, yeah. We're all good. Questions from the audience? will be placed on the next report agenda for july 28th all right you have anything else back up no that's it for me so aaron i think you have a couple of items i do i appreciate that let me have time to speak um your first item i almost started the top of my stack first item is a

is our number four security awareness training renewal. It's a one-year contract renewal every day or every year. This year, our price went up $2.49 per user. We have a quantity of 200 users, which is the bulk of the users that get trained in cybersecurity awareness. That's the only thing, the only difference between Last year's and this year's terms are the same. Everything's the same, it's just the freight chain is being affected. So I would like to have this place on the agenda so we can go ahead and make that renewal.

When does that contract expire?

August 5th.

Okay.

August 5th.

So the only change in the contract will be the increase of $2.49 per user at 200 users. Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. That's the only thing that has changed. It's a rate change.

Is it $2.49 or $2.04? $2.49 from last year. Last year, our price was $25.76 per user.

This year, it's $28.25 per user. The difference is $2.49. $2.49.

Is that typically an annual contract?

It's an annual renewal. This is based off of the subscription level that we're at. I did a lot of research and looked at going down one subscription level, but I think the services would be reduced if we went down a subscription level. We've had several people that several employees that are gone through the training, and then they end up failing some tests, and then they don't go back through it. So, recently, we're starting to force them more and more. And that might be part of the rate increases because there's additional features to the program now to encourage users. Hey, look, this is only a five-minute training. Do five minutes and move forward. The phishing tests are getting more complex. It's no longer the speeding ticket in front of the parking lot. It's, hey, look, this is an Amazon package. You may very well have an Amazon package coming. Or call this phone number. Talk to our support. So they're getting very, very well. And that's indicative to the current state of malicious activity. Current state of malicious activity Everyone's using AI. You go in voice recognition. Use AI voice recognition. Text to speech. It sounds like a person. It will give emphasis and emotion like a person. But it's AI generated. It's trying to get you to dial a number or click on an email. I'm going to send you an email. Click on the invite. And what you do, that's emotions. Potentially invade our network beta computer, get personal private data, health-related data, things like that. That's their game. Just what can they do to evade health chaos?

Do they typically raise that annually? I'm just curious.

Yeah, there's an annual cost.

Do they typically increase that annually? Okay, so there's a pattern.

Any questions?

Any questions? Anyone else have a question about this? I know it's needed.

This was a budget item. It's an every year occurrence, so it is a budget item. No doubt. NOVA4 is one of the leaders in cybersecurity awareness training right now.

There are others.

We could very well potentially look at another program that is cheaper, but it wouldn't be as good. The users would enjoy it. We wouldn't guess the training as much. We don't want to go back to the cartoon characters talking about it as power, you know, a death by PowerPoint type deal, because that doesn't help.

I know that the video clips are entertaining. It's almost like watching a soap opera.

Which you learn.

I know.

Each one of them makes you want to go to the next one.

They bring you in because they tell a story. It's not just informative. It's a little bit of excitement.

Yeah. There's a series. I'll get excited real easy. I guess it's an age thing.

There's another series coming out. More comic relief. So there might be a series of comic relief.

Listen, I sat down and watched them like I was watching criminal monsters.

They're binge worthy.

They keep my attention.

Oh, yes, they are. All right.

So we'll add this to the next agenda on the

28 sorry okay and you have uh going through my staying on cyber security uh awareness um there um was an opening for the state homeland security grant program for 25 26 so they apparently uh it was defunded or deregulated or closed at 25. We got funding so they're doing a 25-26 this year. This grant is due on the July 31st. What I'm basing this project on is cyber security. I'm asking for approximately $26,000 in the grant to procure a software as a service for AI-assisted email security program. Threat protection, because it's AI-assisted, it doesn't just look at malware, indicators, things that it's seen before. It's actually behavioral. So it looks at behavior. Masters and I come first back and forth with emails, and then all of a sudden, you know, in the middle of the night, I get an email from one of the masters. Well, that's a compromised email because it doesn't normally come at that time. It may have a different subject. It may have a different additional equal as cc'd or as in the two fronts. It may have a different subject. All those things are behavioral. It says, hey, look, this is a normal behavior. We're going to flag that. We're going to quarantine it and hold it, and then we'll review it later. Other things is it looks, causes not definition scan. So it's not has a set of definitions. Look for these things. It's behavioral, and it's AI-assisted. It knows that, hey, look, there's 250 attacks overseas that are doing these type of modifications that's being reported. Well, AI knows that. AI tells it, hey, look, look for this type of attack. And then all of a sudden, hey, look, there's this type of attack. We'll block that type of attack without having to tell it or update definitions to security. So it does fill in the gaps for our security. It also falls under the national priority of areas in state enduring needs, and the core capability in the FEMA's national preparation goals. So it meets all the check boxes per se for this grant. If we were awarded, this would be like, I want to say the third time a cybersecurity got this grant. So it's very limited on cybersecurity things. So if we get it, cyber security emphasis that's really something special. Because normally they don't give grant money out on this particular grant. Even though they have it in there and they say, hey, look, work for it. They don't normally do it. They normally give it out for other needs. So at least that's what it looks like in the past.

25, 26. Yes.

That's what it says. 25, 26. 25 and 26. Is it?

Does that have the capability to also detect changes in like sentence structures and changes like grammatical, you know, grammatical changes, grammatical errors aren't as predominant as they were before we could get an email, a phishing email that the word, um,

You know, lawn is spelled the wrong word. Trash is spelled wrong.

Or sun is spelled wrong.

Yeah, there are all kinds of misspellings. Elizabeth Town is usually another big one.

Not so much.

You run it through an AI generator, it comes out perfect. There is no graphic.

Well, it would be great if we could get that.

If we could get it. Yes, ma'am. But it will fill in a gap. And one of the core capabilities, it actually fills in more than one core capability from FEMA's National Preparedness. It fills in more than one gap, the main gap in cybersecurity. And it helps with cybersecurity stack. And I know I'm talking a lot, and I apologize. Most people look at cybersecurity as in hackers and users. No. No. But our stack is, you know, 12, 15 layers. We got network security service. We have network security. We have email security. We have workstation security. We have firewalls. I mean, the stack just goes on and on. But I would appreciate this being on. On the 28th of this month.

Any questions about this? It sounds great.

And the last thing I have is another software as a service. Brightworks 365 terms and agreement. I have copies of the terms and agreement for the Brightworks software as a service contract here. This again is a budgeted item. This was in This year's budget, the approximate cost, actually the total cost with 30 users and professional services, which is training, is included. It's $14,870. And what the software does for us is it's a project management software.

This is something new. We've never had this software.

No, this is something new.

management software? Yes ma'am. Tell us what that is. What main area?

We have a project management software now. This is advanced. This gives us grant charts. It gives us More integration into our Office 365. Integrates with email, integrates with Excel. Produces reports. It's basically brand charts. It helps managers manage projects.

So are we dropping the other software?

Yes.

That would save what?

I don't think it would save anyone. Yeah, that's very, very limited what we have now. Very, very limited. Very, very limited. This will just take over.

As far as cost goes? There's no savings. Okay.

No signing, but... So we get additional resources. So we get training. We also get more integration into 365. Reporting. Reporting is the biggest thing. We don't have much. We don't have probably any reporting now with the software that we're currently using.

You said this one is $15,000. What does it cost? It's free.

We're picking up being able to report and do what? Reports, grant charts, more communication, Excel, integration with PDFs. There's a lot. How do we track our grants? Excel. Excel, as far as I know.

Grants, we have those in our same software that we have.

Oh, I see.

modules but that not everybody has access to it that's a problem it's really a bunch of everybody's different cell spreadsheets that are not consolidated this consolidates online some questions uh any specific questions

about this particular agreement and what it will provide? Is it a one year?

It's a one year. There were terms.

I did send terms through Jenny's office.

And the only response I got back from Jenny's office was to make sure that it was set for government Those were tax exempt. So, and then they went through it, got a response back from the software vendor. I sent their response to Jenny's office. It was okay.

Jenny's kid was okay.

I would not have brought it unless I had Jenny's okay. I was going to be my next question.

Jenny's kid was okay.

There was one item in the terms that talked about taxes. And she questioned it. I got back and saw the vendor. It was just to cover them, say, hey, look, if we're not taxing them, then they're going to charge taxes on the purchase. But we are taxing them.

But I did hear you say this is budget.

Yes, ma'am.

Even though previously we were getting this service at no cost.

This is budgeted for this fiscal year. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I put this one item in my budget.

Any other questions? I'll add this to the July 28th report agenda for both.

I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. All right. Mike, do you have anything for us today?

Not right now. We are working on stuff that I'll probably be bringing to y'all, but not right yet.

I've got a question, Mike. Tell me about the DNR, trap and release. How many do we do a year?

I'm going to guess and say I can get it real easy if you want me to get the actual. I'm going to say probably at least a thousand to two thousand depending um so the purpose is to trap the cats well yeah but part of what we also like if we can adopt some of them out then we adopt them out because when we started the tnr part of the problem or part of the complaints i was getting was you're not doing anything about the outside cats you know, they're all coming back. So if we can adopt them out, if they'll use a litter box and all that stuff, then we're sending them through the adoption process and keeping them out of the outside.

That leads me to my next question. I received a call from Sergeant Kyle Wood. Yes, sir. Are you familiar with the phone call he made?

A little bit.

And it was 33 cats in the house. Yes. He was told to open the window and let them go.

We were told they were feral. Feral means wild.

So even feral cats, we don't trap and stay?

Well, prior to that, we did offer. We told him we could come. We could trap a couple at a time. But we told him there was no way we could trap all of them and get them all out of the house at that time.

He told me he was told to open the door and window. that y'all did not offer to come out there and that he told you he respectfully declined to do that.

Well, I didn't speak with him.

He respectfully declined that and then found an alternative.

Well, I mean, we are looking into ways to better help, which I'm sure you're probably aware of that too. Well, we're looking into trying to do things a little bit differently. I don't know what we would have done at that time because we had 80 in-house and 40 in foster.

Maybe you guys take the initiative to call around to some of your people that help you all out. You know the other people. This officer had to do it.

Right.

You're animal control.

I guess you got a point on that. So, you know, Maybe so.

He opens the door, lets them out. I'm just doing rough math here because I did some information on it. If 17 of those were female, 17 in one year, you know what it turns out to? 912.

So, I mean, I'm looking into, I found out about it. I was there when the call was originally taken and, and I know what was said on my side. I don't know what was said on the other side. I do know that we offered to grab some, um, and it was kind of like they wanted them all gone as soon as they could. And there was no way for me to have handled that.

So they didn't necessarily, I mean, the people they called, they, they shut the door and it took them two days to trap. Okay. So, um, It wouldn't necessarily had to be done right then.

Okay, well, that's the impression that we got.

But if we went out there, maybe we would have known more information.

Very good point. I agree with you.

And Mike, what is our responsibility for cats?

Well, the county really, there is no law that says we have to do anything for cats in the state or in our ordinances.

If we're thinking that way, let's call it dog control, not animal control. I'm just saying to that point. No, I understand.

I know what the K. R. S. Is, but I'm just saying if we shouldn't be telling somebody to let the door open, let 30 cats out.

That were sick, by the way, that one of them died when they got to the rehab. Some other ones were sick. So we're just turning a bunch of cats out loose.

Yeah, I wish we would have went and took a look. You're right on that.

Anybody else have anything for Mike? Thank you, Mike, for responding to Chris, for bringing that issue. All right. Tom, do you have anything for us today?

No.

Tom? And so, Kenny Salzman.

Yes. So, I just wanted to ask the judge, I'd like to better understand the purpose of the communication expectations that you sent to the department heads on June 25th. I've got it right here. I'm going to read it. It says, good afternoon. I need to establish a new communication expectation moving forward. If you or anyone within your department is approached by a magistrate requesting information or making a negative comment, please notify me the same day as promptly as possible. When responding to a magistrate by email or text, please copy both Bonnie and me on your reply. If you need assistance crafting a response, do not hesitate to reach out to us before replying. If the request or comment is made in person, please provide a summary of the conversation and email it to both Bonnie and me. Additionally, if fulfilling the request requires more than 10 minutes of your time, include the date and the amount of time spent in your report. This information is necessary so I can remain fully informed and prepared for any questions that may arise. Thank you for your cooperation and let me know of any questions or concerns. Judge Tall. So I'm just trying to see if you can explain what the problem was that you were trying to solve that led to that policy.

So is there some concern about the policy? Do you have a concern that something has happened that brought this up?

Yeah, that's why I'm asking you, what brought this up? I'm asking you, why are you bringing it up? Why am I bringing it up?

I mean, has something changed or something that concerns you about your ability to communicate?

So why is it necessary for employees to report when a magistrate requests information?

I'm just asking you, why is this a problem?

Okay.

If this is a policy that I want to put in place... Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Tim. I'm sorry. If this is a policy I want to put in place, that folks that... Has this caused an issue?

All right, but let me ask you this one. Why does the email single out negative comments by magistrates? Why is that something employees are expected to report? Has that been a problem? What concern led you to require employees to copy you and Bonnie directly on every email or text response by a magistrate? It did not say at the bottom what the reasoning was. Okay, so you wanted to stay informed. This information is necessary so I can remain fully informed. prepared okay so I understand wanting to stay informed but my concern is whether this policy creates perception employees are being asked to report on elected magistrate and whether that can make staff hesitant to communicate openly with members of fiscal court so how would you address that concern first I've heard that it is okay so now you've heard it so how do you address that concern okay So you just implemented this whole policy without thinking it through how others would feel. You just sent this to the employees. You didn't let any of the magistrates know that this was a new policy. Not necessary, but it includes, it's affecting magistrates, correct?

Is it?

That's what I'm asking you. I mean, you're telling them not to do anything.

I didn't know. What?

Not to do anything unless you know about it. No, I didn't say that. Okay, but let me ask you this. What's the 10-minute deal of? the point on that point what's the 10 minute yeah yeah we have they have to let me find it again i think it was if it takes more than if the request or comment made in person okay additionally fulfilling the request requires more than 10 minutes of your time include the date and the amount of time spent in your report are you going to have us to reimburse them for their their time is that i mean i don't understand that's kind of a silly comment okay what's a silly comment Okay, so then why do you need to know if it takes more than 10 minutes of their time?

I have responsibility for what the employees are doing and if they are being asked to provide information that takes quite a bit of time and I'd like to know about it and we can talk about it and see if there's something we need to do to speed up the reporting process or whatever it might be. I mean, our people are... busy. I mean, they're doing their jobs. So if they're getting asked for information, it's going to take them. If it's not just a typical report or something that they could easily answer, it's going to take quite a bit of time to do that. I want to know.

It's just as simple as that. Okay, so you want to know if we're doing our job by talking with the department heads. If it has to take more than 10 minutes, you want to know that for sure.

Like, Although, even though we're doing our job. Nothing in there that you read keeps them from providing information.

I just wanted to get a clarification. There you go. I wasn't the only one that was curious about it. I'm not the only magistrate that wanted to know. It's the first time that I've heard there was an issue. Well, this is the first opportunity that I've had.

You haven't called me, have you?

No, I haven't. Let me just get in the middle of it. Okay. I think probably what Kenny is trying to convey, and the group is questioning, and maybe some of the other magistrates too, we are aware of, most of us are aware of this email, is maybe the issue of infringing on on maybe what we feel like that we could do to reach out to a department head if we had a question and now this might make us feel like gosh maybe that's not acceptable or maybe we might be getting that department head and some kind of a i guess an negative position by by taking up too much of their time and i'll just use myself as an example i i reach out to department heads from time to time especially the road department because i have constituents that need my help and i'll call the road department so now that that's being reported in the loop on that it makes me feel as though i'm infringing on their time and their resources and their professionalism. And I shouldn't feel that way. I should be able to feel like, oh, I can call the road department supervisor or send an email to the road department supervisor at any time if I need help with something. So I think what this is, what Kenny is saying is it makes us feel as though we're not part of the team, that we're like an outsider here. and we can't cross over this line to reach out and communicate with the department staff. I think that's the issue.

I got you. I think you're reading between the lines too much. I think I put the reason why I needed to know and be informed more than what I have been in the past. That's all it is. There's nothing in here that keeps any of our staff from communicating or providing feedback to any magistrate.

But that's good to know. And I will say, typically, typically protocol is that when you send out correspondence and you're mentioning a certain individual or magistrate in general, that you would copy that person or that group of people on that correspondence, or in this case, on that email. And we were not copied on that correspondence. We were left out of that communication. So now we're having to interpret what it meant and what the intention was. I think maybe that also caused an issue, that we weren't included in that communication.

That's what raised my suspicion.

really wasn't meant for your eyes. Yeah, that's a problem. It was an internal communication for them to do something a little different. Do you remember that hashtag team hard?

I'm just wondering where that's at. That's my only question. There's no team.

I think you're reading between the lines.

I will say, Judge, I've seen a marked difference in my conversations with the department heads. Not all of them, but a lot of them are kind of real cautious about what they say and what information that I ask. And I'll just cut to the chase on this. I believe I was trying to prepare for the town hall meeting because we felt like it was going to be a lot of information asked of us about the fire services. That's now one of our big issues. And so I got a hold of emergency manager, Joey, and asked him for just copies of the budgets that should have been on file. And he told me I'll have them. I'll have them a certain time. Nothing happened. So I followed up with him and uh, the next thing I know I was getting information from your administration that you would get that information to me. So I'm pretty sure that that's probably what triggered all this. Uh, because it, uh, for some reason, I guess it took a lot of time to copy 12 budgets from 12 volunteer firemen that we've had in our records supposedly had in our records and I come to find out that we didn't have all of them. And uh, and I for hours and now you correct me on one, I called it a training records. It was actually testing records out the 12 departments that responded. I only had records from one that had their test and there was some documentation stuff in their own who was compliant, who was not compliant. So I don't know, but ever since then, I don't know if that's what triggered your email. It was right after that. I was just trying to get prepared for the town hall meeting to do my due diligence is what elected officials are supposed to be doing. And it's driven a wedge between it. If that's what your intent was to drive a wedge, it's worked in a lot of departments.

Well, the intent wasn't to drive a wedge. My point, that particular example, I actually found out some stuff about it. So, you know, so it's, you know, there's good questions that are posed and there's information that's being passed back and forth. And if I don't know what that is, then I don't know that there's a problem. And this is another opportunity for me to get that information.

Do you think that I, you know, obviously, if I'm not mistaken, that that email was classified confidential, right? Yes, it was. And, you know, if you have 10 department heads and you send it to nine, you leave out one, and that one person finds out, do you not think that that's going to cause some division between that one and nine? I mean, there's always going to be division whenever you start excluding people. And if you mark something confidential, It takes five seconds for us to know. Right. So at the end of the day, you say, like, yeah, you learned something. You learned something good and beneficial. That's fine. But I think what Patsy's point was is had you had sent that to everybody, including us, probably wouldn't have been, like, trying to exclude us. But the way it was presented, the way it's been gone about, and it's just also timing. right? You kind of start looking at the scope of what it, what's three and a half years in all of a sudden, this is the new communication model. It just seems a little like, like you are driving a little bit of a wedge. So for me, for, you know, from my perspective, you know, if, if I'm onto something or I see something or I want to hear, or I want to know something and I don't necessarily feel like I have to, right. That's my job because we're all equal members of this It's not Judge Tal's administration of fiscal court, and that's it. We get to make the decision. I'm not sure about that. You have a one-man boat, and I'm one-man. I'm talking about both. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, our information that we're gathering, our fact line, comes from that, right? Well, it's not coming from me. Yeah, so if we find facts and, like, and it's something that we're interested in, it may have absolutely nothing to do with a vote or whatever it may be. And so at that point, I feel like you're wasting an employee's time by making them tell you and go through all that. But I kind of see it as counterproductive in a sense, just because you want to be in the know for whatever reason three and a half years into it. So I think ultimately for me, from my perspective, working together, like Chris said, the team aspect should have included us probably. it would have been a better option to show it.

And there's also the relationship building aspect of this. I feel like, I'm not only going to speak for myself, but I feel like I've built a really good relationship with each department and their staff. i feel like that they're comfortable talking with me helping me and i can i feel good about reaching out to them for certain things that that i need that are county related or legitimate and now i've now i feel hesitant because they're going to have to report to you and they're going to have to add you to an email that i didn't let's say I initiate an email. I sent that to, I would say, Stephanie, but I didn't add you. She'll have to add you to that email conversation. And I don't know. It just seems like our relationship may be, I guess, hindered in some way. Maybe she doesn't feel as easy talking to me. And I'm just using that as an example. But I think there's more aspects to this new policy than meets the eye or that what maybe would first realize because we were left out of the loop and maybe we just feel like we're being left out of the team not on the team sometimes i feel that way but i i i try to do things that

mesh us together and bring us together but that sending out correspondence where you don't copy people like people know things that is an intentional that was just as simply and it did not change anything that you have concerns about still get the information that you want the differences that i can know about and it's not it's thinking too much through this. I don't know. It's like putting, uh, additional stuff in here that I had no intention of doing. And I'm sorry that it came out that way. Uh, now you know what it is. Nobody came to me personally and asked me about it. So this is the first time that I've heard that you guys knew about it. First time I've heard that you guys had concerns about it for any one of everybody in there. of you that had a concern, I felt like you should have gone ahead and called me and said, you know, why did you do this?

Well, I think the word transparency, I know you are big on transparency. I am. And so am I. And I think we all are big on transparency. But that word comes to mind when I think about the whole exclusion thing of the magistrates not being informed. And I think that is, that transparency was not met. think it could have been informed. I don't want to, you know, talk the rest of the day on it, but if anyone else wants to chime in, I think it is important, though, that we express our feelings about this. Just the fact that we felt like that we should have been included and firsthand to know that the policy was set in motion.

I don't I think, you know, kind of early on, I asked us all to kind of go through you for daily things. I feel like I did a pretty good job at going through you, including conversations with the mayor or different things. I know Fred and I met with him about a grant. Why did you try to stay in the loop? It does feel like a little bit of a stab in the back when it's like, hey, I can be transparent and tell you about these meetings and invite you, but you can't return the favor. I think at the end of the day, just the communication goes a long way. Just communicate with us. If you want us to do that, instead of just telling them in a confidential email, it should have been, hey, I'm moving forward. I'd like to know the things that are going on. The approach would have been a lot different. I think intent is 90% of it. It's execution. That 10%. for, you know, if it does happen to us, I think it's quite cool for us to know up front. It's like you asked us to let you know if you have situations.

Right. Thank you for the feedback.

I think conversations like this can be healthy if used and presented in a positive manner. It can bring us all together a little bit closer. We can move forward now from this. And that's what That's what we need to keep in mind as we move forward from here. Thank you for addressing that. Okay. Laura.

You're next. So I just briefly want to share that we have added a new digital service to the library canopy. It is a free video streaming service for our library card holders. So instead of paying for a subscription, you can use your library card and you can watch TV shows and movies and things of that nature. just showing you the value of what your library card gives you in this community.

That was one of your goals, right?

It was. It was. Typically, something like this is extremely expensive, and we would never ever be able to afford it. But after some deep research and going with a slightly different package, we're able to provide this to our patrons. Very, very excited. So please sign up. All you have to do is create an account and you can launch all kinds of wonderful things.

Awesome. Hey, me too.

Digitally.

give it to you. Thank you. Laura, anything else? This is great. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And Sarah?

Just a couple of things that I wanted to get out. We're having our back to school bashes. We have one scheduled for tomorrow night or tomorrow evening and the weather, so we've changed that date. We're obviously giving immunizations is ready for school but even if those don't need vaccines we also have dental varnishing there we'll have all of our programs out um so environmental will be there talking about how to prevent mosquito bites like there's all kinds of information so you'll get to see all of our departments there's games and activities and prizes and things like that so Just encourage you guys to have people come out. So it's rescheduled now for July 29th. I brought one of those if anybody wants to help us promote that. And then the other cool thing that we're doing, and this was Representative Bradshaw made this connection, but there's a program called Kentucky Hears at the Hauser Hearing Institute. And they go into communities and can provide services including screening and access to oncologists, help with hearing aids, that kind of thing, troubleshooting with hearing aids. And they can bill insurances, but sometimes the deductibles are really high or people don't have insurance that covers this. They have funding that they get through the General Assembly to help backfill that. So it opens up that service to individuals. So what they're doing now is they're coming to, we're hosting them at our Hardin County Health Department location. People from other counties can come in and get the service. So I'll start that one this way. But anyway, They come quarterly, but you have access through telehealth and other things to audiologists that you need to troubleshoot. We had our first clinic last Friday, and we did have nine patients come through, which is pretty good for a first time. Our next clinic is October 16th, and then January 14th is the one after that. They're from 8.30 to 2, and there's a 1-800 number under that to call and make an appointment with somebody. that could use that assistance. You know, there's so much to hearing and how it affects your employment, how it affects SSV age. People with a history of opioid use are at high risk for losing their hearing, which also can hinder recovery and staying employed and job interviews and school achievements and everything else that they're linked to that. So it really is kind of a a base thing that that um people need um to be successful in life and so anyway uh we're happy to be able to provide the opportunity for uh people to come and get the service that our clinic so that's at the 580 westport road clinic so if you'll just um help us promote that too thank you because we're always doing something good new programs and

Yeah, awesome.

All right, that takes care of our agenda. Is there any last-minute items? Meeting adjourned. Thank you for coming out and joining.