Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the meeting in order.

We'll do the flag salute. Can Tyson have a few words? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

A few reminders before we begin. Gentlemen, please state your name and title when the person begins speaking. Public comment will be allowed to the extent that it's on topic. Persons participating via Zoom are currently muted. have a comment then please let mark know via the chat function mark will then inform chairman trinkle can take up the comment in a manner that doesn't disrupt the agenda and if an executive session is needed then we'll mute and turn off the video and when we're done we'll turn everything back on heather i'm going to make a little statement first before we get to you okay this is to the public we've had several emails texts phone calls

people coming up to us saying why is Pratt County thinking about having a data center in this county we have not been contacted we have not been contacted by any company or anybody considering the data center and if we would It would be the public will know about it. They will be able to ask questions in public meetings. But as of this time, we have not had any contact with anybody proposing a data center in Pratt County. Thank you. Okay, Heather.

I appreciate that. I second that statement that you just said. I also have not had any contact with anyone from an economic development perspective that wants to have a data center in Pratt County. A couple of things that since I couldn't get on last week. On Friday, the city of Sawyer situation that I have been working on with the recovery office at the state and other powers that be has worked itself out. I talked to the city manager or the city manager, the mayor this morning of the city of Sawyer, and he knows what exactly needs to be done. I offered to help them do what we need to do. It's a little unorthodox what has to be done between now and the end of the year and what has to be done between now and September 30th. But the bottom line is the project is going to be 100% grant paid for and the project is going to be done within the federal requirements and federal guidelines. So I told them I will assist them in doing whatever we need to do. I have been asked to assist the other two entities in the project. to do what they're supposed to do as well. I said I was willing to make one phone call, but that was the end of my assistance for those other two places because they couldn't figure it out just like we did. So that's good news. Second is there was supposed to be a meeting later this week with KDOT and the Southwest Kansas Corridor Expansion Committee. It was sent out last week. And then this morning, it was canceled by KDOT. Not terribly certain what to make of that. The original goal was to, again, prioritize the other corridors for investment by KDOT. Again, there's going to be a transition in gubernatorial leadership coming up. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. But I was going to attend that meeting, but it has now been canceled. Also have been in contact with Pratt Country Estates, which is the mobile home park. If you haven't been by there recently, they are doing some pretty significant improvements, which are really good for everyone. So if anyone is looking for a place to rent or wants to use a mobile home, that they should look there. Also, there is a new owner or about to be a new owner of the Evergreen RV Park and Hotel. And so they are also working with PADC and trying to figure out how to transition that ownership and get that back online. So working with those two companies as well. That's all I have for today. And I'll be happy to stand for questions.

Back on the Sawyer deal, have they switched over?

No. The timing of the switchover is one of the things that was negotiated with pretty high people on Friday.

Okay. I don't have anything, Heather. I don't have anything.

Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you.

You said you want to do that with Brian?

Oh, yep.

We can do minutes. We'll make a motion. We approve the August 31st, 2026. Second. We've been moved and seconded. We approve the minutes from August 31st, 2026. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carried. I'll make a motion to hire Cody. I should have read it before. Cody Meyer Ice for part-time for EMS at 1350 and out. I'll second the motion. It's been moved and seconded. We hire Cody Meyer Ice for part-time emergency medical responder for 1350 and out. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carried. I'd like to make a motion. We congratulate BJ Hayes on his award from TEMA, Kansas emergency manager. He was the emergency manager of the year for the state of Kansas.

Do we need to vote on that or just order?

Yes.

How's that work?

I don't know either. Just put it recognized in the minutes.

Yeah.

Recognize BJ. Yeah, he deserves it. He's worked hard at it. Of course, I don't want to really recognize him until I see the credit card bill. That's true. No, BJ, he deserves it. He works hard at it. I asked him if he knew about it going in. He said he knew he was nominated, but he said there were six other people. There were six nominated. It was a complete surprise. i'm going to make a motion to approve that we do our annual one thousand dollar donation to the lemon park lights we'll second the motion moved and seconded we do our annual one thousand dollar donation to the layman park lights all in favor say aye aye opposed same sign motion carries i had a meeting with two union pacific gentlemen this would have been last tuesday afternoon and they were talking about they're going to extend the sighting farther east of pratt it's going to go from 20 going to block 20th and 30th going east That's how far they're going. I think they said they're around 9,000 siding now and they're going to 15,000.

That's a lot of blockage.

They said they're not going to start until 2028. But the guy did tell me he said they're planning on having 18 more people hire here in France. Hopefully that transpires that many more people.

Well, it's Frank Crane. They're just getting longer and longer.

And Doug was here, too. I don't think Doug went out with him, but one of the guys was their crossing guru, and he was going to take pictures of it. And Doug talked to him about their widening, you know, the Northwest 70th. The blacktop. And I don't Don't know. We didn't know what the plans were. You can only get if you got to get one to widen right close to the railroad. There's all kind of loopholes you got to go through. So I don't know if Kirk and Michael is going to have to start just outside of the railroad right away on the widening. If that happens, nothing has to be done. But otherwise, you've got to deal with the railroad for those few feet in there. That's what that was about. And then I had a person get a hold of me last week. Are we going to do snow removal bids? I know it's strange talking about it right now, but it will be coming up.

I thought we did those last year.

We did. They were wanting to know if we were going to do them again. I think we should, but that's up to you guys, too.

We don't have anybody to do it, so we have to.

Got you. So I didn't know. I just knew we probably needed to talk about it, because it will probably be here before we know it.

Yeah, right. That's what reminded me, Jason.

So that's all I have. You want to come on up? Yes.

All right. First thing I have is this is the solid waste annual annual solid waste review. There's no changes. This is the crew that I have right now for the committee. It will change next year. All I need you guys to do is approve that part of it, and then I'll have to get the minutes to send it to the state, and we'll be done with that. Super simple.

I'd like a motion we approve the annual solid waste review board. That'd be very valid. it's probably best well it is the same as it's the same it's all different it's all different all different okay yeah i'm probably going to birch butcherson never that's okay charles dremel rick bacon jason winkle joe castellan and john stolenberg second the motion been moved and second we approved the 2026 annual solid waste review committee members all in favor say aye aye opposed same sign motion carried you need to sign this or anything um what I'll have to do is I'll have to get the minutes okay from session okay and then I'll just send them into the state all right the next thing I have is here is a map of the landfill

And this red line that I have from, from this point right here, all the way around is a new road. So right here, this is our old road. And right here is where I'm, you can see where I'm digging a new pit right here. And our old road was right in the way. Now over, let's see, you can kind of see them here, like right in this area right here. And there's a pile here and a pile here. And this is all old tornado debris from 1980 or 1998, I think, is when we had one in 02, I do believe. I might be off on the date a little bit. But I've already got approval from the state that we can move these. And so this pit goes clear out here. And then there's another one right next to it that goes clear out. And that stuff's sitting right on the pit. So I've already got approval from the head of KDHE that we can move it, and we'll just move it over to the pit. There's no extra tonnage fee. There's no extra anything. It's just fuel. It's fuel. I mean, honestly. But the new road so far, I've got it totally widened. I put an extra culvert in to move water. It is about up to here in crushed concrete. Currently, it's from here to here. So Thursday, if we don't get a bunch of rain, which I really honestly hope we do, Thursday we'll be finishing it out with the crushed concrete. And that should be a good road for hopefully the rest of his life. It's mandatory through the state of Kansas that we have a road that runs all the way around it anyways, which we already did, but it wasn't always, yeah, it wasn't always passable. So we widened it way out and made it so that it's as wide as the road coming in there. So we shouldn't have any issues. I'm sure for the first couple of years, we'll have little spots here and there you can want to squish out. But it's really, really close to being done. I've got people running on it already just to give me a good pack down on it. So I just want to let you guys know that that's one thing we've been working on. We got inspected on Friday and we asked for flying colors again. Only thing they mentioned was I have a couple of cedar trees growing on the old trash pit here on the backside. There's a couple of trees set here.

Imagine cedars popping.

Well, I get it that it's not supposed to be on there. So we're going to get those all removed out. And then I have a SWANA conference the 28th through the 30th of this month. So that'll be, let you know that I'll be going to that. And then on the recycling side, Only thing I got for you is the card, let you know, cardboard's up to 110 at 10 versus 60 is what it has been. So we've moved one load so far. We've got about half a load so we can move some more. Trying to move as much as possible. Markets on everything else are in the dumps like normal. So just kind of collecting. Oh, and then we painted all the trim and the front fence on the recycling. So. But other than that, I think that's all I have for you guys. Unless you have something for me.

I do. I know. Everything looks good. Thanks. Keep up the good work. Yeah. You're doing great.

We're getting it done, so.

All right. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. You guys have a good day. You too. We want to hear from K camp. On our property insurance? I think that's probably what it is. They were guys contacted looks like from the email.

Yeah.

We've already paid her for the year. Our insurance from here.

It goes up again next year, we have to make changes. We look into it then.

I'm just a little leery because of I asked the K works. Can you choose the K works? This one. The one that was in a talk to us or previously?

Yeah, the health insurance that we had through these guys was way more work. There's no, this is property lab. Yeah, I know. This work is workers comp. The health insurance has always been outside of these pools.

Good. And who is it that we had? We had to fill out all the forms and whatever. Or work or camp.

Or KCAM. My understanding, I wasn't around during that time, but my understanding is that you guys had KCAM. So if there was a claim or something that was coming through.

Lori spent the time you have to call and get records.

But yeah, I think it was on the personal liability side of things.

No, I'm not. If you guys want to. can look at it next year yeah that's fine with me okay sounds good anybody have anything else well we've got a wild maintenance complaint i don't know the ac in the clerk's office is not blowing cold air at all I see a sports worker.

Yes, not mine. We're okay. I'm still making a noise, but we're okay.

But we're not working this morning. I don't know if that's part of it. No, I think it's... That unit in that office doesn't work at all.

Yeah, it's like one of the... When they came through and said the majority of them aren't even blowing cold air, that's... Whatever.

I would have thought they would have let it snow before now. Yeah, before now. Damn. And then they say the NAC and the law library is leaking and stuff going on with various things. But they get them in there to fix it. But as far as the one in the clerk's office, I don't know. It may need to be replaced. That's why they just shut it off.

That could be. We have several around like that. That just are not functioning.

To go into winter.

They could look at it and see, and then I can just look at it and see, and then if it's going to be a substantial repair, and it's not just a quick thing.

I want to buy a whole unit, and then hopefully we get everything done.

Transitioned over to the four pipe system. Yeah.

Sounds good. they moved in second and we pay the vouchers all in favor say aye aye opposed same sign motion carried there's marriage too What are you doing for air conditioning?

Hoping some residual air comes in from another room. That's what we do in my office, too. We don't have AC in the second, well, it's the very first room off of my office where we do all of our election stuff. Susan and I will be sweating it up in August. We have fans in there.

This is going on that long. What did he say? He only had 20 of the 60 working? Yeah, it's not.

Like the AC in this second floor hallway doesn't work. So if you ever like go up the stairs, it's considerably hotter once you hit that threshold of like the offices will cool down, but the hallway is steamy because that one just doesn't work. I've tinkered with it a little bit.

The other air conditioners are working overtime. Yeah.

Yep. and we're only yeah and we're only at 50 capacity right now so and it's only 103 today so it should be fine remember what tom said this morning yes the last last triple digit Yeah, we usually have a couple of unhappy souls, no matter when you switch it over from heat to, so we only have one at a time. You either have, yeah, you either have air or heat, but not both.

Somebody's always cold. I think they're getting close to being down. They called me one day last week. They need to have an electrical plug-in put in on the north side of the LAC. And I just told them to get a hold of it. Well, get a hold of somebody to get it done. they needed a electrical plug-in on the north side of the law enforcement center for the control box oh and I told them to get a hold of whoever they need to get it done

I did contact Unis just to see because I didn't want them to put the sprinkler system and then not have a plan to winterize it. So I called and said, hey, how does that work? And they said they will just come and do that for free this at the end of the season. And then they will send us out a contract at the beginning of the year. Yeah, that'll have all of our stuff that we currently have. They'll just send out at the beginning of the year. And she asked if we wanted a quote to feed. And I said, yes, please.

because I think what's out there is dead.

Yeah, our yard is not great. I told Jeff, we'll probably get a sprinkler system, but there's no point.

Especially this year.

No.

Any questions?

The city has tiered water rates now.

Mm-hmm. More you use, more it costs you. 10 units, 10 units, and then 10 units.

Every 10 units has a different, a higher price. 10 units is 70 pounds of gallons.

Thank you.

anybody have anything else um i did want to ask you guys susan and i were working on an election calendar um for the canvas for the general election um i don't want to wait for the last day but i don't want to do it as early as we possibly can either because that's full is a rush um and then we also have veterans day So I was thinking the 12th, the 16th is the very last day we can do it. That prior Monday is the very first one, which I think would be too soon.

What's that? You don't want it the next day.

No, no, that's a lot. And we're here, we're moving our audits to Friday because secretary of state's office, like we get the, of who we're supposed to audit. Like this last time I got it at like, uh 459 on the day before so we're moving it to friday so we have a little bit more time to um get all that pulled together but um it has to start between um eight and ten so if we could do like nine a.m on the 12th which i believe is a thursday thursday yep one o'clock on a monday not too early it has to be between eight and ten oh but we can we can just come i can present it all you can decide what you guys can count and then we can recess and fine with me okay i have to publish that and yeah yep yep so i get it what's that you're going to tell us what to wear to this thing too now jeans and a button-up shirt okay You can wear whatever you want at 9 a.m. on November 12th.

There could be a wide range on that.

Just, you know, I'm not making these rules.

It's the state. Again. Well, you know how the state likes to dictate everything. Yes. Did you get that? i'm a rule follower i follow the rules so do you guys want to recess that's what i was wondering we're waiting for gonna have an executive session at three o'clock and we're waiting until three o'clock before we do it for the other party and so i entertain a motion for a recess for 25 minutes we'll make that motion is that getting that yeah oh second it's been moving second we go into recess for 25 minutes all in favor say aye aye aye opposed same sign we'll be recessed for 25 minutes

Okay.

I want to call the recess meeting back to order.

Yeah, I just request a motion to go into executive session for attorney private privilege with Jack Foley and David here on present by phone or to discuss PRMC for 45 minutes.

I'll make that motion. I'll second it. We move to second by doing an executive session For attorney-client privilege to discuss PRMC with Jack Galloway and David Borelli in Ron. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. 45 minutes if I would not say that. make a motion we come out of executive session no action taken yeah i'll say it and i don't know where that's going to be coming out executive session no action taken all in favor say aye aye aye opposed same sign we're back in office thank you jack thanks jack thank you anybody have anything else really i'll make a motion we adjourn a second it's been moving second we adjourn