Commission - Regular Meeting

We will start the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic

morning everyone welcome to Shawnee County Board of County Commissioners it's May 21st 2026 on my immediate left is Commissioner Aaron Mays who represents District 3 morning on my right is Commissioner Kevin Cooker represents District 2 I'm Bill Rippon I represent District 1 on the far right we have Jonathan Berzani filling in for Rich the County Counselor's office and then we have Lisa Schmidt our County Clerk on the far left so good morning to all of you good morning We have a small crowd, but we will with quality, not quantity. Anyway, Lisa, what's first?

First item on the agenda is item three, consent agenda.

I would move that we approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion's been made by Commissioner Rippon. Second by Commissioner Cook. All in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries 3-0. Next item.

Item four, new business. A, county clerk. One, consider all voucher payments.

Commissioners, this morning we have vouchers that total $2,191,464.30. The significant payment out of that voucher report was there was a payment of $174,255.48. Payments to Bettis Asphalt Construction, that was for a culvert replacement project on Southeast Barrington Road. Over the tributary to Lynn Creek, that was played with bridge project funds. I don't have any significant questions regarding the voucher report. Would move for the approval.

I'll second. Motion's been made by Commissioner Cook, seconded by Commissioner Rippon. All in favor say aye. Those opposed? Motion carries 3-0. Next.

To consider correction orders.

I would move that we approve the correction orders. Second. Motion's been made by Commissioner Rippon, seconded by Commissioner Mayes. All in favor say aye. Those opposed? Motion carries 3-0. Next item.

B, Treasurer's Office. One, consider the request for the annual transfer of motor vehicle funds to help in a job ledger to pay for continued improvements to motor vehicle operations.

Good morning. Susan Duffy, Shawnee County Treasurer. As per usual, commissioners, I'm here as the funds that we did not use in our motor vehicle budget collected from the monies that folks pay when they get tax and title and renew. We annually transfer that to the County General Fund. I'm asking this year that with the transfer that we hold them in a job ledger and that way if and we do have need for additional security staffing and some other facility improvements at this time. Thank you.

Any questions? Glad you have a question. Just checking with Audit Finance if there's any impact or anything that we need to take into account with this.

Jennifer Sauer, financial administrator. No, Susan had let us know that this was going to be her intent at the end of the year, whenever we were getting ready for our end-of-year financials. So this is where we're going to make sure that we transfer the money over, and then it will be available for Susan as soon as she gets locked in on what her needs are for her office moving forward.

With it being established as a project fund, again, for those that are watching or participating, are there any restrictions on it, or is it able to be spent in any other manner? If it has to go over a certain threshold, it has to come for county approval, but is it just free to be used in any way that the treasurer sees fit?

It would still be used for motor vehicle. If that's how you're setting the money aside, it would still need to be used for motor vehicle purposes unless it comes back to you guys to change the need at that time. But it still follows all of our purchasing thresholds. All of those requirements still fall in place.

I'm just checking to see if this was something that was so minuscule. Susan wants to spend $15 on a welcome mat at the front door of the treasurer's office. Does she need to come and get approval for $15?

It would need to be at the front door of the motor vehicle office.

Motor vehicle office, yes. Yes. Again, I'm trying to just for the sake of clarity as to what the thresholds would be.

It would fall under the normal purchasing threshold. So the county's threshold is $0 to $10,000 falls under the delegated authority of the departments. $10,000 to $25,000 requires informal bids, and anything over $25,000 would come forward to the commissioners, as well as anything that is a contract. All right.

Thank you. Quick summary. Jennifer, in the past, where were these funds? Were they in the general fund? They would have gone to the general fund at the end of the year. All right. So there wasn't anybody in particular special that it went to.

Nope. Usually this is approximately $70,000-ish. All right.

I would move for approval then.

Second motions been made by Commissioner rip one second by Commissioner Cook all in favor say aye those opposed motion carries 3-0 next item see human resources one consider approval of contract C 2 0 2 6 1 8 4 with evergreen solutions LLC to pour perform a classified and unclassified compensation study for Shawnee County

Good morning, Commissioners. Angela Lewis, Director of Administrative Services. I have Mark Holcomb with Evergreen Solutions joining us on Zoom today. I recommend approval of the contract with Evergreen Solutions to conduct this compensation study. Conducting a comprehensive compensation study for classified and unclassified employees is an important step in ensuring that we have ongoing qualified candidates and that we're able to retain them. The study will provide valuable market data and analysis to help with future hiring and retention. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have, and Mark is available for comment as well.

Evergreen's worked for us before.

They have. They conducted our last compensation study that was implemented in 2022.

So they probably have a lot of the information. Was that something that was taken consideration negotiating?

It was.

Okay, good. i'll just go on record one more time and saying i don't i don't think this is needed and so i'll be voting no okay i'll move for approval i'll second motion's been made by commissioner cook seconded by commissioner ripon all in favor say aye those opposed no motion carries two to one thank you next item d parks and recreation one consider approval of contract c2026187

with game time for the purchase and installation of playground equipment for Garfield Park utilizing the Omnia Cooperative. The $109,651.77 cost will be funded through the Department Building Maintenance Fund.

Good morning, Commissioners. Tim Laurent, Director of Parks and Recreation Department. We are excited about this. As noted in the memo, this is a playground, partial playground renovation at Garfield Park. The key highlight here in my mind is that we were able to secure a $50,000 grant with the City of Topeka, the DREAMS grant, earlier this month. If approved, the equipment and installation would be complete by December 15th of this year, and the equipment is being purchased through Omnia U.S. Communities Cooperative, which is a co-op which ensures that we're following the county purchasing policy. And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions you have.

Tim, does this replace the play structures there now, or is this in addition?

It's replacing one of them, yes. And we did work with the neighborhood association on this. They actually helped pick out the piece that we're doing. So, yes.

Another one of my projects. Sorry. To the wayside.

It was Jess. I didn't want to remove it.

It's probably one 30-some years old now. All right. Mr. Cook.

Tim, several years ago at Garfield Park, I think we took out the roller slide. And where that equipment was at, as it sat next to it,

You know, Commissioner Cook, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how long ago that was.

It was playground equipment that sat closer to Kansas. Yeah. Is this playground going in that closer to Kansas, or is it going in closer to the community center? Is it going in closer to the pool?

I think it's closer to the community center, if I'm not mistaken.

Originally, I think that the playground equipment was really set out closer to Kansas Avenue and an open-ish area.

I think you're right. I will add though that really all of this has been instigated by that neighborhood association, that NIA. They're the ones that have targeted this for replacement. We agreed with their assessment. We did get a lot of community feedback on this before we move forward.

I was just trying to, you know, in my mind picture where you're going to put this faculty.

I'm having trouble doing that right now as well. So John Bell and Brian Toby handled this project. And they're the ones actually that met with the city and the NIA as well.

If it's replacing the one that I did, it was just to the east of the roller slide. Okay. Yeah.

i'm not sure when that roller slide was taken out i think that was i did that when i put that play structure yeah yeah it was it was kind of a finger biter i don't even think they make those things anymore but yes we have new ones now and they're better okay so tim i know that we've we've done a lot of business with game time and a couple of other vendors does it help us to work through these cooperatives instead of just working directly with the vendors since we do enough business that i would hope that we get decent pricing

Right. Well, I'll be honest with you. The cooperatives do make this faster and more efficient. However, what typically happens is that we'll look at equipment or try to identify equipment that we think is appropriate for a particular space, and then we'll talk with that vendor because we know they're all pretty much on cooperatives. And we work with, you mentioned it, we work with all of them. So we've got pieces from different playground vendors all over Shawnee County. So really, for us, I think the big key is we just want to make sure we're putting the right equipment in the right spots and we want it to be unique and we want to you know, we want these pieces to vary across the county. So I think we have a pretty good system of sort of identifying what we want and then finding the most efficient way of securing it.

OK, thanks, Tim. Were they able to participate any with block grant money on this?

Just the dreams grant. Yeah, which I think is the same thing. Okay. Yeah. $50,000 from city of Topeka. Very good. Dreams grant.

Okay.

So that's just a little under half of the total project cost and the remainder will come out of our building maintenance fund.

And It'll have the rubber surface?

This will actually be engineered wood fiber for now. We are applying for a waste tire grant later this year, and we hope to be able to use that in this spot.

And we'll have an accessible route to them? We will. Okay. All right. Well, with that, I will move for approval. I'll second. Motion's been made by Commissioner Rippon, second by Commissioner Mayes. All in favor say aye. Those opposed? Motion carries 3-0. Next item.

To consider approval of contract C2026191, utilizing the by-board cooperative to purchase picnic tables and trash receptacles from the park catalog for Gage Park at a cost of $40,093.79 with Gage Park sales tax funds.

Thank you, Clerk. Commissioners, Tim Laurent, Parks and Recreation Director. This purchase is part of our ongoing efforts to refresh and upgrade the infrastructure at really two of our most popular spots in Gates Park, which are Playland and Animal Land. Out of the 24 picnic tables that we're purchasing, seven of those are ADA compliant. So this is part of our ongoing commitment to make sure that these parks remain fully inclusive and accessible. As mentioned, this is entirely funded through the Gage Park sales tax fund, meaning that this will have zero impact on our operational budget. We did use the buy board cooperative and our staff will assemble, do a little bit of assembly work on these and also do all of the installation. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Over in Playland, are we going to still have some clusters of picnic tables? We are.

This will do really the stuff behind the, we're going to add more tables and more seating through Playland. We're also going to replace the picnic tables that are behind the train depot the current depot right now they're in real bad shape this also has the picnic tables for the new shelter that will be installed at playland and i think you'll probably see another purchase down the road to do more of the replacement of animal land this won't get everything so all right there'll be more all right

Are these the plastisol type?

Well, they're the expanded metal, and they have the coating on them. Square. Most of them are square. The ones under the shelter are not. They're at least six foot long, more traditional picnic tables.

Any other questions? Yeah, are these going to be bolted down?

Yes, they will all be bolted down. We poured concrete pads and clay land for all of this. And the only ones that may not be are the ones behind the depot. That's in my mind, that's a future project, sort of reworking that area, adding some shade there and maybe that patio. uh is pavers and at the very least we need to go in there and tear those up and reset them or replace them with concrete but there needs to be some work done there you're probably not going to bolt the ones down under the shelter are you so they can move them around i think we might because otherwise i'm afraid they'll get taken out of there and moved inside the playland area so i think they probably will be bolted moved in the back right absolutely all right okay um

Any other questions, comments? No. I would move for approval. Second. Motion's been made by Commissioner Ripon, seconded by Commissioner Mays. All in favor say aye. Those opposed? Motion carries 3-0. Next item.

Three, consider approval of contracts C-2026-188 through C-2026-190. with the enterprise fleet management to take advantage of resolution 2018-22 early order strategy to replace vehicles that have reached the end of their lease or end of their useful life. The annual increase is expected to be approximately $38,962 funded from the department's operating budget.

Good morning again, Commissioners. This is Tim Laurent, Parks and Recreation Director. This is my final item today. We are requesting to approve our annual vehicle replacement list by taking advantage of the Enterprise Fleet Management Early Order Strategy. This action falls under our master lease agreement. In total, we're updating 15 vehicles within the Parks and Recreation fleet. We'll be cycling out and replacing 12 vehicles that are currently on lease, and we will be adding three older department-owned vehicles into the lease rotation because they've reached the end of their useful lives. The net annual lease cost increase the department is expected to be approximately $38,962, which is entirely funded out of our operating budget. And I want to just emphasize here that This was money that we had budgeted to spend last year and just were unable to do it because we couldn't get all the vehicles that we had ordered. So we're not increasing our budget line for leased vehicles. We're just using funds that were previously not spent. We're minimizing the increase by taking the equity built up in the 12 turned-in leased vehicles and applying it directly to offset the cost of the new ones. And then furthermore, the three older vehicles we own will be sold via Purple Wave, and 100% of those proceeds will go back into our equipment fund. So I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Commissioner Mayes.

uh tim i see you've got eight ford mavericks on here yeah um did you look at the electric version of the ford madrick at all because i mean that 38 000 could be made back in fuel savings pretty quickly i would think you know i think they did look at them and i'm sorry that brent couldn't be here today he could probably speak more to this i will tell you we're we're using some mavericks right now

And we are getting close to 45 miles to gallon on those in town. And that's the only place they go. So we're real happy with how the current Mavericks are doing. And I don't know if we were to switch over to... A larger electric fleet. I think the discussion has been that would require some infrastructure work on our part to be able to get charged every night and that sort of thing. I'm definitely not opposed to that, but we haven't gone that route yet.

It might be worth looking into. I mean the infrastructure. Yes, you have to put in some new electrical breakers and whatnot, but it's typically pretty minimal. especially when you have an industrial site basically to charge them at.

Does Enterprise, do they deal with any electrical vehicles or do we know? I don't know. And the other question I have about Enterprise is I know we've had a contract with them for quite a while. When is that? How often do we have to renew that contract?

I don't know that answer. I think typically we know we're looking at contracts at least on a three-year cycle, but I don't want to say that's 100% the case, but that seems to be the norm for us.

It seems like we've had it for a number of years. Yeah. Might be something we look into.

I think we've been using it the entire time I've been here, so that's about seven years. I think it's been working well, though. Yeah, it really has. It's pretty clean. It really has.

Okay. What's your pleasure?

I don't know. I mean, would it be worth asking about the electric vehicles if that changes the pricing at all?

I would be happy to ask. I wish, unfortunately, just the timing. Brent is on vacation, so he might be able to answer that question immediately. But I'm happy to explore that and bring this back.

I mean, if we push this back a week, would that be a problem? I don't think it would be a big deal at all. OK. I move that we just table this for one week.

second motion's been made by commissioner may second by commissioner cook all in favor say aye those opposed motion carries three zero we'll move it back uh i have a question mr electric vehicle here can you charge your car with just a just an extension cord yeah but it's really slow it takes forever if you if you don't have a special really if you're if you're going to do it every night you want to

Yeah, the charger's like $150 maybe. And then you just have to have, it's basically a dryer outlet, like what you'd have for your clothes dryer. But yeah, to use just a regular extension cord, it takes forever, probably two days to charge versus a few hours.

OK, next item.

Next item is item 5, public comment.

I don't have anyone signed up, but if there's anyone here who would like to speak, this is your moment. Seeing none, next item.

Item six, administrative communications.

Commissioner Susan Duffy, Shawnee County Treasurer, I do want to announce our summer hours beginning Friday, May 24th. The motor vehicle locations at 5938 Southwest 17th in the courthouse will be open on Fridays at 730. So every Friday this summer, until September 4th. That will be our last Friday. We'll be open at 7 30 for you early birds. I was out at the annex yesterday and we had 17 people in line at 7 45. So hopefully some of those folks will want to come on a on a Friday and get right in. And as always Go online and make an appointment. Then you just walk in and pretty much see a clerk and get your work done. But Fridays during the summer at 7.30, both locations. Thank you.

All right. Anyone else? Commissioner Mays?

Nothing for me.

Mr. Good.

Not today. I just wanted to mention we will not have a work session next Monday. That's Memorial Day. So no work session. Next item.

Next item is item seven, executive session.

We do not have a need for an executive session, so we're adjourned.