Commissioners - Regular Meeting

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. Commissioner Tremont is training. And county councillors, since we had to change meeting days,

at an appointment so it's just going to be us you want to start with the review and updates yeah last week i had a metropolitan planning organization meeting excuse me in manhattan and kind of an update on the fort riley safe passage program They're like, they got 6,480 soldiers signed up.

They're running about 800 rounds a month. So in September, just the first two weeks alone in September, they had 840. Let's see what else was there. Okay, so that ties into our audit. Our audit's usually cheap because it's not over $500,000. However, because the federal government pays the state And then the state reimburses MPO for this Lyft ride service to the to Fort Riley. Now we're going to be over 500,000 and so probably the fees will definitely go up so. Other than that, financially we're looking good. We had a good meeting, but. There was a lot of people. We always have a KDOT represen

We had our. Comprehensive plan task force meeting. Just talking about the surveys, our goal is to get about 400 surveys, and right now we have, I think, 165. So we're working hard to try to get those, more people to fill those out. demographics that we do not have is 18 to 29 year old, so we're going to try to target that. They're going to be at Oktoberfest. We're going to be at the Mac breakfast, hopefully getting more people involved in and taking those, because the more information we have, the better plan we're going to have. So hopefully we can get those the 400 that that is our goal. Uhm

Well, I think part of that too is. You know, we just weren't getting. the right information.

Then we shouldn't have been given money. Yeah. Just like the hospital. Yeah. Because that means it reminds me a lot of what happened there.

You only knew what you were told and knew our whole truth.

Right. But we had the power to not give them money until they started abiding by the structure, so.

Well, I think another confusing Part of that puzzle is that people say, well, why are you giving money to the chamber? And I don't know how you get that through that message, but we don't support them. They're membership driven. Oh, did we want to amend the agenda?

Oh, yes. I'm sorry. We're going to do that. Do I have a motion to amend the agenda to move the executive session up to Crystal's time? Some of the people included in that aren't going to be available, so.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. Crystal should be here in a minute.

We did. We just moved it. We moved it to your time, so that would be now. Do I hear a motion to go into executive session for non-elected personnel with finance and HR? 15 minutes.

Second, all in favor? Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries.

Hello, are we back? Yes. We're back from executive session, no action taken. I'll turn it over to you.

It's a great idea. It's a great. It's a win win, I think.

You want? Let's just do a motion on it since we are paying out money. So do you want?

Oh yeah, I'll make a motion to renew our membership. Thank you.

Second, all in favor? Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries.

Or could we just approve the change with the caveat that if to go ahead and implement the extra 1% and then if that insurance claim comes in less, we'll just, I mean, we're not changing anything about how much the budget's going to be, just where the money is going to come from. Right. So, you know, it's because it might not be until after we're done, you know, for the day. So. I'm also good with that. I would do that, and then you can just update us next week on which way it was, and then the employees would know, hey, we're going to get the 5, and then all the things that we implemented coul

I feel a little uncomfortable with Kathy not being here.

And I appreciate all the department heads getting together and putting their heads together to figure out to do what's best for their employees, and I appreciate that. Okay.

You can. You can make it much and spending.

But we work as pending what I think we just need to either say yes, we're going to agree to do the extra 1% sessions in place on with the caveat that if the insurance is going to cover that that will go with that it's still OK. Yeah, I'll second that. All in favor. Same sign motion carries did you understand that OK.

Thanks, guys. Did you guys bring back up to intimidate us?

Oh, I forgot to talk about training day, which is the reason why we're having our meeting today. I think that the employees did a tremendous job putting that together just like they have every year. And I just think it's a good function to have. you know, gets employees that normally never see each other in the same room and, you know, just talk about, I really enjoyed the department heads giving their, what they do and sharing that. I think employees need to understand how other departments work and how we work together as a team for one mission. So I appreciate all the hard work that the emp

Well, I had good feedback from the speaker. I wasn't there, but the speaker in the morning.

I was good with them. I didn't mind. Okay. Were you good with them?

Yeah, I was good with them. I'll make a motion that we accept the minutes. All in favor? Oh, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, guys. If Courtney's ready, she doesn't have to, but if Courtney's ready, I know that her, it's not going to take very long.

We just asked the clerk if she wants to come in. If not, no big deal. Jeremy got here, so I didn't want to put you on. No, you can come on. We've got plenty of time. I was trying to be efficient of everybody's time, but I didn't want to put you on the spot.

I don't have a problem with that. Is there any kind of a conflict because they are in your office?

Okay. I'm fine with that. Do we need a motion? Yes. Okay. I'll make the motion.

Oh, same sign. Motion carries. All right. Thanks.

I do think it's a great idea. Just so everybody has a clear vision of what you guys are doing during these. I think that the more communication we can have with our public eases their mind.

And as long as we tell people that, I think people are very accepting and know this is why we're doing it this way.

Well, I think it's an excellent idea. Thank you. Especially before the first snowflake.

Yeah, I think so. It was a great day. I really enjoyed everybody's department heads. I think that was good for employees to see what all you guys did.

Okay. It just wasn't showing, but I think I had to refresh my... 30 minutes till our next person. Are either one of you guys here for public comment?

I believe that structure is a good structure if it's ran right. What? I believe that structure is a good structure if it's ran right.

That's actually the norm of a lot of places. I mean, of course, a lot of them don't have military bears, but.

What do you mean? Are they compensated? The only tax money the Chamber of Commerce membership board is the county is a member of the chamber, which is normal for any other city counties to be involved. That's the only tax paying money that they get that goes towards their budget. Okay, so they aren't being compensated to a supervisor or anything like that? No, it'd be just like, it's the same thing when we give money to Fundamental Health. I mean, we're not paying them to do that. We're giving to their, you know, as far as, it's just the one group that is running the organizations. Okay. And I

And I think we need to change the name of it, you know, like, because, like, the Chamber, I mean, it is the Chamber of Commerce, just like in Manhattan, it's the, you know, the Manhattan Chamber. But the membership board is what people do not want taxpayers going to, and I totally get that. But the chamber itself is an organization that covers military affairs, the EDC, and the membership.

There's people that sit on the membership board, and there's people that sit on the EDC, and there's people that sit on the military affairs.

I know it is, and I think it's because you don't understand it. And it took me a while to understand how it all worked. That's what I'm trying to do. Now, I do think that that board is too big. The governing board is too big. But I also feel that because it is a we have one mission is to support our community and its growth and the businesses. That's the entire thing. And so At least one person from each board should be on the main board. Yes, and and that's where it was. But there were four people from each board on the main board and that it just makes it too big. There shouldn't have been t

Planned structure of the boards I like with seven and there'd be two from the city to from the county and then one each from the respective boards. And so that way I can move forward. Hopefully the county and the city have a lot more input and oversight.

And because the chamber is called the chamber, people just assume it's the membership board and it's not. It was the governing board over all three entities. But it is confusing and I think that one of the things that our county councilor had pointed out was to maybe change the membership board to something else. And I do think that that would help because it is very confusing. And it took me a while being on those boards to figure out what the whole, because, and that's another thing is we need to give board education of what the roles are of each entity, each member, and overall mission. And

Right. But it is this year. It's November. We're going to have a retreat. for board members. I guess you should call it a retreat. It's going to be two days, one day for staff and then the next day for board members, but hopefully that board shrinks so not everybody is going to be on that. I mean, everybody that's on there now will participate in this retreat, but moving forward.

well hopefully that board well and that probably the the balls in the city's court now well technically it's not until we have an official vote next week when that's back but but they won't have a meeting until october but um and but i do not think that they need to be separated and i think that the city and the county should work together for economic development because We have two other cities and we have a lake that a million dollars come to. We need to be at that table. Yes. I agree with that totally. I didn't agree with that part of it all.

No, I appreciate that he threw it out there. And the reason why we hurried up in two days was because Kathy and Terry were both going to be out of town and I didn't want to wait in another week and that's why I asked her to put that together.

No, they would not be in the same – they wouldn't be housed the same because they wouldn't be paid the same. I mean, the whole structure would have been our employee would be over here. And, I mean, it would make no sense for us to have an employee working in the chamber office, one employee. I just – the logistics of it would be –

That's totally... Well, I don't think that... You're saying you don't want them split. You don't want the city to have the EDC. How else would you do it?

Because if they're not together with one mission, with one set of rules, with one set of guidelines, they'll just be fighting each other.

No, I appreciate that you're asking questions. I just – I think you're making it more – confusing than what it needs to be. There's nothing wrong with the master agreement if we put it in place the way the structure is now and the right person's in place and the city and the county leadership take ownership and make sure that those things are followed. Because for years, people complained about that and nobody, nobody took initiative. Nobody was looking at expenditures, nobody, until the county said, we are not giving any more money until you send us over the last 18 months of expenditures.

I mean, they need to have all new appointments, all new – No, I'm not saying that there's some people. I think you need to have a little bit of continuity with history and, you know, institutional knowledge. Right. But I do think that, you know, if people have been on there longer than what the bylaws say, then.

Yeah, and that was the other problem. Nobody knew whose terms was up when. It was just a real fiasco.

And it's been amended, I don't know how many times, three times maybe.

Really? Well, they took the CBB out. That was one of the times.

The, the, um, Chamber of Commerce in Manhattan and the Chamber of Commerce in Pott County invited us to a meeting so they could tell us that they were there for us and if there was anything that we needed. So you were aware of it then? Yeah, it wasn't a public meeting.

Why would they be aware of it? They were just reaching out. We weren't talking about any projects or whatever. They were reaching out to be nice. You know how many meetings I have that the other commissioners don't know? I mean, I get invited to meetings all the time on things. Was Kelly invited? Kelly wouldn't be invited. They were just inviting one person from the city, one person from the county, just to come and talk to them.

All they were saying was if you need help with anything, whether it's economic development, chamber stuff, anything. There's no reason for Kelly to be invited to that. There was just one person from the county and one person from the city. All they were doing was being nice and reaching out and having a conversation. Yes, that's fine.

Your five minutes is up. Okay. I answered your question.

Chris is on her way now. It will be here in 5 minutes, but go ahead. Hi, you got here way fast. I was on my way. Oh, you are already? Yep. Keith ran down the hall, so sorry.

And actually, I don't feel bad you had to wait on us because we always wait on you. What? Go ahead.

I don't see a problem, so I'll make a motion. Go ahead, forward with that plan. All in favor? All in favor? For the same sign. Motion carries. Thank you.

Just any time you need to do, you know, just let us know. That's what we do.

Anybody have anything? I'll go ahead and turn then.