[0:44] May 14, 2024, it's 9 a.m., I will call the order, call to order the meeting of the Silicon County Board of Commissioners. Would the Court please call the roll? Commissioner Shadwick? Here. Commissioner Vidrickson? Here. Commissioner Sparks? Here. Commissioner Weas? Here. Commissioner Hay? Here. So please, if you're able to stand, join me in a white flute followed by a moment of silence.

[1:09] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

[1:16] one issue under God in the visible with liberty and justice for all.

[1:26] Thank you.

[1:31] Okay, at this time we'll move into our citizens' input of the portion in meeting where citizens can speak.

[1:37] Citizens can speak on county government, usually limited to three minutes and

[1:42] pertaining to items that is not being discussed on today's agenda.

[1:46] Are there any members of the public who would like to speak if you state your name?

[1:51] First of all, I want to invite the public and you commissioners to a informational meeting

[2:04] that the Granny Brigade is having on May 21st at 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall

[2:09] at 115 North Tenth Street and the topic is going to be on Medicaid expansion and the speaker

[2:16] will be our Kansas speaker of the House, Dan Hawkins.

[2:20] And the American for Prosperity will be providing food at six o'clock.

[2:25] We'd like to have reservations by Friday, May the 17th, if at all possible.

[2:31] And you can call 7-8-5-5-7-7-5-9-1-8 or leave a text for your reservations.

[2:38] And we are open to the public, so we encourage everybody to come.

[2:42] Thank you.

[2:43] Thank you.

[2:44] Anybody else like to speak?

[2:48] Okay, at this time we'll move into our consent agenda which consists of, or comprised of the following approval of tax role adjustments, approval accounts payable, and approval of public foreign agenda.

[3:01] Is there anything on the consent agenda any commission like have removed or spoke about?

[3:06] If not, I'll entertain a motion.

[3:12] Mr. Chairman, I move we approve the consent agenda is presented.

[3:16] Second, I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda.

[3:20] All in favor say aye.

[3:21] Aye.

[3:22] Aye.

[3:23] All opposed, same sign that passes, 5-0.

[3:27] Okay, that will move us into our action items.

[3:31] I'm all true attachment with Darren Fishell, Rodin Bridge Administrator.

[3:35] Good morning, commissioner.

[3:37] Good morning.

[3:38] This is a request for action to discuss and

[3:40] a appropriate action on a Sling County road and bridge department request to purchase

[3:45] a multi-truth attachment and related items for a hydraulic excavator.

[3:49] Sealed bids were opened on April 29th of 2024.

[3:53] Bids and specifications were sent to four different vendors.

[3:57] The documents were also downloaded by four separate vendors on the demand-star bid system.

[4:03] We received one bid.

[4:05] That was from Murphy Tractor for $73,385.61.

[4:11] Upon receiving this bid, I contacted Murphy Equipment to verify the equipment and that

[4:17] it does meet our specifications.

[4:19] They sent me a manufacturer's spec sheet for a FICON VH40, which does meet our specifications.

[4:26] The alternative fraction are to reject the bid and direct staff to a different alternative

[4:31] to accept the bid from Murphy Tractor.

[4:33] The staff recommends accepting the bid from Murphy Tractor in the amount of $73,385.61.

[4:42] This includes setup and delivery of the attachments.

[4:46] These attachments have been very productive and will allow us to do more tree work during the winter.

[4:54] The budget impact, the funds will be taken from the Rodenbridge Special Machinery Fund,

[4:59] which has an account balance of $2,194,889.04.

[5:04] This will leave a balance of $2 million, $121,503 and $43.

[5:11] Putin reserve of this count is $1 million.

[5:15] I do not answer any questions.

[5:17] Okay.

[5:18] Any questions?

[5:19] One question.

[5:19] What else is projected to come out of this fund?

[5:24] This would be the last purchase this year for that fund.

[5:28] And then the rest will go over into 2025 purchases.

[5:33] A

[5:36] quick question here.

[5:37] You just mentioned a brand name of this mulcher here in your discussion there.

[5:42] And is it the same model or something that we've already got?

[5:46] No, we have two others.

[5:48] We have a Bradco, we have a caterpillar, and this will be a fecon, okay.

[5:54] And all four of these and your specifications when you went out,

[5:58] was it specifically for that model or it was open to any model that somebody,

[6:02] It was open to any model that would meet the specifications.

[6:06] Thank you.

[6:07] So this model is interchangeable then with the rest of your equipment?

[6:11] No.

[6:13] Okay, so this one here is just for the new excavator.

[6:19] Yes, just for that excavator.

[6:21] It will be set up for that excavator.

[6:23] The attachments are interchangeable and that they can be moved from machine to machine,

[6:30] but they're not the same brand.

[6:32] If one would break on a machine, you know, we would repair it, but we would have the option of if the machine broke moving one to the other.

[6:42] Okay.

[6:44] Aaron, you mentioned this is the last time that we're going to hit this account for this year. So that means eight months, the next eight months, you're not going to come to us for any more equipment.

[6:54] Can I count on that?

[6:56] No.

[6:56] you know, things happen sometimes. You know, you can't predict what's either going to break or sometimes things become available through the secondary market that you say, you know, we can upgrade some of our equipment and things like that. But I don't plan on any more this year.

[7:16] These, uh, these mulchers, how many of them do we have now?

[7:20] This, this would, we have two right now.

[7:24] And

[7:27] I'm having trouble analyzing and, you know, approving the fact that we need another one.

[7:34] Okay.

[7:34] I mean, this is only in the winter time that we do this.

[7:38] We've only got four crews working.

[7:40] I mean, I assume that that's a crew, it does take a crew to do this project.

[7:44] Yes.

[7:45] Yes, this would be, we have three crews that do the winter tree work.

[7:51] And we have three excavators, three 20 kind of excavators, two of them are equipped with

[7:57] mulcher heads at the moment.

[7:59] And this one would allow the other crew to have a mulcher head also.

[8:06] Well, I asked the neighbors that wish he didn't have any of them.

[8:08] I know.

[8:11] They are very productive.

[8:12] Well, they do create a mess initially.

[8:19] I mean, it's like any tree that you prune in your yard.

[8:22] It's just that these are a little messier.

[8:24] But in the long run, they are productive.

[8:29] I guess you would say, let me get the trees cleaned up

[8:31] in the roads, where they're not hanging over the roads.

[8:35] But I'm still having a hard time with it.

[8:40] Okay. Any other questions?

[8:43] Commissioner Shadwick, you have anything?

[8:48] Okay, I guess we'll see if there's any comment from the public.

[8:54] Okay, if not, I'll bring it back to commission for action.

[8:58] Mr. Chair, approve, move that we approve RFA 2024-77 as presented.

[9:07] Second.

[9:09] Okay, you have a motion to approve RFA and a second to approve RFA 2024-77 as presented.

[9:16] All in favor, say aye.

[9:17] Aye.

[9:18] Aye.

[9:18] All opposed?

[9:20] Aye.

[9:21] May.

[9:22] Okay.

[9:23] That passes 3-2.

[9:25] Thank you.

[9:26] Okay.

[9:27] That move is on to the next one.

[9:32] 2024 Federal Fund Exchange Agreement with Justa Mater County Engineer.

[9:39] Morning, Justin.

[9:40] Morning, commissioners.

[9:42] So, yeah.

[9:42] So, I'm here this morning to approve this year's Federal Fund Exchange Agreement.

[9:46] Sling County will be receiving $232,629.76 in federal funds for the 2024 year.

[9:57] This agreement converts those federal funds into state funds at a 90-tann exchange rate,

[10:04] so we'll be giving up 10 cents on the dollar.

[10:07] For a total exchange amount of $209,366.78, once these funds are combined,

[10:16] converted they can be used by Selene County for any transportation related expense.

[10:22] Terms for action would be to one, sign the agreement which converts to federal funds to state

[10:27] dollars which will make funds available to Selene County through a transportation reimbursement

[10:31] program.

[10:33] Two, do not sign the agreement and leave the dollars as federal funds.

[10:37] These funds can only be used through a federally funded project procedure through K-DOT.

[10:43] Staff recommends exchanging the federal funds by signing the agreement.

[10:48] Exchanging the funds will provide $209,366.78 of reimbursement dollars and these dollars

[10:56] will be placed in our 127 account which is our special highway improvement account.

[11:02] And then my office desires to use those once they're in our account will we desire to use

[11:07] use those funds for our asphalt maintenance program, which is our overlay, chip seal, crack

[11:13] seal, and shouldering program.

[11:16] And this is something that we've done really every year, so this is kind of a standard

[11:20] thing this time of year.

[11:22] So any questions?

[11:23] So just in the drawback is, if we don't approve this and just keep it as federal funds, you

[11:28] can't use it in your asphalt.

[11:30] Correct.

[11:31] Yeah.

[11:31] If you leave it in federal funds, you know, we have to do a, as federal dollars, we have

[11:41] to meet very strict requirements for a project.

[11:44] And these projects are administered through KDOT, projects are through KDOT, and not just

[11:50] the design, but the construction engineering has to be done in a very specific way and

[11:56] fall on all the K-DOTs procedures, and that usually drives the cost of a project up way

[12:03] more than the 10% that we're losing doing this exchange.

[12:08] And how many years have we done this so far now?

[12:11] I was thinking that on the way over here, probably every year since I've been here, which 2019

[12:18] would have been the first year, but I'm trying to think since the program started, oh boy.

[12:24] I mean it's been quite a while yeah it used to be a little bit of a different it wouldn't

[12:31] like 75-25 or something like that there was one year where it dropped I believe to an 80-20

[12:38] split and maybe it was 75-20 but it was a one-year deal it was quite a few years back

[12:43] it's definitely different though correct every I mean it's but typically it's that 1910 and Justin we

[12:49] We don't have any K-DOT projects in our future?

[12:56] Correct.

[12:57] If we did, it would be better to bank that and apply it towards that K-DOT project because

[13:02] you'd get that other temp, you'd capture that other temp or so.

[13:05] No, I don't think that's how that works.

[13:07] If we got a K-DOT project, it would be through our high-risk grow roads and that's a separate

[13:13] fund, you know, through our H-triple R, it would be through that or through the off-system

[13:18] bridge.

[13:19] And so this, these funds would have to be used for another type of program.

[13:24] And only having $200,000 doesn't give you much of a project to do.

[13:31] And so, and if that's something you desire, I'd have to talk with KDOT.

[13:35] They would probably bank funds for a while.

[13:39] But I know they really don't want to do that.

[13:42] And that's why they're really promoting this program.

[13:44] And we don't have anything on our radar right now with KDOT.

[13:47] That's what we've applied we've applied for projects, but we've we have not been approved for a project yet

[13:54] Traditionally K-DOT projects also three four years to get off the ground. Oh, yeah, and when they're announced

[14:01] So yeah, I'm on board with the conversion rate here. It's $209,000 almost $210,000 that we don't have now

[14:10] Yeah, we're rolling the dice on $20,000. We don't even have a project. So

[14:18] Any other questions?

[14:21] Any comment from the public?

[14:23] Okay.

[14:24] I'll bring it back to the commission for action.

[14:26] Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve RFA 2024-80 as presented.

[14:32] Second the motion.

[14:33] I have a motion and a second to approve RFA 2024-80 as presented.

[14:37] All in favor say aye.

[14:39] Aye.

[14:40] Aye.

[14:41] All opposed, same sign.

[14:43] That passes 5-0.

[14:44] Thank you.

[14:45] Thank you, Judge.

[14:46] Okay, next is the number three.

[14:49] Our per-project modifications and update with Philip Smith-Haines-Kenney-Minister.

[14:54] Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the commission.

[14:56] Thank you very much.

[15:00] So we have been talking for a full three years now about the American Rescue Plan Act or

[15:09] ARPA for short, which is the last of the major stimulus projects that the federal government

[15:17] did for COVID recovery. That piece of legislation provided funding to all the counties in the

[15:29] United States, and for Selene County, that amount was $10,532,367.

[15:38] We developed a plan back in 2021 that includes a number of different focus areas, and we've

[15:50] been following that plan.

[15:51] we've made modifications to it along the way, but there are three things today that I wanted to

[16:00] address that are all solidly within that original plan. So I'll sort of do them in reverse order

[16:07] of the way they appear in the staff report. But the first is the administrative costs of administering

[16:15] the grant funding from the feds as county engineer was just discussing with federal transportation

[16:24] projects. The federal government has a lot of rules and regulations and so since this money came

[16:31] to us directly from the U.S. Department of Treasury, we are subject to many of those rules and regulations

[16:40] and so we've employed a firm that is knowledgeable in that.

[16:45] I parametrics, we selected them on a competitive basis,

[16:49] even before we had our first payment.

[16:52] They have been doing work for us all, you know, for three years now,

[16:59] and that's been a very successful partnership,

[17:02] but we are down to our last $7,000 with them,

[17:07] and so the request is to do another task order with them in an amount between 70 to $100,000.

[17:20] In order to do that, we would need to move funding from one of the other projects within the

[17:28] the ARPA plan and my recommendation is to move that funding from the broadband infrastructure

[17:37] piece to the administrative cost piece.

[17:41] And the reason for that is broadband of all the things that were in the original plan

[17:46] it has been sort of the slowest to get off the ground.

[17:50] And in particular we've been holding $150,000 as potential grant match for state grants

[17:56] that might be given to local providers,

[17:59] those just haven't materialized.

[18:01] We have not had anybody approach us about doing that,

[18:04] and we're getting sort of down to the wire here

[18:06] where our defense have to be fully obligated

[18:09] by December 31st of this year.

[18:11] So my recommendation is to take about half of that 150

[18:16] that we've been holding and put it towards

[18:18] our next task order with eye parametrics.

[18:21] The second item is the commission as part of the ARPA plan identified the need for public safety

[18:33] and criminal justice items related to recovery from the COVID pandemic.

[18:40] And one of those which touches both on the criminal justice side but also on the mental health side

[18:48] was the idea of doing a co-responder program where a mental health clinician would accompany

[18:55] law enforcement out into the field.

[18:59] So this was originally approved by your commission in early 2022, but various machinations and

[19:11] and trying to get all the plan and place and so forth.

[19:16] It actually was November of 2022, by the time a three-party MOU

[19:22] between Selene County, the city of Selina, and Central Kansas Mental Health

[19:28] came in front of the commission for adoption.

[19:31] So there was a delay there in getting the program up and running.

[19:36] And then it's not easy to hire mental health clinicians in this day and age and particularly

[19:43] mental health clinicians who have a passion for field work with law enforcement.

[19:48] And so it took about another eight months or so for Central Kansas Mental Health to actually

[19:55] get somebody on board to start the program.

[19:57] So it was really the middle of 2023 before the program got up and running.

[20:04] So, as a consequence of that, the recommendation before you today is to approve in concept, we'll

[20:14] bring back the final document, an amendment to that MOU to extend the time for them to

[20:21] spend the ARP offense. They're not asking for any more money, just asking for more time.

[20:26] and would like to carry over about $70,000

[20:32] and change from 24 into 2025

[20:36] to finish up that project.

[20:39] I will say the direction from this commission

[20:42] at the beginning was sustainability on these projects

[20:45] and I know that the co-responder partnership has identified

[20:51] some grants that they are pursuing

[20:52] to keep the project going after the end of our offense.

[20:57] So they are doing what they need to do.

[21:00] And then the third and final item,

[21:02] one of the areas that was identified

[21:04] by the Commission in the initial plan

[21:07] was business and nonprofit recovery.

[21:11] And in particular, an idea of assisting local businesses

[21:16] are prior COVID stimulus funding.

[21:20] the CARES Act, we partnered with the Selina Area Chamber Foundation to actually do direct payments

[21:28] to local businesses that had impacts from the pandemic. So we wanted to mix it up a little bit,

[21:35] do something a little bit different with the ARPA funding. We hit upon this idea of doing a shop

[21:44] local app where folks could go in, spend money at local businesses, earn rewards, redeem those

[21:51] rewards, and then those businesses would get paid back with the ARPA funds. We've been partnering

[22:00] since early 2022 with a firm called KOLU Technologies. We have a current contract with them which

[22:11] rents through February of 25, they are in the middle of a transition, I will say, is

[22:21] probably the easiest way to describe it. Start-up technology firms exist in a different

[22:29] world than city and county government, and so there's a lot of churn and burn in their

[22:35] world and creative destruction. I think they they call it in the tech industry and so they

[22:47] they're selling something and we're not quite sure what at this point. Originally they indicated

[22:56] to us that they were going to sell their technology to a different company a company that does a

[23:05] an app for public transit kinds of things, they may actually end up selling their entire

[23:20] US subsidiary to that company. So they're working through a financial due diligence process,

[23:28] corporate merger thing. So I don't actually have a recommendation for you today on this one.

[23:38] This is just an FYI. When I started my staff report, I thought I was going to have a recommendation

[23:44] for you to say, hey, we're losing the app, we'd like to transition it. And the sliner area chamber has

[23:52] been interested in partnering with us. But where we are right now, the

[24:00] Chiseling County app will continue through at least June 30th and we will know

[24:08] more in the next 30 days. I'm sure I'll be bringing you back another report in

[24:14] early to middle part of June and and know where we go from here. But that is my

[24:22] a report for today on those three items.

[24:26] Again, the request is to direct staff to do another task order with high paramedics,

[24:33] direct staff to do an MOU amendment with the City of Slina and Central Kansas Mental Health,

[24:40] and bring those items back for final signature.

[24:42] And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[24:44] Okay, so the shop local app, it says we have a contract with them until February of 2025.

[24:52] We don't have any recourse at all to make them stand through their contract and make this run until 2025?

[25:02] Well, if the business ceases to exist, I suppose we could sue them, but, you know, that is a whole other can of worms, right?

[25:20] I mean, if the business folds, the business folds,

[25:24] if the business gets sold or a portion

[25:27] of the business gets sold, then I think it might be

[25:31] fairly seamless to the users.

[25:36] Sort of remains to be.

[25:37] Do we think we're gonna have something

[25:38] within the next few weeks on that or?

[25:41] I do.

[25:43] We were continuing to meet with them on a weekly basis

[25:49] and they indicated that they had about a 30-day window here to close their deal, whatever

[25:55] that ends up looking like, and so as I said, I'm certain I'll be back in front of the

[26:04] commission by the end of June, hopefully by the middle of June.

[26:07] I don't have any problem with the co-responders using the 70, you know, carrying over to 70,000.

[26:12] that broadband infrastructure category, they've not reached out to us at all on anything, have they?

[26:20] No, and it's, so the state has gotten a lot of money for broadband and originally our hope was to use this funding

[26:37] to help a local provider do their match to pull down some of the massive amounts of funding that the state has gotten from the feds.

[26:51] The state and not through any fault of their own, but just that program is taking a lot longer to sort of materialize.

[27:02] And we're still on a clock for the ARPA funding, where we need to have it obligated by the end of this year, regardless of what the state does.

[27:12] So we are doing things in the broadband space, right?

[27:16] We did the digital equity grants.

[27:20] Those two of those are already completed.

[27:22] Three more are in progress.

[27:25] We're doing progress payments to those entities.

[27:28] We have the study, which the broadband study was approved by the commission.

[27:34] That is kicking off very shortly.

[27:37] I expect surveys to be showing up in people's mailboxes by the end of this month.

[27:44] They will be on site.

[27:46] The consultants will be on site at the end of June to have further conversations with the community about that.

[27:52] So, we are, oh, and we did do the one grant agreement with next tech for their program north and west of the city of slinas.

[28:03] So, we definitely have, I think, made a really good faith effort to fulfill that part of the ARPA plan.

[28:11] We just haven't been able to spend all of the money, and I think it's warranted to transfer it at this time.

[28:19] Any other questions from the commission?

[28:20] Phil, my question revolves around the grant administration, the $70 to $100,000 it's needed

[28:29] to complete this administration. How long a period of time is that for?

[28:35] That should be through the end of 24 and maybe into 2025. We will have to file a few,

[28:50] even

[28:50] and I parametrics is the one who's been preparing those.

[28:56] I go on to the US Treasury website and sign in and certify everything,

[29:01] but they're the ones who are actually preparing them on a quarterly basis.

[29:05] What drives that question for me is that it, $144,000 took us for more than three years.

[29:14] And yet it's going to take us another $70,000 to $100,000 to take us for another eight months or so.

[29:19] Yeah, so that's a great question, and actually, it was $244,000. So the first one lasted

[29:27] for a little over a year, and then the second one lasted for about another year.

[29:35] And the reason that this last one is a little higher than you might expect is because it

[29:41] includes the option of having them come back on site and do final audits for our grant recipients.

[29:51] We don't know if we will need that or not.

[29:55] and some, some

[30:00] Arpa recipients are doing that, others are not. Since our grants have been mainly on a reimbursement basis, we're considered a pretty low risk by the feds. So that's why it's that range of 7,200. So this 144,000 should be 244,000.

[30:23] So what you're telling me?

[30:26] 289.

[30:26] Okay, there we go, and don't misunderstand me, because this isn't any money that's going to sling county coming out of our pocket.

[30:36] It's just a rearrangement of the funds that we have available to us and where we're going to spend them.

[30:43] Correct, yes, and I will note, I mean, I will say $289,000 sounds like a lot of money and it is

[30:54] to pay a consultant, but that is a minuscule fraction of the $10.5 million that we received.

[31:02] We've been very conscious about keeping the administrative costs under 5%.

[31:06] And how many different allocations were exposed to that?

[31:13] We did over 70.

[31:15] I haven't counted lately, but we had over 75 the last time I got it.

[31:18] I agree with you.

[31:19] That's a pretty $289,000 lot of money, but that's a lot of headaches and a lot of work to go through to designate.

[31:30] And why should they get that much money or not get as much money or whatever?

[31:33] So that part of it, I don't have a problem with, but I was curious about the other.

[31:37] I

[31:40] just want to say from the get go on the on the ARP funds, I was concerned about using any of those funds for start-ups

[31:51] because there's no plan of it going on, the success of the program.

[32:01] I'm glad to hear that it looks like the co-responders are already looking at ways to find

[32:09] this and such.

[32:11] We have some others out there that need to heed the words, at least that I spoke, that

[32:19] if it's our offense today, it won't be counting money tomorrow.

[32:28] Any other questions?

[32:30] I got one final thing.

[32:31] I want to thank the staff and thank you, Phil, for administering this ARPA funds.

[32:37] I mean, that's a big, big project for you guys to take on with everything else we got going on.

[32:43] So kudos for you guys taking the time and doing that because it did take a good chunk out of your time and our time for other stuff.

[32:54] Okay, any of the public like to speak?

[33:00] Okay, if not, I'll bring it back to the Commission for Action.

[33:03] Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve RFA 2024-81 for the ARPA project, modifications and update.

[33:11] Second to motion.

[33:13] I have a motion as second to approve RFA 2024-81 as presented, all in favor say aye.

[33:18] Aye.

[33:20] All opposed, same side, it passes 5-0.

[33:23] Thank you.

[33:23] Okay, that brings us to informational items.

[33:28] Human resources quarterly update with Marilyn Leamer, human resources director.

[33:32] Thank you.

[33:36] Good morning, commissioners.

[33:38] This report is, the interval is mid-February to mid-May.

[33:43] And during this time, we've had 29 new hires.

[33:47] We've had 12 employees that have transferred or promoted to a different position.

[33:51] And we've had 16 employees that are no longer employed.

[33:55] activities that we had during this time frame, working on estimating salary and benefit

[34:01] projections for both budget and workers' compensation. Completing preliminary tasks

[34:07] related to the creation of a county-wide safety committee, we're starting that, we've got

[34:13] some volunteers, we've got a draft agenda, so hopefully that will be moving forward very

[34:17] quickly. Updated several policies and procedures this previous month, and then our payroll

[34:23] benefits coordinator did successfully process an offsite payroll as a part of our

[34:28] continuity of operations plan. So that occurred during this time as well. Plans

[34:34] moving forward will be participating in the creation of a new applicant

[34:39] tracking system. GovBuild who hosts our website right now is going to host that

[34:45] for us. We'll be performing another offsite payroll process this summer.

[34:53] Again,

[34:53] be coordinating a voluntary vision plan request for proposal process with our insurance consultants.

[35:02] This would be for our vision plan. That would be for the plan year beginning October 1st.

[35:08] Currently negotiating with our employee council and then beginning the 2024 in service day planning.

[35:16] Working on filling 17 vacant positions across the county. Our budget update, the health

[35:23] The dental plan is running very well for this time of year at 72.4% loss ratio.

[35:29] The dental plan is running a little bit high, it's at 112% however, historically it does

[35:35] start up kind of high on the first half of the plan year and then it levels off for the

[35:40] rest of the plan year.

[35:41] And then our HR budget is running at 34.46%, which is in line with historical HR operations.

[35:49] And I'm available for questions.

[35:50] Okay, Marilyn, you said we had 29 new hires.

[35:53] We lost 16, which is 13.

[35:55] Is that 13 included in the 17 that were needed to fill?

[36:00] It's all a moving target, but yes, I mean after all the dominoes fall.

[36:06] Okay, I noticed in your new hires that there's an individual that was hired twice.

[36:14] Is that one, should that be a transfer?

[36:18] Actually, hired in one position, things didn't work out for that person in that particular position, so she did leave, and then we opened up a different position that was very attractive to her, so she did apply for that. We hired her for that second position, so she does really have two separate higher dates.

[36:37] Any

[36:42] other questions?

[36:47] Thank you.

[36:48] Thank you.

[36:53] Expo weed and farm update with David Flaredy,

[36:57] the second expo center director.

[37:01] Whatty, David?

[37:07] It's from our update is March April and May.

[37:10] On the accomplishment side on the expo center,

[37:13] we have set up tear down events.

[37:15] We started groundwork, mowing, trimming,

[37:17] watering and new grass that was put in.

[37:20] We have got the stair railing by 4-H painted.

[37:24] We hung updated building signs of Born 1 and the office building since the

[37:30] metal is done. We got our new signs in and got them put up.

[37:35] Repaired water lines that were broken in Born 2 restrooms. Repaired water lines in

[37:39] Aghol that were broken. Had another successful

[37:43] Equifest. Their numbers were down a little bit but not as much as I thought.

[37:47] I think their total numbers were 11 or 13 thousand something.

[37:54] At quite a few new shows, we had the jolly mixers coming in, they're now using Kenwood twice a month now.

[38:03] Farm show, monster truck shows, uplanders, roller derby, we had about in the 4-H building turned out very good, they had a good turnout on that one.

[38:16] We fixed the entry gates into Ag Hall and we had to replace the boards on it too as we

[38:23] were fixing the gate itself.

[38:25] There have been 46 events using events in the 80 days or using 80 days of the facility.

[38:35] On the noxious weed side we did have to fix and re-plum our spray skin and we had to fix

[38:42] one of our big spray trucks. My new weed supervisor has passed his general

[38:49] knowledge, the 9A and the six certification tests within two months. We have

[38:55] started inspections to be helping on the expo center side and we'll be

[39:00] spraying right away. We just started that at the end of last week so we're going to

[39:05] continue into that. Help customers with questions, concerns and various plants and

[39:11] chemicals and then general maintenance of the spray equipment as we're going

[39:15] along spraying and inspecting. On the farm side we had the seven new

[39:20] scholarships that were awarded for 2024 and 2025 school year and our future

[39:27] plans for the exposed center side is we're going to continue to set up and tear

[39:31] down events. Continue looking for we have two full-time positions available. It's

[39:38] currently two looking for a couple help.

[39:43] We're going to one of our future plans is we have some

[39:46] repairs to do on our forklift. We are currently waiting for parts to come in and we'll get them

[39:52] going and then we're going to continue with the ground maintenance, mowing, trimming, picking up

[39:56] trash and continue all the preventive maintenance. We also ordered new signs for barn two three five

[40:04] and six so as soon as those do come in they will be displayed on both the front and back of the

[40:10] building so people know which ones went.

[40:14] Plans for the Noxious Weed Department, we're going to continue this training in the right

[40:17] of ways, continue maintenance on equipment, keep looking for an applicator, we do have

[40:22] an applicator position available, continue helping on the Expo Center side and continue

[40:28] helping customers with questions and concerns.

[40:31] On the farm account in 2023, the fall of 2023, we did bed for the west half of the farm

[40:44] to put a new fence in, so now I'm going to go out for beds and replace the south half

[40:49] mile of the county pasture.

[40:51] here. Budget updates. Expo year-to-date budget. Use this 31.78%. Noxious weed. I'm

[41:00] going to 11.31. And Noxious capital outlay fund. There's 162,0618.78. And then in a farm

[41:09] account, there's 171,298.41. And I'll just tell you the questions.

[41:17] The Rocky Mount Elk's banquet you have, where are they located, where are they from?

[41:23] Are they a local chapter?

[41:24] It is a local, but they have also combined with a couple other chapters to you to try to keep their groups going.

[41:32] Okay.

[41:34] David, your obnoxious weed department says you're going to keep looking for an applicator.

[41:39] Does that person have to have experience, or do we train them, or are we willing to train them, or?

[41:44] We're willing to train an applicator because they do have to go through and get the general, the 6a, or the 9a and the 6, but they do have to have a CDL to be able to drive this bridge road.

[41:56] That's really the only thing that's needed to apply for the job is at CDL.

[42:03] Yeah, and if I know it wrote in bridge, we've we've had

[42:09] Processes to work it will help them get a CDL. Do we are we thinking about that same thing for this position?

[42:17] I have been back with there in a few times. We've sent a couple people out there to try to get

[42:24] some things done, but

[42:26] My last one transferred out to him

[42:30] Would it go, Dern?

[42:34] Is the level of entrance pay an issue?

[42:39] It is a bigger issue.

[42:43] We did bump up pay a little bit, starting pay.

[42:46] So we did jump that to a grade or a step three, I believe it was.

[42:51] Well, you know, I don't, I mean, I like our pay schedule in terms of where everybody's after a certain period of time,

[42:59] but it does seem like that we continually beat our heads against the wall with entrance level positions.

[43:06] And that is something that HR and the commission and administration and everyone else,

[43:12] the department heads needs to really take a hard look at is the entrance level pay.

[43:17] not so much what you get and you've been here 10 years or 15 or whatever the

[43:22] entrance level pay seems to be an obstacle for us. That is very tough on I would

[43:27] probably say every department but I know on the Expo and the weed department

[43:31] side it is very tough. Your CDL it's it's an important license to have but now we're

[43:38] requesting you to have general knowledge test and then a 9a and a 6 to be able to

[43:44] which that's required by the State, so.

[43:47] And you know, it used to be that Votec would have a CDL or the State.

[43:53] I don't remember who it was, it would come in, and you could get a CDL on one day.

[43:58] So he might check into that type of it, or maybe you have, and it's not available anymore.

[44:03] I don't know that that program is not available.

[44:07] Don't send any more to Deren, he steals them.

[44:19] I'm sorry, go ahead, Commissioner Shadwick.

[44:23] Now, when you say step grade, you know, step three or grade three, I don't have the

[44:27] pay scale memorized. What are you talking about a starting pay for somebody like that?

[44:32] Instead of grades, give me a figure.

[44:34] here. So it was, it was 16 I believe something as step one and then step three it was 208.

[44:46] So we moved them up to the step three to be able to start at 208.

[44:51] That's very helpful. Thank you.

[44:53] If it's step 16 or I mean grade 16 step three is 23 dollars and 30 cents an hour.

[44:59] No, it's great.

[45:00] Grade 11. Grade what? 11.

[45:06] That's 17, 22 to start at level 1, entry 1, and at 3, or at 4 is 208. 208, okay. So we moved into the step 4. So I apologize. It probably needs to be reevaluated as to what grade it is, not so much of the level, but you know, the grade that starts out. That job is. How long has that position been open January?

[45:36] So is that the reason that you're not just weed budgets only use 11.31% is because if you'd have not had anybody to use that

[45:45] That's part of it, but the other part of it is we don't really we are just now really starting to order chemical

[45:50] So the budget itself will actually start increasing pretty

[45:55] Pretty good here in the next two months. It'll it'll be probably up to where it should be

[46:02] Okay, any other questions?

[46:06] Thank you David. Thank you

[46:13] Overview a budget request for 2025 with Philip Smith Haynes County Administrator.

[46:19] Good morning again, commissioners. So we've been talking about the budget for next year since the

[46:30] beginning of this year. So we've had a couple discussions with the commission already. We've received

[46:40] We've received requests from departments and we've had the outside allocation agencies come and present to your commission at your last couple of meetings.

[46:54] So this is the point at which the administrator takes all of that, the submissions from the departments and the outside allocation agency requests and puts them all together

[47:09] and adds them all up. And as typically happens when you add them all up, the amount is a

[47:20] little bit higher than what we can realistically afford. Now, I want to start though by thanking

[47:30] the departments and our employee council and the outside allocation agencies. I think

[47:39] folks did hear the messaging this year and the requests are

[47:46] considerably less than they were for example this time last year.

[47:52] So that's great but we know we're not going to be able to fund everything so

[48:00] I'll just take one example of something

[48:05] that's included in those requests,

[48:07] which is the Salina Area United Way

[48:11] has taken charge of child care in the community.

[48:14] They came before you and requested $500,000.

[48:18] Now, I think you all know, and they know

[48:21] that we're not going to likely fund $500,000

[48:26] for child care in the 2025 budget.

[48:29] it, but that is a request.

[48:33] The commission has talked about making sure that we submit needs and not once.

[48:41] Well, I think you could fairly argue that childcare is a need in the community and needs

[48:48] to be funded at that level.

[48:51] Those needs do not translate into the ability of the county to fund it at that level.

[48:57] So there are several examples of that same type of thing, but again, departments clearly

[49:07] heard the message.

[49:08] There are no new staff requests that are not things you have seen before.

[49:18] We have some departments who have asked for positions that they did not get previously,

[49:25] but nothing brand new, nothing that folks have just invented out of whole cloth.

[49:35] So where we go from here is next Tuesday.

[49:41] The commission will be next door here in 107B for a study session.

[49:47] And we will go through the budgets in much more detail.

[49:53] today was just the presentation and allowing you and the public to sort of

[49:58] see the raw numbers. Next Tuesday we'll delve into those a little bit

[50:04] further and then you all will make some comments, some direction and then in

[50:13] early June I'll be getting actual valuation numbers and we will crunch the

[50:22] revenues side of this and then bring you a proposed budget with the county

[50:29] administrators recommendations in the middle of June. And then from there a

[50:35] departments will have an opportunity to appeal if they don't like what I've

[50:41] recommended. We'll hear those and then you will need to buy the middle of July

[50:47] decide whether to hold a revenue neutral rate hearing and we will notice that

[50:56] for August and have the final budget adoption in August. But this is an

[51:04] opportunity we've invited the public to take a look at what we're doing.

[51:16] This

[51:17] And if we receive questions by the 23rd, we will address those at your commission meeting on the 28th.

[51:28] So we certainly welcome the public because although there's going to be a public hearing in August, as there always is, at that point, your ability to change things is sort of limited.

[51:42] So, this is really the point in time at which the public can have an impact most clearly.

[51:51] I will say, however, you know, I've done this for a quarter of a century, so all of these

[52:01] things make sense to me from a public standpoint, local government budgeting is not always the

[52:11] most intuitive thing to understand so one of the things that we do is we have different

[52:21] funds and a fund is really a self-balancing account so think of it like a checking account

[52:35] So each of our funds is sort of a separate checking account.

[52:41] You can make transfers between those funds, but only with

[52:53] some for thought and for a purpose.

[52:57] So, for example, one of the things that we do is we routinely collect some money in

[53:09] the general fund, which is our largest checking account, and we designate an amount that

[53:18] we want to transfer to our capital improvement programs.

[53:23] So this year, I'm sorry, next year, this budget year, I've started that number at $250,000.

[53:35] We know we have some buildings that we're going to need to address in the next couple

[53:42] of years.

[53:43] So banking a little bit of money there makes some sense.

[53:47] It will likely not stay at that amount. It will likely get reduced just because we have

[53:53] other things that we want to fund. But if you then look at the county capital improvement

[54:02] fund, you see this massive number. You don't see $250,000. You see $8 million. And the reason

[54:12] you see that number is because what we do is we budget the entire available fund balance in

[54:21] that fund each year in case we need to spend it. So that fund only receives funds from transfers.

[54:32] It does not receive a tax allocation.

[54:36] So I think folks sometimes get confused by that.

[54:42] Like, why is this this massive increase?

[54:45] Well, it's not.

[54:48] I mean, it's a lot of money, but we're probably not going to spend

[54:53] $8 million next year.

[54:55] We just have it there in case we need it.

[54:58] and it's not affecting your tax bill except for that $250,000 or whatever the final number ends up being.

[55:08] So there are lots of little examples like that within the budget where things are not necessarily intuitive.

[55:17] So again, want to encourage folks if you have questions about why some things being done, please reach out to us

[55:27] send us an email to public communications, all one word, at salinecountyks.gov, and again

[55:35] we'll be able to address those questions on the 28th. With that, I will stop rambling

[55:41] and ask if the commission has any questions for clarification at this time, again with

[55:47] knowledge that next week will delve into the specifics.

[55:51] We've got a workout out for us because if you look at the adoptive 2024 and then what

[55:55] to request it is for 2025, you know, it's nine-and-a-half million dollars difference.

[56:02] We've got to work cut out for us.

[56:05] I really would like to see us not to have, you know, exceed the revenue for right, so hopefully

[56:14] we can see what we can do.

[56:18] Well, I have a goal that I think, I mean, I don't know who's going to go along with me if anybody

[56:24] does.

[56:24] But the rate of inflation this year is somewhere between two and a half, three percent, I think that's an accurate number.

[56:32] And if you take that into account for three percent, that amounts to about $1.6 million.

[56:40] Instead of what was it that we got over here?

[56:44] 5.1, almost 5.2 million. So that's a pretty significant difference.

[56:50] I'm going to personally take a pretty staunch approach and position on this that we don't exceed that $1.6 million.

[56:59] Whether we can do it or not, I'm not certain.

[57:03] I'm not going to say that it's yes or no, but I want to get as close to that 3% number as we can get.

[57:10] And there needs to be some cuts somewhere along the line without question.

[57:14] but that's my personal goal and I would like to see the commissioners go along

[57:19] with some sort of a end-to-the-line goal you know set up set up position that

[57:24] we want to try to achieve rather than just take the numbers and whack it off a

[57:30] little bit here and there and I want to set a goal that's that's me personally

[57:38] That sounds good.

[57:41] My goal has been the same as this would be my 18th budget that I've gone through as

[57:47] we need to fund government and then see what's left over for the outside agencies instead

[57:52] of lumping the outside agencies in with the whole budget and then just see where it goes.

[57:58] But you've got to provide essential services to the taxpayers and then the other stuff if

[58:03] If there's money left over, let's see what happens.

[58:11] Jim, any questions?

[58:13] No.

[58:14] Okay.

[58:15] Thank you.

[58:21] Okay, that moves us into our, I thought moves it to number four.

[58:25] Mr. comments?

[58:27] I just got one thing we got, if anybody's interested tomorrow,

[58:31] I'll believe at 8 o'clock in the morning at Jerry Ivey Park.

[58:33] They've got the, I mean, the law enforcement memorial going on

[58:40] tomorrow morning, if you can make it.

[58:43] I think it'll be a, it's usually well attended and it's really something to see.

[58:56] Announcements.

[59:01] I did attend the Senior Department of Senior Services Committee meeting and it was just rehashing the

[59:10] information that Rosia brought us the prior week so

[59:16] I'm going to move this into G.

[59:29] Good morning commissioners, I'm going to start off this discussion about the Expo Center but we have

[59:35] I'm Stephen Flerty as the director and then Justin May with Hutton, who is her project

[59:41] me and a true.

[59:43] So a little bit of background.

[59:45] The county commission signed a 30 year lease with you for the livestock and exposant

[59:50] or with the city of Sloan back in July of 2020.

[59:54] At that point in time, that lease had conditions of minimum

[1:00:00] Item, maintenance, and minimum improvements that had identified and agreed upon that needed to be completed at that particular building. So, in that process, the county did requested proposals for Project Management Services and entered into an agreement with Hutton, and got started. We developed a phased plan over five years to address the things that

[1:00:29] that were outlined in the agreement with the city

[1:00:33] with some very minimal things that had been identified

[1:00:36] by the county as kind of more maintenance things

[1:00:40] that needed to be taken care of.

[1:00:42] So we put that plan into place and got going.

[1:00:46] As you can see, joining by there,

[1:00:48] there's been a lot that has been accomplished.

[1:00:50] We are in, I guess, year three or four of the plan

[1:00:56] and still moving forward in completing projects.

[1:01:00] So, as part of that plan, we had to come up with an initial budget back in 2020, and at that point in time, after we outlined everything, we had anticipated and budgeted that estimated cost, I guess you could say, would be about 1.9 million.

[1:01:19] and there had already been just a little over $2.7 million that had been earmarked in CIP

[1:01:28] for specifically Expo Center projects. So we thought you were sitting pretty good.

[1:01:35] But back in April of 2022, we had a study session with the commission where Director Flaherty

[1:01:41] provided some more information of just the continued things that we came upon

[1:01:48] during doing all of these improvements. Things such as water lines that

[1:01:54] needed to be replaced in order to do something, problems with electrical that we

[1:01:58] were in and to. So, lots of things that we didn't expect to come across, we did,

[1:02:04] and needed to address those things to be able to safely and in the

[1:02:11] respect of maintenance operate the facility. So as it sits now, to date, we have spent just

[1:02:20] $2,492,101 on all the things that we have done so far. So we are currently in phase four of

[1:02:30] the plant phase four includes the screening of barn two but then also some additional concrete work

[1:02:37] around Barton II to address erosion and stuff like that. We also have Phase 5. Phase 2 also includes

[1:02:47] to point tucking the brick on Ag Hall, but just because of the budgetary constraints, I don't

[1:02:52] know that we're going to be able to do that this year. It might be a Phase 5, 2025 project, not exactly

[1:03:01] sure yet. But the other things that are left to do on the list of the cities is citing

[1:03:10] and painting on 4-H as well as painting and citing on Kenwood Hall and then some additional

[1:03:16] concrete work at Ag Hall or at Kenwood Hall. So it's anticipated that the rest of the items

[1:03:25] to satisfy the lease with the city is going to be about 800,000.

[1:03:31] So currently we've got 224,000 that's remaining year marked in CIP for

[1:03:36] Expo Center improvements for this year.

[1:03:40] And then we have an ask of 800,000 to have in CIP for 2025 to close out all the projects.

[1:03:50] So that is where we are at today, but David has got a long list of things that have surfaced over

[1:04:03] the course of doing all of these minimum maintenance and improvement items that I think we're just

[1:04:09] really at a point of trying to get more direction from the commission of what it is that you want to see.

[1:04:16] because there's more things that can be done. For example, David has run into a very large issue with the bathrooms in 4-H.

[1:04:27] He can't get a plumber to come and do anything more with it, so it's either we patch it and just make do or is it the commission's direction to move forward and remodel those bathrooms and do what we need to do to keep the facility back up and running.

[1:04:44] But that's just one example.

[1:04:46] I think listening to David, you'll understand that there's things in each building that need

[1:04:53] to be addressed, that may not, they're not cosmetic.

[1:04:56] It's more maintenance things or more operational things.

[1:05:00] So we wanted to take this time today to get some feedback from the commission, get some direction

[1:05:05] from the commission, and help us with further developing the plan after we get all of the

[1:05:15] So David, do you want to go

[1:05:21] on and along some of these things, I'll just take it on kind

[1:05:25] of like some of the top end things that we are needing, like Hannah stated, the 4-H rest

[1:05:31] rooms and the women's rest room there, the lines are, they're in the walls, so plumbers

[1:05:39] won't come touch it because they have to bust the walls out and then they won't put

[1:05:43] the walls back in. So we're having an issue there. Main breaker panels, Ag Hall, Kenwood,

[1:05:51] 4H, all of those are getting to be outdated to where we can't even get the main breakers

[1:05:57] anymore. We can get the square D, the smaller 15, 20 amps still. But as far as the main

[1:06:03] breaker side we cannot get. 4H trying to do a little bit of improvements in the kitchen side of

[1:06:11] there. We did discover about 80% of 4-H, there's no ground in the building. Ag Hall, there's about 90 to 92% no grounding in the building there.

[1:06:28] So, Ag Hall, as Justin and I were walking around in Ag Hall looking at some things, we did notice the roof. You can actually see daylight in certain areas of the roof.

[1:06:40] so that is a main concern. One of them was around a, I want to say it was the vent, if I remember correctly, and if that one continues to get bad, what's the odds of that vent just dropping straight down, you know.

[1:06:55] So, HVAC systems, Kenwood and 4-H, both of those had those, 4-H had 3-HVAC systems put in in 2017.

[1:07:06] They were the lower in, low grade systems, and then Kenwood had to put in at the same time.

[1:07:12] So, it would be trying to save cost on the utility side of it, it would be to open those, put those in new again.

[1:07:21] And born two, we've come across several issues in that as far as one, the electrical is

[1:07:27] a problem, grounding issues in it, and then also the phase we just did in born two, we

[1:07:36] had for the electrical underground stuff of born one, and born two, we did have to put in

[1:07:43] one main panel because they could not find replacement parts. So we're getting to the

[1:07:52] side of all the electrical is where it's a big issue. Underground plumbing, the water,

[1:07:58] the sewer, a lot of that is becoming a lot that we're starting to see and have more and

[1:08:05] more troubles with. Also in barn 2 it would be the restrooms. They are block walls now or they've

[1:08:14] been block walls but now the metal frames and all the doorways around like the restroom doors are

[1:08:20] starting to flake out so we can't our staff can't go in there and we've tried coming up with a lot

[1:08:29] of different ideas. Talk to Justin over a couple things and everything we're trying it's just as you're

[1:08:35] and certain it into there, the wall just keeps crumbling and crumbling.

[1:08:41] Shut-offs, main shut-offs to a lot of the buildings.

[1:08:45] Those are getting very hard to replace.

[1:08:49] We did have, and I think it's the beginning of this year or towards the end of last year

[1:08:53] I did.

[1:08:54] I was able to get a company to come in and replace the main shut-off in 4H.

[1:08:59] That way we can at least control the building if something does happen to it.

[1:09:07] RV area we're starting to see a lot of underground water issues it's not a

[1:09:15] real big thing right now it's just a little small leak here and there we're

[1:09:19] having to dig up and fix the electrical side on the RV we are now starting to

[1:09:25] run into we think the wires are getting older so it is becoming a more

[1:09:32] pain to try to go through and determine and we can only put certain breakers in

[1:09:38] that pedestal out there too and some of those are getting ordered harder to

[1:09:42] find and come by.

[1:09:46] The roof's barn one or barn two I'm sorry not barn one. The roof

[1:09:50] and barn two is the same way there's quite a few leaks in it. There is the way

[1:09:56] barn two is formed there's two different roofs on that actually there's one that

[1:10:00] covers the big main area and then there's an area that comes down like this

[1:10:04] but both those areas are having a lot of a lot of issues in them. And then of course the lights in barn two. Our staff can replace the lights. We did the lights in barn three, five and six.

[1:10:18] But it's the wiring. I think we need to have the wiring look before we go spend the funds and maybe upgrade the wiring and put grounds in there.

[1:10:28] There is the boiler room that's upstairs been shut down for, I really couldn't tell you how long longer than I've been there.

[1:10:43] So we have been slowly replacing water heaters too but that's where we're coming across a lot of the older plumbing issues and we're able to plumb what we can.

[1:10:52] but then going inside of walls, not just 4A's, but born twos the same way.

[1:10:59] So that's just kind of some of the main beg points, and like Hannah said, we're just kind of looking for direction to continue operating the way we are.

[1:11:12] There is other things that can be done on top of these that we can operate in a different manner as far as bringing in different events.

[1:11:20] and yes, still staying with ag events, but also bringing in different types of events.

[1:11:27] But there is other things that would have to be addressed to be able to do that.

[1:11:31] David, I see two issues here.

[1:11:34] I see the maintenance issues we got, and I see the issues we got, what the city wants us to do to maintain or whatever they said.

[1:11:41] So I think the first thing that I like to see is on the maintenance,

[1:11:47] Yeah, we need to take care of the stuff we need to take care of.

[1:11:50] I mean, are to keep the building the stuff up like that on the city part that they told us we had to do.

[1:11:58] I guess I'm what I'm looking at is how much time in that 30 year at least that they give us to get this progression to get stuff done.

[1:12:08] Five years.

[1:12:09] Five years, okay.

[1:12:10] And we're in the third year of it.

[1:12:11] And we're in the third year of that fourth year.

[1:12:13] Fourth year of that.

[1:12:15] So I guess what I would like to see is how many dollars have we got left to what the city wants us to do to get up the what and then how much, you know, what are we looking at in maintenance issues that we're going to have to take care of that away.

[1:12:33] Yes, so I think Hannah addressed the fact that we've got 800,000 plus left on the city side, and I think the messaging today is really we could spend every bit as much over the next five years as we have spent over the last five years just doing

[1:12:59] other kinds of things that not fancy stuff, just really replacing and repairing things on facilities that are now between 40 and 80 years old.

[1:13:15] And the real question for the commission is, do you want us to do that?

[1:13:24] And is there a dollar limit to us doing that?

[1:13:30] Because at the end of the day, the facility needs at the Expo Center,

[1:13:38] which we only know that we have for another 25 years, compete against other

[1:13:48] facility needs that we have identified such as a health department. And so we're

[1:14:01] just we're trying to get a gauge on how much your comfort level is on where we

[1:14:12] need to stop and say all right we we gave it the office this is all we're doing

[1:14:20] and I know there's a really hard questions but that you look at the numbers we

[1:14:26] We could spend every bit as much over the next five years as we've spent over the previous

[1:14:32] five.

[1:14:33] So right now we're staring 1.6 million dollars into face, 800,000 one place and 800,000

[1:14:38] dollars in maintenance.

[1:14:40] If not more.

[1:14:41] That's not more.

[1:14:43] Well, it's pretty simple to me.

[1:14:45] I mean, number one, why wasn't I thought the restrooms at the 4-H building were included

[1:14:51] in on the first phase of things, and why weren't they?

[1:14:54] because we had identified those.

[1:15:00] Okay. I'm probably wrong. But it was more of a county thing. And I agree. The city thing. Outside it. That leads me to my, my overall view of this. It, we're going to throw back at you guys. You guys need to prioritize what you've got and what needs to be done. Obviously, restrooms to me would be right at the top of it. A leak in the, in the barn to roof, isn't going to bother me that an animal gets wet, you know, or whatever if it rains out. That's not going to bother me.

[1:15:29] Prioritize it give us some costs we can analyze what we want to think about on down the line

[1:15:35] Fills hit on it. There's other needs within the county. We can't just say oh, yeah

[1:15:41] Five million dollars. We're gonna give the expo center to do this over the next two years

[1:15:45] I don't want to do it that way

[1:15:47] I want to see some prioritization of these items and and how quickly we might do it

[1:15:53] There's there's some of that that obviously needs to be done

[1:15:56] and restaurants, like I said, right away.

[1:15:58] But the electrical stuff, I mean, I don't know what the need,

[1:16:03] I can't just sit here and say that we absolutely have to replace it

[1:16:06] and barn five or whatever.

[1:16:09] You've got to prioritize some of that for us.

[1:16:11] Absolutely.

[1:16:12] And get some costs or relative costs.

[1:16:15] I mean, we're already looking in this four-year plan,

[1:16:18] we're already above budget.

[1:16:20] Absolutely.

[1:16:20] I mean, I get that when we start going out like that,

[1:16:23] it's going to probably be more.

[1:16:24] But we still need some guy, you know, some sort of a budget or, you know, a

[1:16:32] proximate of what it's going to cost us and do I want to do it next year?

[1:16:37] Heck no, let's fulfill our obligation to the city and we'll do things as we can.

[1:16:48] The buildings belong to Silling County.

[1:16:52] The lease is, when the lease runs out, we've got building set on somebody else's property.

[1:16:59] So, but we need to look down the line.

[1:17:04] That doesn't really give you any guidance right now, I know, but-

[1:17:07] No, I appreciate that feedback, because we have already started to kind of list out and

[1:17:15] I guess rank those additional items, it just knows it was really prudent to give you

[1:17:22] an update of, like, where are we at, but getting some feedback of, what is your tolerance?

[1:17:30] What is it that you want us to do? Because if we had unlimited funds, this would be

[1:17:37] an unissue, right? But that's not the case.

[1:17:40] My tolerance is not very, very high. But, you know, I mean, is the relief, the rough leaking

[1:17:48] in the offices. No, but if it were, that would be number one priority type thing. That's

[1:17:54] what I'm looking at. David listed a lot of electrical issues that are probably a priority,

[1:17:59] or very expensive, but they're not a priority that we have to be able to turn, you know,

[1:18:05] have electricity at barn six or whatever. That's my point. You need to tell me what's a priority,

[1:18:13] whether that electrical is a problem or is an issue that should go to the top of the list.

[1:18:18] and why it should or why it should not.

[1:18:20] That's what I want to see.

[1:18:23] Were any of these items addressed in the 2025 budget request?

[1:18:31] And why not?

[1:18:35] So the 2025, so the budget request is really

[1:18:42] to operate the facility.

[1:18:44] So it's paying staff and paying plumbing parts

[1:18:49] and that sort of thing.

[1:18:50] it's not major capital. So it's buying a new small square

[1:19:03] to e-breaker box. David can accommodate replacing the main electrical switch

[1:19:08] for Ag Hall is not within his operating budget. That's a capital project. And so there

[1:19:17] There is a number in the capital plan for 2025, but that is related to completing the

[1:19:25] projects that are in the lease.

[1:19:28] What we're talking about here is really 2026 and beyond.

[1:19:37] You want to keep spending as much per year for the next five years as you have been on Expo

[1:19:45] center because we certainly could, or do you want to shift other buildings?

[1:19:52] Refresh my memory, when do we, as a commission, address CIP and set those, what our targets are?

[1:20:04] We'll bring those to you in June, as when I bring the rest of the budget to you, we'll have CIP within that.

[1:20:16] You know, there's another thing here that troubles me a little bit, and that is that we're trying to get this up to the level that we're competing with someone else's facility, and we're, it costs us, I don't know what $500,000, $400,000 to operate the expo center every year, why do we want to spend money to compete with someone else so that we can lose more money?

[1:20:39] I don't I don't go along with that. I mean, you know, if we're spending costs is $500,000 to

[1:20:46] operate the place in the first place,

[1:20:48] we're going to continue to lose at that rate, particularly at the at the level of charges that we

[1:20:55] distribute with these functions. I

[1:20:59] think I think we've always looked at it at the Expo Centers bringing

[1:21:03] revenue to the city to the community

[1:21:06] But it's still costing our budget a half a million dollars just to run the place.

[1:21:10] And that's where I have a problem upgrading it, trying to compete with someone else so we can lose more money.

[1:21:19] Well, and that really is the crux of the matter.

[1:21:23] I'm just going to expand on what you said there are commercial metrics.

[1:21:26] and that yes, so it has been,

[1:21:30] and I've talked about this in what we're trying to gauge

[1:21:34] is the commission's risk tolerance, right?

[1:21:37] So you have been, you have told us in the past,

[1:21:42] maybe not explicitly, but by virtue of passing the budget,

[1:21:46] you have told us you're willing to spend $400 to $500,000 a year

[1:21:52] to have the facility, to operate the facility.

[1:21:56] And the question is, are you willing to spend that

[1:22:00] plus another half a million dollars a year

[1:22:04] in capital for the foreseeable future?

[1:22:09] Or do we really need to start thinking about alternatives

[1:22:15] that avoid that?

[1:22:22] I'm at the alternative stage at this point.

[1:22:24] My risk tolerance is exactly where it's currently until outside groups come in and help with this.

[1:22:34] There's always been a wish list that people have wanted out of this center.

[1:22:42] But in 10 years nobody has ever come forward with any funds.

[1:22:46] You guys have heard me say this before but similar to what the tennis and the golf and the soccer and the

[1:22:51] The Steeple and everything else has happened around town.

[1:22:55] Other groups get together and band together and push a project and no outside agency has

[1:23:03] ever come forward to do that.

[1:23:05] And so what we're spending right now is my tolerance level.

[1:23:18] Any other questions?

[1:23:21] Does that give you a little bit?

[1:23:24] I think that gives us enough to start some additional conversations and first and foremost

[1:23:36] we'll get the list of the city stuff done.

[1:23:38] Well, I'm sure there's going to be a little harder conversations to be had because it's

[1:23:42] so.

[1:23:43] I appreciate the conversation today.

[1:23:45] Okay, I think this gives us enough of a direction to start exploring some things.

[1:23:53] Okay.

[1:23:54] Thank you.

[1:23:56] Thank you.

[1:23:59] That moves us into H.

[1:24:01] Mr. Chairman, staff would request that the commission recess to executive session under the non-elected personnel exception to the Kansas Open Meetings Act to discuss

[1:24:12] Yes, Department Head Performance Evaluation for seven minutes and reconvene in this room at 1030.

[1:24:23] So moved.

[1:24:25] Second.

[1:24:26] Okay, we have motion a second to adjourn to the executive session until 1030.

[1:24:32] All in favor say aye.

[1:24:33] Aye.

[1:24:34] Aye.

[1:24:34] All opposed, same sign.

[1:24:36] We are in the executive session.

[1:32:55] Okay, we're back in session, and no action was taken. That moves us on to, I believe, a motion for adjournment.

[1:33:06] So move.

[1:33:08] Second.

[1:33:09] Have a motion and a second to adjourn. All in favor say aye.

[1:33:12] Aye.

[1:33:13] Opposed, same sign, passes 5, 0. Thank you.

Board of County Commissioners

Agenda

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