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STATE OF WYOMING ) LANDER, WYOMING ) ss. OFFICE OF THE FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY OF FREMONT ) July 8, 2008 The Board of Fremont County Commissioners met in Regular Session at 9:00 a.m. with the following members present: Chairman Douglas L. Thompson, Vice-Chairman Pat Hickerson, Jane Adamson, Keja Whiteman and Dennis Heckart. Also present was County Clerk and Clerk of the Board Julie A. Freese. Dennis Heckart moved, Jane Adamson seconded, to approve the Agenda, as amended. Motion carried unanimously. Jane Adamson moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to approve the minutes of the Regular meetings held June 24, 2008 and July 1, 2008. Motion carried unanimously. Jane Adamson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded, to accept the bills for payment. Motion carried unanimously.
County Attorney Ed Newell joined the meeting at the request of the Board to address his staffing numbers. Newell stated he has increased part-time attorney Jody Darrough to full-time until which time a vacant full-time position is filled. When the full time position is filled, he intends to move Darrough to ¾ time. The Board expressed concern that several large purchases were made on the last day of the past fiscal year, indicating to them that the department had excess money in their budget that was used at the last minute. Newell stated he has no way of knowing how many trials he will have in any given year and wants to wait until the last minute to spend any money on computers, furniture, supplies, etc. so that he does not exceed the bottom line. The Board stated they would like to be informed of the purchases as a courtesy. Building Maintenance Supervisor Phil Huff stated the Riverton Custodian is retiring August 1st. The nighttime custodian at the Courthouse would like to transfer to the Riverton position, leaving a vacancy in the Courthouse. He stated he conducted interviews less than two months ago and requested permission to offer the opening to one of the previously interviewed candidates. Jane Adamson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded, to offer the position to the selected candidate, as previously interviewed. Motion carried unanimously. County Planner Ray Price presented a re-plat of Lots 2 & 3, Iiams Subdivision. He stated the revised plat is a result of a location change of a utility easement between the two lots. This was unanimously approved by the Planning Commission. Dennis Heckart moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to approve the re-plat as presented. Motion carried unanimously. Ray Price reviewed June Planning Commission meeting minutes where they discussed and voted on the proposed subdivision regulation changes and the changes will now be incorporated into the entire regulation packet for distribution. He stated the Commission must now advertise 45 days in advance of their public hearing. Jane Adamson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded, to set their public hearing on proposed changes to the subdivision regulations on September 23, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Pat Hickerson moved, Jane Adamson seconded, to accept the following Title 25 bills for payment: Voucher No. 70802L to Lander Valley Medical Center in the amount of $12,350; No. 70808F to Fremont Counseling Service in the amount of $2,000 and Voucher No. 70808W to Wyoming Behavioral Institute in the amount of $685.00. Motion carried unanimously. The following items in the Signature File were reviewed: Two Licenses for New Construction of Utility Crossing or Encroachment from Burlington Resources for Lost Cabin/Arminto Road; Burlington Resources for Lost Cabin/Badwater Road; Two licenses for Burlington Resources for Badwater/Nowood Road and Source Gas Distribution LLC for Marlatt Road. Pat Hickerson moved, Jane Adamson seconded, to approve the Licenses as submitted. Motion carried unanimously. Also reviewed was a letter to Wyoming State Parks Engineer regarding reimbursement request for Fremont Bay access road improvements, Lease Memorandum for Sheriff for truck transmission Election Judges Wages were reviewed as follows: $165.00 per Election for Head Judge; $140.00 per Election for other Judges; $.485 per mile after five miles; $5.50 per Meal for no more than two meals; $25.00 for attendance to one Judges’ School. Pat Hickerson moved, Keja Whiteman seconded, to approve the Election Judges’ Wages as presented. Abstaining from the motion: Jane Adamson. Motion carried. The Board reviewed the following Dismissal Orders for Fremont County Board of Equalization Tax Protests as follows: Mountain Vista Retirement Center (Docket No. 2008-15); Wind River Development Fund (Docket No. 2008-23): Sky D. Phifer (Docket No. 2008-19); Edward & Marilyn-Hoffman Taylor (Docket No. 2008-21); Legacy Trust, LLC (Docket No. 2008-08); Headquarters, LLC (Docket No. 2008-18); Carl Freeman (Docket No. 2008-06); Brookhaven Housing (Docket No. 2008-20); Brad Lindsey (Docket No. 2008-24); Unit Drilling Company (Docket No. 2008-17); Luther Tucker (Docket No. 2008-09); William H. Robinson (Docket No. 2008-22); David & Melynda May (Docket No. 2008-04); Priscilla Sims (Docket No. 2008-13) and Daryl J. Daugherty (Docket No. 2008-05). Pat Hickerson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded, to approve the Dismissal Orders for those applicants withdrawing their tax protests. Motion carried unanimously. A reply letter sent to Chairman Thompson from Harold Cecrle was reviewed. It seems that Mr. Cecrle is asking for a chance to protest his property tax assessment; however, had not completed the proper paperwork in the appropriate time frame for the 2008 tax protest period. Keja Whiteman moved to grant Mr. Cecrle a hearing. Motion died for lack of a second. Chairman Thompson will correspond with Mr. Cecrle outlining the process required by law. Commissioner Heckart stated he will attend a meeting on July 23rd regarding the creation of a Riverton Court Safety and Security Committee. Commissioner Adamson will visit with Transportation Superintendent Pendleton regarding a request from the Wyoming Highway Users Federation group for the County’s membership and funding in support of safe highways. County Clerk Julie Freese stated membership in the Wyoming Association of Risk Management for property insurance will total $38,000, which has been budgeted, with a $5,000 deductible per incident. Keja Whiteman moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to proceed with acquiring property insurance through WARM. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Heckart will serve as liaison to WARM. Deductible amounts will be researched further. The Board discussed the process they wish to follow regarding filling the Emergency Management Coordinator’s vacancy. The four applicants will be interviewed on July 22, 2008 in Executive Session. The Board asked that the Sheriff and Ambulance Director be asked to be on the interview panel. The Board reviewed comments heard the previous evening at the Public Hearing on the proposed FY 08-09 County budget. The session opened with a report from County Treasurer Scott Harnsberger on a recent development regarding the FY 07-08 revenue projections. Treasurer Harnsberger stated that the revenue had been overstated by his office because they had not excluded the amount of taxes that was being protested. Those taxes will not be collected; therefore, the revenue would be short by about $1.9 million. In reviewing all other revenue, Harnsberger anticipated receiving $285,000 additional revenue in sales tax and $120,000 from general fixed asset disbursements which would cut the deficit to $1.4 million. The County Clerk noted that with the revenue changes, $1.4 million would need to be cut from the budget. County Clerk Julie Freese then updated the Commissioners on an increase in the Transfer to Capital Projects for Roads from $1,632,000 to $2,644,388. This was based on an updated list of projects that are encumbered. Encumbrances are as follows: Five Mile Creek Road $248,990, Burma Road project $81,798, Lyons Valley Road $756,600 and Railroad Street Paving $213,000. The new project was the South Fork Road funded at 60% totaling $1,344,000. Transportation Superintendent Dave Pendleton was asked to address whether the South Fork project could be deferred for another year. Pendleton stated that he had asked if the county could get a year’s extension on the East Fork pit which was approved. He also indicated that structurally, the road was in good shape, but may need some patching this next year. After much discussion, the South Fork Road project was deleted from the budget (60% from the General Fund and 40% from the Capital Road Fund). The amount deleted was $1,344,000 plus the 40% from the Capital Road Fund. Discussion then turned to the County Attorney’s budget. Clerk Freese mentioned that the ½ time deputy attorney had inadvertently not been increased to a ¾ position as requested by the County Attorney. That figure to increase that employee’s figures was $17,195 and had already been increased in their proposed budget. Commissioner Whiteman suggested taking out the full time deputy attorney position and to give enough money to allow the ¾ time attorney to be a full time employee. No motions were made at this time. Commissioner Hickerson moved to leave the full time deputy attorney position in place and to add a ½ time deputy attorney as well as keep the ¾ increase for the other deputy attorney. The motion died for a lack of a second. Commissioners Whiteman moved and Heckart seconded to deduct the full time position and allow the ¾ time attorney to become a full time position. Voting against the motion was Commissioners Adamson, Hickerson and Thompson. Motion failed. Commissioner Adamson moved to reduce the cash reserve by $128,121. Motion died for a lack of a second. The list of requests from the public hearing held the previous evening were addressed: The Library Board’s request to reconsider the funding for a part time custodian/security person was discussed first. Commissioner Heckart reminded the Commission that the Library Board had assured them last year this issue would not be a problem and having a part time custodian doing both cleaning and acting as a security officer was not realistic in his mind. Commissioner Whiteman suggested that they think about a contract position which might be less money in the long run. Commissioner Thompson wondered why the Riverton Police Department couldn’t be called if they were having problems. Sheriff Hornecker, who was present in the audience, clarified that law enforcement can only cover when offenders are breaking laws, not internal Library rules. He also noted that contract security officers cannot give out any citations either. No money was added to the Library budget after this discussion. The E-911 budget was addressed at this time. It was suggested that the $.50 surcharge be continued for both the wire and wireless lines. Jane Adamson moved, Keja Whiteman seconded to leave the surcharge of $.50 per wire and wireless lines for the upcoming fiscal year. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Hickerson expressed concerns about what the generated money was being used for as well as the enhanced 911 fee was being collected on the wireless phones and the program is still not implemented to use the information received from those phones. Joni Miller will be asked to update the County Commissioners in the next month regarding the E-911 account and what they will be doing with the money received from the surcharge. Moving back to the General Fund budget, Pat Hickerson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded to change the full time deputy county attorney to a ½ time position and to leave the ¾ time attorney at ¾ time. Voting against the motion was Commissioners Whiteman and Adamson. Motion carried. Jane Adamson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded to reduce the cash reserve by -$79,757. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Thompson discussed his concerns that the mileage reimbursement rate set to increase to $.485 on July 1, 2008 was probably still too low and that the board may have to increase that amount at a later date. Other concerns were statutory medical costs and health insurance claims. The cash reserve would have to be the fund to look to if increases need to happen during the year. A query of all departments for the amount spent on mileage reimbursements for this year will be done by the County Clerk to determine what impact the current reimbursement might have on the budget. Dubois Mayor Mark Harrison had requested that the Commissioners give the town the leeway to use the money received from Fremont County Association of Governments funding to address the airport concerns that were not funded by the Commissioners and to utilize the additional money to go towards the sewer jetter project. Pat Hickerson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded to approve moving the Dubois Town’s 1st priority project to the airport ($31,500) and the 2nd priority to the sewer jetter system ($10,296). Voting against the motion: Commissioner Adamson. Motion carried. Commissioner Adamson expressed concern that the county had drastically reduced the Riverton Regional Airport funding and was now proposing the allocation of money to a small airport. She also noted that the commissioners had designated the FCAG Capital Project funds be health and welfare projects and to deviate from that would set a precedence. Commissioner Hickerson replied that Dubois is unique being in an outlying area and that the airport needs is a high priority to the town. He still supported giving higher priority to funding for health and welfare projects. Keja Whiteman moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to adopt the fiscal year 2008-2009 budget at 12 mills with the caveat that the Clerk’s Office could refigure all changes as well as manually compute the mill levies for accuracy. The resolution will be signed at the Commissioner’s next meeting on July 22, 2008. Public Health Nursing Supervisor Marty Stansaas briefly joined the meeting to present Amendment Number One to the Contract Between Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program and Fremont County Public Health Nursing Services for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. Keja Whiteman moved, Jane Adamson seconded, to approve the Contract. Motion carried unanimously. In other business, Stensaas updated the Board on an itching outbreak at Bass Lake and stated appropriate signage is forthcoming. Jane Adamson moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to adjourn into Executive Session with Transportation Superintendent Dave Pendleton regarding personnel. Motion carried unanimously. Jane Adamson moved, Pat Hickerson seconded, to return to Regular Session. Motion carried unanimously. Jane Adamson moved, Dennis Heckart seconded, to authorize the hire of temporary help for data entry for the Transportation Department. Motion carried unanimously. Dave Pendleton informed the Board that he is still working on a right-of-way issue and that a confidential memo would be forthcoming. The Board adjourned into the Board of Equalization for the purpose of hearing tax protest hearings. Present were Hearing Officer Terry Martin, Assessor Eileen Oakley, Deputy Tara Berg and Deputy County Attorney Jody Darrough. The following protests here heard: Tony and Cindy Spriggs (Docket No. 2008-07). Both applicants were present. Deputy Darrough presented a verbal Motion to Dismiss as they have already been granted agricultural classification, and the affidavit requested by the Assessor for agricultural determination is within her statutory limits according to W.S. 39-13-103(b)xc. The Board decided to take the Motion under advisement and hear the tax protest. Following the hearing, Dennis Heckart moved, Jane Adamson seconded, to approve the Motion to Dismiss. Voting against the motion: Keja Whiteman. Motion carried. Alfred Eggli (Dockets No. 2008-10, 11 & 12). Applicant Alfred Eggli represented himself on the two commercial parcels and one residential parcel. The Board adjourned into Executive Session for a portion of the hearing as property values were discussed. John Wirth (Docket No. 2008-25). Mr. Wirth was present and represented by counsel William Miller. Jennifer McCarty (Docket No. 2008-02) was present; however, verbally withdrew her protest prior to her hearing. The Board reconvened as the Board of County Commissioners and received a recap of the meeting from their secretary. There being no further business, Dennis Heckart moved, Keja Whiteman seconded, to adjourn the meeting at 5:50 p.m. and reconvene on July 9, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. for a Special Session to continue Board of Equalization Tax Protest hearings. Motion carried unanimously.
/s/ DOUGLAS L. THOMPSON, CHAIRMAN FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
/s/ JULIE A. FREESE, COUNTY CLERK AND CLERK OF THE BOARD
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