Logan County Board August briefs – Budget preparations continued, divvying up transportation funds, new Mental Health Council taking shape

 

[September 20, 2019] 

At the Logan County Board meeting Tuesday, August 20, the board voted on several motions and heard committee updates. One focus of discussion was the annual raise for non-union county employees.

Board members present were Dave Blankenship, Emily Davenport, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, Cameron Halpin, David Hepler, Steve Jenness, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher.

Finance Committee update

Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Ruben made a motion to approve 1.9% pay raises for non-union county employees. The current Consumer Price Index is 1.9%.

Sanders said he is for helping employees out but cannot in good faith support this increase if we are asking taxpayers for extra money [through the public facilities tax referendum].

Because Halpin keeps hearing about how the county does not have the money for various things, he said he agreed and wanted to know where the money for increased pay would come from.

Hepler asked Ruben if voting on the raises now just makes the item a placeholder and if it could be amended later?

This vote would just place raises into the budget, and Ruben said it could be amended even after the budget has been placed on display for thirty days.

The board has voted on raises for years, but Schaffenacker asked why they do it that way since all the departments have budgets the raises could be included under. He wants to let department heads handle the budgets for their employees going forward.

Welch asked how many union employees there are who are getting raises based on their union contract. Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas said there are 137.
 

Though Welch agreed that the board constantly talks about not having money, most employees are covered and getting raises through a union contract. Welch does not feel the small portion non-union employees should never get raises. She said she is against spending unnecessary money but feels like non-union employees should get some kind of raise.

The county board sets the elected official’s budget, so Ruben said instead of a motion to raise salaries by 1.9 percent, he would make a motion to raise the salary line items by 1.9 percent in each officeholder’s budget. Ruben said they cannot give raises if they do not have the money in their budgets to give them.

Davenport asked how much the raises would add to the budget.

Ruben said a two percent raise would be $44,934, so 1.9 percent would be one-tenth of a percent less. He said someone could amend the raises for a different amount.

While supportive of giving employees salary increases, Blankenship said he agreed with Schaffenacker and that nothing prohibits the officials from making their own budget more efficient. He said that would help keep the county out of deficit spending and deficit. Nothing prohibits them from giving raises.

Since the board voted last May to freeze the elected officials salaries for four years, Davenport said those officials would not be getting raises.

Ruben said several officials like the assessor got a big pay increase before the salaries were frozen.

Before the motion could be voted on, Ruben said he had used the 1.9 percent figure because it was the CPI, but if someone else had another figure in mind, now would be the best time to make an amendment. That way, they would not have to change it later.

After looking at figures and finding 1.5 percent would save about $11,000, Welch amended the motion for the raises to 1.5 percent.

Welsh’s amendment passed 10-2 with Halpin and Hepler voting no.

The main motion as amended passed with the same votes.

Finance Committee motions unanimously approved included:

An agreement between Logan County and the Veteran’s Assistance Commission.

A resolution for Sheriff’s budget amendment of $89,100 from the deputies’ salary line item to a line item for the purchase of radios and $26,600 from the same line item to a line item for the purchase of uniforms.

At the finance meeting, Logan County Sheriff Mark Landers said paying off the radio contract will save the county $15,000 in interest alone by paying off the radios and tasers, and would reduce his budget.

A resolution for a budget amendment of $4,000 from Sheriff to Animal Control. Animal Control needs more security due to some recent issues and Landers said there is a surplus that could be moved out of the sheriff’s payroll budget. This amount will take care of an alarm system and a new entrance that would provide more of a barrier.

A Letter of Engagement with Clifton Larson Allen for the yearly audit was also approved.

Transportation Committee update

Transportation Committee Chair Janet Estill made a motion to move $15,000 from the Senior Citizen Tax Levy Fund that has been earmarked for transportation so it can be used by Show Bus.

Hepler asked what improvements could be expected a year from now if the motion passes and creates several tens of thousands of dollars.

Laura Dick of Showbus said it would generate around $45,000, which is a significant amount of money. She wants to do more concreted rural outreach in Logan County and in Mason County to continue to expand out of county routes.

Ruben said the motion leaves it open whether the funds can be taken from CIEDC or the Senior Citizens Fund and wanted to know which one the $15,000 would be coming from.
Welch asked if it could be taken from the prior vendor, CAPCIL, but Ruben said both groups do transportation.

Hepler said that at the Workshop, Estill said the amount would come from CAPCIL’s share.

Thomas said the Senior Citizen’s Fund is distributed every year by percentages instead of dollars with the Oasis getting 51 percent of the fund and CAPCIL getting 49 percent of the fund.

Blankenship said he feels the board may be shooting themselves in the foot. At a time when the county is trying to pass a referendum. He does not want to alienate any one group. He said CAPCIL may not answer publicly, but may answer in the ballot box.

The motion passed 6-5-1

Estill, Farmer, Ruben, Schaffenacker, Welch and Wessbecher voted yes.

Blankenship, Davenport, Hepler, Jenness and Sanders voted no.

Halpin abstained.

Building and Grounds Committee update

The roof at Animal Control is leaking causing problems.

The board unanimously approved Building and Ground’s Chairman Dave Blankenship’s motion to remove roof top HVAC systems, apply spray foam insulation and replace HVAC systems at Animal Control Building with the amount not to exceed $35,000.

The board also approved a motion to have roof restoration to the Animal Control Building by Williams Roofing and Construction not to exceed $10,000 from the Building Pool Fund.

Safety Committee update

The board approved Safety Committee Bob Sanders’ motion to approve the EMA Director’s salary at $20,000 per year to be prorated starting July 1, 2019 with Schaffenacker abstaining from the vote.

Health Council update

Logan County Department of Public Health Administrator Don Cavi updated the board on what is happening with the Mental Health Advisory Council, which met July 30. Cavi said bylaws for the council were approved.

Part of the bylaws include subject matter experts on the council, which consists of a mental health promotion expert, someone in the area of prevention, someone in the area of treatment, someone in mental health maintenance and someone who will work on mental health outreach. These members will report on their progress.

At the September meeting, Cavi said the council will work on a strategic plan.

Cavi said the production of flu vaccines was held up about a month this year while the World Health Organization tried to decide what strains of flu they wanted this year’s vaccine to hit. The health department should be getting the regular dose anytime and the high dose by the end of September. The health department will carry both doses and Cavi said they would do some clinics outside the department.

No West Nile Virus has been reported in the county and the bird the department submitted and mosquito pools they have tested have been negative for the virus. Cavi said if there is any positive activity, the health department would report it to the media and alert the County Board.

Chair’s Report

Davenport asked someone to make a motion to create an IT subcommittee chaired by Cameron Halpin, who would have the authority to name citizen members to this subcommittee. Hepler made the motion.

Davenport said she wanted it to be an advisory committee with no chairman, no minutes and only two board members.

Schaffenacker said if it is a subcommittee, he thought it should report to buildings and grounds committee and not the whole board.

Ruben said they could report to the board because workshop is actually a committee of the board as a whole and Davenport said she did not want to stream it through a committee.

Blankenship said he supported the subcommittee but asked whether public officials have the right to keep their own IT providers.

Ruben said they do, but those who wanted to use a different IT provider would have to find money in their own budgets to pay for it. State law says elected officials must be given enough money to run their office, and Ruben said the gray area is that the officials might say the board is not giving them enough money to run their IT the way they want to run it.

The board approved the subcommittee and Halpin with 11 yes votes.

Halpin abstained.

Welch’s motion to appoint Jim Wessbecher as Tourism Board liaison was unanimously approved.

[Angela Reiners]