Chairman Jake Liebau called the May 13 regular meeting of the Elk County Commission to order at 1 p.m. Commissioner Doug Hendricks and Commissioner Perry Russell were all present as well as County Clerk Kerry Harrod, County Counselor Paul Dean, Todd Winscher, Rural Fire; Erica Cordell, EM; Chris Miller, Deputy Appraiser; Kristina Kraft, Deputy Treasurer; Don Sanders, Public Works; Shari Kaminska, Community Development; Stefni Hebb, Deputy Clerk; Stephanie Ollenborger, ROD; Kandy Dowell, Health; Ken Mitchell, EMS; Kaye Spooner, Jacob Hurla and Tyler Garst.
The minutes of the April 29 meeting were approved as presented.
Spooner gave updates on what is happening in the United States regarding elections.
Sanders presented twoweek reports for public works. Sanders would like to have a CDL contract for Elk County in place. Regarding maintenance, work will be done on the sewer lines going upstairs in the courthouse. The work should be completed by the end of June.
Regarding Emergency Management, Cordell stated she attended the Red Cross Shelter training with Dowell and Kristy Hanks on May 2. They have started a working group to create a more localized planning guide for the different locations in the county. Cordell attended the Emergency Operations Center/Incident Command System Interface Course in Fredonia on May 9. Cordell hosted the Street-Smart Search and Rescue Training course in Moline on May 11. The training was funded through a Homeland Security Council Grant.
Winscher, with rural fire, stated the Street-Smart Training on May 11, was a success.
Register of Deeds Ollenborger presented the report for Aril 2024. They had a total of 67 instruments recorded and a total deposit of $3,770.75.
Clerk Harrod expressed appreciation to the maintenance department for installing the election equipment cage.
With community development, Kaminska stated the deed for the Moline Methodist Church has been filed with the Register of Deeds. The gutters have been cleaned out and some roof repair has been done to the church. The sump pumps need to be replaced and carpet needs to be ripped out. Kaminska stated she is working on preliminary plans to have a lemonade day in Elk County. It is a program funded partly by Network of Kansas. The program is to encourage kids to put up lemonade stands to learn entrepreneurship skills.
Mitchell, with EMS, presented the report for April. There were 23 total runs with total collections being $8,535.43. Mitchell stated he will need to be replaced as Deputy Coroner when he retires in July.
Regarding the courthouse HVAC/Windows/Electric, Hurla with Community Building Solutions presented a preliminary engineering audit to the Commission. Hurla’s overview of agenda was project goal and objectives, HVAC systems, building envelope, lighting systems, financial overview and project timeline.
The commission held a 10-minute executive session with Mitchell and Counselor Dean to discuss employee reviews. After returning to open session. The commission approved to give Kimberly Dupuis a merit increase from $14.14/hour to $14.64/ hour and Jenifer Clatt a merit increase from $15.03/hour to $15.53/hour.
After reviewing boundary and topographical survey quotes from Cornerstone ($4,800) and Smith & Oaks ($8,900), the commission approved to go with Cornerstone Regional Surveying for the boundary and topographical survey at 1285 Evergreen.
Kaminska presented a quote from MKEC for $7,000 plus additional expenses, for site planning for the industrial park at 1285 Evergreen. The commission approved the to hire MKEC Engineering Services for the civil engineering master planning for the Industrial Park.
Kaminska presented an invitation to bid for clearing at 1285 Evergreen, in Moline. Kaminska was to publish the invitation to bid.
The commission held a five-minute executive session to discuss legal matters with County Counselor Dean. No action was taken.
Dean was to prepare a publication for sealed bids for the house at 1285 Evergreen.
The commission also approved to pay the warrants, in the amount of $140,593.20; and approved Resolution 24-04 for matching funds for Certified Sites Program Grant.
The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
FenceViewing
Chairman Liebau called the May 20 special meeting of the Elk County Commissioners to order at 10 a.m. Commissioners Hendricks and Russell were also present.
The property on Road 27 where the fence divides SKM Ag Land LLC property at the N1/2/SW1/4 and S1/2 of NW1/4 of Section 25 Twp 29S Range 12E and Cannon’s property at the S1/2/SW1/4 of Section 25 Twp 29S Range 12E was viewed. Discussion regarding the condition of the fence and water gap was had. No resolution was made. This was scheduled to be discussed at their next meeting (May 28) with County Counselor Dean.
The special meeting adjourned at 10:47 a.m.
The commission meets weekly on Mondays at 1 p.m.
