PROCEEDINGS OF THE
STATE OF
) SS
Proceedings of the regular meeting of the Knox County Board, held at the
Knox County Courthouse,
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Janet Occhi and upon roll
call the following members reported present:
District 1
Caroline Porter
District 2
Paul Stewart
District
3 Janet Occhi
District
4 George Knapp
District
5 Gerald Link
District
1 Allen Pickrel
District
2 Greg Bacon
District
3 Paul Hevland
District
4 Wayne Saline
District
5 Ricardo
Sandoval
District
1 Linda Roberts
District
3 Dale Parsons
District
4
District 5
Stephen Johnson
And
those absent:
District 2
Dana Shallenberger
Also
present was Scott Erickson,
Chairman Occhi led the Members in the pledge to the flag. Terry Renwick,
Elder of
The
Chairman Occhi asked for public comments. Barry Weber from Wataga spoke
concerning two subjects. First, he asked a question regarding the website as the
last time that the Board Minutes were posted was for the meeting of August 24.
He questioned what the County policy was on this subject. County Clerk Scott
Erickson stated that these are available as they are approved. However, there is
a small staff and we are working at getting these updated. We do not have a
webmaster who handles that responsibility. Chairman Occhi stated that there is
no set policy on putting these minutes on the website. Mr. Weber also voiced his
concerns about extraordinary speed on the County Highways. He asked for the
County to set lower speed limits on the rural County Highways.
Chairman Occhi asked if there were any additions to the agenda. Member
Sandoval asked for an addition to the agenda to update the contractual agreement
with the Public Defender’s Contract. Chairman Occhi placed that item at 7A.
Member Johnson asked for an addition to the agenda to give a report from the
recent UCCI conference. Chairman Occhi placed at item at 16A.
Chairman Occhi presented for approval the following items of the consent
agenda: 1) minutes of the board meeting and closed meeting held October 12, 2005
and Ad Hoc budget meetings, 2) claims by Members for per diem and mileage for
the meeting of October 26, 2005, 3) sales tax and various taxes for the month of
July 2005 in the amounts of $87,238.90 and $21,042.40 and public safety tax in
the amount of $72,729.24, 4) the appointment of Richard DeShepper to the
Victoria-Copley Fire Protection District, and 5) the appointments of Earl
Copeland and Gale Adams to the Oneida Sanitary District. Motion was made by
Member Stewart and seconded by Member Roberts to approve these items with roll
call vote as follows: Ayes—Porter, Stewart, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel,
Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt, and
Johnson—(14). Noes—(0). Motion carried.
Chairman Occhi presented for approval claims against
Motion was made by Member Saline and seconded by Member Bacon to accept
the bid for
Chairman Occhi introduced for discussion the overpayment for the
contractual agreement with the Alternate Public Defenders. Dean Stone stated
that the situation is being investigated by the State’s Attorney’s Office.
County Treasurer Robin Davis sought direction from the Board as currently the
County is being reimbursed by one member and not the other two. Member Saline
stated that we need to get this wrapped up by the end of this fiscal year.
Motion was made by Member Saline and seconded by Member Parsons to
approve the bid for
Motion was made by Member Johnson and seconded by Member Bacon to approve
the bid for County Property/Liability Insurance from A. J. Gallagher. Member
Johnson stated that this is with the current provider and there is a slight
increase in the bid. Roll call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter,
Stewart, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts,
Parsons, Mannhardt, and Johnson—(14). Noes—(0). Motion carried.
Motion was made by Member Saline and seconded by Member Parsons to
approve the bid for
Motion was made by Member Bacon and seconded by Member Sandoval to
approve the bid for Workman’s Compensation Insurance. Member Johnson stated
the recommendation was for Alternative Service Contract. One of the advantages
of this company is that they stay with the claim even if it takes several years.
Roll call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Stewart, Occhi, Knapp,
Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt,
and Johnson—(14). Noes—(0). Motion carried.
Motion was made by Member Johnson and seconded by Member Saline to
approve the bid for County Computer Information and Technology Coordinator to
R-Cubed Technologies. Member Saline shared that he was impressed with the eleven
bids that were presented. The recommended bid is not the lowest bid. However,
for a variety of reasons the committee feels that it is the best bid. Their
resume was outstanding. This company will adjust their hours to avoid expensive
overtime rates. Roll call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Stewart,
Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons,
Mannhardt, and Johnson—(14). Noes—(0). Motion carried.
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Roberts to
approve the termination of the current contract agreement with Tri-Lutions on
Motion was made by Member Bacon and seconded by Member Link to approve
the removal from the table and approve the County gas bids. Roll call vote is
recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Stewart, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon,
Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt, and Johnson—(14). Noes—(0).
Motion carried. Sheriff James Thompson addressed the Board saying that he did
receive one additional bid. Estimates are that this bid would save 10-15¢ a
gallon. He recommended that the Board proceed with this bid process. This would
go through an independent distributor. Member Pickrel expressed concerns about
working with an independent station. Sheriff Thompson said that he expected bids
would be about 5¢ a gallon above the cost. Right now we are paying about 20¢
above their cost. Member Johnson stated that it would not hurt to advertise for
bids. Chairman Occhi said that it would be placed on the next meeting’s
agenda.
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Roberts to
approve the proposed fiscal year 2005-2006 County Budget. It will be on display
in the
Motion was made by Member Link and seconded by Member Johnson to move the
2nd County Board Meeting in November to November 28, 2005. Voice vote
as follows: Ayes--(14), Noes—(0).
Motion carried.
Member Johnson presented a short report of his attendance at the UCCI
Conference held in
Motion was made by Member Porter and seconded by Member Knapp to approve
the resolution on the County use of financial institutions. Treasurer Robin
Davis stated that this is a general housekeeping item. She passed out
information which contained a list of the financial institutions that the County
routinely does business with. Voice vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(14).
Noes—(0). Motion carried.
John Kennedy presented the animal control business report and the update
on PA-094-0639 the Public Health and Safety Animal Population Control Act. He
reminded Board Members of the information included in the Member packets. This
new law, also referred to as “Anna’s Bill”, was named after Anna
Cieslewicz, who was attacked and killed by stray dogs in the Dan Ryan Woods. In
our opinion this law goes after the law abiding citizen by creating additional
fines. The Health Department doesn’t support this any more than we do.
In November, we plan to present our own version of this law to the State
Legislature. This re-writes several points of this law. We do have a lot of
support as legislators now see the effects of this. However, we need to proceed
as if this law will take effect January 1. That means that there will be
different licensing fees and increases in the registration fees. There will be a
lot of added costs to monitor these funds. At the next department meeting he
will have a list of recommendations on how to implement these changes. This will
be brought to the full
John Kennedy also spoke asking approval for permission to seek a
replacement for the Knox County Rabies Administrator whose term expires
Rod Cleair presented the Mary Davis Home business report. For the month
of September we have averaged about 37 clients, with 30 of those outside of the
County. Therefore, we were able to bill out $83,720. When he left the Mary Davis
Home today, there were 35 clients and 8 of those from
He did receive a budgetary estimate of slightly more than $120,000 for
the gas pumps, which in his opinion seemed high. He also is getting bids for the
new security system.
As regards the issue of 17 year olds being housed in juvenile detention,
he reported that it seems that this issue is dead for the fall session. However,
he feels that it will reappear for the spring session.
Joyce Skinner presented the assessor/zoning report. She had contacted the
attorney from Briggs Manufacturing in Abingdon. They had asked for an assessment
of $249,000 and originally our assessment was for $226,670 for a difference of
$22,640. Probably the
Late the previous afternoon she had received the multiplier study and
plans to publish next week. As a whole the County is only over assessed by 1%.
Until she breaks that down by individual townships, she doesn’t expect more
than a 1-1 ½ % drop from last year. That is not counting new construction. As a
whole she expects the EAV to be a 1 or 1.5.
She did send letters to the other taxing money asking them to contribute
a portion of the appraisal costs.
Member Johnson stated that if this dropped EAV figure is correct, it will
have a large impact on the coming budget. Revenues may have to be adjusted.
Larry Larson presented the landfill business report. Waste revenues are
down
1% to
2% compared to what they were during this time last year. In part this is due to
the high price for fuel. We are continuing to work on the tarp machine. The
furnace at the landfill building needs to be replaced. Since the replacement
cost is under $5,000, this won’t have to be bid out.
Duane Ratermann presented the highway business report. Currently they are
working on a joint project in
Motion was made by Member Mannhardt and seconded by Member Stewart to
approve the preliminary engineering service agreement with Shive-Hattery for a
concrete box culvert design for County Highway 39; Section 05-00142-00-BR. Duane
Ratermann stated that this is to hire a structural engineer to design this
culvert. This same firm has designed a culvert for
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Link to approve
the resolution on the re-appointment of the Knox County Highway Engineer. Roll
call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Stewart, Occhi, Knapp, Link,
Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt, and
Johnson—(14). Noes—(0). Motion carried.
Marianne Wiesen presented the Nursing Home business report. She reminded
Board Members of the information contained in their Member packets. Included is
a list of the tags that they received from CMS, from when they did their life
safety survey. Some of these things have already been remedied. However, she
expects the entire bill to total $20,000to $25,000. This should be done by
February 2006.
By next January all new employees will have to have an FBI fingerprint
done. The Knox County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to do that at no charge.
Currently we have approximately $183,000 in our account.
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Roberts to
approve the bid for automatic doors from Johnson Building Systems for $27,800.
Treasurer Robin Davis said that currently there is $1,345,982.69 in the
referendum account. Marianne Wiesen asked the Board not to approve this
particular item. Although it would be nice, we have other priorities. Roll call
vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(0). Noes—Porter, Stewart, Occhi, Knapp,
Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt,
and Johnson—(14). Motion failed.
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Porter to
approve the bid from Johnson Building Systems including alternate 1, alternate 3
and $85,000 for carpeting to remodel wings 3 and 4 for total price of
$526,901.00. Marianne Wiesen stated that these bids include the installation of
the Integrity tubs and this will make the bathrooms
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Saline to
approve the request to allow accrued vacation and holiday time to be paid out
over a period of not over 90 days after
Motion was made by Member Parsons and seconded by Member Mannhardt to
approve the revision of rates for private pay residents from a mixed rate to a
flat rate effective
Marianne Wiesen reported that they will be getting delivery on the new
van in about two weeks. Basically, when they looked up the Kelly Blue
Book value on the old 1993 station wagon, they learned that it has no
cash value. She asked for direction from the Board on what to do with this
vehicle. Rod Cleair told her to take it to an auction house and various Board
Members agreed.
Chris Wood presented the GIS business report. He gave a short
demonstration to show what GIS is all about and what it can do for the County.
While examining land use layers, he has discovered inaccuracies. One example is
the road center line. IDOT is willing to share their road center line data with
us. This data would save him about six months of work. He hopes to complete his
part of the land use layer by Christmas and then that data would be sent to
Sidwell for an error check. It could take 4-6 weeks to get the data back from
them.
He had also received a call from someone who desires to acquire our
parcel information. He thinks that it would be appropriate to charge her for
this information. The State’s Attorney has not yet reached an opinion on this
matter, but has it under advisement. If we can sell this information to
companies it would offset some of the costs involved in establishing this
system. He would choose to give the raw parcel data, but not the personal data
tied to it.
Motion was made by Member Johnson and seconded by Member Bacon to approve
the agreement with Sidwell to construct the GIS land use layer for $31,300.
Chris Wood stated that he would rather do this himself. He had talked with
County Clerk Scott Erickson to determine the state requirements so that the
County can obtain the multiplier. Mr. Erickson addressed that issue saying that
he had talked with the Department of Revenue. In order to be complaint with
them, we would have to send a letter of intent or plan of action to them. We are
currently in compliance with state requirements as long as we continue to make
forward progress toward completing this project. Chris Wood stated that we would
work to complete this as soon as possible. He recommended that the Board not
approve this measure. Roll call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(0). Noes—Porter,
Stewart, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Hevland, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts,
Parsons, Mannhardt, and Johnson—(14). Motion failed.
STATEMENTS OF
GENERAL CONCERN
Member Porter, Member Stewart, Chairman Occhi, Member Knapp, and Member
Link had no comments at this time.
Member Pickrel commented about the system of meeting as a committee of
the whole. He would like to return to the committee system and would like to see
it on the next agenda for discussion. Also we should discuss the
Member Bacon, Member Hevland, Member Saline, Member Sandoval, Member
Roberts, Member Parsons, and Member Mannhardt had no comments at this time.
Member Johnson commented that he agreed with Member Pickrel. He thinks
that those two items should be placed on the agenda for the first meeting in
November for discussion. At the second November meeting a vote should be taken.
Chairman Occhi announced that that next regular meeting will be held on
The meeting was declared to be recessed at