Allen County Commissioners' Meeting Minutes

IOLA, KANSAS
OFFICE OF THE ALLEN COUNTY CLERK
February 24, 2004

The Allen County Board of Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. with Chairperson Kent Thompson, Commissioner Walt Regehr Jr., Commissioner Dick Works, and Sherrie L. Riebel, County Clerk.

Commissioners corrected and approved the minutes of the February 17, 2004 meeting.

Marty Taylor, G.I.S Administrator, presented a map of hay and farm ground at the airport, which will be up for lease. Discussion followed.

Jay Daniels, Courthouse Grounds Keeper, discussed the newly installed light on the courtyard. Discussion followed on the lights being on the grates around the courthouse.

Bill King, Director of Public Works, reported the work at Humboldt Senior Center has been completed.

Bill reported the airport has been gathering information on another fly-in this spring. A new private T-hangar was mentioned but only in the consideration stage. Discussion followed on type and life of a lease.

Bill will bring bid proposals for new radios at next weeks meeting.

Bill presented some bridge proposal information for the commission to review and consider.

Bill discussed Methane gas at the landfill. A thermal coupler was adjusted to allow for more uniform maintenance. A filter was discussed for moisture removal.

Bill announced a gravel road maintenance class would be held April 7^th at the courthouse assembly room for public works personnel.

Bill reported Tank Farm Road east of Monarch Cement will get some maintenance repair work to anticipate more traffic when the bridge on Georgia Rd, east of Humboldt, is receiving a face-lift later this year. Four, forty-eight inch pipes will be used to allow for water drainage.

Commissioners toured the new jail.

Alan Weber, Allen County Councilor, discussed errors and omissions in the jail contract with the contractors.

Mark Ledbetter, Westra Construction Inc Project Manager, Terry Knupp, Westra Construction Inc. Site Superintendent, Hugh Lester, Shaughnessy Fickel & Scott, Robbie Atkins, Allen County Sheriff, Roy Smith, Undersheriff, reviewed the advancement of the jail construction. Mark presented an updated contractors schedule. Discussion followed on flooring for the remodeled court area and within the jail. Mark discussed Westra doing a punch list on the new jail. He stated this is done before the Commissioners do their punch list. Discussion followed on time limits for the contractors on the punch list.

Mark discussed training issues in the jail, like on the generator and etc. He stated Westra records all their training so that new hires can be taught by videos. Discussion followed. He stated the Sheriff’s department training would need to be scheduled. Sheriff Atkins stated he is in the process of hiring 12 jailers and need to schedule the new hires with the current employees. Mark stated the contractor would be responsible for cleaning the air ducts once the job is completed. He stated Westra would be responsible for cleaning the rest of the jail. Discussion followed on the maintance of the jail.

Mark read a letter from Westra in response of the letter from the Commissioners concerning some issues on the jail. He stated all the proposed change orders are under $10,000 for the total. Change orders have not been approve by the commissioners yet. Mark discussed the honeycombing on the back of the concrete curbs and it will be patched. Discussion followed on the excessive cracking of the curbs. Discussion followed on connection joints and chips out of the pre-casting. Westra will be doing security caulking and grouting to fix some of the issues.

Mark had some issues from Westra concerning billing. Discussion followed.

Commissioners reviewed the annual report on Iola’s portion of Fire District #2.

Commissioners approved the following documents:

a) Clerk's Journal Entries # 9-11

b) Clerk’s Vouchers totaling $ 51,573.59

c) Employee pay changes

d) Abatements PP Value 1083, $164.52, Year 2000

e) Abatements PP Value1271, $213.42, Year 2001

f) Abatements PP Value 1598, $270.38, Year 2002

g) Abatements PP Value 24,331, $3716.86, Year 2003

h) Abatements TK Value121, $12.00, Year 2003

i) Abatements RE Value 1484, $227.98, Year 2003

With no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned until March 2, 2004 at 8:30 a.m. in the Commission room of the courthouse.

Please remember, minutes are unofficial until approved by the commissioners' at their next meeting.