BUTLER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Monday, August 22, 2005

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

Commission Chairman Mike Wheeler called the Butler County Board of Commissioners to order at 9:00 a.m.  Present were Commissioner Will Carpenter, Commissioner Randy Doll, Commissioner Randy Waldorf, Commissioner Dan Woydziak, Administrator Will Johnson Jr., and Clerk Recorder Tammy Bridges. 

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Commissioner Doll motioned to approve the minutes of the Butler County Commission Meetings of Monday, August 15, 2005 as written and Tuesday, August 16, 2005 as amended.  Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0. 

 

ITEM #1 – RECEIVE AND OPEN BIDS FOR 2005 SHERIFF REPLACEMENT VEHICLES

Butler County Undersheriff, Roy Raney, came before the Board for approval to receive and open bids for the 2005 Sheriff’s Department replacement vehicles.  The capital outlay line in the Sheriff’s budget shows a sum of $265,430.00.  Bids were received from Fenton Ford.

 

Commissioner Waldorf motioned to receive the bids for the 2005 Sheriff’s Department replacement vehicles and allow the Sheriff to review the bids and return with his recommendation to the Commission on August 23, 2005.  Commissioner Woydziak seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0.

 

Kayla Garman and Keri Myers, of the United Way, came before the Board to thank the Commissioners for their contribution to the United Way and presented them with t-shirts.  The County contributed $10,000 last year, compared to $800 the year before.  They stated that this year’s goal is $219,000.

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ITEM #2 – WORK SESSION – UPDATE ON 2005 FLU VACCINE PROGRAM 

Carol Borger, Director of the Butler County Health Department, came before the Board to update the Commission on the 2005 Flu vaccine.  Ms. Borger stated that she hasn’t been informed as to when the vaccine will arrive or how much we will receive.  Her best estimate regarding the cost is that each vial will be $100 to$110.  Each vial provides 10 shots.  She stated that there are 55 million doses being made by Advantis for distribution in the United States, and the County has ordered 3,500 doses.  Chairman Wheeler asked about the Avian Flu and Ms. Borger stated that there are no cases of Avian Flu in the United States.

 

ITEM #3 – WORK SESSION – MEMBERSHIP AND APPOINTMENTS TO THE COUNTY RECYCLE TASK FORCE

Darryl C. Lutz, P.E., Director of Public Works, came before the Board to discuss appointments to the County Recycle Committee.  The committee will be comprised of two members from each County Commission district plus one member from each City of the 2nd Class.  Additionally, the committee membership may include a County Commissioner, County Recycle Coordinator, and other representatives as may be appropriate. 

Mr. Lutz recommended that each County Commissioner solicit people to serve in the unfilled positions of the recycle committee to represent the interests of each respective County Commission District.

 

Mr. Lutz reminded the Board of the Road Viewing in Clay Township tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.  Commissioners Waldorf, Wheeler, and Woydziak are the designated viewers.

 

Commissioner Woydziak stated that he and Darryl Lutz, Director of Public Works, met with the owners of SW Butler Quarry, Ronnie Bannon and Warren Harshman along with the property owners adjacent to SW 167th Street.  The Quarry owners are required to build-up

SW 167th Street into a two-lane road and have been at a standstill acquiring the easements.  Mr. Lutz stated that in lieu of money for easements, the landowners would donate easements to the County, and in turn, they would receive a receipt for the donation.  Mr. Woydziak said in the tax bracket they are in, a tax credit is more viable to them than a few thousand dollars in cash.  Commissioner Woydziak stated that the donation has to come through a government agency in order to receive the tax break.  Darryl Lutz stated that since this is a major right-of-way acquisition, a third party appraiser would be used to appraise the donated property.  We currently have 30 feet of right-of-way and 80 feet is needed.  The Commissioners agreed that this sounds reasonable.

 

Mr. C. L. Williams of Williams Farms came before the Board and stated that he received a letter from Rod Compton, Director of Planning and Development, regarding the operation of a trucking facility on his property located at 10756 SE Satchell Creek Road.  The letter noted that the property had been approved for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to store small construction trailers, but did not address the use of the property for a trucking operation.  The trucking operation must be brought into compliance by either obtaining a CUP or by having the property rezoned to a district that would allow a trucking operation.  Commissioner Doll stated that he has received phone calls complaining about Mr. Williams’ non-compliance with his CUP.  Mr. Williams stated that he had a permit for construction trailers that have since been removed from the property.  He said that he farms, ranches, and runs a home-based business of hauling boxed beef and cattle.  Mr. Williams stated that he stores his trucks at home and services them out of his shop at his house.  He said that he has talked with all his neighbors, and they don’t have a problem with him.  It was the consensus of the Board that this is an ag-related business.  Staff will prepare and present a letter before the Board stating that Mr. Williams can continue his trucking operation on his property. 

 

RECESS

Commissioner Wheeler recessed the Board for 5 minutes at 10:20 a.m.

 

RECONVENE

Commissioner Wheeler reconvened the Board at 10:25 a.m.

 

ITEM #4 – WORK SESSION – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Administrator Johnson stated that on Friday, he met with Irene Hart, Community Development Director for Sedgwick County.  The Chamber and the City of Wichita perform the Economic Development function in Sedgwick County.  Administrator Johnson said that he received no response to his e-mail that was sent to the cities for input.  Commissioner Doll stated that he received a letter from the Kansas Small Business Development Center at Wichita State University.  Their function is to work with the Board to help develop direction and structure in creating Economic Development. 

 

RECESS TO EXECUTIVE SESSION

Commissioner Doll motioned to recess the Board meeting to Executive Session at 10:45 a.m. for 15 minutes until 11:00 a.m. to discuss personnel matters of non-elected personnel.   Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.  Those in attendance were Commissioners Carpenter, Doll, Waldorf, Wheeler, Woydziak, and Administrator Johnson.

 

RECONVENE

Commissioner Wheeler reconvened the Board at 11:20 a.m.

 

APPROVAL OF VOUCHERS

Commissioner Carpenter motioned to approve the vouchers for August 22, 2005 in the amount of $408,811.00.  Commissioner Woydziak seconded the motion.  Motion carried 4-0.

 

OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Commissioner Woydziak stated that there is a problem with special assessments in Rose Hill. 

He said that some names were published in the paper as being delinquent in not paying their taxes when they didn’t know the taxes were due.  Mark Detter stated that last year the Clerk’s office discovered that in 1999 when Mary Walker was Clerk, there was a group of special assessments from Rose Hill that were sent to the County with the full 15 year spread and only the first 5 years were entered into the system.  While the tax statements were being printed, it was discovered at the last minute that some properties were missing Rose Hill specials. 

 

We had a variety of statements that we had to amend and send letters out to the taxpayers.  It appears that several of the mortgage companies only got the original bill or just disregarded the second bill.  The amended statement was not the one that mortgage companies were paying taxes on.  There are several households in Rose Hill that have this dilemma. 

 

Mr. Detter stated people he has talked to are saying it was wrong for their name to be put in the paper and are asking for a retraction.  Neal Parrish, Treasurer, talked to Norm Manley, County Counsel about retracting their names.  Norm Manley is advising that we can’t retract the names because the taxes are owed.  Commissioner Waldorf stated that we could put out a press release stating this was a problem.  He said that we owe these people something, especially the ones that are being printed for the first time.

 

Commissioner Carpenter asked when we knew about it.  The Clerk’s Office caught the error and generated corrected tax bills last November, at the same time the regular tax bills were being printed.  The corrected information was given to the Treasurer to substitute for the original tax statements. The problem did not come back to light until the Treasurer printed the delinquent tax roll.  It was then discovered that they had accepted partial payments from some mortgage companies and did not notify them that more tax was due.  There appears to be two issues; some mortgage companies paid the first half of the specials but not the second half, they obviously received the corrected statement and there was some accounting glitch on their

part.  There was another group of mortgage companies that did not pay any of the specials; the problem there is less obvious, we do not know if they did not receive the corrected statement or just did not get it to the correct people to get it entered into their system.

 

Administrator Johnson stated that the Wind Farm Tour with PPM Energy that was scheduled for tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at the Elk River Wind Farm Site has been cancelled.

 

Commissioner Wheeler stated that he wanted to address the Wholesale Water District issue with the City of El Dorado.

 

Commissioner Wheeler stated that he wanted David Kehler to come before the board to give farm facts on Butler County agriculture.

 

Administrator Johnson stated that the tax sale would be September 14, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.

 

Administrator Johnson stated that the Kansas Renewable Energy Efficiency Conference is September 20 and 21, 2005, and noted that September 21 is the same day as the ICI Board training.

 

Commissioner Waldorf motioned to amend the Abates approval #2231from last week to read $106,949.60 instead of $107, 361.24, due to a miscalculation.  Commissioner Woydziak seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.

 

Rod Compton, Director of Planning and Development, came before the Board with a request from Mr. Koehn regarding bulk fertilizer storage.  He uses the fertilizer on his farm and also wants to sell it to others.  Mr. Koehn is requesting to set up some bulk storage facilities at his homestead east of Elbing.  He would be working with and selling the fertilizer to farmers in the area.  Mr. Compton stated that he recommends a permitted use with certain restrictions that would allow that activity in an agricultural zoning district.  Stipulations would also need to be made that any bulk storage had to be at least 1,000 feet from a house on another property. 

 

Rod Compton, Director of Planning and Development, stated that he is in the process of meeting with communities regarding the Comprehensive Plan.

 

ADJOURNMENT

Commissioner­ Woydziak motioned to adjourn the meeting of the Board at 11:55 a.m.  Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion.  Motion carried 5-0.