BUTLER
COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Commission Chairman, Bill Shriver, called the Butler County Board of Commissioners to order. Present were Commissioners Randy Doll & Will Carpenter; County Administrator, Jay Newton; and Commission Secretary, Marcy Zwall.
Connie Rausch, Dept. on Aging (DoA) Director, reviewed grants applied for from the Older American Act funds & presented notices of grant awards from each. These grants would provide funding for term of October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. Their amounts have remained the same for the past three funding years. The required matches have been budgeted for in DoA’s budget.
Commissioner Doll moved to accept the Grant Awards for the Department on Aging: Information & Assistance for $21,250; Respite for $9,710; and Physical Fitness for $6,500; and allow the Chair to sign.
Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
Connie Rauch, DoA Director, informed the Board that her son, Mike Rausch, has a 1998 Honda Accord that he wishes to donate to her Department to sell. He indicated to her that the Blue Book value is $3,500.
Commissioner Carpenter moved to accept the 1998 Honda Accord as a donation, and allow the Department on Aging to sell it. Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION
Sgt. Kelly Alexander, of the Butler County Sheriff’s Dept., presented & reviewed the application for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, which would be in the amount of $9,000 with a local match of $1,000. Sgt. Alexander informed the Board that this has been received for the past two years, and allows for the purchase of equipment not budgeted for. He explained that the Sheriff’s Department intends to purchase digital cameras, which would greatly lower other office expenses (i.e. film, development, and copies). In addition, portable radios would be purchased with these funds.
Commissioner Doll moved to allow Sgt. Kelly Alexander to apply for the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant for the purchase of digital cameras and portable radios; and allow the Chair to sign. Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
Sgt. Kelly Alexander also reviewed a program presented by KDOT allowing for sobriety checkpoints. The program would reimburse overtime wages for blocks of 4 hours of saturation patrol and 3-hour check lanes.
Commissioner Doll moved to allow the Butler County Sheriff’s Department to participate in the Kansas Department of Transportation Highway Safety Agreement, which is a reimbursement for wages paid for sobriety checks; and allow the Chair to sign.
Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
Darryl Lutz, County Engineer, presented & reviewed a right-of-way dedication from Michael S. Phillips, noting that this is the result of an approved rezoning & lot split. Further, he stated that it located along the southeast corner of Bluestem Rd. & SE 60th St.
Commissioner Carpenter moved to accept the Road Right-of-Way Dedication from Michael S. Phillips; and allow the Chair to sign.
Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
SW 70th St Project – Quarry Agreement:
This item was tabled last week until proper documents were received.
Darryl Lutz, County Engineer, returned the correct Road & Development Agreement between Butler County, Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. & Crest Quarry Properties, Inc.
Todd Kennemer, Planning & Zoning Director informed the Board that while years ago, the land in question was set aside for quarry use, a Conditional Use Permit is required to operate a quarry. The Quarry has a CUP on NW/4 of Section 8 & the NE/4 of Section 7, but a prior agreement basically allows for free reign on the whole 4-square mile area – codes do not allow for this. Mr. Kennemer said that he is concerned that all of the area in the agreement is not in compliance and needs to be. Mr. Newton advised having Norman Manley review this further.
Commissioner Doll moved to table Item #4, the Road Maintenance Agreement between Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. & Butler County.
Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
Todd Kennemer, Director of Planning & Zoning, presented & reviewed a CUP for a 250’ self-support telecommunications tower. He informed the board that 5 out of the 6 surrounding property owners (within 1000 feet of the property perimeter) have petitioned against this request. At the time notification was given, it was unclear whether notification was to be given to adjacent owners within 1000’ of the affected part of the property, or 1000’ from the whole property’s perimeter. Mr. Newton verified that Norman Manley, County Counselor, has confirmed in the past that notification needs to be given to property owners within 1000’ of the total property perimeter. The Planning Board has recommended approving the CUP request, since it has met all guidelines and necessary requirements.
Some of the adjacent property owners asked to address the Board regarding this issue. Sam Spinden, supplied the Commissioners with a map showing alternative locations for the tower (see attached), commenting that the opposers are not against cell service, just the tower location. He stressed that the areas he proposed are much less populated, whereas the location applied for was surrounded by farms & residences. Further, he noted that the 3rd alternative he gave was the least rocky location, & better for digging for tower foundation. Also, he explained that the further north of DeGraff one goes the worse the electrical power gets. In addition, he was concerned about the tower being too hard to get too for inspection.
Mrs. P. Heymann informed the Board that she lives within ¼-mile of the proposed tower site, allowing for fall-out of the pollution created. In addition, she stated that her home faces the site; therefore, she will not only see the tower out her window everyday, but she will also be affected by the lighting.
Ron Jones, American Tower Representative, was permitted to address these comments as well as any questions by the Board. He informed the Board that site location is not as flexible as one might think, adding that the coverage area, thus location limitation, is approximately a 3-mile radius. He acknowledged that the DeGraff location was rejected, but clarified that it was done so by Verizon’s Engineering staff do to it’s location in regards to other towers. Further, Mr. Jones noted that encroaching on the said 3-mile radius would not only overlap coverage area, but also cause dropped signal area, possibly deeming it necessary for yet another tower. He advised that tower costs about $300,000 to build, & moving the location south or east would interfere with other towers. Moreover, Mr. Jones stated that moving the tower North would leave dead air space, causing a safety issue due to E-911’s use of the signal. He did acknowledge that although a 250-foot tower would eliminate the need for an additional tower elsewhere, American could drop the tower height to 200-foot to ELIMINATE the lighting requirement.
Commissioner Shriver suggested that American Tower study the DeGraff location more to see if they could justify building the tower there. The Board agreed that the need for a tower was evident; however, as representatives of the County residents, they felt another area would be more beneficial.
Commissioner Carpenter moved to table the approval of the Conditional Use Permit for a 250-foot, self-supporting communications tower, until further studies have been done.
Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Commissioner Shriver moved to recess into Executive Session, until 10:55a.m., to discuss pending litigation deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship. Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
The Board reconvened the Regular Session at 11:05a.m.
Construction Engineering Proposal:
Darryl Lutz, County Engineer, informed the Board that, since the County will be providing construction engineering services for the SW 70th Street project, an agreement must be in place. He also stated that the County will receive federal aid funding for 80% of the construction engineering costs, noting that this is included in the Road & Bridge CIP. Mr. Lutz told the Board that the agreement is a standard KDOT form.
Commissioner Doll moved to approve the Proposal for Construction Engineering Services to submit to KDOT for the purposes of Federal Aid reimbursement; and allow the Board to sign.
Commissioner Carpenter seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
Landfill Earthmoving Scraper Repairs:
Darryl Lutz, County Engineer, gave the Commissioners a report of recommended repairs for the Caterpillar 623F, used for hauling dirt for landfill cover. Further, he acknowledged that the amount of repair needing to be done justifies the Caterpillar dealer performing the work. Mr. Lutz estimated the cost at $6,470, noting that it will be paid for out of the Landfill Fund. He did inform the Board that the County would have to haul the equipment to the shop; this cost is not covered in Foley’s estimate.
Commissioner Carpenter moved to authorize the repairs to the Caterpillar 623E Scraper in the amount of $6,470. Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
· Mr. Newton reminded the Commissioners about the KAC Conference on November 18th & 19th, adding that typically one Commissioner is designated as a voting delegate with another Commissioner being an alternate. In addition, he told the Board that many Department Heads or Representatives would attend the conference as well. He announced that, traditionally, there is no Commission Meetings held during this time. Commissioner Carpenter said that he would attend. Commissioner Doll also expressed his interest in attending.
Commissioner Carpenter moved to appoint Commissioner Randy Doll as the voting delegate to the Annual KAC Conference, with Commissioner Will Carpenter appointed as the alternate. Commissioner Shriver seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.
· Darryl Lutz updated the Board on the Santa Fe Lake Road Intersection, west of Augusta. He informed the Commissioners that the design and alignment has been approved; however, the right-of-way acquisition has not begun. He indicated that this step is going to be more complicated and expensive than normal, thus he felt it might be necessary to acquire the services of a professional appraiser. Moreover, he asked permission for he and Mr. Newton to work with one. The Commissioners, assuming the cost of an appraiser would be less than $5,000, told Mr. Lutz to proceed.
· Mr. Newton told the Board that he had received a call from Jeff Bridges. The Andover County Council, requested the Commissioners meet with the Andover City Council regarding the Joint Emergency Facility discussed yesterday. Further, he stated that Mr. Bridges is anxious to get the County’s involvement in the Space Assessment Study. The Board was in agreement that they were not ready to commit to a facility, much less a space needs study. Therefore, Commissioner Doll volunteered to visit with the Council President first, then if the Council still wishes to meet with the Board, allow them to attend a Commission Meeting.
Commissioner Shriver moved, having no further business before the board, to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Doll seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0.