10 W Fallon Ave Baker, MT 59313
Fallon County of Montana

Commission Minutes August 8-12, 2022

Commission Minutes August 8-12, 2022

 MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022

9:00 AM CONVENE

PRESENT: Roy Rost, Chairman; Steve Baldwin and Kevin Braun, Members; Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder

FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE

The Pledge of Allegiance was held in the Commissioner’s Office to start off the week.

9:00AM PUBLIC COMMENT –AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS

          Dale Butori-DES/911 Coordinator-Updated the Commission on 911 upgrades. Discussed hooking up to the State of Montana; Dale is seeking answers from other counterparts. Dale has been offered two (2) new consoles from the State of Montana; we would have two (2) County and two (2) State.  Discussed the consoles from the State would be owned by the State of Montana and the State would pick up the service agreements. Will need to make a decision at some point if the County wants to go with the state or stand-alone system. 

9:15 AM COMMISSIONER MINUTES APPROVAL FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 1-5, 2022.

Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to approve the minutes from August 1-5, 2022, with corrections. Commissioner Braun seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.

9:30 AM INTRODUCTION/BEAUTIFICATION OF COUNTY GROUNDS/Tod Passmore, LOJ Organics; Robbie Christiaens, Maintenance Supervisor

          Tod met to introduce himself, products, and services he has available to assist with beautification of grounds. Tod shared before and after photos to exemplify his services, left his price sheet and card with his contact information. 

9:35 AM Tod left the meeting.

10:00 AM ROAD/SHOP UPDATES/Mark Sieler, Road Foreman; Mitch Overn and Carl Overland, Shop Mechanics

          Road Updates-Pulling shoulders to get material on the road and shape them up in preparation of mowing season, which starts in a week.

          Shop Updates-Everything is running fairly smoothly; Mark Feland, RDO was contacted regarding the loader; flushing the system will not be a charge. Repairing some hydraulic leaks on mulchers and working on some other minor items.  The old pickup from the Golf Course does not run; decision not to repair this pickup as it is only used to retrieve fuel for the equipment.

10:05 AM Jasen Wyrick, Wyrick Construction joined.

          Commissioner Baldwin and Mark will visit with a landowner tomorrow about gate removal.

10:06 AM Mark, Mitch and Carl left the meeting.

10:30 AM LAKEVIEW DRIVE STORM SEWER PROJECT BID OPENING/Shannon Hewson, Brosz Engineering

Jasen Wyrick, Wyrick Construction; Kirbye McNamee, Diamond J Construction; Bryce Bishop, Western Municipal Construction

10:31 AM Rich Menger, Sanitarian joined

Shannon read the following bids aloud:

Diamond J Construction-License and Bond included-$413,199.80

Western Municipal Construction-License and Bond included-$547,080.00

Wyrick Construction-License and Bond included-$293,410.00

          Shannon recommended awarding the bid next week Monday, August 15th, to allow time to go through the bids and tally. 

10:36 AM-Jasen, Kirbye and Bryce left the meeting.

          Shannon explained the State will complete the SWIPP; as part of the bid, the contractor is responsible for this process. Shannon will give Rich copies of the permit when he receives it. 

10:45 AM Rich left the meeting.

10:45 AM PROJECTS

          Bonnievale Box Culvert Project-Discussed the water and sewer tie-ins; Agri Industries is the subcontractor Diamond J Construction will be using to bore the lines.  Will need to visit with the landowner to see if they are okay placing the lines the same as before; 100’ of casing will be placed. As soon as landowner gives approval they will proceed. Contractor will be

stripping the forms on Friday. Discussed strength test was to be 4500 psi (currently averaging 3330 psi) and hopefully will be at 4000 at the end of the 30-day cure (18 more days). 

         Lakeview Drive Storm Water Project-Jerin Borrego is the reviewer from the Army Corp of Engineers assigned to the project.

         Bonnievale Box Culvert-Commissioner Braun contacted the landowner, and they are okay with proceeding with the project as it was originally completed. Shannon explained if the test is under 4500 and is accepted, there will be a deduct. 

         Lakeview Drive Storm Water Project-Shannon feels the contractor should be send a request regarding the tentative schedule for the project after the project is awarded.

10:56 AM-Mike Madler joined the meeting.

          City of Baker project-The waterline project is going well.

          ARPA Funding-Discussed the projects the funding can be used for if the County’s project does not use all allocated funds. Town of Plevna previously requested funds from the County for their lagoon project and were told they could have funds if there were funds available after the County submitted its project. North Baker Water Sewer may be looking for funding also; Shannon will contact the NBWS District Secretary to discuss projects.

11:00 AM PROJECT UPDATES

           Mapping Project Updates/Mike Madler-Mike started the project on August 1st and will work Monday through Thursday until the end of September. Scanners are fast and provide good copies. The slow part has been the fragile paper that cannot be fed through the scanner; the sleeves work very well for those documents. There have been some software issues off and on; contract IT is looking into an alternative software for the smaller scanner.  Brosz is sending a person to help Mike with scanning of documents for a couple of days a week. They feel it will move along more quickly when they start scanning Commissioner Proceedings. 

11:10 AM Mike and Shannon left the meeting.

11:28 AM EMS PROGRAM MANAGER UPDATES/Lisa Mitchell, EMS Program Manager

          Transport Policy-Lisa made a few changes to the policy and brought for review.  Commissioner Rost discussed a paragraph he felt should be removed; all Commissioner’s agreed to remove the paragraph in question.  Lisa asked if the Commission had contacted the assisted living facility; they have not.  There will need to be a decision made so that portion of the transport policy can be updated as well. 

          Back pay-The Commission asked if Lisa could get the back pay figures completed so it can be included in the budget.  Lisa should be able to finish that today. 

11:36 AM Lisa left the meeting.

11:38 AM Commissioner Braun made the motion to recess. Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion.

Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.

                    NOON RECESS

1:15 PM RECONVENE

PRESENT: Roy Rost, Chairman; Steve Baldwin and Kevin Braun Members; Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder

FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE

PUBLIC COMMENT – AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS

No one appeared for Public Comment

1:30 PM PERMISSION TO HIRE PUBLIC HEALTH ADMIISTRATIVE ASSISTANT & REQUEST A CHANGE TO DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH HOURS/Kim Bryan, Director of Public Health; Julie Straub, HRM

          Kim would like permission to hire Heather Havens as the Public Health Administrative Assistant. 

Commissioner Braun made the motion to approve hiring Heather Havens as the Administrative Assistant at Public Health.  Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion.  Commissioner Rost ask for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays.  The motion carried unanimously. 

          Kim would like permission to change her hours from 40 to 36 hours per week.  Kim would work from 7 AM to 5 PM and would take a lunch.

1:40 PM Shawn Wiseman, Chief Operating Officer Bank of Baker joined.           

          Kim stated they will keep Public Health opened for lunch and will alternate lunch hours, which will be easier to do when another person is in the office. Kim stated she will leave her hours as they are currently and see how it goes.  This will be placed on the agenda for approval when Kim is ready to make the change.

1:45 PM Kim and Julie left the meeting.

1:45 PM DISCUSS MOVING & SET UP FOR SOLID WASTE TRUST ACCOUNT AT BANK OF BAKER/Shawn Wiseman, Chief Operating Officer-Bank of Baker

          Shawn has been unable to reach Tim Stepp, DEQ-Solid Waste Division.  The CD program is set up at the Bank of Baker and has been tested.  Will need to decide what to name the account and discuss the assignment form sent by the DEQ with Tim Stepp. Commission asked about the fees; the bank is not going to assess fees to the County.  CDs are secured so there will be no loss due to investments.  Through the Wells Fargo Bank, the County was charged exorbitant fees, in addition, through investments, taken a large loss in funds.  The Commission has asked for this change to be good stewards to the County Taxpayers.  We will need to find out how to withdraw the funds from the trust account. 

2:03 PM Shawn Wiseman left the meeting.

2:00 PM MUSEUM PRE-BID MEETING/Terry Sukut, JGA Architects

           There were no contractors in attendance at the pre-bid meeting.  The bid opening is next week; if no bids are received the Commission will make a decision at that time.

2:45 PM Terry left the meeting.

2:45 PM COMMISSIONER WORK SESSION

The Commission reviewed revenues received, reports, emails and other correspondence, board minutes and agendas.

Old Business

          Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to approve the change order request for the Airport Fuel System Project. Change order #1 will extend 3-phase power to the new aviation fuel system at a cost of $17,599.41.  Commissioner Braun seconded the motion.  Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion.  Discussed the reason the project went from single phase to 3-phase was due to the fact the pumps shipped were 3-phase; also, initially did not think 3-phase was available at the Airport.  MDU was contacted and 3-phase is now available at the Airport and is more efficient to run the pumps.  Commissioner Rost asked for any further discussion; being none.  3 Ayes. 0 Nays. Motion carried unanimously.    

          Commission approved a building demolition agreement in which the County agrees to reimburse the landowners 50% of the tipping fee paid by them. 

          Commission approved State of Montana Vendor invoices in the amount of $14,327.37 for grant reimbursement for the Waterfall Project.

Decision to purchase/go out to bid for hook truck

          Hook truck decision-The Commission made the decision to keep looking for a truck under $80,000.  Jeff Frank, Manager of Landfill Operations will be notified. 

3:00 PM Commissioner Braun made the motion to adjourn. Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.

                ADJOURN

                                                                                                                            s/Roy Rost, Presiding Officer

ATTEST:

s/Brenda J. Wood, Clerk and Recorder