Commission Minutes
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2021
NO COMMISSIONER MEETINGS – CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
9:00 AM CONVENE
PRESENT: Roy Rost, Chairman; Kevin Braun, Member; Kelsey DuCharme, Recording Secretary
ABSENT: Steve Baldwin, Member
FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
The Pledge of Allegiance was held in the Commissioner’s Office to start off the week. PUBLIC COMMENT –AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
No one appeared for public comment.
Commissioner Braun made the motion to approve the minutes from August 30 – September 3, 2021, as presented. Commissioner Rost seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 2 Ayes. 0 Nays. 1 Absent (Commissioner Baldwin). The motion carried.
9:22 AM Mindi Murnion, Public Health Specialist joined the meeting.
Permission for Rotation of Hours – Public Health Staff- Mindi explained that with COVID the way it is and influenza season coming, the Public Health staff would like to stagger their hours. The hours would be 7 AM – 4
PM, 8 AM – 5 PM, and 9 AM – 6 PM. There will be no overtime and the overall hours worked will stay the same. These hours will be on a trial period until November 15th, but the Commission is fine with continuing after that time frame if needed.
Commissioner Braun made the motion to allow the Public Health staff to stagger their hours. The hours will be
7 AM – 4 PM, 8 AM – 5 PM, and 9 AM – 6 PM. Commissioner Rost seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 2 Ayes. 0 Nays. 1 Absent (Commissioner Baldwin). The motion carried.
9:32 AM Mindi left the meeting.
9:44 AM Kimberly Jensen, AP Clerk joined the meeting.
Fire Extinguishing Service Updates- Kimberly was questioning the status on the bid for Johnson Controls for the fire extinguishers. The amendment to the contract has been sent from Johnson Controls. The Commissioners explained that Commissioner Baldwin was going to discuss with FMC to get on the same page with their fire extinguishers and services needing to be done. The Commission would like to wait to speak with him before moving forward. The companies that were previously contracted will need to be contacted to inform them that their services are no longer needed.
9:53 AM Kimberly left the meeting.
9:57 AM Mitch Overn, Shop Mechanic joined the meeting.
9:58 AM Debbie Wyrick, Deputy Clerk and Recorder; Julie Straub, HRM joined the meeting.
9:59 AM Bobby Wiedmer, Road Superintendent; Mark Sieler, Road Foreman joined the meeting.
Shop Updates- Mitch reported that there was a problem with the window in the Acadia. The grill guard has been replaced in the Odyssey. The windshield on the Landfill loader is ready to be replaced as well. The Road Crew is still waiting for the transmission brace for the scraper. It will need to be welded.
Questions on County Policy- There has been questions about the policy for County employees taking time
off for funerals of previous County employees. In the past, the Commission has allowed the Road Crew to be paid regular time for attending a previous co-workers funeral, meaning they did not have to use sick or vacation leave. The Commission has recently made a policy change that allows employees to use sick leave for funerals; in which the policy previously stated that only vacation time could be used for someone other than immediate family. The Commission is looking to revise the policy further at a later time. The cleanest and easiest way would be to stick with the policy and have all employees use vacation or sick leave for funerals, no matter the circumstance. The Commission made the decision that for the previous funeral that took place and is in question, employees will
not be required to use sick or vacation leave. The employees will be given back their two hours of leave; further discussion will take place next week.
Commissioner Braun made the motion to follow the previous practice and give the Road Crew employees their two hours back of leave for attending a previous County employee’s funeral recently. The policy will be discussed further next week. Commissioner Rost seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 2 Ayes. 0 Nays. 1 Absent (Commissioner Baldwin). The motion carried.
10:21 AM Mitch, Mark, Julie, and Debbie left the meeting.
Road Updates- The Road Crew is busy hauling gravel this week, which will be able to continue as long as there is moisture. They have not yet been able to finish graveling Hay Creek Road. Bobby would like to go out to bid for gravel, as they are going to run out soon. Bobby will get bid specs put together and it will go on the agenda next week. Discussion on types and hardness of gravel.
10:34 AM Bobby left the meeting.
10:55 AM Lisa Mitchell, Ambulance Director joined the meeting.
10:59 AM Julie Straub, HRM; Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder joined the meeting.
Patient Care Reports/Letter from Montana Department of Administration- The Commission is concerned that there are remaining Patient Care Reports that need to be done. There are five left to complete at this time, in which Lisa feels she can get done with today. She understands that she got behind on the reporting and will continue to work to keep them updated at a better pace. Lisa explained that she has asked for assistance before, which would help expedite the process, as well as needing better communication with FMC. The audit report for the last two fiscal reports they have been written up for the Ambulance receivables. A letter from the Montana Department of Administration has been received by the County because of the findings of the Ambulance receivables in the audit reports. The reports are continuously late, causing auditing issues and potential funds that the State will withhold. The County is missing out on this revenue, which is now causing the State of
Montana to be involved. Every ambulance run must be documented and validated at the end of each month. Lisa
explained that there is nobody on the service that is trained in this area and would like to hire a part-time employee. The Commission is not interested in hiring another employee. Discussion that the validation of the
runs must be at the top of the priority list. The scope of work for the Ambulance Director was reviewed, as it is an
exempt position. The main scope of work must be administrative duties, as patient care and ambulance runs are not exempt work. The letter from the Montana Department of Administration must be responded to about the correction of these actions. The Commission will give a report and explain that there has been notice given to the employees involved and that the PCR’s are now caught up.
EMS Updates- Yesterday, Lisa worked with another constituent about developing lesson plans and scheduling the trainings for the upcoming fall classes. Both Baker and Ekalaka are teaming up together for the next session. At the end of the current training, that started before COVID, Lisa expects there to be six new EMT’s. The new class will start training on October 1st.
11:39 AM Brenda left the meeting.
11:44 AM Lisa and Julie left the meeting.
11:47 AM Commissioner Braun made the motion to take a noon recess. Commissioner Rost seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 2 Ayes. 0 Nays. 1 Absent (Commissioner Baldwin). The motion carried.
NOON RECESS
1:15 PM RECONVENE
PRESENT: Roy Rost, Chairman; Steve Baldwin, Kevin Braun, Members; Kelsey DuCharme, Recording Secretary
FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
PUBLIC COMMENT –AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
No one appeared for public comment.
1:24 PM Mary Grube, Administrative Assistant Planner joined the meeting.
Planning Updates- Next week, Mary will be attending the Montana Planners Conference in Missoula. The following week she plans to attend the virtual American Planners Conference. The Zoning Commission has been working on the zoning regulations for the City of Baker. She has had ongoing communication with the City of Baker regarding the interlocal agreement with the Planning Department and are looking at possibly upgrading the fees to cover more planning work that is done. There have been three different floodplain permits coming through. The Town of Plevna has a conditional use permit that is coming up in November. Mary is working with the different municipalities to take a look into their zoning fees, as they are lower than many other areas. The City of Baker is looking at doing electrical work in the McClain Park and will need a floodplain permit for this. Mary is attending a few professional development online workshops during her lunch hours. The Subdivision Regulations will be updated in October. Mary feels her schedule has been working well since the Planning Office is closed to the public on Fridays.
1:40 PM Mary left the meeting.
2:00 PM Debbie Wyrick, Deputy Clerk and Recorder joined the meeting.
Payroll/PERS Discussion- Debbie contacted PERS last week to discuss the upcoming County stipend and how to make the adjustment in the payroll system. It will be considered a bonus, not a stipend. There will be no contributions from employee or employer on the money. It shouldn’t create much of a tax consequence. Eligible County employees will be given notification of the bonus. Part-time employees will be given a bonus based on the hours they were working, not scheduled. Intermittent employees will not be eligible. Employees hired in the fiscal year 2020-2021 will be paid based on their hours worked as well.
2:17 PM Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder joined the meeting.
Audit Discussion- The Auditors were here last week and explained that the County cannot give money to non-profit organizations. They are concerned about the Senior Center. The letter from the Montana Department of Administration for EMS was also a point of concern.
2:23 PM Melissa Higbee, Alissa Miller, EPEDC joined the meeting.
2:25 PM Debbie and Brenda left the meeting.
Eastern Plains Updates- Eastern Plains has been busy working on the Tourism grant for the Façade Improvement for the Museum. Amounts associated and information regarding the grant will come out in late November. Beth Epley has been working on the start-up procedures for the Preservation Grant for the
foundation of the Jail Building of the Museum as well. The motorcycle loop maps have been delivered all the way to Sturgis. There will be a free online training for Excel in September. Re-Imagining Rural will take place on September 13th, 27th, and October 4th. The Commission does plan to attend. An operation manual is still needed before the Baker Watermain Project can be closed out. Alissa explained that there is a Food and Agriculture study they are working on for our region, which includes most of Eastern Montana. There will be a workshop held in Wolf Point. There will also be a local meat market and processing workshop in Circle on November 3rd. Discussion on possible available grants that the County could potentially apply for if interested.
2:37 PM Melissa and Alissa left the meeting.
2:56 PM Stacey Moore, Director of Library Services joined the meeting.
Library Updates- The patron count for the Library in June, July and August were extremely high, which Stacey was more than happy to see. During the Summer Reading Program, they averaged 41 children a day and 7 adults. They were able to go on two field trips during the program. The Genealogy project is all finished up, they are just working on correcting any mistakes. They will continue to update the newspapers as they come out. All current obituaries are in binders and indexed as well. There are two active book clubs using the Library. The new copier/printer has been received, the old one went to FMC. Storytime will start this Thursday.
Permission to Purchase Digitization Key- The key for the digitization machine will no longer update and
doesn’t work. A new key for the program will be about $2,500 and is in the budget. The new key does not have an expiration, so it will always be updated as long as the County has the machine. The Commission gave their permission.
Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to purchase a new digitization key for the Library. Commissioner Braun seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.
3:10 PM Stacey left the meeting.
3:30 PM – The Commission attended the Millennium Sidewalk Project walk-through with Shannon Hewson, Brosz Engineering and Buck Kratzer, Kratzer Construction.
4:00 PM The Commission returned to the meeting. COMMISSION WORK SESSION
The Commission reviewed, revenues received, reports, emails and other correspondence, board minutes and
agendas. They also signed the bid proposal for the removal of the Airport underground storage tanks for the
Fuel System Project. The Plevna K-12 – FY22 budget report was signed as well. The Commission signed the Town
Pump Charitable Foundation Grant Acknowledgment for Emergency Medical and Ambulance. The Airport
Project Reimbursement request was also signed.
Commissioner Braun made the motion to appoint Pete Rising to the Fallon County Weed Board. Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none.
3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.
The Commission reviewed and approved timesheets for the month of August 2021 in the amount of
$645,437.12. They are filed in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.
CLAIMS APPROVAL-
The Commission reviewed and approved the end of the month claims for the end of the month of August 2021 in the amount of $525,218.37. They are filed in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.
5:05 PM Commissioner Braun made the motion to recess for the evening. Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion
carried unanimously.
EVENING RECESS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
9:00 AM RECONVENE
PRESENT: Roy Rost, Chairman; Steve Baldwin, Kevin Braun, Members; Kelsey DuCharme, Recording Secretary
FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
PUBLIC COMMENT – AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
No one appeared for public comment.
9:16 AM Shyla Hadley, Fairgrounds Manager joined the meeting.
Fair Updates- Shyla reviewed the ticket sales for the 2021 Fair. A breakdown of each event was provided to the Commission. Overall, ticket sales were much better than previous years. The night show was very well attended. Most of the sponsorships have paid as well. For upcoming events, Shyla would like to look into having a drive-inn movie or host Christmas parties. The bylaws for the Rodeo Committee have been sent to Darcy Wassmann, County Attorney. Shyla is still waiting to hear back. Discussion on the Fair events and areas that were affected by the weather.
9:42 AM Sara Berger, Weed Control Coordinator joined the meeting.
9:43 AM Shyla left the meeting.
Weed Department Updates- There are no seasonal employees remaining on the Weed Crew. Sara has been working on finishing up some spot spraying areas. RDO delivered the side-by-side. Sara is looking at doing a
few in-person trainings this year, including the MWCA Board Retreat in Emigrant in September and the Fall
Managers training in October in Lewistown. The Commission agreed.
9:51 AM Sara left the meeting.
9:55 AM Commissioner Baldwin left the meeting.
10:01 AM Mike Madler, Contractor; Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder; Cindy Irgens, Recording Clerk joined the meeting.
Road Report- Mike gave the Commission an overview of what has been done so far regarding the County
Road records. He is still waiting on an attorney opinion as far as some of the abandonments, etc. The goal of the project is to review County Road records and mapping in Fallon County and make recommendations for a future project to make changes or correct any deficiencies. After this, the Clerk and Recorder’s Office will know more about what is needed to complete a Request for Proposal and potential costs. Discussion on all that Mike has done thus far in the project.
10:11 AM Commissioner Baldwin returned to the meeting.
Discussion on the petitioning process and what it entails to make a road a County Road. There are multiple areas of questions that need to be resolved by attorneys. These items will need to be included into the RFP as well.
10:22 AM Mike, Brenda and Cindy left the meeting.
10:23 AM Commissioner Braun made the motion to take a noon 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, Kevin Braun, Members; Kelsey DuCharme, Recording Secretary
FALLON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
PUBLIC COMMENT –AGENDA/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
No one appeared for public comment.
1:28 PM Vaughn Zenko, SMART Director; Ashley Heiser, SMART Assistant joined the meeting.
Updates- The EMEDA has been working with the Montana Cooperative Development Center on starting up a real estate investment cooperative. They plan to get together a pool of investors and purchase vacant properties in the area that are needing work. This will be a non-profit organization, so they are hoping for grants as well. A board of directors will need to be set up to run the cooperative. Fallon County would be the first in the State of Montana to do this as a community. They plan to work on getting community interest and work towards starting out the co-op.
Childcare- The block grant funding came out well with the legislature. It will be ARPA funding grants, meaning no match or pay-backs. The grants have not yet been opened, but they will plan to focus and rank the grants higher with Eastern Montana. They are looking into the areas in Montana where there is no childcare available.
Insurance Store Building- SMART is planning to tackle the Insurance Store building/Baker State Bank building in phases, as it is such a large project. They plan to start with electrical and plumbing work. A haunted house will be held on the upper-level floors. If it is successful, they would like to make the Baker Ghost Tours a permanent attraction. It will be a conjunction between SMART and the Museum.
Chamber- The Fall Festival will be held October 2nd. There will be inflatables, a rock wall, vendors, music,
games, etc. the Calcutta is tentatively planned to be October 23rd. the Baker Chamber is planning to take over the
Recreation Department. A lease agreement with the City for equipment has been signed.
1:53 PM Vaughn and Ashley left the meeting.
1:53 PM Amanda Williams, Extension Agent joined the meeting.
Extension Updates- Amanda explained that this years’ Fair was a good learning experience and has areas she would like to see improvement for next year. National 4-H week will be October 3rd – 9th. There will be window displays around town, as well as newspapers and radio advertisements. Amanda will have her new agent orientation September 14th – 16th in Bozeman, and the annual conference in Billings will be October 11th-14th. Nitrate testing has slowed down a bit over the last few weeks. Water samples are starting to look good as well.
2:00 PM Amanda left the meeting.
2:26 PM Darcy Wassmann, County Attorney joined the meeting.
Haul Route Road Agreement with TC Energy- The County has no issues cancelling the contracts with TC Energy and giving back their bonds. They will not release the bond for the workforce housing until the agreement funds are received by Fallon County. Discussion on the permitting fees with the pipe yards as well. The Clerk and Recorder’s Office will need something in writing explaining the release of the bond for the Road Haul Agreement.
Commissioner Braun made the motion to release the bond with TC Energy for the Road Haul Agreement – Bond #BDTO-860035-118 in the amount of $3,000,000.00. Commissioner Baldwin seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.
3:24 PM Darcy left the meeting.
3:24 PM Brenda Wood, Clerk and Recorder joined the meeting.
BUDGET HEARING TO ADOPT FINAL BUDGET- The Fallon County Commission opened the FY 2022 Budget
Hearing. No members of the public were present.
The Commission closed the Budget Public Hearing, as no members of the public were present.
Commissioner Baldwin made the motion to Adopt the Final Budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022. Commissioner Braun seconded the motion. Commissioner Rost asked for any other discussion; being none. 3 Ayes. 0 Nays. The motion carried unanimously.
3:36 PM Brenda left the meeting. CLAIMS APPROVAL-
The Commission reviewed and approved a special claim run in the amount of $50,965.00. It is filed in the Clerk
and Recorder’s Office.
3:53 PM Willie Benner, Mayor; Mary Grube, Planner Administrative Assistant joined the meeting.
Plevna Planning Interlocal Agreement- Into the interlocal agreement, would like a maximum amount put
in. its not in the new interlocal agreement. Would like to have added that they will pay up to 2500.00. they would like it added for budgeting purposes. Mary explained that she also recommends raising the zoning fees to cover this cost. The Commission agrees with adding that amount to the agreement. The agreement was given to Willie and will be reviewed and approved at the next Town of Plevna Council meeting.
4:05 PM Willie and Mary left the meeting.
4:10 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/Kelsey DuCharme, Recording Clerk
ATTEST:
s/Brenda J. Wood, Clerk and Recorder
8:30 AM – INTERVIEWS
s/Roy Rost, Presiding Officer
