County hears concerns on noxious weeds

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

The Red Willow County commissioners fielded complaints about the county's control of noxious weed infestations and conducted hearings for seven budgets during their regular meeting Monday morning.

Jim Wesch of rural McCook told commissioners he sees no worse musk thistle growth between McCook and Fairbury than in Red Willow County. "Don't let the musk thistle become the official flower of Red Willow County," Wesch said.

Wesch said it's not hard to control musk thistle in dry years. "Nothing's growing anyway," he said.

Wesch said it's important to stay with a spraying program, and said he's "a firm believer" in spring spraying.

Commissioner Steve Downer said, however, that a more effective chemical can be used in the fall, and the same chemical is effective on other weeds then also. "Other weeds that have more of an economic impact than musk thistle," Downer said.

Wesch also said he thinks Weed Control Specialist Bill Elliott's follow-up is lacking, after Elliott issues 10-day force-spray notices to landowners who are cited with musk thistle infestations. "His intentions are good," Wesch said, "but you need to look at the end result."

Commission Chairman Earl McNutt said maybe Elliott should report weekly on spraying activities and notices mailed. "It's a nasty job," McNutt said. Downer added, "Especially in the economy and the weather of the last few years. The extra money to take care of weeds is tight."

Leigh Hoyt voted against every budget proposal Monday morning except those for jail costs and the Kiplinger arena. "I just wanted wages frozen," Hoyt said each time a vote came up.

Budgets for the county attorney, sheriff, Extension, health department and county fair passed 2-1, with approval from McNutt and Downer. Each budget was tweaked slightly.

McNutt said commissioners are strongly urging elected officials to lower their budget proposals or keep them stable. "We've encouraged our people to keep their budgets the same or reduce them," McNutt said, "to let the tax payers know we're watching expenses."

County attorney

County Attorney Paul Wood requested a raise for Deputy County Attorney Phil Lyons, from $25,600 to $30,000. Commissioners cut the raise to $26,280.

Wood said postage will be a bigger expense next year as the state wants to focus on delinquent child-support payors, and all letters to such must be sent certified mail, return receipt requested.

The county attorney's budget will be $107,800, which compares to actual expenses for 2002-2003 of $101,556.92.

Sheriff's budget

McNutt cautioned Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon about nearing a point at which his chief deputy, Alan Kotschwar, is paid as much as, if not more than, the sheriff himself.

Mahon will be paid $32,850 in 03-04; Kotschwar will be paid $30,600. Mahon had requested $10,000 for emergency management salaries for himself and his assistant, Diana Wilkinson. Commissioners agreed to $8,400 -- $400 a month for Mahon and $300 a month for Wilkinson.

Emergency management has grown to include much more than the weather, Mahon said, and he and Wilkinson now manage the county's Local Emergency Operations Plan and Local Emergency Planning Committee and Homeland Security.

Radio repair is down, $10,668 to $1,000; Internet services are up, $198 to $1,200.

Budgeted expenses in 02-03 were $237,760, and actual expenses were $231,516.26.

The proposed budget is $236,060.

Jail

The jail budget is pretty cut-and-dried, McNutt said. "We know what the contract fees are," he said, with neighboring counties to house Red Willow County prisoners.

The proposed jail budget is $315,900.

Budgeted expenses for 02-03 were $316,610; actual expenses were $297,561.97.

Extension budget

Extension Educator Kent Been told commissioners postage costs will increase as the county compensates for reduced federal assistance for postage. Been said they are looking at increasing their e-mail to help cut postage costs.

Extension's budget proposal for 03-04 is $71,706. Budgeted expenses for 02-03 were $69,012; actual expenses were $62,892.31.

Health Department

Health Department Director Margaret Swanda compensated in other areas in her budget and completely eliminated a $2,000 office equipment line item to compensate for a $5,006 raise for her office manager, Patricia Powers.

Swanda told commissioners she wanted to bring her assistant's salary in line with the county's office managers or deputies, who are required by state law to make at least 65 percent of the elected official's salary.

Powers' salary will increase from $17,664 to $22,670.40. McNutt and Downer said they would have liked to see the raise spread over two or three years.

The health department's proposed budget is $154,618.40. Budgeted expenses in 02-03 were $152,559; actual expenses were $133,549.68.

County fair

Commissioners made four cuts in Fair Manager Deb Lafferty's 03-04 budget:

* Part-time custodial, from a requested $35,000 to $33,000.

* Equipment repair from $8,000 to $7,000.

* General and mechanical repair, from $6,000 to $4,000.

* Machinery and equipment, from $19,400 to $15,000.

The proposed fair budget had increased by $12,800. The reductions proposed by commissioners would save $8,400.

The fair's proposed budget for '03-04 is $300,617. The proposed budget for 02-03 was $296,217; actual expenses were $254,209.59.

Kiplinger Arena

Lafferty said a lot of the budget on the new arena is guesswork, because it's difficult to know how much it will be used in '03-04. "It will be easier to figure a budget after the first year or two," Lafferty said.

The proposed budget for the arena is $150,263. The budgeted expenses for '02-03 -- the arena's first year -- was $700,000; actual construction expenses were $623,756.11.

Rent paid for lights and gas during the first year, Lafferty said.

Commissioners tabled until next week any action on an easement agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad regarding the railroad's proposal to drill diesel fuel recovery and monitoring wells on land on which the county's household waste collection facility is located on South Street.

County Attorney Paul Wood said he faxed the agreement to BNSF representatives, but has not received back any signed agreements. Wood said BNSF did agree to install and/or maintain any manholes if the county should ever pour more cement at the facility.

The agreement limits the number of recovery and monitoring wells to five each.

The project could last another 15 years years, Wood told commissioners.

Wood also discussed with commissioners a bill from the City of McCook to the county for ambulance services. In an agreement dating back to the 1960's, the county agrees to pay $20 for every ambulance call made by the City of McCook, within the city and outside the city. The county pays the same amount for ambulance runs by Bartley, Indianola and Danbury/Lebanon ambulance services, McNutt said.

McNutt said because of a snafu in McCook's bookkeeping, the county has received bills that have resulted in what Wood called, "sticker shock."

In December 2002, the county paid the city of McCook $9,600 for ambulance calls from October 2001 to September 2002. The next bill arrived in January 2003 and was for $1,660 for October and November 2002 and $900 for December 2002. Bills since December 2002 have ranged between $720 and $880 a month.

"It's evident the county government agreed at some point to pay for every ambulance call," Wood said. "Let's face it -- it's a subsidy. It helps the city maintain its ambulance service."

Hoyt questioned the 40-some-year-old agreement. "They're (the city) getting paid by two other entities -- the patient and/or his or her insurance. How much does it take to run an ambulance?" Hoyt asked.

Wood suggested commissioners visit with the McCook city manager or fire chief about the situation if they have concerns with the "ancient agreement."

In other action:

Commissioners tabled until Aug. 25 action on an order for an access road across Lavarack family land to Tom Smith's property east of Bartley. The two extra weeks will allow the Lavarack family to review the order, at the suggestion of Smith.

Commissioners set Sept. 22 as the date to open bids for grader blades. Commissioners are looking for prices on 45,000 pounds of 1/2-inch by 6-inch by eight-foot double-bevel cutting edge grader blades to be delivered to county shops in McCook, Danbury and Bartley.

* Commissioners received and filed monthly fee reports from the county clerk and clerk of the district court.

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