County Ponders Archiving Options

The Worth County Commission pondered archiving options in light of the Square Fire, discussed the contract with the Worth County Progress Organization, and saw some reorganization of the county meeting room as new County Clerk Roberta Owens took over and began her duties as County Clerk.

The county has tens of thousands of dollars that are saved up and dedicated to specific purposes. A Courtroom Restoration Fund from a $10,000 donation from Richard Supinger to restore the old Courtroom and mural has earned $1,900 in interest; there are other funds that are being used to save for possible major software expenses down the road in case new requirements from the state come or to address software needs of county officers. For example, the county has bought record preservation CD's from the state to preserve records in the event of a fire.

Commissioners gave Clerk Roberta Owens the OK to allow the state to come in and microfilm the county's records. The state would come in, tell the county what records to keep and what they could throw away, and microfilm the records that needed to be kept. The state has already microfilmed a lot of records, but there are a lot more that need to be done. There is an entire room upstairs that is full of records.

Commissioner Rob Ruckman said that it was important for the county to have a list of inventory and to know what they had in order to know what they needed to save in the event of a fire similar to the Square Fire. "The fire opened our eyes to what we needed to do in the event of a panic situation like the Square Fire," said Ruckman. Owens said that one of her first priorities was getting together an inventory list of all the county records so that the county would know what they had. Ruckman pointed out that it would also help for insurance purposes so that if there was a catastrophe, it would be easier for the county to document what they had lost so that they could get their claim paid off faster. In the past, commissioners have floated the idea of using a record storage service, but it had been discarded due to the expense. The county already has a deposit box at the bank where they deposit needed items.

"We need to consider an offsite storage area so that we're always backed up," said Commissioner Gabbert.

Ruckman said that it was time for the county to start thinking about gravel bids for 2011. Gabbert said that he wanted to talk to other quarries so that the process would be more competitive.

Treasurer Linda Brown reported that she had gotten 5-10 letters from people who paid their taxes under protest; most of the protests concerned the gravel tax, which the people said was unfair. Ruckman said that many of the same people did it every year.

Commissioner Gabbert said that the county could not assume that the most expensive solution to the Courthouse was best in discussing the proposal from the insurance company to mist the Courthouse to address the smoke damage from the fire. One of the ongoing problems is that the current filter being used makes a lot of noise, meaning officers either turn it off or close their office doors, meaning that it can't counteract the smoke odor.

Commissioners discussed the Mark Harding road; they were going to look at the road with Road & Bridge foreman Jim Fletchall to see what needed to be done.

Fletchall reported that all the state would allow was money for dirt lost for the Dannar, Paxson, and Ranch bridges but that a lot more work was needed on each of these bridges. Fletchall said that the Ranch bridge was still safe for school buses to go across, but that he needed to keep an eye on it.

Fletchall agreed to put gravel on a road in Denver by Keith and Debra Younger's; they had ordered emergency gravel from the county five months ago, but it had not been delivered. Work continued on reconciling old gravel tickets from last year. Clerk Roberta Owens said that the county needed to become more organized in relaying gravel orders for customers. Commissioner Gabbert agreed, saying that the county had set themselves up for this by keeping too much stuff in their heads. Deputy clerk Cheryl Snead said that she wanted the gravel tickets to be specific as to what the orders were for and that in the future, she would not pay Norris Aggregate until the tickets were turned in. For instance, some gravel tickets do not specify whether they are for emergency or maintenance or CART or special rock gravel.

Another problem that cropped up was that there were no records indicating that the county had applied for FEMA money for the Paxson road, which Jim Fletchall says needs at least four loads of gravel. The county has already done extensive ditching work on the road. Commissioner Gabbert said that the county could reapply for the rock if they thought it would be worth it; if FEMA will not pay for the rock, then commissioners agreed to pay for it. Fletchall said that he had been getting complaints about that road.

Currently, the county is offering its Emergency Rock program to patrons. Cost would be $150 per load payable in advance; the county would either deliver the rock or pay for delivery. Rock would be 2 inch rock or bigger.
Fletchall reported that the crew was going to take out a tube on Delbert Gabbert's road, divert water down to a lower tube, and put in a bigger tube down below. Crews started on that project Tuesday; Fletchall said that the project would need an 18 foot tube and would not involve tearing out any fences.

Fletchall said that county crews would be willing to help in taking down some of the trees in the Courtyard. Commissioners gave him the go-ahead to take down the Chinese Elms that are in the Courtyard.

Fletchall said that the excavator was acting up in the cold; he reported that a tree had gotten in against the fuel cap. Subsequently, the excavator has been having excessive RPM in the cold weather. The county received a $655 bill for mileage and labor from Victor Phillips even though the excavator was still under warranty. The county tabled payment until next week; Fletchall said that in the future, bids should be written so that warranties would include trip charges and labor.

Dick VanVactor of the Emergency Services Board reported on vandalism on two different signs. The Grizzly Trail sign was either hit by vandals or had been hit by vehicles using the road. One sign by Chris Cadles had been torn completely out and thrown in Bill Grabb's yard. On a positive note, VanVactor reported that the Emergency Services Board would pay off all of the loan that it took out early. It was a five-year loan, but the Emergency Services Board will pay it off after only one and a half years.

There have been a lot of people requesting 911 addresses for the county. VanVactor said that persons who wanted an address for an incorporated location should contact their local city clerk as they would handle that; the Emergency Services Board handles the unincorporated addresses and the Village of Irena. He said that they could have one for people in as little as 24 hours. VanVactor will train Roberta Owens as a backup person so that if he were out of town, Roberta Owens could give someone who needed it a 911 address.

Economic Developer Charity Austin came to the meeting to discuss the contract between the county and the Progress Organization that pays her salary. When the position was set up, the County and the City of Grant City put up $6,500 each annually, with the rest paid for by private donations. Gabbert said that he wanted to go over the job description with Austin so that the county could clarify what was expected from Austin. Currently, the county puts up $4,800 with the rest going towards phone and the office that she uses. Currently, the job description states that the economic developer would pursue anything that would help the county economically and that would bring people into the county. This includes the extensive grant work that Ms. Austin has done for the county and the cities. Regarding people moving into the county, VanVactor reported that there were a lot of new people moving into the county from outside and building houses in the countryside. In Sheridan, there are two houses going up just north of town on H and another one just east of the 246 and 46 intersection.

Commissioner Gabbert said that the commissioners needed to sit and talk with the Progress Organization and with the city regarding Ms. Austin's position and the expectations that the two groups had for her. "It's not a matter of you not meeting our expectations; it's a matter of communication," said Gabbert. "There are things that we might want you to do that are not in your job description."

Currently, Ms. Austin is under contract with the Worth County Progress Organization, which is under contract with the City of Grant City and the county. It has been set up that way since the Progress Organization was formed back in 1999. Ms. Austin has served as Economic Developer for the county for the last several years, well before her husband was appointed Presiding Commissioner by Governor Jay Nixon. Anybody who is a resident of the county can become a member of the Worth County Progress Organization. Current active participants include Bob Hull, Mary Seat, Amber Monticue, Kellie Warne, George Carroll, Debbie Roach, Kaye Havner, and Lisa Hargrave. Janet Hogue served as president of the group for many years and still helps out with the organization. They meet the first Tuesday of every month at 5:30 at Ms. Austin's office underneath City Hall in Grant City.

Gabbert said that one of his goals was for the county and the city to have the same set of expectations regarding Ms. Austin; currently, the city and the county operate under two different contracts with the Progress Organization. One of Austin's main jobs for the county is to write up grants for the county and the cities and find money; she said one of her main obstacles was the fact that the county was tied up for the last 2-3 years in the elevator project, which the county had to put in to meet ADA standards. Entities may not have more than one active CDBG program open at once; the county recently closed the CDBG project for the elevator, meaning that they are now free to pursue other CDBG programs.

Austin reported that the Downtown Renovation Project for the Square would do preliminary work before starting officially on March 15th. The project will take about one month per block depending on the weather. The engineering plan had been done based on what was there at the time and that there would be a few changes made because of the fire. All the elevations would be the same as before with the exception of the south end, where water has been leaking into the Rural Missouri basement. The west side will be done last in the hopes that all the debris from the fire will have been removed by then.

The commission appointed Ms. Austin to be the lead person on the Enhanced Enterprise Zone project. It would not involve any land condemnations; it will give tax breaks to businesses which locate to the area and which will invest so much in renovating an existing building or building one new as well as hiring so many people. Commissioner Ruckman said that it would not involve lost revenues for the county since it was a new business that was coming in; in addition, Austin said that the county would dictate which types of businesses would come in so that, for instance, a dump could not locate in the county and get such a break. She said that would address quality of life concerns. Once the county sets the zone, it can't change it again for 25 years. The Village of Irena has opted out while the cities of Sheridan, Grant City, and Allendale as well as the county have opted in.