Baird said that it was important that there be some kind of prioritization in place; for instance, what would happen if the Sheriff's Office were to get a call out in the country while they were in the process of investigating an ordinance violation? He said that there had to be a clear understanding of what the city expected of Sheddrick's office and what Sheddrick expected to do. "This is going to cost them more money than if they had simply applied for the COPS grant," said Sheddrick. "What happens if we get a call from the Mayor in the middle of the night? How many hours are we supposed to work?" He said that if he were to sign that contract, he would have to get another deputy and possibly another vehicle as well, which he says he can't afford.
In previous years, the city would contribute $7,000-8,000 plus help furnish a vehicle for the Sheriff's office before the county backed out of the deal citing lack of funds. He said that he believed there were all sorts of qualified people with certifications if the city simply wanted to hire a city cop. He said that he would do what he could, but that he did not have the authority to enforce city ordinances. He said that he was not going to sign the contract, because he said it was "too open-ended." "[Economic Developer] Charity Austin worked on a COPS grant and presented it to the city, but she was told that was not what they wanted," said Sheddrick. He said that he was not going to spend 20 hours a week working for the city and that he feared it would be a major expense to the county like it was last time. He said he would attend the next regular City Council Meeting in Grant City and discuss the matter with them.
The county has built up the Cook Bridge to provide a temporary solution that would stabilize the situation and keep water to the south end of the bridge.
Treasurer Linda Brown said that the situation for the county was a little better than last year. While the Road and Bridge and General funds were slightly lower this year, the county had a lot more FEMA money that it could use once they get done with the paperwork process. The General Revenue Fund has around $160,000 this year as opposed to $176,000 last year. The Road and Bridge Fund has $168,000 this year as opposed to $170,000 last year at this time. There is $151,000 in FEMA money that is waiting to be released as opposed to $47,000 last year. Commissioner Rob Ruckman said that without the fuel price increases this year, the county might have even come out ahead.
Commissioners were looking at ways of getting oxygen fuel tanks cheaper since prices for the tanks were getting high.
Bids for the gravel will be opened next week.
Commissioner Ted Findley said that he thought that the local Fire Departments could replace some of their stuff through FEMA and that the county would look into it.
The maps from Marceline Mapping for the Enhanced Enterprise Zone were delivered.
It turns out that there was no money budgeted for the Sesquicentennial this year, which meant that the county did not want to contribute any money for it until they checked into the legalities of it. The City of Grant City has contributed $500; however, the county has been flagged by the Auditor's Office in previous audits for what the Auditor's Office saw as donating to local causes improperly. However, later in the day, Baird told the commissioners that there were ways of doing it that would pass muster with the Auditor's Office and that he would draft up a way of doing it for them.
Details for the celebration were released. There will be a parade of tractors and antique cars, a dedication for the Gazebo, a Big Band show in the Skating Rink, a large fireworks display, and a fish fry by the Grant City Lions. They are in the process of finalizing the details and are looking for emcees for the events. Commissioners gave approval for a memorial bench to be added to the Gazebo; they hesitated on approval until they could check into legalities; Baird assured the commissioners at the afternoon session that they could accept the gift with the stipulation that it be given to the county and that the county be responsible for maintaining it. Baird said that there were a lot of situations that he knew about where a family gave something as a memorial to someone only to have conflicts about who was responsible for upkeep and maintenance. The Kevin Austin Benefit last December as well as various memorial contributions totaled over $10,000 which Charity Austin said showed the level of respect that the late Kevin Austin had. "He did a lot of things for the county that you don't even know about and people are simply giving back in return for all Kevin did," she said.
Denver will have the grand opening of their museum in conjunction with the event on July 3rd and Allendale has plans for a tractor pull that day as well. 150 horses and 150 tractors are planned for the parade to mark 150 years for Worth County. There will be a beard contest for men as well as a Little Mr. & Miss Contest as well as kids activities; Amber Steele will be in charge of that. The 1961 monument that was planted during the Centennial Celebrations will be opened and a new capsule planted.
Commissioners found out that they would need permits for the specific dozers that they were buying, which left them searching much of the day for needed information, including serial numbers, dimensions, and weights.
Road and Bridge Foreman Jim Fletchall said that the newest grader that the county has would fetch between $175,000 and $200,000. He said that if they went to joystick graders that he hoped that the bugs had been worked out and said that it would be easier on some of his operators. He said that he thought a price for a new grader would cost over $200,000. He said that he looked into John Deeres, but that while their people were helpful, their resale value was not as much as the Caterpillars that they use now.
Commissioner Dennis Gabbert said that people were not guaranteed gravel on their roads because of the gravel tax. He said that roads have to have a sufficient gravel base first before it was eligible for gravel and that roads that did not had to be built up first.
The county is trying to get roads ready to finish out last year's Patron Rock. They were in the process of getting roads ready this week.
The county said that they had lost track of how much gravel Sheridan got; County Clerk Roberta Owens said that she couldn't find anything that had gotten filed on that. Sheridan hauls their own gravel but buys it off of the county through the sharing program. She said that there were changes made for this year and that there were four different ways of tracking it this year so that mistakes could be flagged.
Fletchall said that the county was going to go back and do seeding and mulching on roads that had not been seeded or mulched. He said that previous commissions had left some roads up to be seeded by the landowner; however, he said that in some cases, the landowner had not followed through and seeded and mulched the road, meaning that the road had eventually deteriorated to the state that it was in before. Commissioner Dennis Gabbert said that it was now county policy to mulch, slope, and seed roads automatically when going in and cost-sharing with landowners on fixing up roads. In addition, cost-sharing is one time only, meaning that a landowner cannot cost-share with the county, wait 5-10 years until the road deteriorates, and the cost-share with the county again. Such roads would be subject to the brush ordinance passed by the voters. The maximum that the county will cost share with a landowner is $1,200 per mile per side, which means that if a landowner has land on both sides of a road in question, the maximum that the county would cost share under this program would be $2,400. Landowners would need to do their part in restoring a road to county specs before the county will come in and do their part and cost share.
The county plans to follow up on landowners who were send letters of violation for brush ordinances but whom the county says have not complied with them. Baird will write a draft of letters of violation to use.
Commissioners got a quote from Earl Schrock regarding water damage to the judge's office. He gave a quote of $545 for removing and replacing water damaged plaster and painting new plaster and an additional $430 for moving out the county books and painting the entire room. After looking over Judge Miller's office, the county will talk with Schrock and look at other deals.
Fletchall reported that a small tube on Road #233 near Damman's was washing out and needed replaced.
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