September 21, 2007

Minutes

Governing Board Meeting

Kansas Association of Counties

September 21, 2007

Hampton Inn Conference Room

4002 General Hays Road, Hays, Kansas

 

President Dennis Peterson called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Board members present were as follows:

 

Michele Abbott-Becker, Marion County Emergency Management Director; Joe Connor, Unified Government Health Department Administrator; Ted Ensley, Shawnee County Commissioner; Steve Garten, Barber County Commissioner; John Miller, Norton County Commissioner; Terry David, Rice County EMS Director; Tom Winters, Sedgwick County Commissioner; Dick Works, Allen County Commissioner; Gary Post, Lyon County Appraiser; Dennis Peterson, Riley County Noxious Weed Director; Tom Wagner, Atchison County Commissioner; George Pogge, Jefferson County Road Superintendent; and Sheila Biggs, Dickinson County Commissioner.

 

Board members absent: Larry McAulay, Johnson County Director of Legal Services; Shannon Francis, Seward County Commissioner.

 

KAC Staff and others present: Randall Allen, KAC Executive Director; Vernon Berens, Ellis County Commissioner.

 

President Dennis Peterson recognized Ellis County Commissioner Vernon Berens, who welcomed the KAC Board to Ellis County.

 

The agenda was presented. No changes were suggested. Steve Garten moved, seconded by Terry David, to accept the agenda as presented. Motion carried.

 

Minutes for July 27, 2007. Two corrections were made to the minutes. They included the following: 1) Under “Approval of Bills and Payroll for July 27, 2007,” the sentence was corrected to read “John Miller, Finance Committee Chairman, indicated that the committee had met prior to the meeting to review the invoices and there were no new items of special concern.” 2) In the second paragraph under “Presentation and Discussion concerning the Kansas Collaborative Agreement,” the second paragraph was corrected to read: “Board discussion ensued about the rationale for the agreement; how projects of the Collaborative are approved (currently and in the future); whether or not we are at risk of over-extending our resources if the approval of new projects is not controlled in some way; what rights to use the ‘service mark’ mean; and how the KAC is to be compensated for its role as fiscal agent.”

 

Terry David moved, seconded by Gary Post, to approve the minutes of the July 27, 2007 meeting, with the corrections as noted above. Motion carried.

 

Approval of Bills and Payroll for September 21, 2007. John Miller, Finance Committee Chairman, indicated that he and Commissioner Ensley had met prior to the meeting to review the invoices and there were no items of special concern. John Miller moved, seconded by Ted Ensley, to approve the bills and payroll dated September 21, 2007. Motion carried.

 

Approval of Monthly Financial Report for August, 2007. Randall presented the monthly financial report for August, 2007. He noted that January – August, 2007 revenues exceeded January – August, 2006 revenues by $191,390.89, while 2007 expenditures exceeded 2006 expenditures for the same eight-month time frame by only $115,304.38. The revenues reflect the receipt of the grant for the Local Road Engineer Program and the separate grant for the Transportation Breakthrough Team (Kansas Collaborative). Expenditures in the Local Road Engineer program budget represent the contracted services of Bowers Engineering (Norm Bowers), which provides engineering services to local governments. Steve Garten moved, seconded by Ted Ensley, to receive and place on the file the Monthly Financial Report for August, 2007. Motion carried.

 

President’s Report. President Dennis Peterson reported that he met with the Kansas County Highway Association’s executive committee recently, at the invitation of George Pogge, and gave a report on the KAC to that group. Dennis said that he received many positive comments and reactions from the Kansas Emergency Management Association (KEMA) concerning the KAC Board’s attendance at the KEMA annual conference banquet the previous evening in Hays. He recommended that the KAC continue to seek ways to interact more with its affiliates and associates. Dennis said that he had attended a legislative breakfast sponsored by Kansas Farm Bureau when he was at the 2007 Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. He described plans for an upcoming visit to Clark, Comanche, and Kiowa counties with the Executive Director on October 1-3, 2007. This is another in a series of presidential visits to Kansas counties, as first launched by then KAC President Ted Ensley.

 

National Association of Counties Report. Steve Garten, NACo representative, requested clarification about his status as the NACo representative, given the fact that no one challenged his re-election to the position during the recent nomination period. The Executive Director responded that given no other nominations, Commissioner Garten was considered re-elected to the position for another two years (to 2009). Steve requested authorization to attend a NACo Board meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida, December 6-8, 2007. Tom Winters moved, seconded by Ted Ensley, to authorize travel expenses for Commissioner Garten to attend the meeting in Florida in December. Motion carried. Commissioner Garten inquired about whether a NACo officer would be at the upcoming KAC Annual Conference to talk about NACo. Randall said that a letter had been sent to NACo requesting Past-President Colleen Landkamer (first choice) and 1st Vice President Valerie Brown (second choice) but that, to date, there was no confirmation as to who, if any officer, was coming.

 

Legislative Report. The draft 2008 legislative statement was sent to the board in agenda packets. Executive Director Allen said that the Legislative Policy Committee had met for its final time prior to the KAC Annual Conference. Since its last meeting, there were two issues which remain unresolved prior to putting the draft policy statement on the website. One issue is whether to reinstate language on Rails to Trails, which appeared in the policy statement a few years ago. Allen indicated that Judy Moler had requested feedback from the two Policy Committee members not on the KAC Board (KCCA President Tim Norton and Mark Hixon, Shawnee County Appraiser). Commissioner Norton had not responded to Judy while Hixon had indicated his approval of including the previous rails to trails language. Allen asked the six members of the committee whether they were comfortable with including the language, acting on a consensus basis. There was an affirmative nodding of heads, and Allen responded that the Rails to Trails language would thus be inserted into the draft 2008 KAC Legislative Policy document.

 

The second issue concerns the statute providing that all real property be valued as of its condition on January 1 of each year. Allen explained that the Greater Kansas City Homebuilders Association had met with the KAC staff to inform the KAC of their intention to push a bill, introduced in 2007, which would provide that residential properties (single family and for multi-unit properties up to four properties) would not be valued except for their land value until such new property is occupied, or the January 1 of the next succeeding year, whichever came first. As such, a new house completed in November of 2007 but not occupied until June, 2008 would not be valued (for 2008 tax purposes) except on a prorated basis for the period June, 2008 through November, 2008. Allen indicated that he had numerous emails analyzing the proposal and that he felt no obligation for the KAC to take a position on the bill prior to an upcoming meeting of the Special Committee on Assessment and Taxation. The KAC Board took no action, and said that if necessary, language could be added to the 2008 KAC Legislative Policy Statement at the upcoming 2007 KAC Annual Conference.

 

Kansas Collaborative Report. Executive Director Allen presented the Kansas Collaborative Agreement dated July 27, 2007, reflecting changes made pursuant to discussion with both KAC and League attorneys and Larry McAulay, KAC board member. Allen recommended approval of the document as submitted. Dick Works moved, seconded by Tom Winters, to approve the Kansas Collaborative Agreement dated July 27, 2007 and authorize the Executive Director to sign. Motion carried.

 

Allen briefed the board about a recent presentation that he and Kathleen Harnish-Doucet made to the Information Network of Kansas (INK) Board on the Phase II grant of $100,000 to The Kansas Collaborative for the Geographic Information Systems project. Allen indicated that the INK Board received the report with interest and enthusiasm.

 

Michele Abbott-Becker arrived at the meeting at this point, having attended a morning meeting of the Kansas Emergency Management Association (KEMA) Board, which was meeting elsewhere in Hays.

 

KAC Employee Benefits Trust Report. Randall presented the draft minutes of the August 23, 2007 meeting of the Trust with request that such minutes be held until the Trust Board had an opportunity to act on the minutes and forward them officially to the KAC Board. As such, the minutes were submitted for information purposes only.

 

Allen presented the revised Bylaws for the KAC’s Employee Benefits Trust, as revised following the July, 2007 KAC Board discussion about the same as well as subsequent discussions with outside counsel (Mr. Johnston of Lathrop and Gage), Larry McAulay of the KAC Board, and KAC staff. Dick Works moved, seconded by John Miller, to approve the KAC-Employee Benefits Trust Bylaws as included in the board packet. Motion carried.  

 

Executive Session.   Tom Wagner moved, seconded by Steve Garten, for the board to go into executive session for fifteen minutes for the purpose of discussing employment matters of non-elected personnel, pursuant to K.S.A. 75-4319 (b) (1), and more specifically, to discuss the performance appraisal of Executive Director Randall Allen. Motion carried. Time: 12:50 p.m.

At 1:10 p.m., the KAC Board came back into open session for the purpose of extending the executive session for an additional fifteen minutes. George Pogge moved, seconded by John Miller, to go back into executive session for fifteen minutes for the purpose of further discussing the performance appraisal of Executive Director Allen. Motion carried. Time: 1:12 p.m.

 

At 1:27 p.m., the Board came back into open session. Tom Winters moved, seconded by Ted Ensley, that 1) President Peterson share the results of the performance evaluation with Mr. Allen in brief, following the board meeting; that 2) President Peterson and Vice President Shannon Francis discuss the results of the performance evaluation as compiled by the KAC Board in more detail with Mr. Allen at or before the next board meeting; and that 3) the Executive Director include funds in the 2008 KAC budget he is preparing, which would allow for a compensation adjustment for his position of 4% next year. Motion carried.

 

Executive Director’s Report. Randall briefed the board on the following topics:

  • Kansas County Government Institute workshops – a schedule of and information concerning the final 2007 workshops (prepared by Sarah Meyer) was distributed. Allen called special attention to the “Planning and Zoning” workshop in McPherson in October, which will be the final 2007 Leadership Academy workshop.
  • A more refined, draft agenda for the 32nd Annual KAC Conference was distributed, along with a list of contracted exhibitors as of this week. Allen indicated that the Exhibition registration continues to be strong.
  • Allen reminded the board that there would be a presentation about the Association’s deferred compensation plan sponsored by NACo and the KAC and administered by Nationwide Retirement Solutions, at the KAC Board meeting in October in Manhattan.
  • Allen requested authorization of travel expenses for his attendance at the October 17-20 annual conference of the National Council of County Association Executives (NCCAE) in Savannah, Georgia. George Pogge moved, seconded by Steve Garten to authorize travel expenses for Mr. Allen’s travel to the Savannah Motion carried.
  • Allen briefed the board on prior years’ practice of holding a joint dinner meeting with the KAC Board and League of Kansas Municipalities Board in December, immediately following the KAC Board’s reorganizational meeting. Board discussion ensued.   The board, by consensus, decided to not meet with the League Board in December, 2007 but hold open the possibility of meeting with the League Board in March, 2008, during the legislative session.
  • Randall distributed a copy of a recent Hutchinson News editorial concerning recent inquiries about a workshop at the KCOA Annual Conference on how to get re-elected.

 

KAC Affiliate/Associate Information Exchange.

 

Michele Abbott-Becker inquired about the status of Mr. Bob Boaldin’s appointment to the Wireless E-911 Board and the method by which he was selected and the duration of his term. She said that there was concern about the relationship of GeoComm and its representatives (Bill Cade and Greg Ballentine) to counties and the opportunity (or lack thereof) for others (e.g. competitors) to be involved in providing services. (The KAC Board had previously approved a contract for GeoComm to provide services to counties struggling to meet their wireless E-911 responsibilities, with the monies for such contract coming from the training monies of the wireless E-911 fund). Michele requested that Commissioner Boaldin appear at the October 26, 2007 KAC Board meeting to bring the KAC board up to date on the activities of the wireless e-911 advisory board and its activities, including any work the wireless advisory board has asked GeoComm to do in conjunction with the award of future grants to PSAPs.

 

Terry David said that the KEMSA Annual Conference was held in August and that there were 500+ persons in attendance for over three days. HE said that both Colonel Seck of the Highway Patrol and Dr. Howard Rodenburg, State Health Officer, spoke at the meeting in Wichita. Terry said that he would like to have a winter workshop involving both EMS persons and commissioners and that he had started discussions with Sarah Meyer about this idea.

 

Gary Post reported that the county appraiser positions in Kiowa, Wilson, Barton, Montgomery were currently open and that the positions in Kingman and Dickinson counties had been recently filled. Gary said that at the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) conference last week in Atlanta, Kansans won the Virginia Cup and won more awards than any other state. He said that the KCAA’s newsletter, Appraising the Plains, won the outstanding publication award for the 6th time, and that Shawnee County Appraiser Mark Hixon had been elected to the IAAO Board.

 

George Pogge briefed the board on the recent meeting of the Learning Committee in Salina. He said that the biggest problem identified by meeting participants was making sure that all county officials and employees are aware of the workshops and programs of the Kansas County Government Institute. Somehow, there is a disconnect in that many persons are not receiving information about the programs, despite the KAC mailing and emailing information.

 

Joe Connor thanked the board and specifically members of the KAC Legislative Policy Committee for its strong recommendation of the Low Birth Weight Babies initiative in the KAC’s 2008 Legislative Policy Statement, and for making the initiative a KAC priority. He then turned to the negotiations with the State about the apportionment of preparedness dollars for this year. He said that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had been extremely slow in promulgating guidelines and as a result, the entire process of determining how the monies would be allocated was well behind.

 

Tom Wagner said that the Atchison County’s Road and Bridge Supervisor position is vacant. He said that their county is experiencing more problems with all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and that there were serious safety problems which needed to be addressed.

 

Dennis reminded the board of the next board meeting in Manhattan and gave verbal directions to the board as to the location of the new Riley County Public Works facility.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

________________________________.
Randall Allen

Executive Director

 

 

Approved:

 

 

___________________________________.

Joe Connor, KAC Board Secretary

October 25, 2007