April 26, 2006

Kansas Association of Counties                                                

Governing Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

KAC Conference Room, 300 SW 8th Ave.

Topeka, Kansas

 

 

 

President Gene Merry called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Board members present were as follows:

 

Michele Abbott-Becker, Marion County Emergency Management/Homeland Security Director

Joe Connor, Unified Government Health Department Administrator

Terry David, Rice County EMS Director

Ted Ensley, Shawnee County Commissioner

Shannon Francis, Seward County Commissioner

Steve Garten, Barber County Commissioner

Gene Merry, Coffey County Commissioner

John Miller, Norton County Commissioner

Dennis Peterson, Riley County Noxious Weed Director

George Pogge, Jefferson County Road Superintendent

Gary Post, Lyon County Appraiser

Florence Whitebread, Geary County Commissioner

Tom Winters, Sedgwick County Commissioner

 

Absent:

 

Larry McAulay, Johnson County Director of Legal Services

 

KAC staff and others present:

 

Randall Allen, KAC Executive Director

Judy Moler, KAC General Counsel/Legislative Services Director

Rob Mahoney, Haake Benefits, Overland Park

 

ADDITIONS/DELETIONS TO AGENDA

 

Florence Whitebread moved, seconded by Dennis Peterson to approve the meeting agenda as presented. Motion carried.

    

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

It was pointed out that the March minutes said the meeting was called to order to 10:00 pm rather than 10:00 am. John Miller moved, seconded by Tom Winters, to approve the March 17, 2006, meeting minutes as amended. Motion carried.  

 

APPROVAL OF BILLS AND PAYROLL

 

, John Miller, Tom Winters gave the monthly report on the bills and payrolls for February 14, 2006. Michele Abbott-Becker moved, seconded by Ted Ensley, to approve the bills and payrolls for March 17, 2006. Motion carried.

 

MONTHLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT

 

Executive Director Allen presented the Monthly Financial Report for February, 2006. Tom Winters moved, seconded by Steve Garten, to accept and place on file the Monthly Financial Report for February, 2006. Motion carried.   Tom Winters indicated that he still hears occasional comments that would suggest the KAC is in financial difficulty when, in fact, we came through 2005 in good shape and even showed some gains in our cash position. He suggested that Randall write an article for the County Comment to dispel the negative rumors about our financial condition, and tell people that the KAC’s financial house is in good shape.    

 

LEGISLATIVE SESSION BRIEFING

 

Randall Allen and Judy Moler briefed the KAC Board on the status of several significant legislative issues. They included: eminent domain; jail hospitalization costs, and pegging them to the Medicaid rates; the banking bill (passed); the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) fee legislation; the exotic animals regulation bill; among others. After the session goes to first adjournment, Randall and Judy will be out in the state at various district and regional meetings, providing legislative briefings.

NACo REPORT

 

Steve Garten, with comments from Gene Merry, Tom Winters, and others, presented the NACo report. Steve reported on the recent NACo Legislative Conference, at which a number of county officials attended in Washington, D.C. He reported on the congressional breakfast hosted by the KAC, and said that 5 of 6 of our delegation members attended. Issues discussed included funding of the CDBG program; the new Medicare drug program (and possible delays in its implementa-

tion); and federal budget concerns. The attendees reflected on the better-than-average speakers at the conference and gave special kudos to a workshop on reducing recidivism rates among jail inmates, with a gentleman from Hennepin County, MN discussing a program for inmates leaving jail being placed in a program to train and develop craftspersons. The program in Minnesota involves both men and women and has seen the recidivism rate for the population reduced dramatically.  

 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

 

Randall reported the following:

 

1) To date, 95 counties have paid their 2006 dues to the KAC. The only county that was a member in 2005 that has to date not renewed is Ottawa County.

2) To date, the only affiliate/associate organization that has not paid their dues is the Kansas Emergency Management Association (KEMA). There is not a problem here, and the check is forthcoming.

3) The 2006 Compensation Survey of 55+ positions common to county governments in Kansas is now done and the results are online at the KAC’s website. The survey work was done under a contract by the Austin Peters Group.

4) Allen requested approval of a 2006 Secretariat Agreement and separate 2006 Partnership Agreement between the KAC an the Kansas County Commissioners Association (KCCA); and a 2006 Secretariat Agreement between the KAC and the County Counselors Association of Kansas

(CCAK).

 

Shannon Francis moved, seconded by Florence Whitebread, to approve the 2006 Secretariat Agreement and Partnership Agreement between the KAC and the KCCA. Motion carried.  

 

Larry McAulay moved, seconded by Shannon Francis, to approve the 2006 Secretariat Agreement between the KAC and the CCAK. Motion carried.

 

5) Allen briefed the board on a report of Wireless E-911 receipts through the December, 2005 billing cycle, as prepared by Dennis Kriesel, KAC staff. Actual PSAP payments for 2005 were $3,824,185.31, or $373,990.90 above projections. Most of the increase was due to the increased compliance experienced in the second half of 2005. Kriesel reported that remittances for 99.3% of all cell phones reported in Kansas had been received from the wireless companies.    

 

AFFILIATE RELATIONS REPORT

 

Board members were asked to report on issues pertinent to their respective affiliate organizations. Reports were as follows:

 

Larry McAulay, CCAK:               No report, except that long-time Johnson County Emergency

Medical Services Director, Ted McFarland, recently suffered two broken legs below the knees.

 

George Pogge, KCHA: No report, except to say that the KCHA annual conference will be held in

May in Junction City.

Shannon Francis, SW Commissioner: No report.

 

Terry David, KEMSA: The KEMSA conference is in May. Recently, 80 persons attended a very

successful EMS Legal Issues workshop in Wichita. Terry spoke about their group submitting legislative testimony opposing SB 546 which requires emergency medical services to provide data to the State Board of EMS. While KEMSA is not opposed to data collection, they are strongly opposed to fines ($250 - $1,000 per occurrence) for failure to report. He said that the fines language had been removed from the bill. He said that the group is particularly disturbed about data collection requirements when, after eight years of requiring trauma data to be sent to KDHE, data still are not available.

 

Ted Ensley, NE Commissioner: Shawnee County recently renewed its NACo membership on a

2-1 vote. He said there was some interest in pursuing the NACo prescription drug card.

 

Michele Abbott-Becker, KEMA: The KEMA board has met and wants to provide assistance in

planning the annual KAC conference, perhaps on the subject of the regional efforts and how the monies are divided. Another subject which needs more training and information is on NIMS and incident command compliance, and who needs to be NIMS certified. Michele said that a simple test is that if a person is cited in the Emergency Response Plan in any capacity, then they need to have NIMS training. If they are not cited, then NIMS training is probably unnecessary.

 

Tom Winters, SC Commissioner: Tom said that Sedgwick County residents using the NACo

prescription drug card had experienced savings of about 17% so far, and that over $100,000 in savings has been achieved already.

 

Florence Whitebread, NC Commissioner: Florence reported that a dental health care program

connected to Geary County’s Federally Qualified Health Care Facility (FQHCF) would be operating sometime in November, in a new building being constructed. She said that in the interim, a few dentists have agreed to provide pro bono services to residents so that at least some needs can be met.

 

Steve Garten, NACo Representative: no additional report other than the NACo legislative

conference.

 

Gary Post, KCAA: Gary reported that Butler County has not yet appointed a county appraiser

and that the Property Valuation Division (PVD) is providing staff support and other assistance in the interim. There are 3 candidates interviewing for the position. Gary said that the preliminary ratio study has been released to county appraisers. The results: 26 of 105 counties are out of compliance on residential properties and 41 of 105 counties are out of compliance on commercial properties.

 

Dennis Peterson, CWDAK: Dennis reported on the potential liability facing counties and their

employees if employees are not adequately protected when applying chemicals on weeds. He said that counties would be well-served to provide adequate uniforms to meet the standards applicable to each chemical but if not, they need to at least advise their employees of such requirements so that they comply with the law. Randall indicated that this would be a good topic for a future article in the County Comment.

    

The meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m.

 

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

                                                                        _____________________________

                                                                        Randall L. Allen

                                                                        Executive Director

 

 

 

 

Approved:         _______________________________

                        Florence Whitebread

                        Board Secretary

                        April 26, 2006