The Grant County Commissioners met on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 in the Commissioner’s Room of the courthouse. Commissioners Kevin Shapland and Mark McGaughey were present along with County Clerk Sheila Brown. Commissioner Janet Stewart was absent. The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chairman McGaughey and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. The prayer was given by Tammie Hensley.
First on the agenda was James Biddle, Sheriff, who brought in bids for replacement of two air conditioning units in the jail. The commissioners approved the low bid from Weber Refrigeration for $21,000 to be paid from ARPA funds. Biddle also said that he had been talking with the county attorney and chief of police about placing tag reader cameras at the intersection of Oklahoma and Colorado. The county attorney will be able to cover the cost for the first year with diversion funds. The annual cost will be $10,000 which would be shared by the city and county if diversion funds are not available. The commissioners agreed to this. Biddle also presented the 2023 budget for the Sheriff’s department.
Randy McCauley, supervisor for Public Works, asked for approval of federal fund exchange in the amount of $70,407.97 and received the okay from commissioners. McCauley presented the Noxious Weed and Road & Bridge department budgets. He also said that he had contracted 50,000 gallons of #2 diesel at $4.12 and 20,000 gallons of #1 diesel at $4.62.
County Treasurer Terri Trotman was next to present her budget for 2023. She said that she was going to use $32,000 from the motor vehicle fund to pay her employees. She is also going to use money from the that fund to purchase new printers for motor vehicle processing. Trotman also said that she had allowed for the postage increase in her budget. The commissioners had told Trotman that they would revisit her raise when they began working on budgets. After a short discussion, they raised her salary by $1,250 for the remainder of 2022.
Marieta Hauser from the Grant County Chamber of Commerce brought in their appropriation request for 2023. The request is $12,500. Hauser also thanked the commissioners for allowing the Race Across America volunteers to use the fire department again this year for their time station.
Jeff Baier presented the 2023 budgets for Ambulance and Emergency Management and Dana McDaniel presented her budget for 2023 for the Register of Deeds office.
Denise James, administrator of the Grant County Health Department, was next on the agenda to present her budget. She said that Lynette Metcalf would be retiring at the end of 2022 so she wanted to hire a part-time RN to train with Metcalf and become full-time when Metcalf retires.
Cindy Wellbrock brought in her 2023 budget for the Appraiser’s office. She had allowed for employee raises and postage increases. John Crosby presented the budget for the fire department. He said that his budget allows for an across the board raise for his employees and an increase in insurance.
The commissioners approved a mileage rate increase for the remainder of 2022. It will be 62.5 cents per mile when a personal vehicle is used for county business. They also approved wage increases for one register of deeds employee and one part-time senior center employee. Two seasonal Road & Bridge employee hires and wages were approved as well as a seasonal hire at the civic center. The minutes from the previous meeting and the claims against the county were reviewed and approved.
In other business, the commissioners signed a Letter of Support to IMPACT Ulysses regarding the Outdoor Fitness center. At this time, they do not feel they can support the project financially.
Board members from the Forever Friends Humane Society of Grant County came in to introduce themselves and talk about the plans they have for the animal shelter. Those members were Leilani Sullivan, Denise Wood, Janet Watson, Kim McGaughey and Julia Traster Rowe. Sullivan spoke to the commissioners about why they formed and asked if the commissioners would consider a donation to their group. The commission said they would definitely think about it.
Sheila Brown presented her County Clerk and Election budgets. She said she has raised her postage numbers because RNR (Revenue Neutral Rate) will go into effect in 2023 and her office will have extra mailing. She has also put raises for her employees into the budget. Brown asked the commissioners to consider a wage increase for election workers. Brown said she would like to wait until after the lunch break for the airport board budget because Steve Rice would be here.
The meeting was adjourned for a lunch break at 12:00 p.m. Following the lunch break, the meeting resumed at 1:15 p.m. Steve Rice met with the commissioners on behalf of the Airport board to discuss the 2023 budget.
Mike Meyer, representing the Grant County Fair Board, presented their budget for 2023 which was the same as 2022. The budget for the Civic Center was given by Mari Honstead. She said that she had been looking at a Chariot-style burnisher to use in the auditorium.
Ludi Gonzales from the Senior Center brought her budget for 2023 which allowed for higher gas and utility costs.
Members of the Ulysses Stampede board - Chad McCormick, Bravane Phelps, Larry Borthwick and Scott Buxman - came to discuss the rodeo budget for 2023. McCormick presented the budget and gave the Commissioners an update on what they were doing. They plan to install several poles for electrical boxes and purchase a quality sound system. The commissioners approved the purchase and installation of the electrical boxes and poles. The rodeo board will email the information on the sound system for the commissioners to review.
McGaughey adjourned the meeting at 2:15 p.m. The next regular meeting of the Grant County Commission will be Tuesday, July 5, 2022 at 9:00 a.m.
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