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MINUTES
BOX
ELDER COUNTY COMMISSION
JULY 12, 2005
The Board of County Commissioners of Box Elder County,
Utah met in a work session at the County Courthouse, 01 South Main Street in
Brigham City, Utah at 8:00 a.m. on JULY 12, 2005. The following members were present:
Scott Hansen Chairman
Clark N. Davis Commissioner
Suzanne R. Rees Commissioner
LuAnn Adams Recorder/Clerk/Surveyor
The following items were discussed:
1.
Funding for ACT Rewrite
– Keith Keller
2.
Parades – Lorna
Ravenberg
3.
Review Draft/Commissioner
Responsibilities – Lorna Ravenberg/Peggy Madsen
4.
Conference Review –
Commissioner Rees
5.
Differential Full-Time
Training Officers – Sheriff Jensen
6.
Assignment Review –
Commissioners
7.
Staff Reports
8.
Correspondence
The work session adjourned at 8:53 a.m.
The regular session was called to order by Chairman
Hansen at 9:00 a.m. with the following members present, constituting a quorum:
Scott
Hansen Chairman
Clark N. Davis Commissioner
Suzanne R. Rees Commissioner
LuAnn Adams Recorder/Clerk/Surveyor
The prayer was offered by Chairman Hansen.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 05, 2005
WERE APPROVED ON A MOTION BY COMMISSIONER
DAVIS, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER REES AND
UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED WITH THE FOLLOWING CORRECTIONS: ON PAGE THREE UNDER ANIMAL CONTROL AGREEMENT, “FEES WERE UNCHANGED
FROM PRIOR AGREEMENT” WAS ADDED AND ON PAGE SIX “DAIRY VALLEY ROAD” WAS CHANGED
TO “OLD DAIRY ROAD”.
AGENDA: ATTACHMENT NO. 1
FOLLOW-UP BUSINESS
ITS Director
Keith Keller was directed to enter into a joint venture in developing software
with other counties. This was not
anticipated at the beginning of the year and expending money over and above the
line item was not anticipated.
MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Davis to authorize the creation of a new line item
for the joint venture of the ACT rewrite and to authorize Keith Keller to over
expend his current budget line and these items will be corrected at the end of
the year when the budget is opened. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Rees
and unanimously carried.
CITIZEN CONCERNS – RON GERMER
Ron Germer
came before the County Commissioners.
He stated that he lives at 1226 Dentwood Drive in Brigham City and
appreciated the opportunity to speak.
He thanked the Commissioners for the work they do on behalf of the
citizens of Box Elder County. He wanted
to address the idea of building a new court facility. He also had a few other thoughts.
Mr. Germer said a few weeks ago over 350 citizens
spent considerable time and effort to explain and circulate a petition to see
if the public would like a chance to vote as to whether they support or reject
a new justice court building and where it should be built. Mr. Germer said if we build it, we must
study some locations other than in the parking lot south of this
courthouse. The negative impact to
business on or near Main Street is too great, given the need for parking space
and other safety concerns. He said the
petition came back within the allotted time with over 8,000 signatures, many
more than needed to represent 20% of the legal voters needed to put this
proposition on the ballot. Mr. Germer
said it is clear that the public wants to be involved in this issue.
Mr. Germer said it has come to his attention that a
proposal dated Monday, July 5, 2005 and circulated by one or more County Commissioners
to create a special reserve fund and/or a capital project fund to appropriate
the money necessary to build this proposed Justice Court Building and thereby
circumvent the public’s right to vote on the issue. In other words, he said it has been stated by one or more Commissioners
that building this new complex should not increase a tax load to the people.
That could be true, but any time you spend $3.6 million somebody pays. He asked about keeping our old justice court
and renovating the facility and lowering our taxes.
Mr. Germer asked that the Commission table the issue
until November 2005 in order to allow time to investigate alternatives: (1) address security issues (2) look into
the possibility of a night court (3) use of the district court facility which
he was told has been offered (4) possibility of closed-circuit television from
the jail to the courthouse (5) other alternatives. He said with extra time, we could form an independent group to
find answers to the many questions still unsolved. He said the location is in question, funding for the operation
and maintenance is in question, safety is still an issue and parking, if we
build downtown, is a huge issue.
Conveyance from the jail to downtown is a big safety issue. He said lets get a handle on all of these
things and see if it all makes good sense for the county.
Mr. Germer said the people of Box Elder County are
very upset at the way that this project is being forced at them. Citizens of the county are disgusted with
the manner in which decisions are being made and perhaps it is time to
investigate a county council form of government so that one or two people do
not have complete power and control. He
said several other counties in the state are using this form of government with
good success and it spreads the power and responsibility over many rather than
a few.
CREATION OF SPECIAL REVENUE & CAPITAL PROJECT FUND
– COMMISSIONERS
Commissioner Davis said the
public needs to understand the creation of a special revenue and capital
project fund would represent full disclosure and accounting for all the
revenues and expenditures to the existing operation of the court and future
justice court. He said currently the
revenues and expenditures have been rolled into the general fund. There is not an adequate disclosure. The Commission has directed our financial
officers to accumulate all the costs associated with the bond issue as well as
the architectural renderings. The
creation of a special revenue fund would provide the full disclosure. That information has been requested. In the past it has been done with the
operations of the golf course and the swimming pool. The creation of a special revenue fund and capital project fund
is no more than giving accountability to those that signed the petition that
was circulated. The petition was to put
it on the ballot to approve the bonding for construction of a facility. The safety and location were side
issues. The only thing that could be
addressed was whether to authorize the funding of a new justice court
facility. Our legal counsel has advised
the County, where there has been a lawsuit filed, we cannot respond to the
public whether to put it on the ballot until the lawsuit has been
resolved. We have until August 15
whether or not to place it on the ballot.
With the creation of a special revenue and capital project fund,
Commissioner Davis does not project any additional funding. To provide
additional disclosure the proponents and opponents of the project should be
better served by full disclosure.
Commissioner Rees asked
about the selling of the nursing home.
She said last week Chairman Hansen came forward with a lot of additional
expenses he sees in the County. She is
concerned about the fund and isolating the money when we might need to address
some of the expenses incurring in the County.
Those decisions will need to be made by the Commission as a body.
Commissioner Davis said the
initial marketing of the nursing home was initiated by Commissioner Rees in an
effort to raise monies to reduce the amount of bonding. He said we as a Commission recognize a need
for that type of facility and proceeds from the sale would be held to help fund
the new court building. Commissioner
Davis said the Commission has already addressed the reason for selling the
nursing home and the Bear River Property in an effort to reduce the bonding for
any future capital facility.
Commissioner Rees said at
that time she did come forward. She said
with the major expenses for the County we need to evaluate everything week by
week. She does not like the way we are
rushing and does not like us starting a savings account when we are getting major
expenses. She said the nursing home
brings in $129,000 from rent every year, and this would leave a hole in the
budget. She said if we put all the
money into a special fund like a savings account, how are we going to address
the needs with the hole in the budget?
Commissioner Davis said
Chairman Hansen’s list is a laundry list.
As Chairman of the Commission he recognizes the ongoing financial
issues. He has established a 2:00 p.m.
budget session every week to look at budget challenges going forward. He said we had a two-hour work session last
Tuesday. This is an ongoing process
continually evaluating changes that have to be addressed in the budget.
Commissioner Rees can see
that the fund could be leading to a tax increase. The operation and maintenance for the court has concerned her all
along. She feels like we are in a
rush. She doesn’t know why we are
rushing when we should have a vote by the people in November. She feels we should not turn our backs on
the citizens who spoke so loud with the petition. The petition is referring to the bonding, but the location is a
concern. She said Monte Munns suggested
that we step back and get a paid consultant to look at safety concerns and
location. She said we have a lot of Box
Elder Citizens and suggested putting together a citizen’s group to address
concerns. She said lets learn from the
petition. We are out-of-step with our
constituents and contrary to corporations and businesses we are running
government, and it is the people’s needs that should be our top priority. We need to move forward with looking for
these things and not move into a tax increase.
The justice court serves the unincorporated area of our county, Brigham
City, Perry and several other communities.
Communities like Tremonton, Garland and Mantua and Willard have their
own justice courts and they would also be sharing in the tax. She likes the words of a man who said, “When
renting land from someone and the land you were running was not producing and
you were going into a hole, would you continue to rent the land.” We need to look at the court. The only reason we took in Brigham City and
Perry was for revenue for the County.
If it is revenue neutral, maybe we cannot afford a justice court, and we
need to turn it back to the cities.
Commissioner Hansen said
that is not the only reason for taking the courts. He said most of the county’s money comes in the format of
dedicated money. We keep a number of
accounts. If you look at the 911
surcharge, it will do most of the funding which is $186,000. He said those funds are dedicated to the
building to be used for additional security for the court system and not to be
used for ongoing operation. They must
not be used for the general fund. We
need to identify and separate to keep an assessment. As a chairman he wants to get ahead of the budget cycle so we
know what the needs are, and the County Commission does not get caught at the
last minute. Most of our funds are
dedicated. Commissioner Hansen talked about the fire in the Park Valley Road
shed. He said some things were covered by insurance, but we are still in the
hole. He said we are trying to get
ahead on the budget issue. If we are
going to handle the budget properly, the court needs must be discussed in an
MBA meeting. We need to keep things in the proper context and stay on target
and track the kinds of things we are dealing with here.
Commissioner Davis said at
this point in time there is no funding available to build the justice court
building. He said maybe in a 5-10 year
period the funding will be there without bonding. He said if the Commission elects to not place it on a ballot and
gain the vote of the people, they can raise revenue through the process of
accumulation. He said we have $168,000
this year and that number is projected to grow. He agrees with Commissioner Rees that if it doesn’t pay for
itself economically, we should turn it back. The justice court has paid for
itself all the way along. The
recommendation of creating these funds only provides full disclosure. It is just providing a full accounting to
everyone interested in justice court activities. It will provide a full disclosure regarding all of the revenues and
expenditures and whether it is subsidized or has a surplus. Transfers to the general fund will be a
decision that needs to be approved by the full commission. He is suggesting
that we go back to January 1, 2005 and develop the full disclosure for the full
year in responding to how we are going to pay for the costs incurred to the bonding
issues, and architectural renderings.
We haven’t done anything in terms of funding vehicles. We will give a full disclosure and full
accountability. We can’t spend those
designated monies on anything in the general fund. We could use them for other security issues and the primary
concerns from the Safety Committee. He
said if we address the issues with the justice court, we would address 95% of
the issues with this building.
MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner
Davis to adopt Resolution 05-11, a resolution directing the Box Elder
County Auditor to establish a special revenue fund and capital project fund for
the Box Elder County Justice Court with the intent of full disclosure. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Rees.
There was discussion on the
motion:
Commissioner Rees asked if
we are establishing this fund just for the sake of helping County Auditor Roger
Handy keep better records. Her concern
is that this is to open up and bring in additional revenue to this fund that
would normally be going into the general fund.
Commissioner Rees is concerned that if we are gong to isolate this
money, any money that is isolated requires a full vote of the Commission, and
we all know how we have been voting lately.
Commissioner Davis said the Commission
is not isolating any money; they are creating a vehicle to obtain revenue and
expenses. He said we would wait until
year-end before transferring to the capital project fund. This will give full accountability. This gives us information to act on instead
of having general information. This
will detail the revenue and expenses line item by line item. He used the example of selling the nursing
home.
Commissioner Rees is
concerned about all the expenses. She
is really concerned about isolating money and saving before it is put to a vote
of the people. She said what if the
vote is negative and we have to look at other options.
Commissioner Davis said that
money could be transferred by the voice of the Commission to make things safer
and look at other options.
Commissioner Davis said we
need to identify safety issues that were recommended by the Safety
Committee. He is concerned a little bit
about the original communication that we were going to sell the nursing home to
fund the justice court and now we change mid stream. By the way if we need the money, we will spend it for what the
current need is. That smells like a
“bait and switch”.
Commissioner Rees said at
the time we hadn’t had the major fire and seen some expenses. She said we need to continually adjust to
the needs. Commissioner Rees said call
it “bait and switch” if you have all these expenses and you can’t use the
money. She really feels like we are
ignoring the public before the vote by opening a fund and proceeding with the building
of the justice court. She is concerned
we will give the image of ignoring the vote.
Commissioner Hansen said it
is not an option to do nothing. He said
we have $186,000 from the 911 surcharge to upgrade facilities in this
courthouse. We have some needs that are
second to none like building a Sally Port and holding cells. We do not have a separate entry for the
prisoners. He said our prisoners go
right up the front steps of the courthouse, just like everybody else, and if we
delay long enough, somebody’s going to get hurt around here. He will put his signature on it. The
decisions must be made by the MBA and not here. He said we are looking to account for the funds so we know where
we are.
Commissioner Davis said
expenditures to be made include capital expenditures to existing safety
concerns. We communicated to the public
we were going to use surplus property. We have a document that is signed by the
Commission that says we need such a facility.
Commissioner Davis said if we have no bonding capacity, the only way is
to begin a process of saving so that some future administration will have the
ability to build a justice court facility.
No transfers have been made; they can be made by the end of December
well after the decision in November. A
special revenue fund will track all the revenue and show the sources of
security surcharges from Box Elder County, Brigham City and Perry. This will give us better accounting.
Commissioner Hansen said
there is misinformation on this justice court, and we need to have a little
understanding.
Commissioner Rees said she
had a visit with the State Office over the Justice Court and asked if we need a
Sally Port. The answer was no. She asked if we needed a holding cell. The answer was no. She was told it would be nice.
She compared it to if you can’t drive a Cadillac, you must drive
something else. Commissioner Rees has
read the state guidelines and you do not need to have them according to the
state guidelines to re-permit a justice court.
Commissioner Rees has visited with other Commissioners throughout the
state, and the justice courts that are working the best are the ones where the
jail is together with the court. There
is no transportation. Commissioner Rees
is really concerned about the timing.
She said we are giving the image of not paying attention to the November
vote.
Commissioner Davis is trying
to respond to the public with a complete accounting of everything happening for
the 2005 year. He said by arming people
with additional information, they will understand what we are dealing with as
far as the justice court. We haven’t
said we are ignoring. We are trying to
give accurate revenues and expenditures and have a full accounting.
Commissioner Davis said as
far as governmental accounting, if you have a general fund that has a surplus,
at any point in time you could appropriate those funds for other projects or
programs. That same issue exists
whether there is a separate accounting or not.
He said three years ago the Commission elected to appropriate $600,000
of general fund surplus. You can
appropriate for programs, projects or services. If we have a separate fund for the justice court activities, the
public is not threatened. We are giving
better information whether you are for or against the justice court. Commissioner Davis said we are being
responsible. He said lets create a
mechanism to track revenue and expenses for 2005.
Commissioner Rees is concerned
about isolating the money. The only way to get the money out of the fund is
through the vote of the Commission, especially as divided as the Commission has
been.
Chairman Hansen said we have
the number one court system in the state.
A vote
for the motion was called and the motion, carried 2-1 with Commissioner Rees voting nay.
(See Attachment No. 02 – Resolution 05-11.)
ORDINANCE N0. 281/VACATION OF RIVERSIDE ALLEYWAY –
GARTH DAY
MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Rees to adopt Ordinance No. 281, an ordinance
vacating the alleyway between 15600 North Street and 15500 North Street,
beginning at the northeast corner of Lot 01, Block 03, Riverside Townsite
survey the south right-of-way line of 15600 North Street, 417.4 feet more or
less. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Davis and unanimously carried.
(See
Attachment No. 03 – Ordinance 281.)
TRADITIONAL & ROTH IRA’S – CORY WOOD
Cory Wood,
Utah Retirement System Representative, answered questions and concerns about
authorizing IRA payroll deductions. He
said the state is now offering both the IRA and the Roth IRA. They started
April 15. He said the investment
options are the same and the fee structure is the same. There are no additional costs involved. He explained the difference between the Traditional
and Roth IRA’s. There is no cost to the
County.
Commissioner
Davis said this provides discretionary opportunities of investing towards
retirement with someone the employees feel comfortable with.
MOTION:
A motion was made by Commissioner Davis
to approve the authorization of both IRA and Roth IRA access through the Utah
State Retirement as a payroll deduction for all Box Elder County
Employees. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Rees and unanimously carried.
FAIRGROUNDS CAPITAL BUDGET – COMMISSIONERS
MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner
Rees to accept the Fairgrounds Capital Budget in the amount of $604,320
for 2006 and to approve approximately $20,000 to be spent in the current fiscal
year. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Davis and unanimously carried.
INDIGENT BURIAL – LORNA RAVENBERG
Commission Secretary Lorna Ravenberg said she received
a request from Greg Meyers for burial of a 46-year old man. He has a wife, and three children under the
age of sixteen, and they are on welfare.
They have a 1978 vehicle, and there is no money.
MOTION: A motion was made by Commissioner Rees to allow $500.00 for the indigent burial of
Michael Christian Thomas. The motion
was seconded by Commissioner Davis and
unanimously carried.
WARRANT REGISTER – COMMISSIONERS
The warrant
register was signed, and the following claims were approved for payment: Claims number 38362 thru 38374 in the amount
of $41,127.34. Claims number 38375 thru
38442 in the amount of $141,606.11. Claims number 38420 was voided.
PERSONNEL ACTIONS – COMMISSIONERS
SHERIFF DEPT: Rickey C. Loveland, re-hire,
effective 07/07/2005
Ryan E. Hurd, re-hire,
effective 07/05/2005
Alyson Bodily,
re-hire, effective 07/05/2005
Cade I. Palmer, grade
increase, effective 07/06/2005
Kathleen F. Conrad,
step increase, effective 07/18/2005
ASSIGNMENT REVIEW - COMMISSIONERS
The
Commissioners reviewed assignments.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
1.
Pending
Litigation
MOTION: At 10:20 a.m. a motion was made by Commissioner Davis to move into an executive
session to discuss pending litigation and the points of discussion are covered
by attorney/client privilege. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Rees,
and the motion was unanimously carried.
MOTION: At 10:52 a.m. a motion was made by Commissioner Rees to reconvene into regular
Commission Meeting. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion, and
regular Commission Meeting was reconvened.
Chairman Hansen explained that pending litigation was
discussed during the executive session and that the points of discussion are
covered by attorney/client privilege.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner
Rees to adjourn. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion, and
the meeting adjourned at 10:43 a.m.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED in regular session this 19th day of July 2005.
_______________________________
Scott Hansen, Chairman
_______________________________
Clark N. Davis, Commissioner
_______________________________
Suzanne R. Rees, Commissioner
ATTEST:
_________________________________
LuAnn Adams, Recorder/Clerk/Surveyor
The following items were discussed in Work Session
after Commission Meeting had adjourned:
1.
Personnel Issues
The Work Session adjourned at 11:50 a.m.