The Board of Stevens County Commissioners met in regular session Monday, July 8. Tron Stegman and Pat Hall were present. Joe D. Thompson was absent. Also present were County Clerk Amy Jo Tharp, County Attorney Paul Kitzke and RoGlenda Coulter from The Hugoton Hermes.
Agenda: 8:30 – Bills; 9:15 – Cimarron Basin – Tiffany Bowin; 9:30 – Tony Martin; 10:00 – Best Western in regard to taxes.
When this reporter arrived Rodney Kelling from EMS and Fire was finishing his report. He asked when to be present for the Budget Workshop tomorrow (Tuesday). Commissioners told him they would let him know.
Cammie Heaton came in and brought in the proposed budget for the Health Department. She talked about the alarm that keeps going off on the generator. Several have been out to check it out with different opinions. To fix may cost $4,000. She talked about grants and other expenses.
Cammie talked about the county Pharmacy possibly trying to do vaccines. Commissioners did not like the idea of two county entities competing against each other.
She asked if it would be ok if she talked to Ross about a weed issue. Commissioners told her yes. She also talked about the thermostats.
The Cimarron Basin representative presented paper information to the Commissioners. She said she will email the budget.
Amy asked the Commissioners to make a decision about dissolving Townships. The only one to keep would be Moscow. After much discussion, motion was made and passed to start the process of dissolving the Townships excluding Moscow Township. A notice will have to be ran in the paper.
Tony Martin came in for Public Works. He handed out good news information concerning the landfill. They can start working on the new pit.
In regard to the Zoning meeting. A date needs to be set and ran in the paper in regard to the Wind Turbine project. The public hearing will take place, then the Zoning Commission will make a decision.
Tony requested an executive session. A request for a raise for two of the employees was granted, as was a request for two of the Zoning employees. Motion was made and passed to grant the raises.
Tony then talked about the charges at the landfill at the request of the Commissioners. He said locals are not charged for pickup loads as long as they are not over done with load after load. Contractors are charged, like the city, Collectia, J&J, etc. Only stuff from Stevens County is supposed to be accepted. The landfill has had extra expenses in having to dig the new pit and fixing a tractor.
Sheriff Heaton checked in and brought in some paperwork.
Susan Schulte from the GIS Department requested an executive session.
Sam Bhakta, Praful Bhakta and Evelin Urquidi from the Best Western Motel, Sunrise Hospitality came in to discuss their tax situation. Paul and the Commissioners explained to them that they had told them if they caught up on their taxes – Stevens County would waive the interest. The whole thing was a misunderstanding as to why they were not receiving their tax statements. But the Commissioners found out that the Board of Taxes will not allow Stevens County to waive the interest. The motel will have to hire a tax attorney to get in touch with the Board of Tax Appeal to set up, request or file an appeal. Paul stressed that the Commissioners will back them up since it was a misunderstanding as to why the taxes were not paid on time. He told them to have the tax attorney to get in touch with him or the Board of Tax Appeal.
The budget workshop will be tomorrow – Tuesday. Meeting adjourned.
