County commission minutes, August 5-6 |
| September 11, 2013 |
|
*** Commissioners gave the opening invocation and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Clerk Glenda Poston joined the meeting.
Commissioner Pinkerton moved to go into
executive session under Idaho Code 67-2345(1)a,
to consider hiring an individual agent; and f,
to communicate with legal counsel for the public
agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and
legal options for pending litigation, or
controversies not yet being litigated but
imminently likely to be litigated. Commissioner
Kirby second. Commissioners voted as follows:
Chairman Dinning “aye”, Commissioner Pinkerton
“aye” and Commissioner Kirby “aye”. Motion
passed unanimously. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to no longer require monthly payments on indigent account 2010-4, but to keep the lien on the property. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to review indigent account 2011-41 in January 2014 for possible monthly reimbursement. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to approve indigent account 2013-24. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer Jenny Fessler, Solid Waste
Superintendent Claine Skeen and Bonners Ferry
Herald Reporter Laura Roady joined the meeting
at
Deputy Clerk Ryals left the meeting at Chairman Dinning mentioned the hardship exemption hearing had been continued to this date to allow time for Ms. Williams to check with her brother about lowering her rent payment so she could pay her taxes for the current amount owing of $64. Chairman Dinning asked Ms. Williams if her brother could drop her payment by the amount of tax owed for just one month so she could make her payment. Ms. Williams asked if Commissioners would accept a $20 payment this month and she would pay the remainder the following month. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to accept $20 in August 2013 as payment toward year 2012 taxes with the remaining tax amount due in full September 2013 for parcel #MH65N01W350752A. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously.
The meeting to consider the Williams hardship
exemption ended at10: Mr. Skeen discussed the exemption of taxes for the Eagles Organization. Chairman Dinning mentioned churches also don’t pay solid waste fees. The solid waste fee is not a tax, but a fee and the Eagles are generating garbage, according to Treasurer Fessler. It was said the Eagles Organization sold food and beer at the All Class Reunion. Mr. Skeen said this was just brought to his attention. Chairman Dinning asked for time for Commissioners to think about this.
Treasurer Fessler left the meeting at Mr. Skeen said he discussed the possible reduction of hours for part time employees, and he asked what the scenario with his part time employees would be if this change doesn’t happen. Chairman Dinning said Commissioners would have to take a look at the issue again. Clerk Poston said there is a revenue loss and questioned the cash budget available. Mr. Skeen said part time hours will be 28 hours per week and his original recommendation was to not change anything, but if there’s going to be a change, the gates of the monitored sites could be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. instead 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mr. Skeen said this will affect the Naples site most, but should be okay for Paradise Valley and the junction. Notice needs to get to the public if the hours do change. Chairman Dinning said notice could go out to the public in November if there’s a change. Clerk Poston said if the change doesn’t go into effect, Commissioners will need to sit down and look at the matter again.
Mr. Skeen said he conducted a waste stream study
and the total is at 14 tons so the tonnage has
increased a bit, but that goes along with
summer. Chairman Dinning said the county has
tried a patch of roadway with glycerol type
material made from biodiesel for dust abatement.
The cost is about 11 cents per pound and
Commissioners will see if it works as well as
calcium chloride. A small section of Mr. Skeen questioned pay for holiday hours as it relates to his part time employees. Chairman Dinning said that is something Commissioners still need to discuss. Mr. Skeen said he feels with the reduction of hours for part time employees and sites closing for holidays, it affects his part time employees more. Mr. Skeen questioned possibly keeping the manned sites open on holidays.
The meeting with Mr. Skeen ended at Commissioner Pinkerton moved to authorize the Chairman to sign the document from Idaho Counties Risk Management Program (ICRMP) declining the terrorist insurance coverage. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to adopt Resolution 2013-31. A resolution increasing Veterans Memorial budget due to receipt of unanticipated revenue. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Resolution 2013-31 reads as follows:
Resolution 2013-31
Increasing Veterans Memorial Budget Due to
Receipt of Unanticipated Revenue
WHEREAS, the
Board of County Commissioners, County of
Boundary, State of Idaho, did establish an
operating budget for the Veterans Memorial Fund
for fiscal year 2012-2013; and
WHEREAS,
$3,196.72 has been received from the Idaho
Counties Risk Management Program (ICRMP) as
reimbursement for repairs to Veterans Memorial
Hall that was damaged by a vehicle hitting the
building; and
WHEREAS, the Boundary County Commissioners deem
it in the best interest of the general public of
Boundary County to increase the Fiscal Year
2012-2013 Veterans Memorial Budget for that
purpose; and
WHEREAS, the
addition of this revenue does not affect the tax
levy for
WHEREAS, it is
appropriate to increase the fiscal year
2012-2013 Veterans Memorial Budget revenue
account number 0025-00-0391 and expense account
number 25-00-899-00, Capital – Other, in the
amount of $3,196.72; and
NOW THEREFORE, upon motion duly made, seconded
and unanimously carried,
IT IS RESOLVED that the increase to the fiscal
year 2012-2013 Veterans Memorial Budget revenue
account number 0025-00-0391 and expense account
number 25-00-899-00, Capital – Other, in the
amount of $3,196.72 is hereby authorized and
ordered; and
IT IS FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Clerk is instructed to deliver
certified copies of this resolution to the
Boundary County Treasurer and the Boundary
County Auditor.
DATED this 5th day of August, 2013
BOARD OF
s/________________________________
Dan R. Dinning, Chairman
s/________________________________
LeAlan L. Pinkerton, Commissioner
s/________________________________
Walt Kirby, Commissioner
ATTEST:
s/__________________________________________________
Glenda Poston, Clerk of the Board of
Recorded as instrument #258305
The meeting with Ms. Brown ended at Commissioners tended to administrative duties. Commissioner Pinkerton moved to authorize the Chairman to sign the Boundary County Fire Mitigation Management Professional Services Contract Amendment #17 with Inland Forest Management. Commissioner Kirby second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Pinkerton asked about Mr. Meier’s time as it may be beneficial for him to attend some meetings. Mr. Meier said being a public information officer is just a way for him to give back to the community. Commissioner Pinkerton said Commissioners just want the Restorium to become self-sufficient and stand on its own. The Restorium’s budget is $1,220,000 and this year the levy is $391,000 to fund approximately 32 residents. Commissioners would like to increase the cost for incoming residents so the Restorium is paying for itself rather than having the taxpayers fund it. Chairman Dinning said Commissioners do not want to harm the existing residents. Commissioner Pinkerton said there will be a turn over rate that will eventually get caught up. Commissioner Pinkerton mentioned expanding the Restorium has been discussed, but how can it expand if it’s already at a $400,000 per year deficit in operation.
11: Ms. Magee said the Restorium currently has 31 residents and 32 rooms rented. There should be one new resident coming and one daycare participant who utilizes the daycare program once or twice per month. There are three rooms available. Ms. Magee explained the process of contacting future residents and she said there are 15 people on the waiting list, but some have passed away and some haven’t returned her phone calls. Chairman Dinning asked if the rooms start filling up once the calls are placed. Ms. Magee said yes. Ms. Magee said two of the available rooms are open to the same sex as those rooms share a bathroom. Commissioner Pinkerton asked how much time is given before the resident moves in. Ms. Magee said it depends as sometimes it takes some time to get the paperwork done. Ms. Magee said she has also asked for a $100 deposit from a potential resident to show there is intent. Ms. Magee said it’s usually about 10 days from start to finish for paperwork, but some residents can get that completed in one day. Ms. Magee explained what can cause delays in the process, having to do with doctor’s notes and medications, but it’s something that doesn’t happen often. Clerk Poston said she is waiting for a call back from the county’s insurance company to see if the county is able to cover only the employee’s insurance benefits if they work over the allowed amount of time to be considered part time. Chairman Dinning said some congressmen are saying this health insurance matter is already law so Commissioners are trying to find out. There are also part time Solid Waste Department employees who may have to have a couple hours reduced, but Commissioners are still trying to find out what is going on. This change may be difficult for Ms. Magee a far as scheduling. There won’t be more cost, but the county will need to find more personnel. If some of the part time employees do work over 30 hours, the expenses for insurance doubles for the county. Mr. Dirks said speaking for himself he couldn’t make a living at 28 hours per week. Those present discussed moving the kitchen manager position into reserves and putting a cook position in the budget.
Mr. Meier said under Obamacare, a 40 hour
employee has benefits or has it declined.
Chairman Dinning said if county employees fell
under Obamacare, costs would increase as then
the county would be covering things that aren’t
covered currently. It was said Mr. Dirks was informed a 2% cost of living increase was implemented for the new budget and night shift employees will receive an additional 30 cents per hour. There has also been an adjustment for law enforcement officers so they will receive a 4% for the risk.
The meeting with Mr. Dirks and Ms. Magee ended
at Commissioners provided Mr. Meier with the background of the Restorium and discussed what topics he could present to the public to keep the people informed.
The meeting with Mr. Meier ended at
Commissioners recessed for lunch at 1:30 p.m., Commissioners reconvened for the afternoon session with Chairman Dinning, Commissioner Pinkerton, Commissioner Kirby, and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.
Mr. Kramer said
Mr. Groom said Rob Wakeley, Director for
Boundary Volunteer Ambulance President Ken Baker
joined the meeting at Mr. Groom said when he spoke to the Boundary Volunteer Ambulance EMT’s he told them that he is not the enemy, but if there is something his organization can help with or if Commissioners decide on a different avenue and encompass an advanced license, he would like to work with Boundary Volunteer Ambulance, who is really the backbone. Mr. Groom said Boundary Volunteer Ambulance has really good people from what he can see, but planning and strategy may need updating. Mr. Groom discussed the ambulance service working in conjunction with fire departments and when to separate duties between the two organizations, and he said he got the feeling that relationship wouldn’t be approved upon locally, but would be a must if Newport Ambulance Service was a part of this if there is to be success in the long run.
Chairman Dinning asked how Newport Ambulance
Service functions as they cover a part of Commissioner Pinkerton said with Pend Oreille County Newport Ambulance Service is the sole provider for two-thirds of that county. Mr. Groom discussed details such as there are approximately 1,400 primary calls and of that approximately 400 are transfers and last year there were 980 911 transfers (hospital inter-facility). Commissioner Pinkerton asked who operates Newport Ambulance Service’s billing system. Mr. Groom said their billing is done in-house, but at one point Newport Ambulance Service did take a look at a billing service and it just about put them out of business so they brought billing back in-house.
Commissioner Pinkerton asked if Newport
Ambulance Service only responds from their Those present discussed time frames for response and Mr. Groom explained how fire departments can come in to assist and help administer first aid to be a filler of care to help save lives. Chairman Dinning briefly questioned if the fire departments were districts. Mr. Groom said Newport Ambulance has relationships with the fire departments and if they didn’t have these relationships, there would be a very angry community. Mr. Groom said Newport Ambulance Service will go out of their way to foster the fire departments because they are so important to this plan. Mr. Groom said there are no ambulance units housed in the outlying areas and Newport Ambulance Service doesn’t provide extrication, which is much more appropriate with the fire departments. Ambulance personnel should be with the ambulance and include the help of other agencies to be a team. It was asked how many calls Newport Ambulance Service gets other than inter-transfers to hospitals. Mr. Groom said they receive a little more than 800 calls. Two ambulance units responding to one location is still considered one call, according to Mr. Groom.
Mr. Groom said in total the number of personnel
is 28 and that includes rotating out. Some of
the EMT’s also serve Commissioner Pinkerton asked if Newport Ambulance Service performs standby services, and Mr. Groom said yes. Newport Ambulance Service started asking for compensation from their local school district last year, standbys for rodeo events and the county fair have been provided for free and it’s been chalked up as free advertising. The only billables are if someone at a rodeo gets hurt or if someone is ill. Standby services at boat races are charged minimally.
Chairman Dinning asked Mr. Groom if there are
any details that Commissioners are missing. Mr.
Groom said he would really like to get across
how difficult operating an ambulance service is
without tax support because of write-offs.
Medicare and copays involved retrieve 55% of
where the fee would be. If people have met their
deductibles, private insurances pay well, but if
not, it’s then considered private pay and
sometimes people don’t have the money so Newport
Ambulance Service simply doesn’t get paid.
Newport Ambulance Service uses three different
collection agencies to see who is best, and that
was not very successful, according to Mr. Groom.
Mr. Groom said he would say Newport Ambulance
Service receives approximately 45% of accounts
billed. If the patients were all Medicare aged
people, Newport Ambulance Service would receive
closer to 60%.
Newport Ambulance Service doesn’t receive taxes,
but that is something Chairman Dinning said Newport Ambulance Service has four ambulance units, 28 staff members with eight being full time, and they operate on billings and $25,000. On top of that Newport Ambulance Service is paying $1,000 per month for a lease on a facility. Mr. Groom said after adding telephones and utilities the cost totals approximately $2,000 per month.
Mr. Groom said his goal is to see what Mr. Groom said he created a tree to explain the levels and types of service provided to include hospital, ambulance, fire, law enforcement, etc., and it may be that it’s not only the ambulance to get the funding as it may also be the fire department. Britt Hamilton referenced utilizing fire departments and extrication and he asked if fire personnel are a part of Newport Ambulance Service or not, if they are trained by them. Mr. Groom said the fire fighters are a part of their own fire district. President Baker said Boundary Volunteer Ambulances are housed in the fire stations and training is provided. There are also EMT’s that are fire fighters and that is why ambulance service is a part of the Fire Chief’s Association. Ambulance units are housed in the fire departments as per mutual aid agreements.
Chairman Dinning asked how many of
Mr. Kramer said when he knew Mr. Groom was
coming to meet with Commissioners he felt it
would be a learning opportunity. Mr. Groom
complimented Boundary Volunteer Ambulance and
encouraged Commissioners to continue working
with them. Commissioners questioned if Newport
Ambulance Service funding is strictly from 911
calls and if they are operating on a deficit.
Mr. Groom said no, but they are on the border
and he hopes Newport Ambulance Service doesn’t
have to challenge that. If there is a loss in
call volume, Mr. Groom said he would have to
consider shutting down. Mr. Groom said he has
had conversations with two running candidates
about an ambulance district. Commissioner Kirby said there is a gap in what the county has and what it needs. Mr. Groom said you can’t take an EMT put them through a course, then put them out there as he or she needs a few years under his or her belt. Rural areas need the paramedics as there is only one hospital. It was questioned if it’s more difficult providing advanced life support (ALS) or basic life support (BLS). Commissioner Kirby asked how Commissioners get to where they need to go. Mr. Groom said he’s been through this twice and with all due respect to take the request for proposals and throw them away. Mr. Groom said to have everyone come to the table and figure out where to get to with the funding that is available. Commissioner Kirby said money doesn’t do it. Mr. Groom voiced the importance of teamwork and said you have to have the reins to drive the horse where you want it to go, but you also have to have the foundation and funding. So now that funding is in hand there has to be teamwork. There will be a ton of growing pains and hard feelings, but it’s one of those things and the focus is to say we’re going to learn and grow, according to Mr. Groom. Mr. Groom mentioned operating at the ALS level on a day to day basis without receiving public dollars and once getting the initial investment of cardiac machines, etc., operating day to day is probably similar comparing ALS and BLS. Somewhere in middle that dollar amount can be the justification in stretching service to the next level, according to Mr. Groom. Reimbursement under ALS is better than BLS.
Commissioner Kirby said if
Chairman Dinning said
Newport Ambulance Service is a private
non-profit and it has grown into providing ALS
service without private funds, yet, according to
Mr. Groom. Commissioners
asked if Newport Ambulance Service has been
successful at this rate and Mr. Groom said yes,
it’s been a struggle though. Having a district
is a smart way to go, according to Mr. Groom.
When Chairman Dinning asked if the scenario would work in that there could be contact with fire districts and be able to service other areas other than one that covers in totality. How does the county mandate a relationship? Mr. Groom said he’s been spoiled in his agency’s relationship. It’s taken years to teach fire fighters and to encourage them, and it’s a relationship that’s a benefit to everyone. Commissioners can say what standards they want for service so how do the agencies get the county there instead of going out for request for proposals. Mr. Groom said the county wouldn’t be running the services, but could endorse it. Teamwork is the best asset, according to Mr. Groom. Mr. Kramer said he hasn’t spoken to Boundary Volunteer Ambulance as that is not what he has been tasked with, but he hopes something can work out going forward. Commissioner Kirby asked how to get from the current stage to reach the goal. It was said it takes a considerable amount of time to get to the paramedic level. To be successful the paramedic has to have someone to work under and it could take a year of doing that. There has to be a medic that’s been active for awhile to bounce ideas off of. Commissioner Kirby said he doesn’t want to put someone in a position they can’t meet. Commissioner Kirby said the EMT’s are knowledgeable and he is not interested in what they know.
Commissioner Kirby said we’ve got to figure out
some way to take a meager amount of money from
the tax district and make it last for three
years and to give Boundary Volunteer Ambulance
enough money to keep operating. Commissioner
Kirby said he can’t believe it will take such a
large amount of money for Boundary Volunteer
Ambulance to get the job done as they’ve been
providing a service for a long time and have
some money in the bank. Commissioner Kirby
mentioned having a better bookkeeping system
then years ago. Commissioner Kirby said just
because there are district dollars, the county
needs to know what the ambulance service needs.
Mr. Groom added that it’s the simple
responsibility that comes with it. That is what
has been attempted to get across. It was said
that what has been done in the 1990’s is
different than today. Mr. Groom said he won’t go
bankrupt without county money. In
Mr. Hartman asked if Newport Ambulance Service
has been receiving $25,000 for a long time. Mr.
Groom said his ambulance service has received
this funding for two years and before that it
was just accounts receivable. Mr. Groom said
he’s confident
The meeting with Mr. Groom and Mr. Doughty ended
at Commissioners tended to administrative duties. Commissioner Kirby moved to approve the minutes of July 29 & 30, 2013. Commissioner Pinkerton second. Motion passed unanimously. Commissioners tended to administrative duties.
Clerk Poston, Mr. Kramer and Newport Ambulance
Service members Steve Groom and Scott Doughty
joined the meeting.
5:35 p.m., There being no further business, the meeting recessed until the special meeting to be held on Thursday, August 8, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
***
9:00 a.m., Commissioner Kirby moved to go into
executive session under Idaho Code 67-2345(1)a,
to consider hiring an individual agent; and f,
to communicate with legal counsel for the public
agency to discuss the legal ramifications of and
legal options for pending litigation, or
controversies not yet being litigated but
imminently likely to be litigated. Commissioner
Pinkerton second. Commissioners voted as
follows: Chairman Dinning “aye”, Commissioner
Pinkerton “aye” and Commissioner Kirby “aye”.
10:
There being no further business, the meeting
adjourned at 10: /s/ DAN R. DINNING, Chairman ATTEST: /s/ GLENDA POSTON, Clerk By: Michelle Rohrwasser, Deputy Clerk |