Commissioner Proceedings 12/26/23

January 23, 2024

The Wallace County Board of Commissioners met in regular session with, Larry Townsend, Chairman, Michael Cowles, Commissioner, and Brionna Colvin, County Clerk present.  
Christine Smith, County Treasurer and Kris Welsh entered the meeting.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Townsend at 8:38 a.m. 
Warrants # 30487-30547 in the amount of $ 95,939.54 were approved for payment. Payroll warrants in the amount of $ 122,270.78 for the working period of November 26, 2023 through December 9, 2023 were approved for payment. 
Commissioner Larson is not in attendance for the morning session.
The Welsh family had tried to get ahold of Kathy McDaniel to rent the senior center for a Christmas Dinner, but Kathy had said the senior center was busy all day and not available to use. Kris would like to know who to talk to about renting the senior center in the future. Commissioners would try to talk to Kathy to see the reasoning why it was not available. 
Christine gave an update on the tax dollars she has received so far. As of today, the Treasures Office has received about 4.7 million dollars in collections. That is about 67% of the county taxpayers. 
Hope Springs bills were presented and approved for payment.
Marshall Unruh, Sheriff entered the meeting. 
U.S. Small Business Administration will be here Wednesday, January 3, 2024, through Wednesday, January 10, 2024 to discuss the damage that was done during the storm this summer. Clerk Colvin will get the SBA news release posted on Facebook, the county website and newspaper. 
Anthony Garcia, Road and Bridge Supervisor entered the meeting.
The road department is just maintaining roads right now. They will be doing on maintenance on vehicles and equipment. Chairman Townsend suggests Anthony look into insulating the shop when they are not working on the roads. 
Clerk Colvin presented information from Greeley County Health Services inquiring about a county employee lab fair. Greeley County is willing to draw labs for a discounted price for county employees during this time to help improve community partnerships. The commissioners asked Paulette her opinion. 
Paulette Unruh, EMS Director entered the meeting. 
Paulette wanted to let the commissioners know that she is applying for a grant for a case and a monitor. The monitor can read blood pressure, oxygen, pulse, and more. The total for the case and monitor is approximately $4,000.00. The grant Paulette is applying for is a 80/20 match. The county would be responsible for about $800.00.  
Paulette thinks that the county employee lab fair is a good price and would be utilized by some of the employees.
Marshall Unruh re-entered the meeting. 
Marshall has terminated a full-time dispatcher. Marshall plans to move a part-time dispatcher to full-time and advertise for a part-time dispatcher.  
Chairman Townsend makes a motion to accept the 2024 holiday calendar as presented. Commissioner Cowles seconded.  AYE 2, NAY 0. Commissioner Larson was absent for vote.
2024 raises were discussed. All employees will receive their longevity raise on their anniversary dates. 
Chairman Townsend moves to give all Wallace County Employees a cost of living raise of 5% retroactive to December 24, 2023. Commissioner Cowles seconded.
Clerk Colvin informed the commissioners about a new payroll program that she met with a representative about. Clerk Colvin likes the current program and does not think we need to switch programs. The commissioners agreed that they would like to stay with the current payroll program. 
Clerk Colvin asked the commissioners if they would like to extend the advertisement of sealed Courthouse cleaning bids. Clerk Colvin only received 1 bid and they would like to extend the date to January 5, 2024. The current sealed bid was not looked at by the commissioners. Sealed bids will be discussed January 9th. 
Clerk Colvin presented the Stateline Service Agreement for Wallace County, Hope Springs, and Wallace County Ambulance. The commissioners are satisfied with the service the county is receiving. The commissioners approved the Stateline Service Agreement.
Marshall Unruh, Sheriff and Lance Finley, Undersheriff entered the meeting. 
The commissioners are not interested at this time in installing panic buttons in the courthouse offices. 
Lance was wondering if the commissioners are still considering per diem. Lance has had some instances recently where his meals do not align with what the county handbook policy states. Lance would like to mirror the states policy for per diem. The commissioners said that they are going to be reviewing the county handbook soon.
Wendy Dunagan, County Appraiser entered the meeting.
Wendy received the ag values from the state. The values are once again decreasing this year. Dry land values are decreasing anywhere from 16%-33%. Grass values are decreasing anywhere from 7%-14% Irrigated land values are decreasing from 12%-14%. JoAnna’s last day as full-time will be January 2, 2024. JoAnna is willing to work from 4:00 pm-5:00 pm to help train.
Recess at 12:00 pm. 
Return to meeting at 12:58 pm. 
Commissioner Larson entered the meeting.
Lissa Sexson, Wallace County Community Development entered the meeting.
Lissa gave updates on the housing incentive and the storefront and signage incentive. The first applications for the hiring incentive were reviewed on December 11th and 4 of the applications were approved. Lissa has the every door direct mailer drafted up and is waiting for review/edits from a few people. Lissa has a few conferences to attend in the upcoming months. 
The commissioners would like to table the discussion for the lab fair until the next meeting. 
Commissioner Larson moved to approve the December 12, 2023 minutes. Chairman Townsend seconded. AYE 3, NAY 0
The motion carried unanimously.
Wendy Dunagan re-entered the meeting. 
Wendy re-explained the values a how the values and fair market value is decided. The commissioners also discussed with Wendy the increase on commercial taxes. 
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 3:57 pm.

ATTEST:
Brionna Colvin, County Clerk   
Larry Townsend, Chairman
Becky Larson, Commissioner
Michael Cowles, Commissioner