2004 Commissioner Minutes

October 4, 2004

Commissioners Judy A. Stang, James S. Warnken, and B. J. McComb met in a regularly scheduled session. The commissioners conducted the following business:

• RESIGNATION OF CHERYLE DEMMON, MINERAL COUNTY CLERK OF COURT: The commissioners received a letter dated October 1^st, 2004, from Cheryle Demmon that she would be resigning at 5:00 PM on October 1^st. 2004.
• APPOINTMENT OF SHARON GULL AS CLERK OF COURT: The commissioners appointed Sharon Gull to the Clerk of Court. Sharon Gull is running unopposed in the general election. The commissioners did not advertise for the position. It is likely she will be the Clerk of Court anyway.
• RC&D MEETING: The commissioners attended the monthly RC&D Meeting in the commissioners meeting room. For complete minutes contact the Mineral County Extension Office.
• ROAD LABOR EMPLOYEE: Present Jason McClees, the commissioners and Jason interviewed road laborer positions. The commissioners interview 4 applicants.

The commissioners adjourned.

October 5, 2004

Commissioners Judy A. Stang, James S. Warnken, and B. J. McComb met in a regularly scheduled session. The commissioners conducted the following business:

• ROAD DEPARTMENT ACCIDENT: Present Jason McClees, Mineral County Road Foremen was in to report that Wayne Boyce had an accident with the big county dump truck. It will need repairs from an auto body shop. Jason will get some bids and report it to the insurance company.
• WEST-END FIRE DISTRICT: Present Tom Anderson, Shawn Donavan, Mineral County Attorney. Shawn reviewed the situation with the West-end Fire District and the Mangold Enterprises. Mangold Enterprises is claiming that because he was going to do the work for the fire department he has lost wages because the fire department had told them that they were not ready for them to start work. Shawn says that the contract was specific in its terms and was properly terminated. Now the mediator wants to charge $100 per hour to try and settle this dispute. Shawn is suggesting that the Fire District offer them a settlement.

The commissioners adjourned.

October 13, 2004

Commissioners Judy A. Stang, James S. Warnken, and B. J. McComb met in a regularly scheduled session. The commissioners conducted the following business:

• JP OFFICE CHECKING ACCOUNT MONEYS: Wanda James, Mineral County Justice of the Peace, was in concerning an amount of over $8000 in an old checking account that has been there before she was judge. She does not know where to disperse it, and would like to allocate it to her budget for a project that was not budgeted for this year. The commissioners will check with the auditors to see if and how it can be done.
• BUDGETORY AUTHORITY RESOLUTION 10-13-04: The commissioners passed this resolution for the appropriation of CDBG monies received by Mineral County from the State of Montana for Big Sky Machining. The grant amount of for $239,760 and is hereby appropriated to fund 2943.
• BUDGETORY AUTORITY RESOLUTION 10-13-04B: The commissioners passed this resolution for the appropriation of grant monies received by Mineral County from the State of Montana Noxious Weed program. The grant amount is for $6200 and is hereby appropriated to Fund 2840.
• BUDGETORY AUOTHORITY RESOLUTION 10-13-04C: The commissioners passed this resolution for grant monies received by Mineral county from the State of Montana War Supplemental Equipment grant. The grant amount is for $56,325 and is hereby appropriated to fund 1000.
• BUDGETORY AUTHORITY RESOLUTION 10-13-04D: The commissioners passed this resolution for grant monies received by Mineral County from the State of Montana Homeland Security. The amount is for $12,724 and will appropriated to fund 1000.
• TIM READ-MINERAL COUNTY JUNK VEHICLE CONTRACT: Present Tim Read, the commissioners signed the junk vehicle contract with the State of Montana, the amount of the contract will be for $5,640.01. Currently Scrobers Towing in St. Regis is the contractor at this time.
• CHUCK MEAD-MINERAL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Chuck was in with letters of support for changing St. Regis Pass to Sohon Pass. According to the Historical Society Sohon Pass was the original name.
• TOM ANDERSON-WEST END RURAL FIRE DEPARTMENT: Tom was in with a new contract from a bidder from Plains to put up their metal building for the fire department. The bid was for $74,000. Tom felt he did not need to advertise the bid, because they did last year. The commissioners called Shawn Donavan, County Attorney, and after a discussion felt it would leave the county too exposed to sign a contract where the bid was not more recently advertised.
• CLAIMS: The commissioners reviewed claims.
• SICK LEAVE REQUEST: The commissioners approved Shirley Hanncock giving 40 hours of her sick leave to Phyllis White. Phyllis will be having back surgery and will have a long recovery before she can go back to work.

The commisisoners adjourned.

October 20^th, 2004

Commissioners James S. Warnken and B. J. McComb met in a regularly scheduled session. Commissioners Stang was attending a Workforce Investment Board Meeting in Missoula. The commissioners conducted the following business:

• PHONE SYSTEM-Present Kathy Jasper, Mineral County Clerk and Recorder. The Message phone system for the county needs to be updated. Currently it is not working. The commissioners approved supporting an upgrade to the system for $6997.00. the other option was to fix it and keep it the same for $2990.00. this would only be good for another 2 years.
• MINERAL COUNTY ADVISORY COUNCIL- Present are Roger Hearst, Jim DeBree, Peggy Podolak, Alan Amborn, Dennis Hildebrandt, Mike Byrnes, Dave Brink, Kevin Chamberlain, and Gordon Hendrick. The advisory group was in to review with the commissioners the outcome of the Big Creek Watershed Appeal. Our appeal was denied. The advisory group will draft a letter for the commissioners review to Senator Burns with our concerns of this process with the USFS. The group asked the commissioners if the County Attorney could file an injunction to stop the decommisissioning of roads in Mineral County. The commisisoners made no decision on this issue.
• WANDA JAMES-JP COURT EMPLOYEE REQUEST-Present Wanda James, Wanda was in with a letter explaining an emergency budget addition. she feels she needs to have another full time clerk to process all of her tickets and court paper work. Her office is behind and is looseing revenues. The commisisoners will give a decision next week. This will also be an added cost for Health Insurance of over $5000 to the county. The commissioners need to see if there is a budget for this reguest. Wanda does have some fine collection funds of around $9000 that is anticipated revenue she had not planned on.

The commissioners adjourned.

October 29, 2004

Commissioners James S. Warnken and Judy A. Stang met in a regularly scheduled session. Commissioner B. J. McComb was attending a Western Regional Mental Health Board Meeting in Kalispell. The commissioners conducted the following business:

• The commissioners reviewed claims and payroll. Jim noticed claim #11034 is not correct. The county did not take off for the price of hauling logs. It is a claim to the DOT.
• Tim Read-Mineral County Planner and Sanatarian (RURAL ADDRESS): The commissioners approved a claim for $2293.80 to MAPS for completion of GIS centerline mapping and equipment for the planners vehicle that will allow the county to find distance for rural addressing.
• SOHON PASS-CHUCK MEAD, MINERAL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Present chuck Mead, Chuck was in to see if the commissioners had any new news about supporting changing St. Regis Pass back to Sohon Pass. The Historical Society claims it is the original name and represents the person who mapped the pass. The commissioners will check with Shoshone County, Idaho on Monday to have a consensus from both counties before writing a letter of support.
• WEST-END RURAL FIRE DISTRICT: The commissioners received a certified letter from Liberty Builders in Plains Montana. It seems that Tom Anderson, West-end fire Chief hired them to build the fire station on 10-05-04. the commissioners would not sign the contract on 10-13-04 because it was a bid for $74,000 which is way over the requirements in MCA for the amount that must be bid. The building was bid almost a year ago, Liberty Builders did not bid on it then, and the commissioners did not feel comfortable to sign until it was currently re-bid.

The commissioners adjourned.