Commissioners Proceedings

March 25, 2019

Commissioners met for their weekly meeting with Donna Giacometto, Lee Randall and Rod Schaffer present.

No public comment was received at this time.

Consent agenda – Rod moved, Donna seconded this motion, all in favor, motion carried. Consent agenda approved.

Maint. Supervisor, Marty Drane, met with board. He reported Bruce and Larry are still working on room renovations. The fuel pump at the airport is still not working; there is a short in the wiring and he will continue to try and fix this. He called a new notum for 2 weeks but it is still too sloppy outside to do any work. He reported Mr. Hoppe got all the water off the courthouse sidewalk. He informed the board there will be a lot of needed concrete work done this summer/fall for the county. They discussed the windows in the courthouse briefly. Donna asked what the time line would be for the replacement of the light poles; Marty will get to them as soon as he can.

Commissioners discussed the flooding in and around town over the past weekend. Lee suggested having a further discussion regarding building some kind of berm to protect the city limits.

Road Supervisor, Teel Mullanix, met with board. He reported he has permission from Bill Gay to get all the rip rap needed to help with the destroyed roads. Cass Zimmer, Town of Broadus, joined the meeting. Discussion was held regarding the different areas of flooding in the county. Zimmer has requested financial assistance from the county for flood damages. The county offered to help if they can. Teel informed the board they need to get DES involved ASAP so they can get better help with the emergency. DES was unavailable over the weekend. They discussed the chain of command procedures. They discussed the landowners water rights during Saturday’s flood event in town. Billy Stuver, Powder River Examiner joined the meeting. Crow Creek Road is completely washed out, and Poker Jim Road is bad. The group discussed approachment’s installed by landowners when they do not get the approval by the road department and the culvert/flooding issue this causes. Teel reported he has put out 200 flags and the crew is making more. 10 Mile Road is currently fixed, with 15 Mile still running water over the road, Bayhose looks good, Bittercreek needs cleaning, and W Powderville is open. Teel does not want to overreact and get all spots fixed as we are expected to get more wet snow. The road crew will band aid all they can until the weather is over. Teel reported all ranchers should have a way out, it may be extra miles but everyone can get out. The board updated Stuver on the weekend flooding.

Rod Schaffer called Jeff Gates, State of MT DES Coordinator to initiate the flood process. Becky McEuen, DES Coordinator was contacted and she is at training until the end of the week.

Pat Phillippi, County Treasurer, presented the board with 2018 Tax Roll books. She asked the board if she could have a file cabinet from the DOR vault. The board approved this request if there are any extra available.

The board reviewed the Emergency Disaster Book.

Clerk & Recorder, Cynde Gatlin met with the board to report on various issues. Action for Eastern Montana 2018-19 contract was presented, the board reviewed and signed. She presented a request letter to First Interstate Bank Wealth Management for her to be given online banking authorization, board approved and signed the letter. Gatlin reported that Broadus Insurance contacted her in regards to the professional liability insurance on former employee, that the county has paid for the 2018-19 fiscal year. Commission will contact Cherie Stachey and Kristy Elgin and discuss how to proceed. Gatlin informed the board that it was time again to start working on BARSAA. Minutes were presented. Gatlin discussed her recent training in Miles City and informed the board they need to reevaluate some procedures in the county’s evaluation policy. Gatlin presented the following items to be approved and signed: MACO new by-laws and weed performance report. Gatlin let the board know she received a phone call from Pharmacist, Jami Jo Schroeder and will be setting up a meeting with her, the board, and Pam Walling with MACO. The board then discussed the need to have their own by-laws and policy/procedures for their office. They will begin working on this. The board then opted to remove the “Rules of Conduct” that were in the office window as they were not being followed correctly. The group discussed the office area at the landfill and Cory Wilhelm’s proposal for his services. Cynde Jo informed the board of the upcoming department heads monthly meetings and great response she has received from them to do this.

Jeff Noble, County Attorney stopped in to visit about the contract with Powder River County and Tri-County.

Raymond Ragsdale stopped in discuss the flooding. He will try and find someone to take aerial pictures.

Nursing Home Administrator, Cheri Stachey, met with board. 22 residents. Room renovations are going well. There is a small leak in the roof, Larry will fix it. January financials were presented. There is water in garage. They discussed former employee liability insurance, no decision was made

The board reviewed the 2019-20 MACO insurance rates.

The board discussed the emergency/disaster declarations. Resolution 2019-25 Emergency Flood Declaration was reviewed and signed.

Teel Mullanix joined the meeting again.

Jim Collins, local rancher joined the meeting to present a letter in regards to his personal property taxes. They discussed the water and road issues. They also discussed the Biddle Fire District and the upcoming budgets.

The board discussed the emergency service program for the county and the chain of command. DES acts as the advisor to the elected official- she recommends to the elected official (commissioner or sheriff) to make the official decision. The board will work on making a more informative chain of command.

No public comment was heard at this time.

Meeting adjourned.