Board Meeting Minutes 11/23/20151
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
November 23, 2015
The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for Lewis County, Washington, met in
regular session on Monday, November 23, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Commissioners Edna
J. Fund, Gary Stamper, and P.W. “Bill” Schulte were in attendance. Chair Fund,
called the meeting to order, determined a quorum, and proceeded with the flag salute.
Commissioner Stamper moved to approve the minutes of the 10:00 a.m., Monday,
November 16, 2015 Business Meeting. Commissioner Schulte seconded the motion.
Motion carried 3-0.
Notice
Commissioner Schulte moved to approve Notice Agenda item one. Commissioner
Stamper seconded the motion.
1. Notice of Hearing: Regarding the necessary acquisition of additional road
right of way for the Highway 603 Stabilization Project. Hearing will be held on
or after 10:00 a.m. on December 14, 2015. Resolution No. 15-332
Tim Elsea, Director of Public Works, stated that the Lewis County Transportation
Improvement Plan(TIP) includes the Highway 603 Stabilization Project. On February 24,
2014, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) passed Resolution 14-066,
instructing the County Road Engineer to acquire all necessary right of way for the
Highway 603 project under its eminent domain authority. Offers to acquire additional
right of way were made to all owners of land required for the project. The original
property owner was in agreement, however title clearing delayed the transaction and it
was never finalized. The property has since gone into foreclosure, and negotiations with
the new owner, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, have not been successful. The
County and this property owner have reached an impasse for acquisition of the
necessary right of way, and the only available option is to initiate condemnation. RCW
8.25.290 requires that notices and publications be made prior to the BOCC taking final
action to authorize condemnation of the property. This resolution instructs the Public
Works Department to proceed with all necessary notifications and publications required
by RCW 8.25.290; then report back when requirements are met, at which time,
authorization of condemnation will be considered.
Motion carried 3-0.
Consent
Commissioner Schulte moved to approve the Consent Agenda items two through ten.
Commissioner Stamper seconded the motion.
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2. Resolution No. 15-330 Extending deadline to petition to the Lewis County
Board of Equalization.(tabled from November 9, 2015)
Commissioner Schulte, stated the current deadline to petition the Board of
Equalization (BOE) is thirty days. This resolution will extend the deadline to petition to
sixty days. The BOCC looked into this and with the date that the tax assessments are
coming out, the BOCC believe that the citizens of Lewis County should have an
adequatet amount of time to appeal their assessments, if they choose to do so. When
you push the tax assessement mailings out till December what you do in effect is
compress the time that is available to petition. Commissioner Schulte counted out the
calendar days and with holidays,weekends, and a couple days that people take for
travel there would only be 15 days available that citizen can turn petition into BOE office
in December. If we extend it another 30 days what we do is add another 20 days for
citizens to appeal their property taxes. January has two holidays and eight weekend
days. So if we extend this for the good of the people of Lewis County we in affect allow
them 35 days that BOE office will be open to accept applications for the appeal process.
Commissioner Stamper, stated that he attended a conference last week and had the
opportunity to discuss the matter with other Assessors, budget people as well as
Treasure’s from other counties and they indicated that passing this would have very
little affect, if any to anyone.
3. Resolution No. 15-333 Approving an agreement with the WA State Office of
Public Defense
Commissioner Fund, stated this resolution is to approve an agreement between Lewis
County and Washington State Office of Public Defense for Public Defense Improvement
Funds in the amount of $96,165 for use in the calendar year 2016.
4. Resolution No. 15-334 Approval of warrants for payment
Suzette Smith, Chief Accountant for Finance Office, stated that this resolution
approves warrants 736014-736105 (92 regular warrants) be approved for a total
payment against the County in the amount of $221,162.08.
5. Resolution No. 15-335 Authorizing the intial placement of a casual Assistant
Planner on the Salary Grid
Archie Smith, Human Resource Administrator, stated due to the vacancy of a
technical position in the Lewis County Community Development Department, the
Director of Community Development is requesting to hire a casual Assistant Planner.
The Lewis County Salary Grid (13 Step M Grid) maximum pay for a casual employee
would not be competitive to hire a skilled assistant planner. The Director of Community
Development is requesting that the Casual Assistant Planner be placed at Grade 14 on
the Lewis County Salary Grid (13 Step M Grid.)
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6. Resolution No. 15-336 Salary adjustment for non-represented employees.
Archie Smith, stated in July of 2015, Washington State PERS (Public Employees'
Retirement System) increased employee contribution by 1.2%. The BOCC will increase
the 2015 salary grid for non-represented employees by 1.2%, effective November 1,
2015.
Commissioner Fund, stated this again was something that was done state level.
Archie Smith, stated this was done at state level and was imposed on the county. The
County Commissioners nor any other elected official had no option or control over this.
7. Resolution No. 15-337 Approving a MOU with the Association of Lewis County
Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys.
Archie Smith, stated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between The
Association of Lewis County Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys, representing the Criminal
Division of the Prosecutors Office is being presented for approval by the BOCC. In
accordance to Section 16.3 Benefits Reopener, the parties have come to an agreement:
Effective November 1, 2015, the employees will receive a maximum of $1,000 per
employee per month for health and welfare contribution and a base wage adjustment of
1.2%.
8. Resolution No. 15-338 Bid award for the removal of all structures and debris
located at 158 Kennicott Road, Chehalis, WA.
Tim Elsea, Director of Public Works, stated this resolution awards a bid in the amount
of $12,366.00 to T-Jags Trucking and directs the Public Works Department to enter into
an agreement. Resolution 15-272, passed September 28, 2015, called for sealed bids
for the removal of all structures and debris located at 158 Kennicott Road, Chehalis.
Three bids were received that met the bid requirements. A bid from T-Jags Trucking in
the amount of $12,366.00 was the lowest responsible bid received and it appears to be
in the public's best interest to accept this bid. This resolution would award the bid in the
amount of $12,366.00 to T-Jags Trucking of Rochester, WA and direct the Lewis
County Public Works Department to enter into an agreement for the removal of all
structures and debris located at 158 Kennicott Road, Chehalis.
9. Resolution No. 15-339 Executing a contract to fund a new reservoir for the
Vader-Enchanted Valley Water System with the Department of Commerce.
Tim Elsea, Director of Public Works, stated this resolution will approve a contract to
fund a new reservoir for the Vader-Enchanted Valley Water System with the
Department of Commerce (Commerce). Lewis County Public Works made application
per Resolution 15-159 for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) General
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Purpose Grant in May, 2015. The project is to construct a new reservoir for the Vader-
Enchanted Valley water system. The project cost is estimated at $730,000 with
$717,000 from CDBG funding and $13,000 from Vader Utility Fund 420. Commerce
announced award in August 2015 for $717,000 and the County received the contract on
November 4, 2015. Local approval by the BOCC is needed to execute the contract with
Commerce and before commencement of engineering and construction.The project
may need up to $13,000 from Vader Utility Fund 420 over the course of the project
duration (appoximately 3 years). This amount is our local match of primarily project
management efforts which is already in the proposed 2016 Budget.
10. Resolution No. 15-340 Approving Contract Amendment No. 1 to Program
Agreement No. 1563-42483 with the Department of Social and Health
Services(DSHS).
Danette York, Director of Health & Social Services, stated this resolution is to
approve Contract Amendment #1 to Program Agreement #1563-42483 between the
Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) and Lewis County. This amendment
adds funding for prevention services and provides guidelines for the selected
community of Morton. This contract amendment of $45,600 adds dedicated Marijuana
Account funding for prevention services and provides guidelines under the Community
Prevention and Wellness Initiative for the selected community of Morton. The Division of
Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) contracts with county governments to
coordinate, subcontract, and monitor prevention programs at the local level. The
contract is effective July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2017.
Commissioner Stamper, asked if this is only for the Morton School District or can
surrounding districts benefit?
Danette York, stated that this program is for the Morton School District. The dollars
being added to the contract will go under that contract, but we are able to use them
throughout the county. We can use it broadly under the Community Prevention &
Wellness Inititive (CPWI) grant. We will be requesting to use it for all school districts, not
just Morton. Ms. York noted we are in the process of applying for a regional grant
though the Washington State Department of Health for more marijuana prevention
dollars as well.
Commissioner Schulte, introduced the elected officials that were in attendance at the
meeting, Mayor Lonnie Willey from Pe Ell and Council woman Delores Lee from Pe Ell,
and we have commissioner Jerry Lux, Chehalis an elected fire commissioner and
president of the Fire Commissioners Association.
Commissioner Fund, welcomed and thanked them for being here today.
Motion Carried 3-0.
Hearing
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Franchise to operate and maintain telecommunication faclilities on County rights
of way to Public Utilility District No. 1 (PUD No. 1). Resolution No. 15-341
Chair Fund, called for staff report and went over the hearing process.
Tim Elsea, Director of Public Works, stated this resolution will approve a franchise to
construct, operate and maintain telecommunication facilities on County rights of way in
Lewis County, Washington to Lewis County Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD #1) Lewis
County Code 12.20 and RCW 36.55 require that all utility installations on county road
rights of way be authorized by a franchise/license from the County. An application for a
license has been received from PUD #1 to construct, operate, and maintain
telecommunication facilities within county rights of way. A hearing was set by Resolution
15-302 on November 2, 2015 to give all required notices to the public.
Chair Fund, asked if there were any questions.
Ron Averill, Centralia, stated he wanted to clarify that normally when we look at PUD
#1 we are thinking of electricity and this particular franchise is for cable network for fiber
cable isn’t it?
Tim Elsea, stated that is correct.
Chair Fund, closed the question and answer portion of the hearing and opened the
formal hearing.
Tim Elsea asked that his previous comments be adopted into the record.
Chair Fund, asked if there was anyone who would like to speak for or against the
franchise. There was no one. She closed the hearing and asked for a motion to approve
Resolution No. 15-341.
Commissioner Schulte moved to approve Resoluton No. 15-341. Commissioner
Stamper seconded the motion.
Motion Carried 3-0.
Franchise to operate and maintain telecommunication faclilities on County rights
of way to Public Utility District (PUD) No. 1 of Thurston County. Resolution No.
15-342
Chair Fund, called for staff report and went over the hearing process.
Tim Elsea, stated I would like to correct an scrivener's error and that the agenda states
that this is a franchise to operate and maintain telecommunications facilities. I had that
incorrect it should be water systems facilities and it was noticed correctly in the legal
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paper. I did speak with Glenn Carter, Civil Prosecuting Attorney, this morning and he
said it was fine to go forward with this hearing even thou it was incorrect on the agenda
because it was a scrivener's error and was noticed correctly as water systems facilities.
This is a franchise to construct operate and maintain water system facilities on County
rights of way in Lewis County. Lewis County Code 12.20 and RCW 36.55 require that all
utility installations on county road rights of way be authorized by a franchise/license
from the County. An application for a license has been received from PUD No. 1 of
Thurston County to construct, operate, and maintain water system facilities within
county road rights of way. A hearing was set by Resolution 15-303 on November 2,
2015 to give all required notices to the public.
Chair Fund, asked if there were any questions.
Chair Fund, asked how many facilities are there in Lewis County?
Tim Elsea, stated there are approximately seventy water systems that Thurston County
PUD operates in Lewis County.
Commissioner Stamper, stated this is common practice but he was a bit suprised and
didn’t think Thurston County would buy our Lewis County water systems.
Tim Elsea, stated it is it certainly predates me. They own some water systems and
operate other water systems in Lewis County.
Ron Averill, Centralia, stated he thinks that most people when they look at public
utilities districts they are thinking of electrical. However, public utilites districts are also
authorized to do water, sewer, and fiber cable. We have had a lot of concern about
ThurstonCounty PUD owingin and operating water districts in Lewis County. Thurston
county is the only one in the area that does water and they don’t do it just in Thurston
county they have systems in Mason County and Grays Harbor County, but that is what
they concentrate on because PSE provides their electricity up there. We have had
concerns about this particular thing because they are coming in and water systems,
water rights and my question is I thought we did a MOU with them and we addressed
the issue water rights. Is that correct?
Tim Elsea, stated he doesn’t have any information on that. He will get that information
and get back to Mr. Averill.
Commissioner Schulte, stated we did a MOU.
Ron Averill, Centralia stated we made it clear that water rights were a concern to us.
Not having them come in and helping people run their systems. He believes that we
have to inspect any of the Group B Systems.
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Chair Fund, asked if there was anyone who would like to speak for or against the
franchise. There was no one. She closed the hearing and asked for a motion to approve
Resolution No. 15342.
Tim Elsea asked that his previous comments be adopted into the record.
Commissioner Schulte moved to approve Resoluton No. 15-342. Commissioner
Stamper seconded the motion.
Motion Carried 3-0.
There being no further business, the BOCC’s business meeting adjourned at 10:25 am
on November 23, 2015. The next public meeting will be held Monday, November 30,
2015. Please note that minutes from the BOCC’s meetings are not verbatim. A
recording of the meeting may be purchased at the BOCC’s Office.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON
ATTEST: Edna J. Fund, Chair
Karri Muir, CMC, Clerk of the Board P.W. Bill Schulte, Vice-Chair
Lewis County Commissioners
Gary Stamper, Commissioner