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2010-12-06 Board Meeting Minutes 1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON BOARD MEETING MINUTES December 6, 2010 The Board of County Commissioners for Lewis County, Washington met in regular session on Monday, December 6, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. COMMISSIONERS P.W. SCHULTE, RON AVERILL and F. LEE GROSE were in attendance. Chairman Schulte determined a quorum, called the meeting to order and proceeded with the flag salute. Commissioner Grose moved to approve the minutes from the 10:00 a.m. meeting held on Monday, November 29, 2010. Commissioner Averill seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0 PUBLIC COMMENT Don Iddings, Vader, stated German Auto has been working on getting water hooked up for over five years and he would like to see the County’s small works rooster utilized to get the job done. NOTICE Commissioner Averill made a motion to approve Notice Agenda item one. Commissioner Grose seconded the motion. Candace Hallom read the item into the record. 1. Notice of Hearing Regarding the 5th 2010 Budget Amendment. Hearing will be held on or after 10:00 am, on Monday, December 20, 2010. Resolution No. 10-305 Dawna Truman, Budget Office, stated this is in regard to a 5th budget amendment for 2010. Hearing is set for December 20, 2010 on or after 10:00 am. This hearing will be noticed in the East County Journal on December 8, 2010 and December 15, 2010. Commissioner Averill stated this is about amending the current year’s budget for the 5th time. Dawna Truman stated currently the amendment amount is increasing all fund expenditures by $1,258,104.00. This increases current expense expenditures by $738.886.00. This number is subject to change right up until we do the amendment. Motion carried 3-0 2 CONSENT Commissioner Grose made a motion to approve Consent Agenda items two through six. Commissioner Averill seconded the motion. Candace Hallom read the items into the record. 2. Resolution No. 10-306 Approval of warrants and payroll for payment. Commissioner Averill stated this resolution approves 197 warrants issued by the Auditor’s Office for a total of $464,069.45. Also, approves 423 automatic deposits, 157 warrants for County Net Pay, and 62 warrants for County Benefits & Employee Deductions for a total of $3,051,703.36. 3. Resolution No. 10-307 Approving an agreement with Catholic Community Services in support of the Senior Services Programs. Michael Strozyk, Central Services, state this is an agreement with Catholic Community Services of Western Washington (CCS) for continual support of the Senior Services Programs in Lewis County during calendar year 2011. On December 21, 2009 under Resolution No. 09-416 the Board of County Commissioners entered into an agreement with CCS to provide support to the Lewis County Seniors Program that CCS took over on January 1, 2010. That was a one year agreement and at the direction of the Board we have extended portions of that agreement into and through 2011. This agreement addresses the continual support of the Senior Services Programs and authorizes a onetime cash transfer of $100,000 for 2011. It continues the lease of the five (5) Senior Centers as allowed, along with the $50,000 “in kind” lease contribution for rent reduction. It provides radio services for senior transportation at the same level and rate as in 2010. As part of the agreement, CCS agrees not to reduce the enrichment programs without the Boards authorization and notice. They have agreed to continue the lease, and will attempt to maintain current levels of service for senior programs in Lewis County. Commissioner Averill stated he had the opportunity to be at Centralia City Council meeting last week. At that meeting the Centralia City Council in the approval of their budget chose not to support the Senior Centers which previously they had provided around $15,000.00 a year in support. Prior to turning over the Senior Center operations to CCS the services were run by the County. We were one of three Counties in the State that did this. W e still own and maintain the five senior centers that are used by the CCS and we provide the maintenance to those centers. People will say the County gave all this to CCS and they are taking care of it all. Essentially, Centralia’s reason for not contributing is they thought the CCS would just take care of it. CCS is a contractor who provides some of the services to the seniors in the County and their funding comes out of the Area Agency on Aging funding that we have from both the Federal and State Government. It is still necessary to supplement the Senior Service Program. 3 Commissioner Grose stated it is important to note, part of having a lease means that we are responsible for the buildings and structures and one of the reason we chose to do it was to maintain that control. If you don’t lease the buildings then sometimes they don’t get taken good care of them as we might want. 4. Resolution No. 10-308 Approving an inter-local with the City of Centralia for radio repair and maintenance services. Michael Strozyk, Central Services, stated this resolution is for an Inter-local Agreement with the City of Centralia for radio repair and maintenance services through December 31, 2011. The City of Centralia has previously used a private vendor for this service. This agreement will allow for our Radio Services Division to provide radio repair and maintenance services to the City of Centralia, specifically the Centralia Police Department on an “as needed” basis. We approached the City of Centralia and came up with an agreement that our radio services division will assume repair and maintenance and support their radio efforts. The City of Centralia, through the City Police Department, agrees to pay an hourly fee of $50.00 billed in half hour increments for service provided during normal business hours. Nonbusiness hour rate of $75.00 billed in half hour increments shall apply for all hours worked outside of normal business hours. The radio infrastructure is already maintained by the Communications Center Radio Division. He stated the goal is not to raise funds but to maintain a radio system that is critical in Lewis County for the Police and Fire units to respond. 5. Resolution No. 10-309 Approving an inter-local with LC Public Utility District for radio repair and maintenance services. Michael Strozyk, Central Services, state this resolution is for an Inter-local agreement with the Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) for radio repair and maintenance services through December 31, 2011. This is the same format and terms as the City of Centralia inter-local agreement for this service. We do have direct communication with the PUD through the Communication Center during emergency especially during wind storms. 6. Resolution No. 10-310 Bid award for the Rosebrook Slide Repair Project. Rod Lakey, Public Works, stated this project is listed as number 23 on Lewis County’s 2010 amended Six Year Transportation Improvement Program. The contract will provide for the improvement of 0.26 miles of Rosebrook Road in Lewis County by constructing solidier pile walls, underdrain, ditches, removing guardrail, road restoration, placing guardrail, and other work. The contract price of $570,289.00 was provided by the lowest responsive bidder, Pile Contractors, Inc. of Issaquah, Washington. Public Works is recommending approval of the bid. Motion carried 3-0 4 HEARING: FRANCHISE TO MASHELL TELECOM, INC. Chairman Schulte announced the hearing and asked for a staff report. Larry Unzelman, Public Works, stated Mashell Telecom, Inc., dba Rainier Connect, has requested a non-exclusive franchise for the construction, operation and maintenance of telecommunications facilities on various county road rights of way in Lewis County. The company has a franchise in place which is due to expire on January 8, 2011. This non-exclusive franchise will authorize the continued use of the road rights of way for 5 years for this purpose. In general, this franchise covers from the Winlock area north through Centralia and Chehalis and west as far as Adna. This franchise is being granted pursuant to and in conformance with RCW 36.55 and Lewis County Code 12.25 through 12.50, for a non-exclusive Franchise to construct, operate and maintain telecommunications facilities within County Rights- of-Way. Resolution 10-281, passed by the BOCC on November 8, 2010, set December 6, 2010 as the date for hearing on the matter. Commissioner Averill stated Mashell Telecom is not well known. They are better known as Rainier Connect. The current franchise expires on January 8, 2011 and this will extend that franchise for five more years. Chairman Schulte asked if there were any more questions. There were none. He closed the question and answer portion of the hearing and opened the formal hearing. Larry Unzelman asked that his previous comments be adopted into the record. Chairman Schulte asked if there were any other statements for public testimony. There were none. He closed the hearing and asked for a motion to approve Resolution No. 10-311. Commissioner Averill made a motion to approve Resolution 10-311. Commissioner Grose seconded the motion. Candace Hallom, read the item into the record. Resolution No. 10-311 In the Matter of: renewal of a Non-Exclusive Franchise to Mashell Telecom, Inc. dba Rainier Connect, to construct, operate, and maintain Telecommunications Facilities on County Rights-of-Way; a nd setting forth conditions accompanying a grant of a non-exclusive Franchise; and providing for County administration and regulation of said Franchise. Motion carried 3-0 HEARING: 2011 Budget Adoption Chairman Schulte announced the hearing and asked for a staff report. 5 Dawna Truman, Budget Director, stated this hearing included Resolution No. 10- 312 through 10-315. The first public hearing was held November 22, 2010 at 5:30 pm. It is required that there be two public hearings and this is the second hearing. Dawna then presented the 2011 Budget though a power point presentation. Commissioner Averill commented on slide five stating we have money coming into the County that we don’t spend. As a result there is a fund balance left. Unfortunately, since 2008 because of the economy we have been spending that fund balance much quicker than wanted. So, this year our objective is to keep revenue and expenditures in Current Expense as equal. Dawna Truman stated the total Current Expense Budget for 2011 is $32.755,323.00. Commissioner Averill commented on slide eight stating it is important for people to understand when dealing with budget we are not dealing with hard numbers. We are essentially looking at what has happened in the past and speculating what will happen in the next year. Dawna Truman stated over the last three years the revenue has been $32,500,000.00 so we are predicting $32,500,000.00 for this next year. Commissioner Averill clarified the term reserve is the balance that we carry over at the end of the year. Commissioner Schulte asked Dawna to explain how we will look at the potential increase in indigent defense with the seven homicide cases. Dawna Truman stated not all the cost for murder trials comes out of indigent defense. Some money has been added to indigent defense for 2011 but we have no way of knowing how much one case or all seven cases will cost. We will probably end up doing budget amendments as needed. Chairman Schulte asked if there were any more questions. There were none. He closed the question and answer portion of the hearing and opened the formal hearing. Dawna Truman asked that her previous comments be adopted into the record. Chairman Schulte asked if there were any other statements for public testimony. There were none. He closed the hearing and asked for a motion to approve Resolutions. 6 Commissioner Grose made a motion to approve Resolution 10-312. Commissioner Averill seconded the motion. Candace Hallom, read the item into the record. Resolution No. 10-312 Adopting the Annual Budget of Lewis County for the Calendar Year of 2011. Dawna Truman stated the total amount of the budget for 2011: Revenue $93,701,715.00 Expenditures $98,029,508.00 Current Expense $32,755,323.00 Total $144,411,848.00 Commissioner Averill stated the passing of the budget is one of the hardest tasks that we have as County Commissioners. It is an intensive process that starts around April through the passage of this budget with many meetings. What is difficult when you get into government budgeting is it is really complicated due to the multiple accounts. We are talking a Current Expense Budget which has 31 claimants as well as 51 accounts in various funds. The problem is, in Government you are not able to take very much money and switch it back and forth between accounts. We have a lot more latitude in the Current Expense Fund than we do in various funds. The big impact to the County and Elected’ s comes from the Current Expense Fund. Unfortunately, in order to get the budget so that it is manageable we have had to cut back on employees. In this budget we will be cutting another 38 full time equivalence, since 2008 we have cut out 106 plus full time equivalence. There are some really good people that we have had to let go. We had to make some hard decision in cutting a couple of things that are dear to people. We had to drastically cut back the availability of our County parks. We had subsidized the Southwest Washington Fair in the amount of $275,000.00 for some time. The County Commissioners asked the Fair Commission to make that activity self-supporting. Because of the number of people that have been cut back, this will have an impact on how well we provide services. We will not be able to process things like permits as quickly. One area that doesn’t come out clear is the Road Fund. One of the ways we have been able to bring the budget into balance is to take money collected from our citizens on roads and to shift that to the Current Expense Fund. In this particular budget we are shifting $1,017,000.00 from the Roads Fund: $17,000.00 to Health and Social Services and $1 million to the Current Expense Fund. That is money that will not be used for roads and will be used in the regular budget. He stated he does this with great reservation. Repairing roads is what we collected the money for and what we should be using it for and while we do an excellent job with our staff we are telling our Public Works Director and County Engineer that they will have to do the job of maintaining our roads with $1 million less. 7 We have a very good Budget and Fiscal Office which works diligently with our Directors and Elected Officials helping us put this together so we can understand it. He thanked the Elected Officials for their cooperation during this process and then acknowledged the people working for Lewis County. We are not the highest paid County in Washington and some of these people could probably go elsewhere and make more money doing the same thing they are doing here. Commissioner Grose stated when we talk balancing the budget and having a budget like a household would operate their budget, it is important. It is also important for us to recognize that we have been in a cycle of decreasing revenue at the same time as a cycle of increasing expenses. When this happens in a household you have two choices, you have to figure out a way to decrease expenses or find ways to increase revenue. That is what we are trying to do in this County. We have a number of those who say we don’t want to develop but part of the reason for developing is so we will have additional revenue coming in to balance the expenditures. He stated our staff and Elected Officials have done a great job in absorbing the extra workloads that have been put on them and we fully appreciate that. Commissioner Schulte stated we are one of the few Counties in Washington State still operating in the black. Even with the decreased economy we still have a balanced budget. That would not have been able to happen if not for the cooperation from staff and Elected Officials. Motion Carried 3-0 Commissioner Grose made a motion to approve Resolution 10-313 through Resolution 10-315. Commissioner Grose seconded the motion. Candace Hallom, read the items into the record. Resolution No. 10-313 A Joint Resolution of the City of Chehalis and Lewis County to Approve the 2011 Adopted Budget for the Chehalis Centralia Airport. Dawna Truman stated this is a joint Resolution between the City of Chehalis and Lewis County for approval of the Chehalis Centralia Airport 2011 budget. The amount of the budget is; Revenue $1,430,392.00 Expenditures $1,391,750.00 Adding to Reserve $38,642.00 Commissioner Averill stated this budget is for the operation of the Airport which is owned by both the City of Chehalis and the County. It is necessary on everything that takes place with the airport for both the City of Chehalis and the County to agree. 8 Resolution No. 10-314 Property Tax Shift from Road Fund to Current Expense Fund for 2011. Dawna Truman stated this Resolution establishes the property tax levy shift from Road Fund to Current Expense Fund for 2011. This is for the amount of $1,017,000.00: $17,000.00 going to Health and Social Service and $1 million going to Current Expense Fund. Resolution No. 10-315 Property Tax Levy for Both the Current Expense and Road Fund for 2011. Dawna Truman stated prior to the shift, the budget amount for the property tax is $11,200,000.00. This is a decrease of 6.6% in the general levy and an increase of 12% for the roads levy. Out of the amount of the general levy the Veterans Relief Fund gets $155,138.00 and Social Services gets $193,922.00. The Resolution approves the overall increase in general and road property taxes by 1% for 2011. Motion Carried 3-0 There being no further business, the Commissioners’ public meeting adjourned at 11:31 a.m. on December 6, 2010. The next public meeting will be held Monday, December 13, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Please note that minutes from the Board of County Commissioners’ meetings are not verbatim. A recording of the meeting may be purchased at the Commissioners’ office. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON ATTEST: P.W. Schulte, Chairman Clerk of the Board Ron Averill, Commissioner Lewis County Commissioners F. Lee Grose, Commissioner