County Council meeting notes for Monday, April 26, 2021
NOAH WOODS - Reporter
Roll Call: All 7 council members and their attorney present
Public Defender Board (Padraic O’Brien and Nicholas Haverstock)
2 full-time attorneys, 2 part-time contract attorneys handling approximately 450 criminal cases currently
Recently discovered unused fund of approx. $90,000
Comes from criminal defendant fees, not taxpayer dollars.
Expected that the fund gains $15-20k a year
The fund has increased rate of growth under Judge Claypool
Requesting to create line items within this fund so it may be used as a supplemental fund
Statutes dictate the usage of the funds
Temporary attorneys, appellate attorney fees, expert witnesses, etc.
Don’t expect to exhaust the fund, just use it as a supplemental fund
County Courthouse Bid Results
Prior to the presentation, one of the council members highlighted the fact that the bid is being paid out of a cumulative courthouse fund that was set up in 1977 to go towards future courthouse repairs - wanted to make this clear for the public because he “doesn’t want the headlines to read Council spends another $2.5 million - or $2.3 million - whatever the number is and they worry about the riverboat. This has nothing to do with riverboat or tax money we’re gonna hit the taxpayer with new - it’s already built into what they are already paying and it’s accumulated.”
A portion of the tax revenue goes into the fund, adds about $350k a year
(Possibly a subtle nod to BlueDot and all the added scrutiny the counsel is facing because of our efforts :) )
Total Bid Number is $2,328,635
3 bid alternates with deducts
Door Hardware (locking mechanism replacement)
Prepping doors with capabilities to be easily transitioned to electronic locking system so that in the future additional damage (drilling holes in walls, door frames, etc) is not necessary
Access Control System Wiring
Pretty much the same idea as for the Door Hardware
Video Surveillance Equipment
There seemed to be a lack of communication between these guys and the camera installation proposal by Herb Scheider that the council already approved
Painting costs $96,200
Plumbing costs $50,685
Lighting costs $69,795
HVAC system costs $817,950 + $27,040 (commissioning costs)
Electrical costs $132,405
$300,000 contingency included in the bid package
One council member inquired about how they arrived at this figure
Stated they wanted a big enough number to know they won’t exceed it, fear that they might run into unforeseen problems and not have a delay
Described it as an educated guess based on prior projects
Highway Department
Additional request for $327,355
Sum total of appraisals for 13 right of way parcels for the final phase of the connector road
Eligible for 80% reimbursement, pay property owners upfront, then get reimbursed on the backend
Want to transfer the $300k that is in the rejuvenate line to Lanesville Connector road so that the additional request would only be $27,355
Consequently, there would be no rejuvenation this year, largely due to budget cuts and reduced revenue from the riverboat.
Infrastructure Disbursements to incorporated towns - $12,783.54
Motion carried 7-0
Revenue Sharing - $328,719.66
Motion carried 7-0
Some request regarding parks department coming out of parks and rec budget (audio too difficult to understand, said they discussed the last meeting)
Motion carried 7-0
Circuit Court Transfer Request
$18,202 from Court Admin Assistant to a part-time employee position
Carried 7-0
Soil and water Transfer Request
$500 from postage to Travel
Carried 7-0
Parks Department Transfer Request
$1,866 transfer from Riverboat Parks Perf??? To parks discovery administrator (old admin not new)
Carried 7-0
$6,000 from Workman’s Comp to liability insurance + $21,700 different line of workman’s comp to liability ($22,300 total, 2 different transfers)
Carried 7-0
Motion to adopt the personnel reclassification policy as written by consultants
Carried 7-0
Discussion on overtime policy for Pandemic Overtime bonuses:
Three options pertaining to overtime for county employees.
Hours have already been accrued, this is a one-off ordinance for a pandemic overtime stipend:
Hourly Option 1: Straight hourly pay for overtime hours
Hourly Option 2: 1.5x hourly pay for overtime hours
Stipend Option: Overtime thresholds that must be met for overtime stipend to kick in (e.g. 50-100 hours over regularly scheduled time - $1000 stipend; 100-200 hours over regularly scheduled time - $2000 stipend)
Concern raised by Holli Castetter that this option would fail to include people whose hours are just below threshold (49 hours or less using the example given above)
$12k would be the total cost if they went with the stipend option (5 people total)
Bunch of discussions over whether the stipend option is fair, how to implement and disburse COVID overtime pay fairly, who should be eligible for the overtime pay.