CARTER COUNTY COMMISSION PROCEEDINGS

03-07-2022

The Board of Carter County Commissioners met in regular session on March 07, 2022, in the Carter County Commission Board Meeting Room of the Carter County Courthouse at 214 Park Street in Ekalaka, Montana. Present were Steve Rosencranz, Chairman; Rod Tauck, Vice Chair and Mike Watkins, Member.

The meeting was called to order at 9 a.m. by Chairman Rosencranz.

There was no public comment.

Sheriff Neil Kittlemann joined the meeting to discuss the purchase of a 4-wheeler from Montana Surplus Property.

Bob Jacobs joined the meeting to update the commission on the repair on the Courthouse elevator. The seals may need to be replaced more often than previously thought.

Hospital Building OAC meeting:

Present: Dahl Memorial CEO Ryan Tooke, Clerk and Recorder, Pam Castleberry

Phone in: John Neisner, and Cody Taggert of Scull Construction. Kelly Axtman of Slate Architecture.

• The contractors have made progress with the air exchange in the building. They are still working on issues with the dampers in the kitchen hood.

• T.C. Glass has been onsite to adjust the automatic doors so that they function properly in the cold weather.

• They are pricing wireless thermostats to be installed in the patient rooms to correct the temperature differences.

• The plumbers connected the sewer vent in room 1249 and the water leak under the sink in the kitchen has been fixed.

• The ER door antenna will be this week.

They have insulated the area around the water supply line to keep it from freezing.

Ryan would like to have the radiology department on the generator if it is possible. The C.T. or the X-ray would be needed in a power failure. The current generator set up will not run both systems but there may be an option to use the old generator for use of the x-ray. Ryan also mentioned wiring the outlets in the family room to the generator. Scull Construction will speak with the electrical engineer about rewiring the family room.

Cody has been in contact with the window manufacturer to do an on-site inspection to make sure the windows have been installed correctly. The OAC meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m. The next meeting will be March 21, 2022 at 9 a.m.

DES Coordinator Georgia Bruski joined the meeting to request signatures on the EMPG grant.

Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the grant for $43,000.00. Carter County would match $21,500.00 of that amount. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried. Georgia left the meeting.

Road and Bridge Supervisor Carl Knapp joined the meeting. He requested permission to rent a large excavator to be used to repair the Stagville Draw Rd bridge. The excavator would be needed for less than a week.

The road department will notify the Forest Service and the public when they close the road to do the repair.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to rent the excavator for $4,000.00 a week. Commission Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried unanimously.

Carl and the commissioners reviewed the equipment replacement schedule which includes a loader and possibly one road grader. The two new trucks that where ordered in fiscal year 2021-2022 have not been purchased yet has the deal has not received them. The Road Department will have to look into how to budget for them once they can be purchased.

Carl mentioned putting perforated pipe and washed rock in the drainage ditch around the South side of the new hospital to correct the drainage similar to the East side of the building. The drive way on the southside needs gravel or pavement. He requested permission to lay rock in the driveway of the new hospital.

Commissioner Tauck made the motion to have the County road department put gravel or rock on the driveway around the southside of the new hospital. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried. Carl left the meeting.

Dahl Memorial CEO Ryan Tooke joined the meeting to request a 2022-2023 Dahl Memorial $260,00.00 levy request. There was discussion regarding the need for a Dahl Memorial levy and uses for the funds it would provide the business. The commissioners requested budget information and the audit that has been discussed previously when CAH Solutions Group came on board. Ryan stated that he is hopeful that the audit will be completed by the end of the month.

County Attorney Corbit Harrington suggested that the levy be used for maintenance of the building rather than being applied to the general fund.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to table the Dahl Memorial levy request to the Thursday March, 10 2022 meeting. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

The commission discussed setting the agenda each week. They would like to make sure the agenda is set by Chairman of the Board Steve Rosencranz and that there is a clear deadline of additions to the agenda.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to send a letter to the employees of Carter County informing them of the agenda schedule. A Monday meeting deadline will be Thursday at 12 p.m. The Thursday meeting deadline will be the preceding Monday. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

The meeting broke for lunch at 12 p.m. and reconvened at 1:05 p.m.

Dave Anderson and Nathan Stone of Denbury Resources and Greg Benjamin of Stahly Engineering met with the Commissioners to finalize the road use agreement for the Denbury Green Pipeline. There were several updates to the agreement including the addition of a car gate survey and the removal of the Ridgway Ridge RD, Larson Loop RD and the Mill Iron RD as these roads were not used during the construction of the pipeline.

The final road use came to $749,000.00. The assessment completed by Stahly Engineering will be split with Carter County and Denbury resources. The County paying Stahly and Denbury reimbursing the County. The guests left the meeting at 2 p.m.

The was discussion regarding amending the board by-laws as not to include a yearly meeting with the commission.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to sign the 2022- 2023 State gas tax allocation form. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the meeting minutes from the February 22, 2022 meeting minutes with corrections. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion passed unanimously.

The commission meet with the Carter County Airport Board.

Meeting minutes from the January 2022 Airport Board where read and approved.

The Board voted to keep the officers the same as last year. Troy Fruit President, Greg Harris Secretary and Dane Castleberry Member.

The Becon replacement project has received up to $16,000 to spend. Troy presented quotes for LED beacon lights and poles from 3 companies. Southeast Electric has a pole that they will install to replace the old one. The Airport Board will purchase the medium intensity LED lights has they are the best option for the least amount of money and will match the lights that are already installed at the runway.

The Airport Board meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Commissioner Tauck moved to sign the reimbursement for the Airport Master Plan. The total amount of $296,721.00. The County’s portion will be $32,969.00. Commissioner Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

Board of County Commissioners

Carter County, Montana

/s/ Steve Rosencranz, Chairman

Attest:/s/ Pamela J Castleberry, Clerk of the Board