Baier Named to Head Grant County EMS and Emergency Management

The Grant County Commissioners met on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 in the courthouse. The meeting began at 9:00 a.m. Chairman Mark McGaughey led the Pledge of Allegiance and Pastor Craig Kirby-Grove from the Christian Church offered the prayer. Also in attendance were Commissioners Janet Stewart and Kevin Shapland. Several department heads were present to give their monthly updates.

Denise James, the new health department administrator, reported that as of January 3rd, there were 70 active COVID cases in Grant County. 5,465 vaccinations have been given and 987 total residents are vaccinated. There have been 121 pediatric doses given. The CDC is now recommending that a person who has been exposed should quarantine for five days. If they have no symptoms and are fever-free after the five days, they can return to work with a mask for the remaining five days.

John Crosby, Fire Chief, reported that his department continues to clean up from the December 15th dirt/wind storm. There is dirt in every nook and cranny of the equipment. Firefighter I test will be in February followed by the HazMat test in April. 

Emergency Medical Services Director Paul Fort said that EMS had about 60 calls during December. He has been working to get bids for the ambulance repairs. He wanted to thank everyone who pitched in to help during the dirt storm, especially John and Randy and their crews. He said that Barb Groomer had finished her classes and was preparing to start teaching soon. CPR classes are being taught and scheduled for several companies through the month of January.

County Treasurer Terri Trotman said that her office has been busy with tax payments coming in. She reported that 70% of the tax dollars due have been taken in. Distributions to the school district, city and state will be going out by January 20th. Trotman has been notified that the USPS will be raising postage rates in July 2022 with increases scheduled every six months after that. This will undoubtedly have an effect on many of the offices in the county.

Mari Honstead reported that the Civic Center staff has been keeping busy cleaning up dirt. They have most of the buildings done and are beginning to clean in the auditorium which is the worst. She said that the roofs had been checked for wind damage with some minor damage which Anderson’s are fixing. The sprinkler system has been installed in the park at the fairgrounds. Honstead said that over a mile of pipe was laid for the system and all of the pipe was purchased in Grant County.

Public Works Supervisor Randy McCauley said that the December dirt  storm was an event that affected his department and helped them to be thankful for the teamwork that was extended to keep each Grant County worker safe. He wants to do oil samples on all the EMS and fire equipment to check for excess dirt in the oil. This can save money down the road. In other work, McCauley says they have been blading roads. The annual bean feed had around 100 attending and he felt that everyone enjoyed being able to get together again. There was some minor wind damage at landfill and roof at shop. The landfill took in about 100 tons of trash on December 27th and 28th.

From Emergency Preparedness, Don Button said that he had several reports due before the end of the year that he completed and sent in. He has a ICS 300 training scheduled here in Ulysses January 18-20, 2022.   

Register of Deeds Dana McDaniel reported that she had a new full-time employee. Bryn Caldwell was hired and started her new job on December 20th. McDaniel said that December was the busiest month her office had experienced in at least five months. She is still looking for a part-time employee. Passport activity was a little slower. They have been processing Stanton County’s passport applications as well as those from Grant County, but Stanton County is now doing their own which alleviates the load for Grant.

County Clerk Sheila Brown said that candidates for county election can file in her office any time. This year, both District 1 and 2 Commissioners seats are up for election as well as the county precinct committee people. On the state level, Kansas will elect a governor and most of the state offices. Packets are ready to be picked up if anyone is interested in filing.  Brown added that following the 2020 census, Grant County has once again been designated as one of the counties to hold bilingual elections because of the number of residents who only speak Spanish. This will remain in effect until the next census.

Brown also discussed the various funds of each department and gave her opinion of the county’s financial status. Overall, she thinks that department heads should control overtime and that the benefit packages will need to be monitored closely. She also thinks that hiring of full-time employees should be discouraged. Brown added that she had gotten a few questions regarding the ARPA funds that the county still has to spend. The attorney working with the county has started his own company which put a little delay in his work for Grant County.

Brown mentioned that several county employees are considering retirement this year. She heard from the county’s insurance that the deductible will be $1000 for any claim made in regards to the December 15th storm. The Airport Improvement Plan has hit a few bumps that she is working on. Brown also mentioned that there are new regulations for Notary Publics. She commented that she feels the county should continue to provide notary service to the public.

Commissioner Shapland commended the department heads for staying in budget during these tough times. He also mentioned that We Can Do will be meeting in Elkhart this week.

Commissioner McGaughey thanked everyone for staying healthy and safe and encouraged them to continue this in 2022.

Randy McCauley asked if he could address the subject of pre-employment drug testing. The scheduling is supposed to go through the road department so that the results and information can be properly kept up-to-date. The commissioners agreed that department heads should contact Mindy or Randy to set up the test and they will handle it from there.

McGaughey said he had received an email from Ludi Gonzales, director of the Senior Center. She said that 75 gifts had been provided for senior citizens in Grant County through Russell Cellular’s Angel Tree. She also said that the center had received over $5000 in donations to the Friendship Meals program. He had also heard from County Attorney Kelly Premer-Chavez who was unable to attend the meeting. She said she had filed the Opioid Litigation lawsuit with the Attorney General’s office and that the AG would be our litigator during the proceedings.

The meeting reconvened at 10:00 a.m. with Shapland requesting an executive session not to exceed 10 minutes regarding non-elected personnel. Following the ten minute session, another executive session was called from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. with Jeff Baier.

Following the executive session, McGaughey moved to accept the hiring of Jeff Baier as the EMS Director/Emergency Management Coordinator, including the discussed wage and benefits, effective on January 24, 2022. Shapland seconded and the motion carried. McGaughey congratulated Baier and wished him well with his new position.

Shapland moved to accept the minutes of the previous meeting along with the claims against the county. Stewart seconded. Shapland also moved to approve Resolution 22-01 authorizing the participation in the Rural Opportunity Zone Student Loan Repayment Program for the calendar year 2022. Stewart seconded and the resolution was approved.

Shapland moved to accept the wage increases according to the pay plan for employees in the Treasurer’s office. Stewart seconded. Finally, Shapland made the motion to pay the annual membership dues of the KAC (Kansas Association of Counties). Stewart seconded.

Stewart then called for an executive session not to exceed 30 minutes. At the close of the executive session, the commissioners presented the following actions. Effective January 24, 2022, Paul Fort will step down from his duties as Emergency Medical Services Director. Fort had requested the move, explaining to the commissioners that he wanted to concentrate more on the actual EMS work without the administrative. The commissioners also announced the hiring of Jimmy Guerrero at the Senior Center. He will be working as the handyman/gardener as well as the bus driver for the center. He will take the positions of Sebastian Devora, who retired October 28, 2021 and Lonnie Lee, who retired on January 7, 2022.

The meeting was adjourned by Chairman McGaughey. The next meeting of the Grant County Commissioners will be Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 9:00 AM in the Commissioner’s Room.