9 issues facing Reno County this year

Expanding the Reno County Commission from 3 to 5 members didn’t make the cut Wednesday on issues the commission will take up this year.

A fresh look at the location of EMS services, addressing overtime at the sheriff’s office and potentially establishing a nuisance ordinance in zoned areas of the county, however, are among things the commission agreed to examine this year.

A debate over whether to consider an incentive policy for employees who come up with ways to save the county money took up the most time during a 90-minute meeting, with an agreement in the end only for the County Administrator to talk to department heads about it.

The commissioners each listed their goals for the year during a previous meeting. Discussion of those goals was on Tuesday’s regular agenda, but after Tuesday's meeting surpassed three hours, the board agreed to adjourn and meet Wednesday morning to talk about them.

Commission Chairman Ron Hirst started Wednesday’s meeting listing five goals all of the commissioners previously agreed were worth discussing.

Those included holding more study sessions, continuing to hold night meetings in other communities within the county, discussing the District Attorney’s request to add two more attorneys, finding uses for the first floor space at the courthouse and the proposed incentive program.

Deming then brought up one of his top goals:

“I bring up my goal number three, if there is any interest in including in the budget reducing overtime expense at the jail,” Deming said. “If there isn’t, I’ll drop it and not get into a long, divisive situation.”

“I had down jail overtime,” Hirst said. “I appreciate looking at it. I think it’s an item not studied enough. We set the budget, and he (the sheriff) manages it.”

“I’m willing to talk about anything,” Commissioner Bob Bush said. “But the sheriff has never said overtime is a problem in his department.”

“That’s part of the problem,” Deming replied.

“There are things we can change and things we can’t,” Bush said. “He budgets basically $230,000 and spends $300,000. What the sheriff does is legal. It’s his right to take money from other pockets and move it over. But I’d like to see a budget that does that before it comes to us. I’d like to see it upfront, without an increase in the overall size of the sheriff’s budget.”

“If the sheriff likes taking from different pockets, and he’s done so the past five years, why not be upfront about it, so taxpayers know what’s going on?” Bush asked. “Reduce other areas as needed. At least be more honest with the budget. That’s one thing I’d like to discuss and see if we can come to some agreement.”

Deming, however, indicated he wants to change the overtime policy for the department, setting it so that overtime does not begin at 80 hours, but at 81, 82 or even 86 hours.

“We have a legal right to do that,” he said. “I suggest we do it on a gradual basis, so no one is hurt by a drastic change. But he should not build automatic overtime for a sheriff’s officer in the jail … There will not be a change unless we make a change in the way we pay.”

“That’s a separate issue,” Bush replied. “I’ve not had one person in the community come to me and say ‘I’m worried about the sheriff’s overtime.’”

Hirst said he’d like to see both a more accurate reporting of sheriff expenses and a discussion of a change in overtime policy.

“I’m for listening,” Hirst said. “Statutorily, when it comes to police and sheriff operations, you can start overtime at 86 hours. Other counties have variants from 80 to 86. Most I’ve surveyed had higher amounts than 80. The city of Hutchinson is 80, but most other tend to be higher.”

Deming asked that a task force be created before the end of the month to come up with ideas how to use the empty first-floor courthouse space, which has been vacant since most county departments moved into the annex across the street.

“If we don’t set a deadline, it will drag on and on and on,” Deming said.

Commissioners weren’t clear, however, on who would make up the task force.

Hirst suggested people “outside the organization,” while Deming said it should be county employees. Bush suggested volunteer groups that serve in the county, such as the sheriff’s or police volunteer patrols, be polled about their needs.

County Administrator Gary Meagher said the health department looked at moving a couple of employees over at one point but was concerned about a need for additional support staff if those employees were separated from the rest of the building. Deming suggested the CASA office be relocated there to create room in the District Attorney’s office, but those decisions would depend on budget decisions for expanding on expanding the DA’s staff.

Deming then suggested Meagher start by talking with department heads.

Another thing Deming asked that department heads be surveyed on, “by the end of May or June,” is how to create an employee incentive program aimed at reducing county costs. The county would reward employees for their ideas by giving them a percentage of the actual savings.

Bush, however, said he wasn’t interested in such a program unless the savings are returned to the general fund.

“We don’t save it unless it's transferred back into the general fund,” he said. “If it stays in the department’s budget, you don’t have savings. It kind of goes away.”

He then suggested department heads also receive a percentage of the savings, to get their support for moving the savings out of their budgets.

Meagher said he checked around and could find no counties in Kansas currently offering such a program.

“To be honest, our job as public servants is to save money when we can,” he said. “The department directors I work with are trying to save money. If they find a better way to do something, we will.”

The county had an incentive policy when he arrived, Meagher said, but he suspended it because it was too difficult to determine how much money a suggestion saved.

Hirst suggested adding a “contractor representative to the Health Department Appeal Board.”

Meagher advised there is no such board.

“If you’re talking about the sanitation code, to hear appeals from landowners denied a permit to construct a wastewater system.., it goes to the administrator at the health department to resolve. You’re talking about an internal administrative decision and technical employees."

"If you want public sitting on a board to do that, you’ll have to revise the county sanitation code to do that,” Meagher said.

County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan noted most appeals from the sanitation code come from contractors, so having a contractor providing input on an appeal would be a conflict of interest.

It was then suggested perhaps a contractor from outside the county could be called on to give an opinion in appeal cases.

“Just to give opinions,” Commissioner Dan Deming said. “The point could be made that contractors, whatever their business, are up-to-date on tools of their trade. Staff, who don’t do this for profit every day, may not be up to speed on the latest technology.”

O’Sullivan said the code does provide for a hearing officer on appeals and at times the county has hired Hutchinson Attorney Larry Bolton to conduct an evidentiary hearing on a couple of appeals, but those where an issue of whether to code was being applied “strictly or appropriately,” he said.

“I’m trying to determine where a consultant would fit, except as perhaps a witness at such a hearing,” O’Sullivan said.

“Let’s put it on the agenda for a full discussion, to see if we want to make any changes,” Commissioner Dan Deming suggested. “In the next couple of months, make it a study session item.”

No contractors have made appearances before the commission, and none of the commissioners indicated how it became a top issue.

As the board’s representative meeting with the hospital and EMS coordinator, Bush said they'd had some good discussions about ambulance services.

“We’re at the place and time now I’d like to see if I can sit down with (EMS Chief) Terry David and look at the resources we have and where the best place (for stations) are; to do a data-driven look, where the level of severity is. Sometimes you’ve got to kick the can over and start fresh.”

Bush said he’d like to take six months to a year to study the issues and come back with recommendations during a commission study session.

Deming noted there is “a big push to upgrade the substation over here (on Second Avenue) and they have some of the same concerns at Arlington… Before we dump a bunch of money into renovating facilities here and in Arlington, we need to make sure we’re in the right place.”

Bush agreed that the county should “put everything on hold until we come up with this and make some decisions.”

1. Hirst also suggested adding another officer to the joint Drug Enforcement Unit, “because of the drug situation,” but admitted he hadn’t spoken with the sheriff, police chief or leaders of the DEU about it. Deming proposed making the issue a budget discussion item.
2. Bush said he wants to “promote the election office,” to let people know “what a great job we do.” “I’ll work on this,” he said. “I hear inaccurate statements about the quality of our election process system, of people voting who shouldn’t be and it’s not true at all. I want to let people in our county know how we are set up, that we have checks and double and triple checks. We just need to put the word out how we’re doing.” Deming offered kudos to the County Clerk and election officials for replacing voting machines last year with a process that involves all paper ballots, “creating a paper trail that’s ahead of many counties.”
3. On expansion of the commission to five members, Hirst said he had no interest in bringing the issue up, while Bush said: “I’ve not had anyone saying we need to make this change.” “My constituents don’t care,” Bush said. “And we haven’t had people lining up at the door to run for commission seats.”
4. The board discussed continuing quarterly meetings in area towns, but Bush said he’d prefer only visiting communities that have “hot button issues or something going on.” “I don’t want just to show up because it’s June,” he said. “If we want to do it, we have to look around the county and see where something is going on.” Hirst disagreed, however, saying he believed the importance of taking meetings into the county was to make visited communities “feel like they’re a part of the county.” Bush suggested that could be accomplished by commissioners, without staff, just going to a local coffee shop or diner over lunchtime. Bush was reminded, however, such a meeting would still be a public meeting.