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Commissioner Minutes March 12, 2018

April 5, 2018

March 12, 2018

 

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 by Commissioner Goffena. Commissioner Borner and Commissioner Berry were not present.

 

Adam Carlson was present for observation for the entire day.

 

The minutes from the February 5th, 26th and March 5TH 2018 minutes were not reviewed.  Secretary Hagstrom was not present.

 

Road and Bridge Supervisor Stockert gave his weekly report to the Commissioners. Secretary Kenner was not present. Mr. Stockert wanted the Commissioners to know that they are not going to be making the fuel or the maintenance budget for the month.  Commissioner Goffena told Mr. Stockert that Accounting Supervisor Angel is working on getting a Resolution to get some emergency funds into the Road Department budget. Mr. Stockert said that he has been trying to warn people that when the mud starts the roads are going to be impassable.

 

Sheriff Thomas and Under Sheriff Lesnik gave their weekly report to the Commissioners. Under Sheriff Lesnik said that there was a call on Friday that 3 officers and a Highway Patrol went to for animal abuse and the suspect was a known felon that came out of his residence with a gun in his waist.  Mr. Lesnik just wanted to remind the Commission that if something would have gone wrong 50% of Musselshell County Police Force would have been on administrative duty.  (Leave?) Mr. Lesnik will be pushing to hire another officer and he will also be going to the City for funding for another officer.

 

Accounting Supervisor Angel gave her weekly report to the Commissioners. Commissioner Goffena told Ms. Angel that the road department is in need of emergency funding.  Ms. Angel is working on a Resolution that will get emergency funding for fuel, overtime and maintenance. Next week when all Commissioners are present they will discuss hiring Leah Medina-Cabrera fulltime. Three days in Clerk & Recorders Office and 2 days in Accounting.

 

DES Deputies Floyd Fisher and Justin Russell gave their weekly report to the Commissioners. The DES/Fire Warden vehicle is having mechanical issues and wanted to know if they wanted to fix it or if they wanted to look into the DOD (department of defense) program and replace it. It will be discussed when all Commissioners are present.  Mr. Russell is calculating depreciation of materials concerning the PDA (pre disaster mitigation) and FMA (flood mitigation assistance) programs. Mr. Russell said that they are still working on emergency evacuation procedures. Mr. Fisher wanted to know what the policy was for going on the radio to warn the public and to be prepared incase of evacuation.  Commissioner Goffena told him there is no policy against going on the radio to notify people of a flood or natural disaster.

 

Andy Koval with Child Protective Services met with the Commissioners regarding the Timber Tracts Building and being allowed to move to another office in the building. Commissioner Goffena said they will put it on the agenda for next week to discuss and decide on.  They will also be discussing possibly moving RSVP to the Timber Tracts Building.

 

Brenda Vescovi, Natalie Hazelton and Meriel Beck joined the meeting. There will be a Commissioner walk through of the Musselshell County Central Commons on March 26, 2018. Ms. Hazelton said that they will have an open house for the public once the Commons renovation is complete.

 

J.K. Kuzara met with Commissioner Goffena and provided an example of how to control public comment and to alleviate some of the recent chaos. There needs to be discipline, control and order at the weekly meetings and they need to stay to that order. They need to follow more of an order like the pledge of allegiance roll call and go down a list. ( Amy Angel, Deb Adolph, Troy Evans and Tana Cates joined the meeting.)  Mr. Kuzara said that they need to be more descriptive of the topics that are on the agenda for the week. Mr. Kuzara said that it is illegal to have the Clerk & Recorder (secretary) leave the meeting for any reason.  If it is a personnel issue the minutes can be sealed and cannot be opened without District Court approval. The public should state their name before speaking and there should be a time limit on the comment.  (Pam Liggett joined the meeting) Mr. Kuzara said that everyone should be treated the same and that the meetings need to be formal more structured and maintained and each Commissioner should have their own private work space. Once the Policy is completed it needs to be advertised for 2 weeks for the public.

 

Deb Adolph said that she wanted the agenda to be posted on Thursday and that a lot of people can’t attend the meetings. She is concerned that business is talked about one week and no decision is made and then it just disappears.

 

Mark Higgins joined the meeting.

 

Tana Cates said that the notice handed out last week is not how the schools controls their meetings. Ms. Cates went to the Montana School Board Association and that notice was not correct. The procedure that Mr. Kuzara has presented is what the schools use.

 

Troy Evans said he is frustrated. As professionals we need to stop acting this way.  Mr. Evans feels that Commissioner Borner is being subordinated and the public has great concern.  We need to get meetings controlled establishing a better structure.

 

There was an e-mail from Wade Rongen asking the Commissioners to weigh the costs of an HR investigation with great solemnity.

 

Commissioner Goffena said that we are working with the County Attorney to come up with a policy not just for public comment but the entire meeting process.

 

3:00 business was tabled.

 

Meeting ended.

Last modified: March 4, 2019

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