Pursuant to notice made to the newspaper of general circulation throughout Grant County, the radio station in Grant County, and to interested persons on the Grant County e-mail list, a regular meeting of the County Court was held at the County Courthouse in Canyon City OR.

9:10 am — Called to Order. Present were Judge Mark R. Webb and Commissioners Scott W. Myers and Boyd Britton. Court Secretary Mary Ferrioli was excused for jury duty. The Pledge of Allegiance was given to the United States flag.

WARRANTS. The court had reviewed and signed Extension District Warrant Nos. 76 – 87.

PROGRAM. MSP: Webb/Myersóto accept the program with added discussion on a request to park a Hayden Dental Van on county property and an Executive Session per ORS 192.660(2)(a) to discuss hiring nursing staff at the Health Department.

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Congressman Greg Walden planned to hold a lunch meeting at the Prairie City High School on February 21st.

Britton reported on the fire district formation meeting held in Monument the evening of February 12th. A state representative on Special Districts attended and explained requirements and procedures for establishing a special fire district. Britton felt the meeting was very informative and reported that the group plans to move forward with the process.

MINUTES. MSP: Britton/Myers — to approve the February 6 Minutes as amended.

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE. Court members reviewed and approved proposed revisions to the draft Employee Performance Evaluation Form (list of discussion questions) to be used for evaluating Department Heads and those employees supervised by the County Court. MSP: Webb/

Myers — to approve the draft Employee Performance Evaluation form that is before us today.

9:30 – Kathy Smith entered.

2008-2009 BUDGET. Budget Officer/Treasurer Kathy Smith presented proposals for new positions next fiscal year or salaries submitted by the Sheriff, District Attorney and Roadmaster. The Sheriff’s request was for a 3rd Road Patrol Deputy, full time with benefits plus a vehicle and necessary uniform/equipment and a Food Preparation Supervisor paid at the relief help rate for 16 hours per week to work with menu planning, food orders, and meal preparation. The part time position would be ineligible for benefits or union membership. A Food Preparation Supervisor had been recommended in the last state and federal inspection reports. The DA was requesting that a new grant fund a $200 per month supplement (increase) to the Deputy DA’s salary for juvenile dependency case work. Currently, the Deputy DA is funded by a DV grant to handle Domestic Violence cases and is required to spend 95% FTE on domestic violence cases. Smith pointed out that the DA was asking to supplement a wage with a grant that has not yet come forward for consideration. Therefore, she recommended that those figures be excluded in the budget process until the grant is approved. She had suggested to the DA’s office that concerns with the grant could be addressed by Smith and Webb prior to requesting approval of the grant. Smith did not believe that juvenile delinquency cases are a different responsibility for the DA. She was concerned whether or not the positions can be sustained into the future. Smith didn’t want to see employees being hired then laid off in the future; the court tended to agree. The court asked Smith to leave the Sheriff Patrol Deputy and DA requests out of the proposed budget at this time.

9:42 am – Mark Hensley entered.

EXECUTIVE SESSION. At 9:45 am the court held an Executive Session under ORS 192.220(2)(a) to consider employment of a public officer, employee, staff member of individual agent; and ORS 192.220(2)(b) to consider dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against a public officer, employee, staff member of individual agent; also ORS 192.220(2)(h) regarding current litigation or litigation likely to be filed. Webb recited the State Attorney General’s Sample Script to Announce the Start of Executive Session. At 10:35 am the court returned to General Session and made the following motions: MSP: Webb/Myers– to allow the Roadmaster to hire for a Mechanic position. MSP: Webb/Myers — to allow the Food Preparation Supervisor position to go before the Budget Committee contingent upon a job description. MSP: Britton/Myers – to allow Judge Webb to enter into negotiations with the hospital and all the appropriate parties to properly fill the vacant Nurse and Nurse Practitioner positions at the Health Department. It was the consensus of the court not to act on the Deputy DA salary and 3rd Road Deputy position requests until further discussions can be held with those Department Heads.

CAPITAL OUTLAY / ROAD. Roadmaster Mark Hensley said one of his computers has failed and he recommends replacing it. He added that files were retrieved, but the equipment no longer functions. Hensley asked for approval to purchase a Dell computer. He indicated that a computer wasn’t specifically listed in capital outlay, but he was probably not going to spend any of that due to concerns about funds. MSP: Webb/Myers — to allow the Roadmaster to purchase the new computer, conditional on three quotes and buying one that best suits the department.

DENTAL VAN. The court discussed a request by Hayden Dental to park their Dental Van on county property adjacent to the Health Department. Webb suggested that we allow the request because it will enable people in this area, who are on the state plan, to have their dental needs taken care of locally. He was inclined to not charge a parking fee, but wanted to make sure any costs to operate the electric generator are regularly reimbursed to the county. Myers’ hesitation was with the question of liability for damage done to the van while it is parked on county property. He suggested that we get a waiver from Hayden stating that the county would not be liable for any damages, or that the Dental Van be added to our insurance coverage. Webb indicated that he would discuss the request with our insurance agent.

AIRPORT. Airport Manager Gary Judd previously provided W&H Pacific Engineering contract documents for the airport runway extensions and diagonal taxiway project. The documents describe details of the process to be followed throughout the bidding and construction process. Comments and changes suggested by legal counsel as well as an agreement with W&H Pacific for the final phase were also provided. Total cost for this portion of engineering is estimated at $337,704.37 according to the Independent Fee Estimate process mandated by the FAA.

Judd was requesting court approval to begin advertising for bids as planned on February 18 and allow Judge Webb to sign Task Order No. 2 in the amount of $337,704.37 authorizing W&H Pacific to proceed with Phase II. MSP: Britton /Webb- to allow Judge Webb to sign the contract, and the Phase II engineering contract, after the necessary corrections recommended by legal counsel.

SAFETY PROGRAM RECORDS. The court considered the Safety Committee’s February 12th recommendation to maintain master safety program records and forms in the County Court office.

The Court Secretary explained that Safety Committee members felt it was important to locate the files and forms in a permanent, central location. In that regard, the Court Secretary agreed to take responsibility for maintaining those files in the court office. However, additional file storage may be needed since little unused space in the office is available. It was the consensus of the court to go ahead with safety program records storage within the court office. The Secretary planned to work with temporary Safety Program Coordinator Dena Bush about the necessary file transfer and methods for storage and maintenance.

11:00 am — Adjourned

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary R. Ferrioli

County Court Secretary