RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS

OKANOGAN COUNTY

JULY 21, 2020

The Okanogan County Board of Commissioners met in regular session at 123 5th Avenue North, Okanogan, Washington on July 21, 2020, with Chairman, Commissioner Jim DeTro; Vice Chairman, Commissioner Chris Branch; Member, Commissioner Andy and Laleña Johns, Clerk of the Board, present.

Commissioner Hover called in and said he would arrive closer to 9:15 a.m.

Commissioners’ Staff Meeting
Pete Palmer, Naomie Peasley, Judge Culp, Dennis Rabidou

Joe Poulin provided his maintenance update. He explained he test drove the landfill roll off truck. It won’t work for watering the track as it is too long. The Tollefson’s truck is also too long. Mr. Poulin said that one was a used logging truck retrofitted with a tank and is also very long. There are others out there that start around $18,000, he saw a 2007 truck with low miles, is PTO driven, has a tank and includes water equipment for spraying, and he thinks we can get what we need elsewhere.

Commissioner Hover thought the old water truck would still be useful on the grounds and would like to keep it. It would not get much money at auction anyway.

Mr. Rabidou explained the ongoing challenges the courts have with COVID and the potential for more exposure. Mr. Rabidou explained additional cleaning is needed after court services and a more capable person to come in after each court hearing. There is plenty to keep someone employed for both trials, courts and jury. Judge Culp said it isn’t anything against the maintenance crews, this is above and beyond their daily workload. Commissioner Hover said another worker is going to be needed specifically for this. He suggested use of the AOC CARES ACT funds, however we won’t be out of that situation by December. Joe Poulin stated he thought the part time custodian would be willing to work full time. But she has to clean the VG Admin building as well. It was thought that schedule may not fit with the courts schedule especially when their docket doesn’t’ get finished until after 5pm.

Judge Culp stated he would prefer someone who is flexible because there are some random needs that will need to be covered in both courts. He isn’t sure four hours is enough to be available as needed. The problem is people are emailing about exposure in the courthouse. Commissioner Hover said either offer her to move into the full-time position then move her there and hire for the part time needs of the VG. Projected costs salary and benefits lines could be shown within the service period then get reimbursed in November and December with the AOC CARES ACT funds.

Motion Staff Authorization –Hire Full time Custodian Fairgrounds Courts
Commissioner Hover moved to authorize Maintenance to hire another full-time employee to do the necessary court custodian functions at the fairgrounds to meet the COVID-19 cleaning needs of the courts. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

Judge Culp asked if this would help the county mitigate any future litigation.

Motion Executive Session RCW 42.30.110 (1)(b)
Commissioner Hover moved to go into executive session for 15 minutes at 9:30 a.m. inviting Judge Chris Culp and Dennis Rabidou to discuss the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate by purchase or lease when public knowledge regarding such consideration would cause a likelihood of increased price. Motion was seconded, all were in favor motion carried.

Executive session ended at 9:43 a.m. no decisions were made.

Ms. Peasley updated the board on Public Works not being able to haul the ecology blocks due to costs. She has several businesses to contact and she was hoping to get a few quotes to consider. She said the budget supplemental she was to request additional funds and to create expenditure BARS code for COVID related code. She hopes she doesn’t go over the bottom line.

Long term workers not fire crews that would like to stay longer than 30 days and would like to stay longer, can she do that for workers working in our area. Commissioner Hover was in favor of this. The Clerk of the Board stated lodging taxes cannot be collected from those staying more than 30 days. The policy would need to be amended to allow longer stays up to two weeks, then they would need to check out and could come back. The

Motion Staff Direction
Commissioner Hover moved to have Naomie Peasley amend the Fairgrounds camping policy to allow camping for up to 14 days. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

FAC met last night and was the third meeting. They moved to go to virtual auction only, and details have not been drafted yet. They decided to have a registration fee and hired someone to do that part. Ms. Peasley said Gwen Whitley and the livestock committee will be handling the money part and are willing to help and not charge the fair in order for their help. Commissioner Hover said the 2% they charged covered the transportation costs that are not going to be there due to going virtual. Commissioner Hover said this is a result of COVID so those costs are going to need to be identified to pay for the arrangement.

Ms. Peasley stated the FAC voted to appoint Rick Hamilton to the 11th position.

Motion Staff Direction
Commissioner Hover moved to direct the Clerk of the Board to draft an appointment letter to fill the open position by Rick Hamilton on the Fair Advisory Board. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

Finance Committee Meeting-Treasurer, Auditor, Cmrs
Pam Johnson, Lisa Schreckengost, Cari Hall

Auditor Hall updated the board on finance committee meeting as Treasurer McCormack was not in attendance and she usually leads the meeting. Commissioner Hover asked Pete Palmer to come in and discuss the Planning budget to ensure revenue and expenditure budgets are able to track grant reimbursements we are going to get. Auditor Hall has projected all expenditure of all CE budgets. Everyone is on target, except for fairgrounds. All other departments are right on. A few departments are low on their revenue and that might be where the conversation goes. Commissioner Hover asked if there were grant billings going out. Pete said the larger grant for the plan for extra dollars, but it froze the grant so nothing was submitted. There is also the well tracking grant that expenditures were incurred. Yesterday, we are clear and amendments put into the system so reimbursements will be going out that will be over $120,000. When the plan is complete they will bill out again.

The revenue and expenditure summaries were reviewed. Elections are going to be very costly this year. Auditor Hall went over those department budgets she is watching for cash flow challenges.

Pam Johnson asked if there were funds the commissioners wanted specific information about. Leah decided not to hold the tax foreclosure sale this year due to COVID and July 10 was when the certificates were to be submitted. The decision was made before any expense were incurred. There will be no excess funds coming into Current expense, but we would lose more money in the long run if the sale happened. It was the best interest of the county to forego this year’s real property auction. Commissioner Branch asked how the Eastlake sewer revenue comes into the county for hookup fees. It comes through Planning and they track then hook up fee gets deposited into fund 410 even City of Oroville is processed through Planning and goes into there.

Looks at what is in 410 then planning bills pw for their portion and is put in then the difference comes out of the Infrastructure fund via transfer so the payment is made out of fund 410.

Commissioner Hover went through the revenue summary of the Planning Dept. and asked questions about the grant funds. Jail booking and boarding revenue was discussed. Lisa said there is no electronic home monitoring revenue. That might be something that Ms. Craig bills out. The cities are paying us to put the ankle bracelets on.

Auditor Hall said some departments have open positions that were budgeted for and won’t be filled, so those funds can be moved out of the salary lines to help with budgets and take the pressure off contingency reserve. Commissioner Hover is looking for a recommendation for the unreserved cash and he would like to the $1.6 million somewhere in current expense reserve. All departments have been doing an excellent job budgeting. Auditor Hall will create a draft supplemental for commissioners’ review and consideration. Sales tax revenue is more, but PUD Privilege tax is less than last year. Investment interest is at .2% but the budget was approved at 2% so we are getting much less than what was budgeted.

Commissioner DeTro left to run an errand at 10:35 a.m. stating he would return for public works update.

Auditor Hall explained how important it is for Departments to get their preliminary budgets back by August 11.

Pete Palmer explained she will be meeting with staff to go through the budget expenditures and expected revenue of the Planning department.

Commissioner DeTro returned at 10:55 a.m.

Update-Public Works – Engineer Josh Thomson
Engineer Thomson provided his agenda and discussed the items listed there.

Maintenance & Road Conditions
An area chip seal list was provided showing the areas to be chip sealed this week and next.

Remote working
Been preparing options for laptops in working with central services.

WSAC calls and legislative committees and what they are doing to develop a WSAC position on county transportation fund put together a group to start investigating where WSAC takes a stand. That group consists of people on the CRAB board to look at GMA reform and road usage charges in 2020/2021 budget. Commissioner Hover asked how they will monitor mileage. Engineer Thomson said there are several ways they are figuring there is gps, an app on a phone that is gps based, self-report quarterly taking a photo of odometer, or buy stamps for how many miles you drive and self-report. The two not involving gps had many questions when driving out of state to avoid counting those miles. The gas tax works, said Commissioner Hover, for those on the west side, but for us they are not doing the same here for the dollars. We have rough roads that just get signs to warn people instead of dollars to fix. Engineer Thomson said their challenge now is on electric and hybrid vehicles.

The road usage charts create more expense, stated Engineer Thomson.

WASCE Engineer Thomson will chair those meetings. They are looking at more of a statewide option that shows what the issues are, and Okanogan County was asked to be an example for the BERK funding study. Looking at the last six years millions of dollars in road funds were shifted to county current expense. They are thinking about ways of doing more with what they have.

Still working through the details for the 6-year tip public hearing in a couple weeks.

Engineer Thomson explained match requirements for projects are zero and that is really good as we don’t have to lay any money out for those.

Bench Creek out of Aeneas Valley constituent contacted Commissioner DeTro about whether the road was a county road or not in the past. It was thought not. He said there are around 20 houses up there have a homeowners association that requires some funds to maintain, but there has been a lot of logging up there that has torn the road apart. He asked if the county could help the situation out. It was thought the land was DNR. What would we need to do to make it a county road. The road would have to be brought up to full county road standards prior to the county taking it on. Engineer Thomson looking into the system he said the first two miles of Bench Creek is county road. It was one of the roads on the 1955 map.

Commissioners adjourned for lunch at 11:30 a.m.

The Clerk of the Board asked for direction on whether or not the board wished to certify a capital asset inventory list that was submitted to her late. Although the other department’s capital asset lists were already certified by the board, filed with the county auditor and provided to the state auditor, Commissioner Hover thought it would be good to also certify the list as it was supposed to be.

Citizen’s Comment Period
Isabelle Spohn,

Isabell Spohn commented on the hearing yesterday that the hearing was moved forward to the actual time because the COB had posted the wrong time on the agenda. She said she has seen this happen before and thought there were additional people who wished to comment. Commissioner Branch noted that concern and stated that Ernie was able to provide his comment. There were no comments to take the moratorium off and that is not what the commissioners did. Isabelle stated she realized that continued public hearings don’t get advertised. Commissioner Branch thanked the commenter and acknowledged the remedy as waiting until the incorrect time and take comments should anyone join at the later time. Isabelle said it is about open government and the ability for folks to participate at the given time.

Kelsie Taylor reiterated concerns about cannabis and her availability to discuss with the board to improve communications between cannabis neighbors and growers to ensure rules are being followed. Commissioners thanked her and said they would let her know if they wished to consult with her.

Update-Building Dept. -Dan Higbee
Building Official Higbee provided the building department update and trend data. (attached) He said it was surprising to see high numbers in the application trend.

Commissioners’ office will bill the building department for its annual rent as other rent invoices are prepared and sent to departments for payment by commissioners’ staff. Ms. Craig will bill out for the insurance portion. We are about $60,000 more than last year.

Commissioner Hover stated he appreciated the coordination efforts of Building and Planning departments to coordinate the land use permitting and provide a more efficient process by letting each other know what happens at each end. Higbee said one thing that causes a problem is when an application states the house is 10x40 but don’t include a deck, which needs to be included.

Higbee stated the expenditures versus revenue has a spike due to purchasing the truck.

Higbee believes Randy will be here for another two years, Larry will retire in about three years. He would like to hire replacement for Randy’s position next year starting at step 1. Commissioner Hover agreed and stated it could take a year to get him trained. He also plans to purchase another truck and with that purchase his department will be good for another 15 years.

Commissioner Branch reminded the board that the Planning Dept needs a vehicle to replace the Envoy.

Commissioner DeTro said like right now the board can approve the proceedings and doesn’t think there should be a problem approving other things ahead of time on the agenda. He asked if the board wished to consider the proceedings and consent agenda.

Approve Commissioners Proceedings- July 13 & 14, 2020
Commissioner Hover moved to approve the commissioners’ proceedings of July 13 and 14, 2020. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

Consent Agenda
Commissioner Hover moved to approve the consent agenda items as presented. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.
1. CARES ACT System Access Request Form
2. Contract 2020 Landfill Crush Project-Seubert Excavators, Inc.
3. Resolution 93-2020 PUD Privilege Tax Distribution

Update-Human Resources/Risk Management-Tanya Craig
Ms. Craig provided her update to the board. She stated what the policy period is on the county liability insurance for the purpose of billing the building department their share of the cost. It is due at the end of September. Commissioner Hover stated a budget supplemental is going to be needed for that. Does the board wish to bill them a portion of the cost for the building they are using. For other tenants we collect lease holder tax or insurance, said Commissioner Branch. Ms. Craig will find out.

She’s been working with attorneys on cases and reviewing contracts. She is going over the PD contract with the contractor to update and clean up any needed changes. It should be ready for review later this week.

Commissioners discussed vehicles needed by planning and building and how a lease program might work for vehicle replacements. Commissioner Branch asked how that program worked. Commissioner Hover explained the total monthly cost, but because we buy at government rate those cars get sold at retail rate which allows us to receive a balance back after the lease. It is through the state contract. It was thought the Planning office could use two new vehicles because the two current ones have become unreliable with one not being drivable.

Public Hearing Budget Supplemental Capital Improvement Fund 134
Commissioner DeTro opened up the public hearing asking for staff report. The Clerk of the Board stated this supplemental was for the capital improvement of the public works building to replace the remaining windows. The amount is $31,000 and was the amount the public works engineer provided when the project was first discussed. Commissioner DeTro closed the hearing to staff and opened up to the public, hearing no public, he closed the hearing to public and opened up to the board.

Motion Resolution 94-2020 Budget Supplemental Capital Improvement
Commissioner Branch moved to approve resolution 94-2020 a budget supplemental within the capital improvement fund in the amount of $31,000. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

Motion Letter of Appointment –Fair Advisory Committee -Rick Hamilton #2
Commissioner Hover moved to approve the appointment letter of Rick Hamilton to the Fair Advisory Committee position #2. Motion was seconded, all were in favor, motion carried.

Commissioners reviewed the Davis Planned Development staff report that was submitted by Char Schumacher for commissioners’ review.

Commissioner Hover explained the reformatting of the Capital Facilities plan is about done. He plans on bringing the draft around to departments to ensure that department’s section is accurate. The six year tip could be adopted as an addendum that way if the Capital Facilities plan doesn’t get updated annually. It did need to be reviewed by new eyes. The county doesn’t own and manage a domestic water supply system. Inventory and capital projects within those inventoried and then it has a table that simplifies.

The board adjourned at 3:45 p.m.