Meeting Minutes: June 13, 2022
The Board of Carter County Commissioners met in regular session on, June 13, 2022, in the Carter County Commission Board Meeting Room of the Carter County Courthouse at 214 Park Street in Ekalaka, Montana. Present were Steve Rosencranz, Chairman; and Rod Tauck, Vice Chair. Mike Watkins, Member was absent.
There was no public comment.
Guests included Road and Bridge employee Joe Schmid, Road Supervisor Carl Knapp and Attorney Corbit Harrington. Joe has been employed with the County 6 months and has met the requirements of the County’s probational period. Commissioner Tauck made the motion to remove Joe from probation, which includes the use of vacation, sick leave, and an increase in wages to $23.44 per hour. Commissioner Rosencranz seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
There was some discussion regarding the up coming plans to reclaim at the Ned Summers gravel pit and transport the bridge purchased from the County by Greg Harris. Joe and Carl left the meeting.
Commissioner Mike Watkins called into the meeting to join the discussion about the new hospital generator. Commissioner Watkins made the motion to pursue Slate Architecture for a feasibility study for additional emergency power with clarification on all required contracts and proposals. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
Clerk and Recorder Pam Castleberry joined the meeting with a letter from the Bank to approve a signature card. Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve Ashlee Thomas as an official signee for School District 56 in Alzada. Commissioner Rosencranz seconded the motion and the was no public comment. The motion carried unanimously. Pam left the meeting.
There was a brief review of the custodial job list, work duties and personnel policies.
The Commission reviewed and approved Carter County Treasurers 2022-2023 Fiscal Year Budget.
The Carter County Conservation District Board members, Wayne Yost, Jim McCabe, and Doug Bonsell joined the meeting to review their 2022-2023 Fiscal Year budget.
The district is still in the process of purchasing the no- till drill do to the fact that they are still waiting for delivery from the dealer. Monies for drill include $20,000.00 funds from DNRC and $10,000.00 from a McCone County Grant. The Board also reported that they ordered approximately 5,000 trees this year. They are planning for workshops again this year, including grazing, drip irrigation and the winter ag series. The Conservation District Board left the meeting.
The Commission meeting broke for lunch at 12:00 and returned to work at 1:00 pm.
Salary Compensation Board Meeting, members in attendance included: Commissioners Steve Rosencranz, Rod Tauck and Mike Watkins via phone. Elected officials Tracey Walker, Clerk of Courts/ Superintendent of Schools, Pam Castleberry, Clerk and Recorder, Kathy Rosencranz, Justice of the Peace, via phone, and members representing each commissioners District, Tom Courtney, Bill Kennedy, and Tena Ketchum.
Several members of the Board and employees received a letter of recommendation and packet of information prepared by Treasurer, Jesi Pierson and Attorney Harrington. This included information on the increase in inflation of 8.58%, Social Security payment increase of 5.9%, and the increase in living wage in Montana to $9.20 per hour. It also included a wage and taxable value comparison of payments by Montana Counties of similar size.
There was discussion regarding the Counties starting wage and probational period, as well as making a change to the Cost of Living for employees at a lower percentage and revisiting the decision in January.
Kathy Rosencranz asked if pipeline funds go to the payment of salaries to which the answer was yes, with 95% of central assessed taxes and only 5 % from agricultural taxes and licenses.
Clerk and Recorder Pamela Castleberry made the motion for a salary increase of the base salary of elected officials by 6.5%. The vote was 6 to 3 in favor. The motion carried. The Salary Compensation Board meeting adjourned at 1:50 pm.
Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the meeting minutes from June 09th 2022 with corrections. Commissioner Rosencranz seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.
The commission called attorney Corbit Harrington to request that he send a letter to Dahl Memorial that would require them to remove all items from the old hospital building by June 30, 2022, as per the motion made by the commission at the January 10, 2022, meeting.
Clerk and Recorder Pam Castleberry and Deputy Clerk and Recorder Judy Wright stepped into the meeting to present the Clerk and Recorders 2022-2023 Fiscal Year budget Topics included preservation of records, Alzada cemetery records grant funds, and the Federal Audit overage.
Judy presented the request to hire an assistant clerk for the Clerk and Recorders office to train for the position of Deputy Clerk and recorder in so doing giving the Deputy and Judy 6 months’ time to train for their new positions that would start January 02, 2023. The commission stated that they would wait to fill the position until Judy is elected as Clerk in November before hiring someone to fill her vacancy as Deputy. Pam and Judy left the meeting.
The commission discussed the hire of a custodial, job duties, personnel policies and the pay scale to which Deputy Treasurer Cecile Kuehn answered questions.
The commission received a call from Randy Arpan who had questions on the start of the work on the Cottonwood Creek Rd. including the installation of car gates.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:45 pm.
Board of County Commissioners
Carter County, Montana
Attest:/s: Steve Rosencranz Attest: /s: Pamela J Castleberry
Steve Rosencranz, Chairman Clerk of the Board