CARTER COUNTY COMMISSION PROCEEDINGS

03-21-2022

The Board of Carter County Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, March 21, 2022, in the Carter County Commission Board Meeting Room of the Carter County Courthouse at 214 Park Street in Ekalaka, Montana. Steve Rosencranz, Chairman; Rod Tauck, Vice Chair and Mike Watkins, Member; were present.

There was no public comment.

OAC meeting Phone In: Scott Cromwell, Slate Architect, Stewart NorPac, Cody Taggart, Scull Construction. EMT director Judy Wright

• Adjusted the damper for the kitchen hood.

• Issues with the heating system boiler modules, will contact manufactures

• Window manufacture will be on site April 06 to make sure the windows are installed correctly

• Thermostat pricing sent to Scott and John for review

• Plumbing contractors plan to address the freezing water pipe next week.

• Scull will contact the door installation company if EMT Judy Wright can not get someone to fix it. Scott will look into two 3-button remote for the doors.

Clerk and Recorder Pam Castleberry, Dahl Memorial CEO Ryan Tooke and Attorney Corbit Harrington joined the meeting.

There was discussion regarding the capacity of the generator for the new hospital. It will not run the x-ray machine or the CT scanner. The group discussed the possibility of using the old hospital generator as a back up for the ER. It was originally going to be used as a back up for the new hospital kitchen.

Ryan brought up a list of items that if corrected would make the operation of the facility more efficient; they include: more I. T. Jacks in ER area, soap dispensers mounted firmly to the wall, toilet paper dispensers mounted at the correct height, adjust the patient bathroom doors closure, wiring the family room outlets on the generator, light for ER sign on the south side of the building, and the recirculation temperature of the hot tap water.

Scott will review the generator set up to see what it will take to get the ER department online. The system is currently set up for life/safety and would take much more power to run the ER.

John Neisner Scull Construction requested final payment for services by Scull and Slate with the good faith effort to continue to work on the punch list with the Commissioner and Dahl Memorial. The commissioners agreed to see what is owed.

The next OAC meeting is scheduled for April 11, 2022.

The commission left the courthouse at 11 a.m. to look at property belonging to Clint Sterns for possible use as a firehouse facility. They toured the property for about an hour and left for lunch.

The commission reconvened at 1 p.m.

There was discussion of the Highway 7 petition. There were over 500 signatures collected from Carter County residents and surrounding areas.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to approve the meeting minutes for February 24th, and 28th, 2022 and March 7th, 2022 with corrections. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to pay a portion of the funds owed to Scull Construction. The total amount outstanding is approximately $155,000.00; the County will pay $100,000.00. The motion included payment for Slate Architecture in the amount of $30,000.00. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

Road and Bridge Supervisor Carl Knapp joined the meeting. The Road Crew worked on the repair of the Stagville Draw Rd Bridge and will be returning the excavator that was rented from Rapid City this week. The crew also graveled the driveway area around the north and south sides of the new hospital building.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3 p.m.

Board of County Commissioners

Carter County, Montana

/s/ Rod Tauck, Vice-Chairman

Attest:/s/ Pamela J Castleberry, Clerk of the Board

03-24-2022

The Board of Carter County Commissioners met in regular session on Thursday, March 24, 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; Rod Tauck, Vice Chair and Mike Watkins, Member.

The meeting was called to order at 1 p.m.

The was no public comment.

Road and Bridge supervisor Carl Knapp joined the meeting where the group went over the State Department of Transportation (MDOT) County bridge inspection reports.

Clerk and Recorder Pam Castleberry joined the meeting.

Carter County Road Department Boom bid opening. There was one bid from Robin Kawecki. Commissioner Watkins made the motion to accept Robin Kawecki’s bid in the amount of $1,500.00. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

Carl left the meeting.

There were no bids for the used Public Health department furniture. There were no plans made for the office furniture.

Museum 6-month performance review for Denise Elmore, museum receptionist with Sabre Moore, museum director. Denise received an excellent review from Sabre who recommends that Denise be placed on regular employment status. Commissioner Watkins made the motion to remove Denise from probational employment status; increasing her salary to $ 19.03 / hour. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion passed unanimously.

Sabre, Denise and the staff at the Museum are currently working on an after-school program slated to begin this summer. Sabre and Denise left the meeting.

Deputy Clerk and Recorder Judy Wright presented the commission with warrant to Scull Construction for partial payment. This has been with-held until the punch list of items have been completed at the new hospital.

Commissioner Tauck made the motion to approve the warrant for $100,000.00. Commission Watkins seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion passed.

Slate Architecture will submit another claim before Carter County will finalize a warrant for partial payment.

Town of Ekalaka Board member Jim MacKay joined the meeting to bring to the attention of the Commission that culverts on Sandy Street and Central Avenue are collapsed. The Town has tried to jet them with no results. The Town of Ekalaka believes the culverts have been damaged by the construction at the new hospital building. Jim left the meeting. The commission discussed the condition of the culverts and they will have Carl look them over and get back to the commission.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to approve publishing a follow up public notice regarding the Montana Department of Transportation meeting where the Commission presented the Highway 7 petition. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment.

Clerk and Recorder, Pam Castleberry joined the meeting.

The commissioners called Nathan Stone of Denbury Resources with regard to “The Termination and Release agreement” for the Road use agreement between Denbury and Carter County. The commission will sign the agreement when they have received payment. Nathan and Dave will send check out this Monday or the following Monday. The Clerk and Recorder will hold the document until the county has received payment.

Sheriff Neil Kittlemann joined the meeting to discuss the Montana Fire Restriction Agreement. The agreement would require all counties in the region to go into fire restriction at the same time. Neil and the commissioners agree that a blanket fire restriction will not work for a wide area of the state. They have agreed not to sign the agreement. Neil left the meeting.

The commission called Jade from the Insurance store about the 911 tower insurance. He returned their call and they discussed the options outlined on the list that was emailed to him. He will contact the county with a quote as soon as it is ready.

Judge Kathy Rosencranz joined the meeting to discuss bookkeeping with the commission, including payments to the general fund and the update on software. Their office will start training for the software next week. Judge Rosencranz left the meeting.

Commissioner Watkins made the motion to approve the meeting minutes for March 10, 2022 with corrections. Commissioner Tauck seconded the motion. There was no public comment and the motion carried.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

Board of County Commissioners

Carter County, Montana

/s/ Rod Tauck, Vice-Chairman

Attest:/s/ Pamela J Castleberry, Clerk of the Board