KENTON COUNTY FISCAL COURT

M I N U T E S

OCTOBER 23, 2007, 7:00 P.M.

The regular meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court was called to order at the Independence Courthouse.  Present at the meeting were Judge Executive Ralph A. Drees; Commissioners Dan Humpert, Kris Knochelmann and Sara Voelker; Deputy Judge Executive Scott Kimmich; County Attorney Garry Edmondson; County Treasurer Jerry Knochelmann; Human Resources Director Joe Shriver; Police Chief Ed Butler; Public Works Director Joe Murphy; Court Reporter Cathy Johnston; and Guests.

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

The invocation was given and pledge of allegiance led by Commissioner Knochelmann ­­­­­­­­­­­­.

Approval of Minutes

Judge Drees asked the court for approval of the minutes dated October 9, 2007.  Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Voelker.  The motion was unanimously approved with the vote of aye.

General Business

No general business items were brought to the court's attention.

Resolutions

There were not any resolutions to come before the court.

Ordinances

There were not any ordinances brought before the court.

Consent Agenda

Claims List-County Treasurer Jerry Knochelmann:  Since there were no questions to come before the court, Judge Drees said warrants would be issued and all bills are to be paid.

Administrative Actions

Handout No. 07-81

Approval of surplus of an air truck assigned to the Kenton County Fire Chief's Association:  Mr. Kimmich said the fire chief's association does have an agency in Northern Ohio who intends to submit a bid, and once bids have been received and reviewed, a recommendation for sale will be submitted.  The proceeds of the sale of the truck will go for equipping the new fire truck that was purchased with homeland security money.

Commissioner Knochelmann made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Voelker and the motion unanimously passed with an aye vote.

Handout No. 07-82

Approval of sale of property at 6151 Grove Road to Katherine Bullock for the sum of $500.00:  Judge Drees said this property was in the old Latonia Lakes area.  Commissioner Voelker asked if there was anything special about the purchase of this property and Mr. Kimmich said this property was advertised as were all of the rest of the lots.  The bid submitted was less than the court thought the property was worth and Mr. Bailey negotiated the purchase price that was comparable to others that were sold in the community.

Commissioner Voelker made the motion for approval followed by a second from Commissioner Humpert and the motion unanimously passed with a roll call vote of Commissioner Voelker, yes; Commissioner Knochelmann, yes; Commissioner Humpert, yes and Judge Drees, yes.

Executive Orders

Executive Order No. 07-109

An order of the Kenton County Judge Executive declaring that an emergency does exist in the need to proceed in the suspension of the county's procurement code in the contracting process for professional service determined to be essential in providing for a fair, accurate, complete and timely evaluation process in the comparison of sites for a county detention center, Scott Kimmich reporting:  Mr. Kimmich said the Judge decided he would like to report on this himself.  This is the emergency order that provided for the enlistment of services of Mr. Berling.

Judge Drees said Jim Berling was hired to do engineering on the Mary Laidley site trying to figure out whether that site would or would not work.  The county was hoping to keep the price under $20,000.00 but it turned out to be $27,000.00 and we wanted to keep moving this project forward.   Because of that, we need to go ahead and take care of this bill and pay him.

Commissioner Knochelmann made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Voelker and the motion was unanimously approved with a roll call vote of Commissioner Humpert, yes; Commissioner Voelker, yes; Commissioner Knochelmann, yes and Judge Drees, yes.

Executive Order No. 07-110

Acceptance of resignation of Eric Mauer as a part-time employee at the Kenton County Golf Courses, effective October 4, 2007:  Commissioner Voelker made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Knochelmann and the motion was unanimously passed with an aye vote.

Executive Order No. 07-111

Employment of Samantha Steele as a part-time technician at the Kenton County Animal Shelter, effective October 8, 2007:  Commissioner Knochelmann made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Humpert and the motion unanimously passed with a voice vote of aye.

Executive Order No. 07-112

Acceptance of resignation for retirement of Edward Hoffman from the Department of Public Works, effective October 18, 2007:  Commissioner Humpert made the motion for approval; seconded by Commissioner Voelker and the motion unanimously passed with an aye vote.

Commissioner Knochelmann asked how long Mr. Hoffman had been employed at the county and Mr. Murphy said 27 years.

Executive Order No. 07-113

Acceptance of resignation of Lauren Andrews as a technician at the Kenton County Animal Shelter, effective September 17, 2007:  Commissioner Knochelmann made the motion for approval with a second from Commissioner Humpert.

Judge Drees asked what a technician was and Mr. Shriver said it was just a worker at the animal shelter.  They are mostly part-time and do other than detailed jobs such as euthanasia.  Short of this, they do much the same work as full-time workers.  When a full-time vacancy does come up, we can bring one of these part-time employees to the job because they are quite adept at filling these positions.

The motion was unanimously passed with an aye vote.

Citizens Address

There were not any citizens present to address the court.

Administrative Reporting

DEPUTY JUDGE EXECUTIVE-Scott Kimmich:  Nothing to report.

COUNTY TREASURER-Jerry Knochelmann:  Nothing to report.

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR-Joe Shriver:  Nothing to report.

COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT-Garry Edmondson:  Nothing to report.

Commissioners' Reports

COMMISSIONER DAN HUMPERT-Nothing to report.

COMMISSIONER SARA VOELKER-Nothing to report.

COMMISSIONER KRIS KNOCHELMANN-Nothing to report.

Judge-Executive's Report

Judge Drees said he had an interlocal agreement for road work that was previously given to the court.  A couple of changes have been asked for that will be completed tomorrow.  I am asking for authority to work with the county attorney to finalize this agreement.

Commissioner Humpert made the motion to give Judge Drees authority to sign off on the interlocal agreement; seconded by Commissioner Knochelmann and the motion passed with a roll call vote of Commissioner Knochelmann, yes; Commissioner Humpert, yes; Commissioner Voelker, yes and Judge Drees, yes.

Executive Session

There was no executive session called.

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the court, Judge Drees asked for a motion for dismissal whereupon Commissioner Humpert made the motion to adjourn; seconded by Commissioner Voelker.  The court was adjourned with the unanimous voice vote of aye.