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Murray County Commissioners
The Murray County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, Sept.28, 2021. The agenda was approved with additions. There were no conflicts of interest and no one was present for Open Forum. Heidi Winter was first on the agenda with the ditch bills. Ditch bills were approved for three vendors: Larson Backhoe Service, Prairie View Farms and Rinke Noonan. The Board also approved payments to H2Over Viewers for their contract to complete a county-wide redetermination of benefits on all un-redetermined drainage systems over a 3-year period. Heidi explained the expected schedule of payments. It was decided that these bills would be paid in an Auditor’s Batch as the invoices came in.
Heath Landsman was there from the Sheriff’s Department to discuss the purchase of 2 new cars that have been budgeted for. When he went to order two 2022 models, he was told General Motors had abruptly stopped making those vehicles.. He could, however, buy a 2021 Tahoe off the lot and put off the other one until they become available. This will be an administrative vehicle for the General Investigator and will require no cage. Landsman feels he has enough other parts, taken from past vehicles they are selling, to equip this vehicle himself. The Board approved this purchase.
Beth Wilms and Nancy Walker were in attendance to give an update on Southwest Health and Human Services They began by thanking Welgraven and Thiner for sitting on this board. They admitted that 4 years ago, they were in a pretty bad place financially. While they are not where they’d like to be yet, things are starting to look up. They now have operating expenses for up to 6 months in reserve. For the past couple of years they have dipped below their need. This year, for the first time in 4 years, they will not dip below. Working from home without all the driving helped during the pandemic. No one knows what is ahead after the pandemic. On another positive note, they have caught up on computer replacements and are now on a rotating schedule. Like everyone else, they have had more retirements coming up and are looking at the best ways to find good candidates for the positions. They were excited to talk about working on a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative with a strategic plan thru 2024.
Ronda Radke presented the Board with the recommendations in regard to employee health insurance. The Board approved no increase to the Prefered One premium cost to the employees, as well as, adding the use of the First Stop Health Service, effective January 1, 2022. There are presently 7 job openings. They have leads on a few of them, but others are still open. There is a Health Clinic for employees scheduled for Oct. 5.
Heidi Winter and Tom Burch were back to set the preliminary levy. This was set at 4%. This is something that can be lowered but not raised after submitting. They also set the budget hearing for Nov. 30, 2021 at 6:00pm.
The commissioners will be attending the AMC Conference From Dec. 6-8, 2021.
The next regular Board meeting will be Oct. 5, 2021 at 8:30am.
