Government : Benton County Board of Supervisor Minutes 5/31/11

          The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in regular adjourned session with Supervisors Buch, Vermedahl, and Sanders present.  Chairman Buch called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.

                Steve Meyer met with the board to discuss the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan; he stated that FEMA approved the plan last week. He questioned to the board if it was necessary to print the 300 pages of Appendixes to the Community if they were available in the electronic copy, which is being provided to the board. The board agreed that the appendixes would not have to be printed out with the Plan since they were available electronically. Meyer’s also updated the board about the grants for the emergency operations center. The commission has applied for two grants and has found a third possibility with State Farm Insurance. Meyer stated that he is going to wait to see what happens with the first two grants before applying for the third, which has an October deadline.

                Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders, to approve the minutes of May 24, 2011 with the correction of “disposing the temporary communications building” to “disposing the Bruce Township hall.”  All members voting aye thereon.  Motion carried.

                The Board discussed the 2011 Grand Jury Recommendations.  The maintenance of the DHS Building was a primary concern. Supervisor Buch stated there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the inside; DHS likes the location of the building due to its close proximity to the courthouse. It is estimated that it would cost $16,000 to fix the front of the building with replacing the block windows and brick repair.  Jerry Petermeier offered his assistance by looking at the building inside and out to determine what could be done. Supervisor Vermedahl recommended the county have Petermeier walk thru the building and see what his suggestions would be to repair it.   The Board was also concerned with the Grand Jury’s report on Secondary Roads regarding a non-functioning eye washing station and needing more fire extinguishers in the building. The board was going to ask the Engineer when he came in later in the meeting for more information regarding this matter.

                Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders to authorize chair to sign purchase of service agreement with ECICOG for Benton County Transportation services for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.  All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders to acknowledge the receipt of the annual manure management plan filed by Rick Pickering for a facility located in the NE of the NW of 12-83-12. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders to acknowledge the receipt of the annual manure management plan filed by R & K Farms LLC for a facility located in the SW NW of 5-84-9. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Benton County Engineer, Myron Parizek, reported that he received thirty-three applications for the part-time office position in his department and six applications for the landfill manager position. The deadline for the landfill position was Friday and Parizek has not had time to look review the applications very closely. Supervisor Buch asked to be involved in the hiring decision of the landfill manager.

                Parizek updated the board on the Oak Grove Road project stating that he before the actual project starts he would like to fix the seal coated section and re-seal coat it.  Parizek also stated the project would begin late June depending on weather.

                Parizek reported he is working with the DOT on a timeline for the Atkins project.

                Moved by Sanders, seconded by Vermedahl to sign the title sheet for final plans on HMA Resurfacing of V61 – Project #FM-CO06(81)—55-06. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Moved by Sanders, seconded by Vermedahl to sign the title sheet for final plans on HMA Resurfacing of V71 – Project #FM-CO06(82)—55-06. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders to approve a utility permit requested by East Central Iowa REC to place utility lines in the county’s right-of-way in Bruce Township. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                The Board questioned Parizek on the Grand Jury report regarding the non-functioning eye washing station and needing more fire extinguishers in the building. Parizek stated that the old eye washing station that was built along with the building is not functioning; however they do have a portable eye washing station available at the site where the old eye washing station is located. Dan Higdon is in charge of maintaining the eye washing station and insuring that the solution at the station has not expired. Parizek also stated that the fire extinguishers are checked every year and the insurance company has never said anything in their walk-thru that there needed to be more. Supervisor Vermedahl suggested that if he does not have a service contract, that Parizek might want to look into getting one and that way the extinguishers are always up-to-date and available if they would need them. Sheriff Forsyth questioned if it would be in the best interest of the county to look into having the same service contractor for all of the departments in the county to save the county money. Supervisor Vermedahl said that would be something that would need to be checked into and worth investigating.

                Jerry Petermeier, LEC Project Coordinator, updated the board on the progress of construction on the law enforcement center.  Petermeier sent out a letter requesting quotes from eight local contractors on the removal of the pad in the alley after the portable communications building is removed. Petermeier advised that the quotes are to be submitted by June 6^th to the Auditor’s office. Petermeier reported that the utility companies have marked their lines so the fence can be put in around the parking lot east of the courthouse. Petermeier reported that the grass is beginning to grow, but until Benton County takes over the building it is Kleiman Construction’s responsibility to water the grass.

                Todd McNall met with the board to discuss three change orders. McNall stated that there is probably one more change order coming. Change order request #49 – Hydro Mulch to replace the straw for erosion control for $1,473.03. The county must pay for landscaping and the work has already been completed. Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Sanders, to approve Change Order Request #49 in the amount of $1,473.03. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Change Order Request # 51 – PR#31 Add audio recording in rooms OWI/Vest. 218 & Booking 216 for $2,389.66. McNall stated FEMA should cover cost. Sheriff Forsyth stated that this should have never been a change order, stating that the architect was told to include this in the plans but failed to do so. Board asked Forsyth whether they should deny the change order and Forsyth replied that since the sub-contractor put it in parts of the system, the county would still have to use that same sub-contractor. Moved by Sanders, seconded by Vermedahl, to approve Change Order Request #51 in the amount of $2,389.66. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

                Change Order Request #52 – D & G Metal Works, placing metal over exposed insulation for $178.98. This change order was a design flaw on the part of the architect. McNall stated FEMA should cover the cost; the work has already been done. Board questioned why if it was a design flaw should the county and/or FEMA be responsible for the cost of this change order.   McNall responded that the work would had to have been done regardless.  Moved by Sanders, seconded by Vermedahl, to approve Change Order #52 in the amount of $178.98. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried. 

                Sheriff Forsyth reported that it was taking two and one-half minutes for the water in the Kitchen area to get hot. Forsyth stated that the sub-contractor did not provide for the water to re-circulate. Forsyth stated other areas in the jail such as the emergency operations center also took up to one and one-half minutes to get hot water.  Forsyth stated that this is an issue for the sub-contractor and that the county should have to pay for it. Supervisor Buch stated that it is wasting approximately five gallons of water waiting for the water to warm up each time. McNall commented that it should only occur once a day for the kitchen area. Supervisor Sanders stated that it wasn’t just for a temporary time, this issue would be for the life of the jail and was unacceptable. Forsyth recommended that the county wait until everything was done with the jail and then hire a local contractor to fix the mistake; adding that the county wouldn’t have the five to ten percent markup and that it would be more expensive to do it now.  McNall added that it was engineered wrong and the issue rested with KJWW Engineering. Buch questioned McNall again why if it was someone else’s mistake - the county again was being asked to pay for it.  Buch questioned why aren’t the sub-contractors weren’t being held  responsible. McNall asked if the board would like to speak with KJWW regarding this matter. Buch asked what that would do, but McNall did not respond.  The Board told McNall that he needs to hold KJWW responsible and have them fix their own mistakes without having a change order. Forsyth stated there were other mix-ups that other sub-contractors assumed the responsibility for the cost.

                Forsyth told the board that Kleiman wanted to hand over the keys to the jail on Friday, June 3, 2011.  Forsyth stated that there was no one working on the punch list today and there were a lot of little things that had to be done in two days. He recommended that the board not accept the keys to the building until the jail can officially be up and running and added that Kleiman Construction is done but their sub-contractors are not. There are some minor things but the water problem should be taken care of before he accepts the keys to the new facility.

                Benton County Auditor Jill Marlow, discussed with the board about the Open House for the jail, she stated that it was going to be held between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. She asked the Board who would want to talk on the Board’s behalf. Supervisor Buch will talk since he is the Chairman.

                 Moved by Sanders, seconded by Vermedahl, to adjourn.  All members voting aye thereon.  Motion carried.

                                                                                                                _______________________________

                                                                                                                Ronald Buch, Chairman

ATTEST: _________________________________

                Gina Edler, Clerk