Lancaster County
Board of Commissioners
Board of Commissioners
STAFF MEETING AGENDA Lancaster County Board of Commissioners Thursday, June 18, 1998 - 8:00 a.m. County-city Building - Meeting Room #113 AGENDA ITEM 1 APPROVAL OF STAFF MEETING MINUTES OF JUNE 11, 1998 2 ADDITIONS TO AGENDA 3 8:00am BUDGET WORKING SESSION Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer 4 9:00am STREET NAME CHANGE NO. 98005 (RAMONA DRIVE TO RAMONA CIRCLE) Mike DeKalb, Planning Department 5 9:15am PENDING LITIGATION; SALE OF REAL PROPERTY Mike Thew, Chief Deputy County Attorney 6 9:45am RUNNER SERVICES Brian Pillard, Records & Information Manager; Richard Diegel, County Property Management 7 10:00am QUIET ROOMS AT CORNHUSKER PLACE; DWI TESTING Jim Baird, Cornhusker Place Director; Kit Boesch, Human Services Director 8 ACTION ITEMS a. Execution of Defeasance of Industrial Revenue Bonds for MI Nebraska LC Associates 9 CONSENT ITEMS a. Vacation Request from Gary Chalupa for Monday, June 22 through Friday, June 26, 1998 10 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER REPORT a. Letter to Jesse Rasmussen re: Network Management Entities b. Letter from Lower Platte South NRD re: Inspection of County Property 11 PENDING 12 DISCUSSION OF BOARD MEMBER MEETINGS a. Railroad Transportation Safety District - Steinman, Svoboda and Tussing b. Visitors Promotion Committee - Steinman c. Government Access & Information Committee - Steinman 13 SCHEDULE OF BOARD MEMBER MEETINGS a. Master Plan Steering Committee - Thursday, June 18, 1998, at 1:00 p.m., at the County-City Building, Room #106 Hudkins b. Growth at the Fringe-Tuesday, June 23, 1998, at 3:30p.m., at the County-City Building, Mayor's Conference Room Campbell 14 INVITATIONS TO BOARD MEMBERS a. Nebraska Urban Indian Medical Center HIV Prevention Program 1st Annual National HIV Testing Day Awareness Cookout - Saturday, June 27, 1998, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 15 CORRESPONDENCE TO THE COUNTY BOARD 16 CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE COUNTY BOARD 17 AGENDA ITEMS FOR COUNTY BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1998 18 EMERGENCY ITEMS AND OTHER BUSINESS
MINUTES Lancaster County Board of Commissioners County-City Building Meeting Room #113 Thursday, June 18, 1998 8 a.m. Commissioners Present: Linda Steinman, Chair Kathy Campbell Larry Hudkins Steve Svoboda Darlene Tussing Others Present: Kerry Eagan, Chief Administrative Officer Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer Ann Taylor, County Clerk's Office AGENDA ITEM 1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING OF JUNE 11, 1998 AND DEPARTMENT BUDGET HEARINGS OF JUNE 9, 1998. MOTION: Hudkins moved and Tussing seconded approval of the minutes of the County Board of Commissioners meeting of June 11, 1998 and Department Budget Hearings of June 9, 1998. On call Hudkins, Campbell, Svoboda and Steinman voted aye. Tussing abstained from voting. Motion carried. 2 ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA a. Land Re-utilization Commission MOTION: Hudkins moved and Tussing seconded approval of the addition to the agenda. On call, Hudkins, Tussing, Campbell, Svoboda and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. 3 BUDGET WORKING SESSION - Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer Attention Center Dennis Banks, Attention Center Director, appeared to report on cost estimates for a new van for the Attention Center (Exhibit A). He noted that the bids were based on the 1998 State bid figure, plus a six percent increase for 1999. Banks recommended purchase of the eight passenger Safari van, based on its configuration which would allow transport of six youth and two staff. The Board requested Banks to conduct further research on the van configurations to determine which vans would best meet the needs of the Attention Center. Board consensus to include $22,000 in the Attention Center budget for the purchase of a new van, and to postpone a decision on whether to purchase the van outright or through a Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) lease purchase. Relief/Medical Fund Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer, reported that the Lincoln office of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) had located a number of outstanding hospital bills for General Assistance clients, dating back to 1995 (Exhibit B). He recommended that $90,000 remaining in Relief be transferred to the Medical portion of the budget, leaving a deficit of approximately $120,500 for Fiscal Year 1998. Hudkins inquired whether every effort had been made to recover funds from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for these bills. Kroeker responded that Connie Johnson, Account Clerk II in the HHS office, had assured him that no additional SSI funds would be recovered. MOTION: Hudkins moved and Tussing seconded to add $120,500 to the Relief/Medical budget for Fiscal Year 1999 and to schedule authorization to transfer $90,000 in funds from Relief to Medical on the agenda for the Tuesday, June 23rd County Board of Commissioners meeting. On call Hudkins, Tussing, Svoboda, Campbell and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. Information Services Doug Thomas, Information Services Director, appeared to request authorization to complete the second phase of enhancements to the Public Defender's computer system. Thomas reported that the computer programer, currently working on the project, has limited hours remaining in his contract. He also noted that funds remaining in the budget for the Year 2000 Conversion project were sufficient to cover the additional enhancements to the Public Defender's system. In response to a question from Kroeker, Thomas stated that Information Services is currently $8,000 over the amount budgeted for enhancements to the Public Defender's system. He attributed the additional cost to a larger block of time expended on case files than originally anticipated. Dennis Keefe, Public Defender, confirmed that the additional enhancements were needed. MOTION: Hudkins moved and Tussing seconded to transfer up to $20,000 in funds, budgeted for the Year 2000 Conversion, to complete enhancements to the Public Defender's computer system. On call Hudkins, Tussing, Svoboda, Campbell and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. Thomas briefly reviewed 98/99 Budget Highlights, Details of Specific County Office Increases and Estimated Revenue Fiscal Year 1998/99 (Exhibit C), noting an overall reduction of 5.8% for the County for Fiscal Year 1998/99. In response to a question from Hudkins, Thomas stated that fiber will be extended east down Capital Parkway to connect the Parks & Recreation Department to the Network. He also noted that Aliant Communications has agreed to provide fiber connection for the Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department in exchange for location of a 75' cellular tower on Health Department property at 3140 "N" Street. Kroeker reported that costs related to Internet access to the Property Information Database will be split between the County Treasurer and County Assessor, as of July 1, 1998. Kroeker briefly reviewed Lancaster County Summary Analysis of Requested Budget Data Processing (Exhibit D). Thomas stated that Information Services will be working with agencies operating with in-house systems to insure Year 2000 compliance. Brief discussion took place on whether to move Noxious Weed Control Authority to Oracle for compatibility with Geographic Information System (GIS) data. The Board requested Thomas to prepare an estimate of conversion costs. 4 STREET NAME CHANGE NO. 98005 (RAMONA DRIVE TO RAMONA CIRCLE) Mike DeKalb, Planning Department Mike DeKalb, Planning Department, briefly reported on Street Name Change No. 98005, a request to change the official street name of Ramona Drive to Ramona Circle to correspond with the street sign. 5 PENDING LITIGATION; SALE OF REAL PROPERTY Mike Thew, Chief Deputy County Attorney; Diane Staab, Deputy County Attorney; Doug Cyr, Deputy County Attorney MOTION: Hudkins moved and Tussing seconded to enter Executive Session at 9:17 a.m. for the purpose of pending litigation and sale of real property. On call Hudkins, Tussing, Svoboda, Campbell and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. MOTION: Campbell moved and Svoboda seconded to exit Executive Session at 9:52 a.m. On call Campbell, Svoboda and Steinman voted aye. Tussing and Hudkins were absent from voting. Motion carried. 6 RUNNER SERVICES - Brian Pillard, Records & Information Manager; Richard Diegel, County Property Management Brian Pillard, Records & Information Manager, reported that many departments that were temporarily relocated are using staff or contracting separately for delivery runs to the County-City Building. He also noted that Information Services has a delivery need which will no longer be met by the Purchasing Department, due to the warehouse closing. Pillard stated that Records and Information Services currently makes one trip to Trabert Hall and two trips to the Old Federal Building each day. He suggested that this service be expanded to include a two run per day inter-office mail route which would include the County-City Building, Gold's Galleria, Downtown Senior Center, Old Federal Building, Attention Center, Lancaster Manor, Trabert Hall and the Lancaster County Community Mental Health Center. Pillard stated this could be achieved by increasing a part-time Stores Clerk position in Records and Information Management 14 hours a week to full-time status. Brief discussion took place on how to handle urgent deliveries, such as court subpoenas, which are currently hand-delivered by Court and Sheriff's department staff. Eagan noted that current contracts for delivery service will need to be reviewed for terms of termination. MOTION: Campbell moved and Tussing seconded to approve Records & Information Management's proposal for inter-office mail delivery and request that Brian Pillard, Records & Information Manager; Richard Diegel, County Property Management; and Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer, work out the details of the proposal. On call Campbell, Tussing, Svoboda, Hudkins and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. 7 QUIET ROOMS AT CORNHUSKER PLACE; DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED (DWI) TESTING - Jim Baird, Cornhusker Place Director; Patti Schumann, Cornhusker Place Assistant Director; Terry Wagner, Lancaster County Sheriff; Kit Boesch, Human Services Administrator Jim Baird, Cornhusker Place Director, noted that a recent policy change at Bryan/LGH, which requires the direct referral of Emergency Protective Custody (EPC) clients to the Community Mental Health Crisis Center following detoxification, rather than Cornhusker Place, has raised questions regarding the scope of the planned renovation of Cornhusker Place and funding of that project. Baird reported that separation and isolation of clients, necessary due to age, gender, severity of blood alcohol level, overall behavior and medical conditions, continues to be a problem. He described the rooms currently used as being small and having poor lighting and ventilation, resulting in concerns with regards to safety, humanity and liability. Baird reported that Jim Hille, Sinclair Hille & Associates Inc., has designed changes to the facility which will provide greater separation of clients and will increase the size of the Protective Custody area from 13 to 26 beds, thereby relieving pressure on the jail. Baird stated that renovation of the current facility or construction of a new facility is necessary if Cornhusker Place is to meet the needs of the future. He requested that the County continue its support of the renovation project up to $40,000, as previously discussed. In response to a question from Steinman, Baird stated the City and Regions have both indicated that their funding levels will remain the same as last year. Baird also noted that Cornhusker Place will continue, for the present time, to accept EPC clients from the other counties in Region V, at their request, but will discontinue that service in the near future unless the quiet room situation is addressed. Eagan reported that Mike Thurber, Corrections Director, supports the quiet room renovation project, as it will help to limit the number of Civil Protective Custody (CPC) bookings, and resulting disruptive behavior, in the jail facility. In response to a question from Tussing, Dave Kroeker, Budget & Fiscal Officer, reported that the County has reserved $40,000 for the renovation project in the Keno Fund budget. Campbell, Tussing and Steinman indicated support for the renovation project, noting that it will help protect the resource of the jail facility. The Board will take formal action on an agreement with Cornhusker Place for financial support of the renovation project in the amount of $40,000 at a Tuesday, County Board of Commissioners meeting. Baird distributed a handout of changes that have occurred at Cornhusker Place, a report from United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County on 1999 funding allocation, statistics with regards to clients served in Fiscal Year 1997-98, and a 1996-1998 Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) test fee comparison (Exhibit E). Baird explained that the Court assesses a fee of $100 if the Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) test is administered at Cornhusker Place, and $85 if the DWI test is administered elsewhere. He noted that any agreement to transfer funds generated by fees to Cornhusker Place would not eliminate the ability of law enforcement to perform their own tests. Baird noted that Cornhusker Place would prefer that the County Attorney issue subpoenas for staff, rather than a letter requesting their court appearance, so that witness fees can be recovered. He noted that staff is currently paid overtime for their court appearance. Baird reported that the County Attorney is reluctant to do so, due to the time involved in preparing each subpoena. Terry Wagner, Lancaster County Sheriff, noted that there are a number of charges related to the issuance of a subpoena, including a fee of $15.50 if service is by a Deputy Sheriff. Baird noted that, in cases where staff is called to testify by the City, the City Attorney prepares the subpoena a week in advance, with service by mail. The Board requested Baird to discuss the matter further with Gary Lacey, County Attorney. 8 ACTION ITEMS b. Execution of Defeasance of Industrial Revenue Bonds for MI Nebraska LC Associates Loel P. Brooks, Brooks Pansing Brooks P.C., appeared and explained that execution of defeasance of Industrial Revenue Bonds for MI Nebraska LC Associates will allow advanced pre-payment of the bonds so that ownership of a building, located at 1420 "P" Street, can be transferred to the Lincoln Children's Museum. MOTION: Campbell moved and Hudkins seconded to authorize the Chair to sign an Execution of Defeasance of Industrial Revenue Bonds for MI Nebraska LC Associates and to schedule ratification of the Board's action on the agenda for the June 23rd County Board of Commissioners meeting. On call Campbell, Hudkins, Tussing, Svoboda and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA a. Land Re-utilization Commission The Board requested Eagan to draft a letter to Bill Austin, City Attorney, and Gary Lacey, County Attorney, with carbon copy to Mayor Johanns, requesting that they expedite their review of an interlocal agreement establishing a Land Re-utilization Commission for Lancaster County. 9 CONSENT ITEMS a. Vacation Request from Gary Chalupa for Monday, June 22 through Friday, June 26, 1998 MOTION: Tussing moved and Campbell seconded approval. On call Tussing, Campbell, Hudkins, Svoboda and Steinman voted aye. Motion carried. 10 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER REPORT a. Letter to Jesse Rasmussen, Health & Human Services Director, Regarding Network Management Entities Campbell reported that the Lancaster, Douglas and Sarpy County Boards had agreed to send a joint letter to Jesse Rasmussen, Health & Human Services Director (Commissioners Information Packet), requesting a delay in the process for contracting of Network Management Entities and to seek an injunction to delay the process, if necessary. The Board requested Kit Boesch, Human Services Administrator, to draft a brief letter to the Department of Health & Human Services indicating the County Board's interest in forming Network Management Services for Lincoln and Lancaster County and requesting updates on the creation of such networks (Exhibit H). b. Letter from the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District (NRD) Regarding Inspection of County Property (Commissioners Information Packet) Eagan reported that the property in question is a road right-of-way located at 112th and Old Cheney Road. 11 DISCUSSION OF BOARD MEMBER MEETINGS a. Railroad Transportation Safety District - Steinman, Svoboda and Tussing Steinman reported a quorum was not present so no action could be taken. Discussion focused on a request that entities along the "X" Street Corridor contribute additional funding for the project. b. Visitors Promotion Committee - Steinman Steinman reported that a $500 grant request from Lincoln Velo for a bicycle race and tour was denied, due to lack of funds in the budget. c. Government Access & Information Committee - Steinman No report was given. BUDGET WORKING SESSION Public Defender Dennis Keefe, Public Defender, appeared and recommended the addition of two contracts for abuse and neglect representation to lessen the number of private attorney appointments and to spread the caseload so that one contract would not be overburdened. He also recommended that the Orton, Thomas, Peterson contract caseload remain the same, but that compensation be increased to $60,000 a year. In response to a suggestion from Steinman, Keefe agreed to investigate whether Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers could assist attorneys with case development in abuse and neglect cases. Keefe also requested the following: * The addition of one full-time juvenile division attorney to provide representation in law violation cases * To extend the employment period of a part-time temporary misdemeanor attorney Keefe reported that the request from Legal Services of Southeast Nebraska for a one-time allocation of $50,000 is related to costs incurred in providing representation in termination of parental rights cases. He noted that the increase in the number of these filings by the County Attorney is due to passage of LB 1041, which changes children-related provisions and conforms state law to the Federal Adoption & Safe Families Act of 1997. Brief discussion took place on how much to budget for outside counsel in termination of parental rights cases, with Keefe suggesting that Gary Lacey, County Attorney, provide an estimate on how many cases his office plans to file. Emergency Services Kroeker distributed a List of County/City Buildings & Contacts prepared by Les Myers, Lincoln-Lancaster County Emergency Services Coordinator, in support his department's request to place tone-alert receivers in City and County offices (Exhibit F). Board consensus to not fund this item in the Fiscal 1998-99 budget, but to further assess need for next year's budget. County Assessor Kroeker distributed copies of Lancaster County Assessor, 1998-1999 Travel and Related Expense (Exhibit G). Kroeker reported that $17,803 was budgeted in FY98 and $28,050 is requested for FY99. Board consensus to budget the same amount as FY98. Election Commissioner Kroeker reported that he had confirmed with Don Killeen, County Property Manager, that there is storage space available for the Election Commissioner in the "K" Street Building, but the rent is greater than that currently paid for space in a building at 201 "F" Street. 12 SCHEDULE OF BOARD MEMBER MEETINGS a. Master Plan Steering Committee - Thursday, June 18, 1998, at 1 p.m., at the County-City Building, Room #106 - Hudkins b. Growth at the Fringe - Tuesday, June 23, 1998, at 3:30 p.m., at the County-City Building, Mayor's Conference Room - Campbell 13 INVITATIONS TO BOARD MEMBERS a. Nebraska Urban Indian Medical Center HIV Prevention Program 1st Annual National HIV Testing Day Awareness Cookout Saturday, June 27, 1998, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 14 CORRESPONDENCE TO THE COUNTY BOARD 15 CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE COUNTY BOARD 16 AGENDA ITEMS FOR COUNTY BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 23, 1998 17 EMERGENCY ITEMS AND OTHER BUSINESS 18 ADJOURNMENT By direction of the Chair, the meeting was adjourned. ______________________ Kandra Hahn Lancaster County Clerk