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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 11/5/2009 8:16:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | County Board sets public hearing for November 18 to consider taking away home business permit in Wallmark Lake neighborhood, budget year in good shape so far, board hears
BY DENISE MARTIN
About three years' worth of problems with a conditional use permit sent the county zoning administrator to ask the County Board last week for a public hearing to consider revoking the permit. The hot tub business that Kevin Dincau is running out of his residence has apparently been generating complaints in his Wallmark Lake Drive neighborhood. Violations of conditions placed on outside storage, etcetera, are being violated, according to a zoning code enforcement officer.
The public hearing date was set at 6:30 p.m. November 18, in the County Board Room in the Government Center. Anybody who has comments or information pro or con, relating to the permit, should plan to attend.
The County Board in 2006 unanimously granted the CUP for the home business.
In adopting the county public works department's snow removal policies the Board briefly debated garbage containers.
Commissioner Lora Walker was absent.
The policy now includes language on where to place wastecans for pick-up, and to keep them off shoulders of roads on county plow truck routes.
Commissioner Mike Robinson said the department doesn't need this policy, adding garbage truck drivers must be able to pull up alongside the cans.
Commissioner Rick Greene said he's seen garbage in ditches, the result of tipped cans, and he'd like to see people made aware of problems due to setting containers on narrow road shoulders. Commissioner George McMahon noted the policy simply asks people to set their cans on driveway surface and garbage trucks can access the cans.
The policy was adopted 3-1 (Robinson opposed), along with the swing-arm mailbox support policy.
The county highway department sells specially designed mailbox posts that can better-withstand snowplow abuse. (The county does not replace damaged mailbox stands.)
Commissioners, with the exception of Robinson who said he never uses e mail; were agreeable to embracing a new e mail system.
As presented by MICS Director Jon Eckel the elected officials' e mail is now intermingled with government and personal electronic data. Eckel, legal staff and County Administrator John Moosey strongly recommended the commissioners "separate" personal and professional electronic data.
Moosey said the new system will be an "insurance policy of sorts." A recent public request for e mail data took the county almost a month to respond to and was costly, Moosey continued, when a personal computer underwent "forensic analysis." The county avoids future costs and liabilities if the commissioners use a "netbook" device for electronic correspondence.
Eckel will meet with each commissioner to install their system, which the county is purchasing at a reduced rate in a federal equipment program. The five devices are about $199 each, the Verizon data plan is about $50 monthly.
Commissioner Robinson said he uses the telephone to communicate. County Attorney Janet Reiter said that may be true-- but should a lawsuit arise it's likely his computer would be seized and searched anyway, lacking this new device for e mails.
There was discussion on revising committee assignments, but no action taken.
Chair Ben Montzka observed that the Board has been talking about the merits of certain committee memberships for too long. After the lengthy discussion and lack of direction last week, Montzka said it's clear that action adjusting committees wasn't going to happen mid-year. Any revisions will wait until the chair for 2010 recommends committee appointments.
Facing growing budget concerns-- the commissioners are looking for savings, and their attendance at committee functions results in very costly mileage reimbursements and per diems being paid out.
Many committees that the Board has historically participated in are not statutorily required. Montzka said some are even a "conflict," such as non-profit groups the county "needs to withdraw from." He said it's a question of process, and when a county commissioner is directly involved in an organization/agency that the county helps fund-- having a county commissioner at meetings influences and may even stifle decision-making.
Commissioner McMahon said there's several committees he inherited, when he won Bob Gustafson's district seat, that he feels can be eliminated from the committee budget. The County Parks Board, as one example, already has three county employees attending meetings. Having a county commissioner there is overkill, he commented. "I know one thing, there's too many committees," McMahon added.
Commissioner Robinson took a different view.
"I know what's going on here," he stated, "...this is a personal problem." The statement was left unexplained, but at one point he was concerned about committee list revisions unfairly impacting committee income; saying if it was a budget issue the Board ought to just equally reduce its "base salary." Later, Robinson remarked that the goal is to remove him from the county planning commission.
Financial snapshot
The third quarter of this budget year is in good shape with 72 percent of the money spent. The Board received a spreadsheet and heard highlights on items below budget or over-budget.
~ The 2009 Contingency Line was just about zeroed out with a payment to Wyoming City approved in September. The county paid $326,350 just last month for work done on a county road, as part of a sewerline project completed four years ago.
Checking with Wyoming City Administrator Craig Mattson after the meeting, he said Wyoming City paid for turn lanes and special manhole placements on the county road understanding the city would be reimbursed. Mattson said Wyoming was prepared to withhold its share of the current project on #22, if it didn't receive this payment.
~ Two appx. 3 acre lots for Sunrise Trails Plat 3 were okayed.
~ Two appx. 5 acre lots at 3804 Stark Road, Fish Lake, were ok'd.
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