County board approves PeopleWare agreement

The Cloud County board of commissioners approved signing the annual Peopleware Agreement with Computer Information Concepts, Inc. during its regular meeting on Monday.
The total expense for the agreement is $42,655.
In other action taken during the meeting, the board approved the hiring of Derrick P. Nordell as a part-time Sheriff's Department deputy at a rate of $13.25 per hour effective March 13.
The board approved appointing Scott Zabokrtsky, Washington County commissioner, to the 12th Judicial District Corrections Services advisory board, replacing Timothy Mueller.
It was reported to the board that sales tax received February 22 totaled $71,275.40, compared to  $66,153.01 the prior year.
Andy Asch, Highway Department administrator, met with the board and discussed working four 10-hour days over with summer with the exception of the three weeks that included a holiday, when they would work eight-hour days. No decision was made.
The board approved a classification change for Edward W. Jaeger, equipment operator, from $14.44 to $15.02 effective March 17 due to his introductory period ending.
The termination of Richard Stomberg, effective March 11, was approved by the board.
Henry Eilert, Maintenance manager, discussed taking bids for a new cooling tower. The tower was budgeted for and will take a couple of months after bids are received to have it in operation.
Eilert will get in county and out of county bids for comparison.
The board received the composition of cash balances and investment report, the fund status report as of February 28 totaling $11,178.763.85 and the budget status by fund/department summary reports.
Department heads met with the board during the meeting. Reports presented include:
Mike Hake, Solid Waste Director-The road to the CD Pit will be getting very muddy and will likely need to close until it dries out.
Kristi Benyshek, District Court Clerk- Doug Cruce, Court Security Analyst with the Office of Judicial Administration, and Chuck Clanahan, Protective Service Advisor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,  will tour the Cloud County Courthouse on Friday to review security. At 9:00 a.m. they will meet with interested parties and tour facilities at 10:00 a.m.
Jerry Collins, IT Director-Had one computer go down with the power surge last week. Departments should have a plan in place if they do lose a computer. No employee should be saving information to their desktop, and should learn the path to where programs are saved. Government Facebook pages are being duplicated by hackers.
Andy Asch, Highway Administrator - Asked residents to be patient, as it will take time to get everything done from the winter weather.
Barry Porter, County Appraiser - Valuation notices have been sent out, new photos shot last year will be available, and discussed updating the maps to make them more accurate.
Brandi Bray, Health Department Administrator - Breastfeeding Cookies & Milk group will meet on March 19th; 4 staff members attended the Key Question training; grants are due on Friday; they are dealing with roof leaks, and kindergarten physicals are starting to come in.
Harry Eilert, Maintenance Manager - Will need to consider replacing the snow blower next season; pumping water off the Health Department roof.  Panic buttons will be serviced and checked on Wednesday, and the fire alarm will be checked at noon.
Jana Roush, Register of Deeds - Tech fund has some funds available to help pay updating the maps.
Shella Thoman, Clounty Clerk - Attended a Human Resources class last week, employees registered with Fred Pryor should consider attending.  Subjects discussed: Job descriptions need to be updated; importance in using a time clock to protect the County and employees; employees should not be checking emails from home and should consider locking them out of emails when they are not at work; will be arranging for a sexual harassment class that all employees will need to attend; employees are not authorized to begin working until they have signed an I-9 form.  We are doing a self - audit of I-9's, and may need employees to sign new forms or initial corrections. Employees need to sign up for Textcaster from the link on the City of Concordia or Cloud County's websites, and if they are signed up, to be sure they are signed up to receive County news.  Residents are encouraged to sign up as well.  Windfarm applications are due March 30th.  Budgets are due April 1st.
Bill Czapanskiy, County Commissioner, asked about an insert in a mailing to inform residents about the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). Porter felt like with an insert, either the insert, or the reason for the mailing, wouldn't be looked at by the majority of people. Thoman said that a separate mailing could be an option, but to also include information about election filing deadlines and election dates, information about Textcaster, and Recycling summer hours.  Cost and options will be looked into.