LARNED — The Pawnee County Commission met at 9 a.m. March 16 for a regular meeting at the Pawnee County Courthouse. The following are approved minutes submitted by Pawnee County clerk Ruth Searight.
Pawnee County commissioners Kathy Bowman; Donna Pelton, chair; and Gary Caplinger, were present.
Searight gave commissioners the following for their review/approval — commission minutes of March 9 and special meeting, March 12, 2015; payables; clerk report, interim; custodian inventory; and copy of letter to Senator Les Donovan, regarding Senate Bill 257.
• Commissioners had questions regarding the ambulance bill from Larned City.
• Commissioners examined and confirmed custodian inventory.
• Commissioners approved a letter to Senator Donovan.
• Commissioners approved use of courthouse lawn for Santa Fe Trail Days, June 12 through the 14th.
• Leon Sanders, Camp Pawnee caretaker, visited about the overhead door which needed work.  Commissioners approved. Informed them that the trimmer has been recovered.
• Commissioners approved and signed checks for payables.
9:30 a.m.—John Settle, Pawnee County attorney, Lewis Young, airport board member, and Steve Gross, airport manager, discussed the fuel pumping device. It is broke down and is not repairable.
9:55 a.m.—John Adams, airport board member, is present. The commissioners voted to purchase a new fuel pumping device up to $10,000. The commissioners will visit with the city of Larned to get their approval.
10 a.m.—Kurt Demel, Pawnee County highway administrator, gave updates on roads, bridges and noxious weed departments.
• Commissioners read and approved minutes of March 9, 2015.
• Commissioners read and approved minutes of Special Meeting, March 12, 2015.
10:30 a.m.—Carl Eyman,  KWORCC, deputy administrator, reviewed workers compensation experience rating, claim analysis by accident type, and by department, from Jan. 1, 2009 through Nov. 30, 2014.
• Commissioners received a letter from Department of Commerce, Business and Community Development, informing them that no reports were filed at the end of June and December, 2014 for the Micro-Loan Program. Commissioners were informed that if the reports are not brought current by March 31, 2015, they will start the process of having the funds returned to the state. Via telephone, Commissioners visited with an employee at the Department of Commerce.  The person they needed to speak with, was not in today.
Commissioners requested that they send them the last report sent, as they did not have any reports.  The person notified them that he could not, as that makes them with another violation of the Federal Grant stipulations, as they were to have them “at hand.” Commissioners visited via telephone with various people, and no one had the information, and if they found it, to get it to Ruth Searight, County Clerk.
11:30 a.m.—Joan Basgall, Larned City. Commissioners signed some Airport Project Papers.
Searight visited with the Commissioners about the Micro-Loan, and they wanted her to get the information received from people to whoever it needed to go to. Searight requested that they appoint someone else to be the Bond Compliance Officer, due to the trouble in the past years with information not forthcoming for VonFeldt to complete the reports in a timely manner, and she receives emails from Moody’s of treats of lowering the Bond Rating because of the chaos.
• Searight, also, informed them, that it had been brought to her attention, that the Pawnee County commission minutes have not been published in The Tiller and Toiler for over a year. She had one of the employees go back in The Tiller and Toiler to see when the last minutes were printed. Her employee went back through July, 2014, and had found no minutes printed, and just a few agendas.
Searight did not think it was necessary to go back any further, as it was obvious they were no longer printing them. She informed the commissioners the approved minutes are sent via email every week to the Tiller and Jim Misunas, at The Great Bend Tribune.
In the same email. Searight visited with Richard Schwartzkopf at the Tiller, and he did not know why they were not printed.  John Settle, Tiller and Toiler owner, had visited with Mike Gilmore regarding the minutes when the person had left The Tiller who had been taking care of getting them in the paper.
Searight said she then had her deputy put the approved minutes of 2015 on the county’s website.  The goal is to have five years back on our website by the end of the week, or as soon as possible.  She will continue to send them each week to The Tiller and The Great Bend Tribune, and posting them on the county  website (www.pawneecountykansas.com).
Via telephone, Bowman called Mike Gilmore to see why they have not been put in paper.  Gilmore said he guessed he would have to start typing them up to put in paper.  Searight said they did not have to be retyped, as that was why they were sent via email, so they could cut and paste to fit their space.    
The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting was scheduled at 9 a.m. March 23.