Exempt County employees offered comp time

Phillips County Commissioners voted and approved a motion during the month of July that will allow exempt employees the ability to earn comp time. The announcement came at the usual press briefing held at the end of the month. The County also acted on a number of new hires and wage increases through July in addition to hearing various county department updates.

According to information compiled by County Administrator Pam Jensen, an exempt employee who works over 40 hours per week can earn comp time at a rate of 1:1 for time worked over 40 hours. County employees wishing to participate in the new program must complete the same detailed, time in and time out, timesheet that non-exempt employees submit each month.

Just as with non-exempt employees, comp time, she said, is earned based on the work week, not individual work days. Comp time can only be used after traditional leave is exhausted and will not be carried over into the next calendar year or paid out.

At the beginning of July, Phillips County Commissioners heard from 4-H parent Candie Fix, who expressed concerns with the Commissioner’s decision to charge 4-H families full price for camping spots at the fairgrounds during the Phillips County Fair. Typically, those fees have been waived in the past for those who are actively participating in 4-H and FFA. RV spot rental rates are $140 for one week or $25 per day, $20 a day thereafter.

Fix also communicated her concerns with allowing some fair participants, such as vendors, the ability to reserve RV spots prior to fair while not allowing others.

After hearing Fix’s request to re-think RV rates through fair week, the Commissioners voted to charge 4-H families only half price for the 2020 fair. The spots are first come, first serve for 4-H families. The issue will be revisited for the 2021 fair, according to the Commissioners.

Towards the end of the month, the trio of County Commissioners met, via the phone, with Joe Bellm, owner of BST Racing. Bellm requested the Board approve an Aug. 28 event for his company to use the fairgrounds arena for a night of entertainment; Bellm is still working on the specifics for that date but plans to update the County as they are made. After the discussion, the Commissioners approved his request with details to follow.

Two race events remain on the calendar for the 2020 year at the Phillips County Raceway including those on Sept. 4 and Sept. 17.

According to meeting minutes published by the Commissioners, the three also met with Colorado State University Extension Agents Jessie Stewart and Deeona Johnson during the month of July.

Johnson updated the Commissioners on several summer camps hosted in Haxtun in June and July and also noted that she recently passed her fitness instructor test. She plans to host a number of upcoming fitness classes as well as provide sports nutrition classes for local high school students.

Stewart also offered summer camp classes in Haxtun throughout the summer in addition to hosting riding nights and leather craft classes for local 4-H members. Stewart spent much of July preparing for and helping to host the Phillips County Fair.

In other business, the Commissioners:

• Approved salary step increases for County employees including: Kelley Sullivan, Lori Lundgren, Harlan Hightower and Randy Owens;

• Approved hiring Paolo Mallari as a full-time dispatcher for the Phillips County Communications Center;

• Approved the hiring of part-time employment for Eric Nickell during fair to help with maintenance;

• Met with Cari Jo Oestman and Laura Lenz with the Caring Pregnancy Resource Center and voted to charge the Center 2019 rental prices for use of the Event Center for an event in January;

• Received word on the use of $20,000 in CARES Act Funds for resurfacing at the Holyoke Municipal Airport;

• Approved a bid from Transit Works to provide drone aerial photography mapping of the County Landfill for $6,000;

• Approved a bid from Dickinson Land Surveyors to provide survey work at the County Landfill for $2,800;

• Decided not to hire additional help during COVID-19 as offices seem to be managing the extra workload except for maintenance, which has hired Elva Montes as temporary help to assist with extra cleaning;

• Approved the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission to approve a subdivision exemption for Gary Koch for the sale of approximately 10.4 acres to Justin Foster in the SW ¼ of Section 18, T7N, R47W;

• Approved a road occupancy agreement with Pat Meakins for underground construction of a three-inch water line crossing County Road 3 from Section 19-9-47 to Section 20-9-47;

• Approved a contract proposal from Quality Paving Consultants to core selected roadway sections at a cost of $3,640.