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Commission Minutes—July 26, 2023 5749 <br />Buildings and Grounds General <br />Mr. Wilson discussed the 2024 Buildings and Grounds budget. He said the largest increase in the <br />Buildings and Grounds budget is the request of an additional Senior Buildings and Grounds <br />Technician position. He said Buildings and Grounds has not added personnel since 2011 and since <br />the County has added the Courthouse West Addition, Law Enforcement Center, and improvements to <br />Brewer Lake. Mr. Wilson said the new position will be staffed at the Jail, which would make three <br />Buildings and Grounds positions at the Jail. He said staff rotate between working at the <br />Courthouse/Annex and the Jail every few weeks. He said if the position is approved two-thirds of the <br />position's salary will be under this budget and one-third will be covered under the Jail budget as all <br />the other Buildings and Grounds positions are. <br />Mrs. Scherling asked if the camp host at Brewer Lake could take on additional duties to help alleviate <br />some duties from Buildings and Grounds. Buildings and Grounds Supervisor, Gene Gartner was <br />present and said the camp hosts do what they can, however, there are some projects and tasks that <br />must be completed by Buildings and Grounds. Mr. Kapitan asked with the Jail Addition being <br />completed in the next few years is one position enough. Mr. Wilson said one position is needed now, <br />and there may be additional positions needed for the County's future building growth. <br />Mr. Wilson said each County Building, the Courthouse, Jail, Law Enforcement Center, and Annex <br />have their own maintenance fund and each are budgeted for 2024 with small projects and general <br />maintenance. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Kapitan moved and Mrs. Scherling seconded to approve the 2024 <br />Commission Projects (101-1002), Human Resources (101-1501), Buildings and <br />Grounds General (101-1502), Courthouse (101-1503), Jail (101-1504), Annex <br />101-1505), and Law Enforcement Center (101-1506) preliminary budget as <br />presented. On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously <br />4. WEED CONTROL <br />Stan Wolf, County Weed Control Officer was present to review the 2024 Weed Control budget <br />request. The Cass County Weed Control Board is requesting to maintain the current mill levy at 1.2 <br />mills which will bring in approximately $533,332. Mr. Wolf said the total revenues for 2024 are <br />budgeted at $595,311 with total expenditures at $676,864 meaning $87,535 will be needed from <br />reserves to cover expenditures over revenues. He said after pulling from reserves, the estimated <br />reserve fund will be at an estimated, $103,630 which is between the recommended 15% to 20% of <br />proposed expenditures. Mr. Wolf said increases to expenditures are due to an average 83% <br />increase in the cost of herbicide products and a request for $10,000 to complete a drone herbicide <br />application to control Spotted Hemlock in difficult to access locations. <br />Mrs. Scherling asked if Weed Control has a drone. Mr. Wolf said Cass County Weed Control has a <br />drone used for spotting weeds, however, does not have a drone for spraying weeds. He said Weed <br />Control works with a contractor who owns a drone to spray. He said the cost of a spray drone is <br />approximately $40,000 and requires training and licenses. Mr. Grindberg said it appears the Weed <br />Control reserves have been utilized to cover expenditures the past few years. He asked for a five <br />year outlook. Mr. Wolf said if expenditures, mainly herbicides do not start to decrease, the Weed <br />Control Board may need to look to increase mills. <br />MOTION, passed <br />Mr. Breitling moved and Mrs. Scherling seconded to approve the 2024 <br />preliminary budget for Cass County Weed Control as presented. On roll call <br />vote, the motion carried unanimously.