HomeMy WebLinkAboutPub Prop May 27, 2015 (2)1
PUBLIC PROPERTY COMMITTEE
May 27, 2015
The Public Property Committee of the Grant County Board of Supervisors met on Wednesday, May 27,
2015 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 266 of the Administration Building, Lancaster, WI pursuant to the previous
meeting of April 22, 2015.
The meeting was called to order by John Beinborn. The County Clerk, Linda K. Gebhard verified that the
meeting was in compliance with the open meeting law posted in three places and published on the
County Web Site.
Members present: Donald Splinter, Vern Lewison, Dale Hood, Lester Jantzen and John Beinborn, and
Dwight Nelson. Robert Keeney, County Board Chair was also present.
Agenda: Dale Hood, seconded by Vern Lewison, made a motion to approve the agenda as written.
Motion carried.
Minutes: Don Splinter, seconded by Lester Jantzen, moved to approve the April 22, 2015 minutes as
written. Motion carried.
Courthouse and Administration Building Maintenance: Mark Udelhofen, Courthouse Maintenance
stated that there are a couple items that he would like to receive quotes on to present to the committee
for future upgrades. One is the carpeting in the Judges office spaces and the second is the small backup
boiler that has been discussed to replace but has never happened. Other than these two items; all else
is going well with the Courthouse.
Terry Clark, Administration Building Maintenance reported that all was going well in the building. Ahern
the company who inspects our sprinkling system sent a quote of $1120.00 to perform four (4) five year
internal pipe exams and replace four (4) water gauges per NFPA 25. Terry and the County Clerk Linda
Gebhard will look into this proposal and report back to the committee in June.
Discussion on flower pots places in the City of Lancaster by Bruce Fritz and the Lancaster Chamber of
Commerce: Bruce Fritz, TRICOR Insurance Company was present at the committee meeting to introduce
himself and explain the plan that he, Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and some of the local florist
Cushman’s, Country Flowers and Gassers True Value have been working on in the City of Lancaster to
benefit all. They have set out hanging baskets of flowers around the Courthouse light poles and pots of
flowers in front of the business establishments around the square to encourage community effort for
everyone to work together. The initial cost of the pots is estimated at $50.00 per pot this year because
of the expense of the pots; in future years the cost would be estimated at $25.00 per pot. No payments
for reimbursement are being asked for but if each establishment would like to donate, that would be
appreciated.
Bruce asked for permission to trim one of the trees back that shades one of the baskets on the
Courthouse Lawn if it should create a problem in the future. The committee saw no problem in that.
The committee discussed the cost of donating money for the pots so it could be implemented in the
County Clerk’s Maintenance budget for 2016. Lester Jantzen initially made a motion to implement in
the budget the amount of $250.00 for flower donations to the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and
Bruce Fritz for the fiscal year of 2016. However, a majority of the committee felt the county should hold
off on a donation for the fiscal year of 2016 but instead implementing the cost in the budget for the
fiscal year of 2017.
2
Lester Jantzen, seconded by Dale Hood, made a motion to implement the amount of $250.00 in the
County Clerk’s Maintenance budget for a donation toward the flowers places on the square by the
Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Bruce Fritz, TRICOR for the fiscal year of 2017. Motion carried.
Insurance: Jenna Goodrich from A.J. Gallagher reported the claims had been reviewed; claims are lower
than usual which is very good. On July 18th A.J.Gallagher will conduct a loss control walk through in the
facilities of Social Service and Highway to survey any issues that would need to be addressed to help
reduce losses.
Randy Peterson, TRICOR, reported that he had contacted the American Appraisal Company to have
Michael Domin speak to the committee; Michael was present at the committee meeting to give a
presentation.
Randy has talked to Travelers also; they have worked with American Appraisal Company in the past and
are very happy with their services. The County pays a premium of approximately $75,000.00 for
property insurance and Auto physical damage coverage per year; and the self funded auto account is
increased $10,440.71 per year. The county keeps around $120,000.00 to $150,000.00 in that account.
Travelers did give Randy a ball park figure on a property coverage rate which surprisingly is pretty similar
to what the county pays, keeping in mind the increase in the rates that Local Government Property
Insurance Fund is projecting. Travelers also offer a discount on the liability insurance if the county
would place their property coverage with them which could offset the cost for an appraisal.
Randy stated that being under insured is not a good situation which is one of the primary reasons why
the Local Government Property Insurance Fund is having issues now. Randy stated the appraisal process
would be the first step if the county is thinking of going out for bids on the insurances. The appraisal will
give the county a base cost which are compared nationwide to receive the most comparable
replacement costs. August is usually the time to receive quotes from Insurance Companies, so there is
ample time to start this process.
Randy gave the committee an update on Drone coverage. The Insurance Industry is calling them an
“aircraft” so the FAA in now involved and they do not want these drones to cause issues with other
aircrafts. A Drone weighs approximately a pound; they have not been proven to be totally reliable at
this time, which causes speculation on their accuracy. Being classified as an “aircraft” they are excluded
under a standard business general liability policy. To purchase coverage for the drones you will have to
go out on the aviation market and purchase an airplane policy. The premiums range from $295.00 to
$2,000.00 per year. Randy stated that in the future he feels the insurance industry will have to come up
with an endorsement which can be purchased to add to the liability policy but they aren’t there yet.
Randy stated that because the drone is owned by the county and used for county issues we would have
governmental immunity if something happened. Randy will recommend that Emergency Management
purchase the minimum coverage so the county is covered until the insurance industry comes up with
something better. This should be dealt with by the Law Enforcement/Emergency Management
Committee.
Brent Straka, TRICOR, every May the HRA roll over benefit payback process takes place reimbursing
employees any carryover they may have accumulated. The roll over for this year was $105,317.35. The
system seems to be working fine, rates for Dean seemed to be a little higher than in the past but
3
prescription drugs have been raising which contributed higher rates. TRICOR will be watching those
costs for this year.
Michael Domin, American Appraisal: Michael Domin, American Appraisal out of Milwaukee, WI gave the
committee a brief history of his company and laid out the scope of service that they could offer the
county for the appraisal of property. He stated the purpose of their work would be to develop a
comprehensive report covering the real and personal property assets of Grant County for assistance in
providing the County with values for insurance placement purposes.
Michael stated a professional appraisal is essential for proper insurance planning because it:
Provides the insured with the proper basis to determine the amount of coverage to be
carried.
In the event of a loss, an appraisal can serve as a foundation to generate proof of loss
documentation. Most insurance policy provisions require an inventory, scope of damage,
and values, to be current as of the date of the loss. Proof-of-loss therefore can only be
completed after a loss has occurred.
Provides a solid basis for periodic valuation updating.
Assures proper accountability and stewardship of assets.
The purpose of the appraisal would be to provide property insurance appraisal service to include
accurate replacement cost values. Also a very important factor in preparing in going out to the
traditional insurance market “COPE Data” is very important, it stands for “construction, occupancy,
protection and exposure” this is what the underwriters will be looking for to determine what a policy
needs and setting rates. COPE Data is what the underwriters use to give the best policies and costs.
Michael touched on a question that had been asked regarding how do you estimate the replacement
value of a building like the Courthouse. He assured the committee they have staff and resources that
are able to do this. They have a team who understands the unique characteristics of the building and
know how to value those things to provide adequate replacement values for the county.
The proposed cost for their service would be $11,200.00. The time frame would be to start in early July;
they would spend a week on site meeting with staff, reviewing blue prints. They would need from five
to seven weeks to compile the data and bring it back before the committee in August.
Don Splinter, seconded by Dwight Nelson made a motion to approve hiring American Appraisal to start
the process to appraise the property and assets in Grant County. Motion carried.
Update on Courthouse Renovation: Robert Keeney stated that the weather had not cooperated with
the construction at the Courthouse. The east wall is dug out hoping to water proof on Friday. They are
continuing to work on the masonry. Next week they hope to work on staining the new patch work.
Landscapers have reviewed what may be needed on completion of the building. New air conditioning
units have not been installed completely, next week is the target date to complete that. The
Wednesday meetings are still being held to keep everyone up to date on the progress.
Kurt Fry, Pierce Engineer of Madison was present to update the committee on the plan to install a flag
on the Courthouse. He stated that the Courthouse is structurally sound to sustain a flag on top. The
plan is to install a stainless steel pipe through an eleven inch hole at the top of the dome to house the
40 to 50 foot pole bolted at the base of the pole and also at the top. A mechanism would be installed to
raise and lower a flag down through the housing. There would be boot collar at the top to water proof
the housing and a drip pan at the bottom for drainage. There would be 10 foot of pole visible above the
4
top of the dome; the pole could sustain a 4 X 6 flag. There were questions regarding the size of the flag,
if a bigger flag was desired could the structure take that? The engineer said he would have to look into
that concept.
Robert Keeney informed the committee that he had applied for grant money through the Lancaster
Community Grant Fund. He also knew there were local Veteran Organizations who have shown their
support to have the flag installed again on the dome.
Maintenance on the pole was discussed; Robert Keeney stated it may be necessary to implement in the
budget once every 4 to 5 years money for that purpose.
The Engineer stated that he would come back to the next committee meeting to submit a final quote
which would include some of the changes that were discussed.
IT LTE: Jeff Anderson, Information Technology Director introduces Jacob McCulley from Hazel Green
who is interning for IT. Jacob has interned in Grant County previously, he has now graduated from
Southwest Technical College as a Network Communication Specialist. The committee welcomed him
back to Grant County. Jacob had originally worked on the Social Service wireless project. They are
working on the micro licensing project, trying to perfect it, all is going well. Right now they are trying to
figure out each department’s software needs. They want to achieve the point that they do not have to
move any of the computers just make the change on the server to fix any issues.
Jeff was asked how the communications between the jail and courthouse was coming, Jeff stated that all
is going well for now, but they have not closed the ticket on that issue yet.
Joyce Roling asked if Jeff would be anticipating adding another IT position in his department. Jeff stated
that he would like to implement in his budget for 2016 funds to hire another full time Technician
position.
Jeff followed up with the committee on the issue that happened last week when the server went down.
The virtual server also had shut down. IT needed to rebuild the server in order for it to work again.
They have no idea why this happened but probably will never know. Jeff and Jacob worked through the
night to fix this issue. The committee extended their appreciation to the IT staff for their devotion to
getting the computer systems up and running for the county.
Administration Building Co-Location: The WIN Company who is working on the installing the fiber optic
line into Lancaster has asked Grant County if they could house an internet server in the Administration
Building. The Mechanical room in the basement of the Administration Building would be where they
would like to install the data rack. The requirements that would be needed is proper heating and
cooling, they would need the proper hookups and would like to be connected to our generator. They
would need 24 hour access in order to service this equipment. The WIN Company would like to have
confirmation by July 2015 if this could be a possibility. They would pay the county $500.00 per month to
house this equipment for them.
Jeff will work with them to establish what this would take to confirm that our space is adequate to
house their equipment. He will report back to the committee in June.
Vern Lewison, seconded by Lester Jantzen, made a motion to give Jeff Anderson, Information
Technology Director the approval to work with the WIN Company to see what the needs are to house
their equipment in the Administration Building and report back to the Public Property/Technology
Committee at the next meeting on June 24, 2015. Motion carried.
5
Public Comments: None
Adjournment: Before the committee adjourned, Jeff Anderson requested that his evaluation be moved
to the July meeting because he will be in Chicago taking a class and will not be able to attend the June
meeting. The committee agreed to postpone Jeff’s evaluation until July.
Vern Lewison, seconded by Dwight Nelson, made a motion to adjourn the meeting pursuant to the next
meeting on June 24, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. Motion carried.