Dec. 21—The Rogers County Commissioners kicked several agenda items down the road during their regular Monday meeting.
One such agenda item was a proposal to create a county employee benefit program to recognize outstanding county employees. Commissioners Dan DeLozier and Ron Burrows decided to wait until the Jan. 6 meeting to take action because District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix was absent.
Todd Wagner, the county’s attorney, said state law empowers county commissioners to establish such a program, for which he’d written a draft resolution.
“The best approach would be to have the Board of County Commissioners recognize this authority and then pass a resolution enacting that,” Wagner said. “The statute provides that each department and division office may spend monies from their operating funds for recognition awards, and that those awards may be given at a formal luncheon and banquet ceremony.”
Wagner said his resolutions allows each county department to determine their own standards for recognizing its employees.
Burrows said he liked the idea, but he wanted to set limits on how much each department could spend on awards since they’d be funded with taxpayer money. Wagner said statute doesn’t contemplate limits, so the commissioners could likely set them if they wanted.
“I don’t want to see another line item show up on our budgeting process,” Burrows said. “…I think there just really needs to be some very specific parameters around how much money can be spent.”
The commissioners also passed on accepting a $50,000 quote to repair or remove a failed microwave link between Chelsea and Rogers State University.
Dicus Benton, Catoosa’s fire chief, said the commissioners should make a decision next week because Jon Sappington, undersheriff for the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office, wasn’t at the meeting.
They also decided to reject the only bid the county received for a shipping container for the firing range the sheriff’s office is building.
The sheriff’s office sent out five bids but got one back: a $7,300 quote from Technology International, based in Lake Mary, Florida.
DeLozier said the bid was excessively expensive, and Burrows said he would rather source a shipping container from a local vendor.
“Are we bound to have this shipped from Florida to here?” Burrows said. “Appreciate their bid, really don’t want to discount that, but I know Catoosa has two [vendors] that just come to mind.”
Most of the items the commissioners approved Monday were purchases or contract agreements.
The commissioners approved a $225,000 contract with Shuterra, a vegetation management company based in Kingfisher.
Burrows said he’s had problems with tall Johnson grass, a weed that grows along many county roads, and hiring Shuterra would make it cheaper for the county to manage it. He said it may take a few years to notice improvement.
DeLozier said hiring Shuterra would “darn sure” save the county a lot of money because his crews are mowing along county roads five times a year.
They also agreed to make their annual $100,000 contribution to the Rodeo Arena Interlocal Cooperative, a trust that manages the Will Rogers Stampede Arena.
Burrows commended DeLozier for his work with the cooperative and the improvements the trust has made to the arena.
The commissioners decided to spend what remains of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover operational expenses the county has incurred managing the funds.
Wagner said Dec. 31 is the deadline to obligate ARPA funds, and putting them toward covering expenses makes sure each penny will be used.
“We’ve spent this money very well and made sure that we used it in a lot of different areas,” DeLozier said. “I think we were one of [the governmental entities] that I believe have done right.”