Sangamon Sun

The Sangamon County Citizens' Efficiency Commission met Dec. 14 to discuss task force work plans.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the commission:

"The Citizens’ Efficiency Commission (CEC) for Sangamon County is an independent, advisory body with the purpose of improving “local government effectiveness by identifying opportunities for improved cooperation, coordination and reduction of duplication of services among local governments in Sangamon County."

Minutes of Meeting CITIZENS’ EFFICIENCY COMMISSION December 14, 2016 

ATTENDANCE Citizens’ Efficiency Commissioners Larry Bomke Jackie Newman Josh Collins Robert Plunk Kevin Dorsey J.D. Sudeth Karen Hasara Robert Wesley Mike Murphy Others Andy Van Meter, Sangamon County Board chairman Brian McFadden- Sangamon County Administrator Marty Fairchild – Rochester Fire Protection District Ed Taft – Williamsville Fire Protection District Norm Sims – SSCRPC Molly Berns – SSCRPC 

I. CALL TO ORDER 

Chair Mike Murphy called the meeting of the Citizens’ Efficiency Commission to order. 

II. ROLL CALL AND APPROVAL OF ABSENCES 

Chair Mike Murphy stated that Mr. Robert Wesley would not be in attendance. 

III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 

Chair Murphy asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of the November 9, 2016, regular meeting. Ms. Molly Berns stated that there was a scribner error on page 3 that noted the time in the minutes that has been removed. Dr. Kevin Dorsey moved to approve the minutes. Mr. J.D. Sudeth seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved. 

IV. INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 

Chair Murphy asked for introductions. Guests were Mr. Andy Van Meter, Chairman, of the Sangamon County Board, Brian McFadden, Administrator of Sangamon County, Mr. Ed Taft from the Williamsville Fire Protection District, and Mr. Marty Fairchild from the Rochester Fire Protection District. 

V. REPORTS OF OFFICERS 

Chair Murphy provided a brief update on his meeting with Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden. He stated he discussed with them the CEC’s game plan moving forward. He told them one of the things he believes in for them not to be blind-sided, we are an independent commission. The CEC is doing things on our own, but he does like to be transparent so they do know what we are doing in case they have questions asked to them. They also discussed the CEC’s priorities moving forward would be to continue the study of law enforcement on mainly how the City and County can work together but also include the local municipalities as the CEC anticipates they will have some great needs in the future; continue to look at townships, especially the assessor’s position; the Regional Leadership Council after the vote on the non-binding referendum for continued support for them; and other issues as the CEC sees fit. He stated that one topic that has been brought to his attention recently that he believes the first CEC did not looked into is the Medical District. Hon. Hasara said that the first CEC did not look at the Medical District. Chair Murphy stated in his discussion with Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden that they would like to keep the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District (SCWRD) on the agenda. CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.2 Chair Murphy said that he would let Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden talk more in detail about some of the things they talked about. He said they did talk about some funding available for the CEC and their goal is to find another “Amy” type person for staffing purposes for the CEC and the RLC. Chair Murphy turned the meeting over to Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden. 

A. Update from meeting with Chairman Van Meter/Brian McFadden – Chair Mike Murphy Chairman Andy Van Meter said first of all we should congratulated the CEC on the resounding results of the two advisory referendums. He said he thinks it says the public thinks the CEC is on the right track and that it is working on sorts of things that are good for the community. He said as a result of that referendum Mr. McFadden appropriated some money in the budget to specifically support the RLC but that money should also provide staffing for the CEC to continue the research on whatever projects it chooses to pursue. He said they want to encourage the CEC to pursue whatever they feel might be of interest to the community. He said some of the things you are tackling may be bigger things than can be accomplished in a short period of time but nonetheless the research that is done can be helpful to the community out into the future. Chair Murphy opened the discussion so the members of the CEC could ask questions, comments, or concerns of Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden. Hon. Hasara said she was mayor when the Medical District was formed. She said that she did not realize that it was idle and had not done much until there was a fairly recent article in the paper. She said she thinks it comes under what the CEC is looking at and it is definitely is an economic development tool. She said that she had met with Mr. Sims to see what the CEC could do. She asked Dr. Dorsey if he was involved. Dr. Dorsey said peripheral at best. She said since she had met with Mr. Sims it was interesting because Ralph Hurwitz is the one who brought the idea to us and she happened to be at a brunch where he was. She said that his son who is the real go getter is on the Memorial Board and the CEO at HSHS. She said that Ralph Hurwitz assured her that they would start reorganizing things too. She said that she would like for the CEC to have a little more involvement because truthfully she was very upset that they have done nothing for the last few years so. Chair Murphy said that he felt it would be well worthwhile that the CEC would pursue that because what the CEC realized over the last several years is when it gets involved and starts looking things it motivates people to do things. He said that when this happens it makes more people accountable and gets them to start thinking about things. Hon. Hasara said that she would find out when their next meeting was and she thought some of the CEC members might go to that to indicate our interests. Chairman Van Meter said he thought that was a great idea and it is a good example of value that the CEC represents. He asked if you don’t think about it, who is going to think about it? He said the thing is just languishing going nowhere. Sen. Bomke asked why the commission (Medical District) is not doing anything? Chairman Van Meter said that is a great question for this group to take a look at and answer but as we all know and he loves using this as a pop quiz to our various elected representatives who come in “what is one is the number one employer in this community?” the answer has always been the state and it is not anymore, it is the medical district. He said that this does not affect only Springfield anymore it effects the entire community. After much discussion of the history of how the committee was formed, Chair Murphy said that he thought that everyone agreed this should be added to the agenda. He said what he would like to do is put it under Developing Legislative Linkages so that it could be called Developing Governmental Linkages and Hon. Hasara, Sen. Bomke, and Dr. Dorsey can be the taskforce to work on it. Chair Murphy stated in his discussion with the Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden that they also discussed the expiration of the CEC. He said they have got legal opinions that they continue the CEC efforts in the future beyond the April deadline and he thinks that is their intent so he just wanted the commissioners to know there is a good possibility that this group will live on. Chair Murphy said that he thinks that it needs to live on and he understands that some of the commissioners have been with the committee a long time. He said he doesn’t know what shape or form or who needs to be here. Chair CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.3 Murphy said that he strongly believes there is a need for the CEC to be here in the future if for no other reason than what he said earlier it is just to keep people talking about issues that need to be talked about because they will not get done. In his opinion if the CEC doesn’t raise issues they will continue to do things because that is the way they have always done it and that will be their justification for it. So we need an organization like the CEC to ask questions and hopefully make suggestions, but more importantly ask questions and hopefully they will come up with answers on their own. Chair Murphy said that he guessed he was saying he was in favor of a continuance and he hopes everybody else is too. Chair Murphy said that he knows that it is Chairman Van Meter’s intent. Chairman Van Meter said absolutely. He said if the CEC doesn’t do it there is no one else in the community who will. He said you have the prestige and the license from the voters to do that. He said to keep doing it whether we implement everything that the CEC recommend immediately or maybe sometime in the future, but at least the issues will have been raised and thoughtfully studied. Chair Murphy said that he thinks there is a great need and the CEC has demonstrated with its success. Sometimes the CEC gets frustrated if it doesn’t get everything that the CEC knows should be done. He said that sometimes the CEC needs to look at the big picture of some of the good things that the CEC has accomplished. Chair Van Meter said you accomplish more than you realize. For example we were talking about the sewer system sort of water reclamation in general. Since the CEC initially raised those issues the sanitary district has now begun on its own time and its own initiative a study of one section of the City’s oldest sewer system to better understand what mitigation might mean and entail. He said that was entirely because the CEC started asking the questions. Chair Murphy said that was exciting because they are doing it on their own and they recognize it is an issue. He talked about the township situation on the radio and was really excited that the gentleman from Chatham Township was at all of the CEC’s meetings and he listened. Chair Murphy said that Chatham Township was one of the first townships to do away with the collectors. They listened, realized it didn’t make sense to have, and so they eliminated the collector on their own even before we did anything. He said that is what is exciting to him that they see it, they realize it, and they do it own their own. Chair Murphy said that Josh Collins constructed a letter to go to the Governor regarding the burdens placed on local government by state regulations. He said that he would like for everyone to look this over and he would like to send it to the Governor if the CEC feels it is appropriate. Sen. Bomke said that related to school districts sharing school administrators, the CEC did talk about doing legislation. He thinks that Mr. Sims’ office found that we can already do that. Chair Murphy said he thought it was for a temporary time. Sen. Bomke said that the reason he didn’t pursue the legislation was because he was under the opinion that it could already be done according to Jeff Vose. Mr. Sims said that he would have to go back and review the original recommendation. He said the CEC may have only done a white paper and it never reached the official recommendation process. Sen. Bomke said that we dropped the ball and didn’t pursue because it was already done. After much discussion, Chair Murphy said that he would like the commissioners to look it over and there will be an action item on the agenda for it next month to approve it to send off. Berns said technically it is under reports of office committees so she would assume this could be approved now and you wouldn’t have to wait until next meeting. She said that it could be approved subject to minor edits or additional verification of information on a couple of dot points mentioned in the meeting. Chairman Van Meter said that he can’t say that the County Board would endorse every item on your list here but he thinks that is just the point he was trying to make. You are not the creature of the County Board so the CEC should speak with a reasoned voice to the community about issues that it needs to confront and do it without fear. Chairman Van Meter said that he can’t say that the County Board would agree with every recommendation you make and he doesn’t even know what those recommendations would be, but he knows that he can say with confidence that the County Board unanimously supports the concept of finding more efficient and more effective things to do things in this community. Chair Murphy said that he appreciated him saying that. He asked for any other concerns on the letter. Mr. Sims said that the bigger problem in his mind is not the legislative stuff. He said that it is the regulatory stuff that CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.4 nobody understands the sand in the gears that wears government down. He said that it is not the big rocks. He said it is just like when we talk about Government Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) they are going to say we have to do this by Federal Law. Mr. Sims said that the problem is that they don’t have to do it the way they are doing. That is the issue with the regulatory part. Josh Collins made a motion to recommend approval of the letter subject to minor edits or additional verification of information on a couple of dot points mentioned in the meeting, and Sen. Bomke seconded the motion. Chair Murphy asked for any other questions or discussion. Dr. Dorsey asked for someone to explain the fifth bullet, but the group said that it was not to be a bullet. Berns said that the RPC would prepare it for your signature Chair Murphy. The vote to recommend approval was unanimous. Chair Murphy stated he would send it to the commissioners by e-mail for their review prior to sending it out. Chair Murphy thanked Chairman Van Meter and Mr. McFadden for their time and for their support. 

VI. REPORT OF STATUS OF PROPOSED REFERENDUMS AND DISCUSSION 

Chair Murphy reported that he had a township official somewhat apologize to him in the fact that they are still having a tax collector and the reason they do is the timeframe because the referendum had taken place and they had already set the salary for that position in a previous meeting. He said he thinks that is the case for more than one. The township official asked Chair Murphy what the best way was to do away with it. Chair Murphy explained that a couple of the townships had set the salary at $1.00 which discourages people for running for it. He said he did tell him that the CEC was going to continue working on legislation to get it done away with. Chair Murphy said that he doesn’t want the CEC to look at the townships and say that no one did it because there are some factors that they have to overcome. Dr. Dorsey asked if the collectors were under a contract for a period of time. Chair Murphy stated that they are elected. Chair Murphy said both referendums passed significantly. He said obviously the County Board has already taken action on the RLC referendum so that is good. Chair Murphy asked if anyone had any questions on the referendums. 

VII. DISCUSSION OF TASK FORCE WORK PLANS 

A. Regional Leadership Council as Strategic Partner - Higher Ed Institutions as Strategic Partner – Robert Plunk & Jackie Newman Mr. Plunk noted that the next quarterly meeting for the RLC mayors will be Wednesday, January 25th, from 5:30 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. in the County Board Chamber. 

Chair Murphy asked Mr. Norm Sims what the CEC could tell the RLC about the potential staffing. Mr. Sims said that money is in the budget and it will take a little while for the hiring process. Mr. Sims said that it would give both the CEC and the RLC somebody that is focused on that work. Mr. Sims said it would be a full-time. 

Ms. Molly Berns said that Mr. McFadden most likely will be at the January RLC meeting and could provide an update. Mr. Sims said that the RPC is following up on a small survey that the RLC is doing about how they pay some employees and what fringe benefits that they provide to them. Mr. Sims said that he needs to follow up with the villages. 

Mr. Sims has a number of responses from the villages but not all of them. 

Mr. Sims thought the return date was the 18th of December. He said that this information may be of interests to the CEC. CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.5 

B. Sewer Transfer Study – Dr. Kevin Dorsey & Chair Murphy Chair Murphy stated that he told Chair Van Meter that he would schedule a meeting with Gregg Humphrey from the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District to discuss what they are doing and their progress. 

Chair Murphy said that he would inform Dr. Dorsey of the time. 

C. Developing Government Linkages - Hon. Karen Hasara, Sen. Larry Bomke & Dr. Kevin Dorsey Sen. Bomke stated that he was in Representative Tim Butler’s office a couple of weeks ago and 

Mr. Butcher asked him if the CEC wanted him to file legislation regarding doing away with the tax collector. He said he didn’t want to be premature until he met with the CEC members and he assumed it was okay. 

Sen. Bomke said if it is he would get back with him tomorrow and ask him to file legislation because it was so overwhelmingly supported here in Sangamon County. 

Chair Murphy said that he thought it was obvious that is what the CEC’s next step should be. Chair Murphy asked 

Sen. Bomke to proceed with Mr. Butcher with the legislation for the tax collectors. 

Hon. Karen Hasara said one thing that would be good for the CEC to do, is to see who else is thinking about doing the developing legislative linkages. 

Sen. Bomke asked how that could be done. 

Hon. Hasara said by following any active legislation. She has access to bills that pertain to the CEC’s interests. Mr. Sims asked if the CEC knows if there are any other entities in the State of Illinois doing like the CEC is doing in terms of linkages? 

Hon. Hasara said not exactly. Berns stated she made a note to Google it tomorrow and develop a list. Mr. Sims said it may be something that you may want to think about either through the Illinois County Association or some other to start to bring all those groups together. 

Hon. Hasara said she attended one of the meetings at the Metropolitan Planning Council from Chicago and there are others groups like DuPage County which looks at county things and not multi-jurisdictional things. 

Mr. Sims said that the Metropolitan Planning Council is a private entity. He said in terms of developing linkages it might be good if there was some vehicle to bring all these like things that are starting to look at these issues together at one time to talk about “where are you doing it”, “how are you doing”, “what is crossing”, so that there may be more than one entity positioning itself. S

en. Bomke asked if that was part of the objective of the Governor’s Taskforce? 

Mr. Sims said that the Governor’s Taskforce largely looked at consolidation issues not some of the things that otherwise we might look at. 

Mr. Sims said that he just wonders how many entities have been established for that purpose. 

Hon. Hasara said probably very few. She said that the lieutenant governor had people come and talk about things that they did that were not under any group. Mr. Sims said that he was thinking in terms of advancing the agenda. He said it might worth it to start to get a network of people looking at similar things. 

D. Developing Linkages with Townships - J.D. Sudeth & Chair Murphy Chair Murphy stated he didn’t have anything other than his quick report conversation with the Township official about the tax collectors. 

Chair Murphy would like the taskforce to study the tax assessor position. Hon. Hasara said there were more bills filed about assessors. 

Chair Murphy said probably because there is more counties that have assessors. 

Sen. Bomke asked what is it that you want to accomplish more efficiency? The group said uniformity across the county, more professionalism, and better way of doing business. Sen. Bomke said that it wouldn’t reduce cost but it may increase tax revenue. 

Chair Murphy said the CEC should get answers to their questions and that the end result, in his opinion, will be a fairer and uniform way across the county and less of “he gets a good deal because he is friends”. 

Mr. Sims stated that in the first CEC this was a point of discussion early on that the whole focus would not just be cost reduction. He said in fact they agreed that there may be validation that the body would make that would increase costs if that caused enough improvement of services. 

Mr. Sims said could they provide better service to the community. Berns said to the point that it is fairness and equitability and that is the issue. She said property tax levy for planning purposes the extent to which assessments are applied fairly and equitability across all corners of the county of all points and times. Berns said that she thinks 

1) it CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.6 makes the citizens feel better even if they pay a little bit more, but 

2) it could reduce some of the board review assessments and for the budget. Mr. Sims said that we are seeing a decline in property tax in all of the jurisdictions that is absent the permanent property tax cap some are talking about. He said in large part that is due to just demographic shifts. He said one example that the Planning Commission has been looking at is in the next five years a third more people will qualify for the over 65 homestead exemption just because “boomers” are getting older. He said that there was some indication that it may double within 10 years. 

Mr. Sims said that the Planning Commission is going to be pulling numbers and start to take a closer look at it. He said if that is the case some of the things that we are talking about in terms of cost and efficiency of service is going to be even more important. Permanent property tax caps just exacerbates that problem because if the value is going down, not just taxed amount. So there are going to be some pressures on the tax end to be discussing. 

Mr. Sims said he was having another discussion with the County Board and the Farm Bureau on the nature of Agri-Business and how that should be zoned. Because some of the things we are considering as agriculture are not necessarily agriculture the way many people look at it. But on the basis that it is zoned that and appraised at a lower value than if we were to say no that is really industrial, retail, or residential. 

Mr. Sims that is going to have an effect in future years and somebody is going to have to look at that. Berns said that she spent a lot of time with Byron Deaner, Supervisor of Assessments before the CEC had him as a guest speaker for their meeting. She said that he said one of the most telling things is how often a township has a township multiplier imposed by the Illinois Department of Revenue. If there are a third of the townships, hypothetically, in Sangamon have that a township multiplier imposed that it is a catch up for two years assessments then that is a clear indication that they have an assessor problem. 

The multiplier equalizes it and in five years she has had it twice. She didn’t know that and she thought that is interesting information and she started looking back through the information. She said that is the kind of data information she thinks might be important for the CEC to add to their assessor research information. 

Mr. Collins asked with tax caps if you divide the townships into A and B if Group A has their property assessed correctly and Group B has their property under assessed is Group A subsidizing Group B? Mr. Sims said that he thought that would be a fair way to look at it, yes. He said assuming they are receiving the same services as the others. 

Chair Murphy stated he thought the same thing. We may be talking about some assessments going up but he thinks it will be a more fair way. He said optimistically if you only need $100 to run this thing and you are getting this $100 unequally because one township is paying more if you get everybody paying it then the tax will be where it should be at. He said he doesn’t think everyone is paying what they should be paying right now. He said some are paying less and some are paying more and we need to have everybody pay the right amount. 

Mr. Plunk said going back to Mr. Collin’s question one township group subsidizing the other doesn’t the multiplier in those townships correct that but maybe not to the extent that it should. Mr. Sims said that is the intention to do that. 

Mr. Sims said what it means is that one township may not be getting the degree of services that it should and this problem gets worse if a township that has more of a need is being assessed more poorly than a township that doesn’t. He said that is one of the problems we have looking at these particularly on the tax end because we tend to look at these taxes in silos not in terms of larger markets baskets of tax. He used an example of hearing about this compared to some surrounding states but then you have to say yeah but those other states have a personal property tax too and Illinois does not tax cars or boats. He said on the business end other states like Indiana have an end of the year inventory tax. If you are a manufacturer and you are in business if you have anything sitting on the ground by a certain date you are paying a tax on it. That is why Indiana implemented EDGE to offset their inventory tax. He said you have to look at what the market basket is. 

Chair Murphy said that it is running behind it is a catch up as opposed to doing it right this year. Chair Murphy said he believes that the CEC needs to research some more and find out some answers. 

E. Developing Linkages with Fire/EMS – Robert Plunk & Robert Wesley Mr. Plunk stated that on the 5th of December, Sangamon County Fire District Trustees had their December meeting of the Fire Protection District Trustees. He said he was very impressed with what this new organization is doing. He said he was disappointed that they don’t have more CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.7 members attending. The speaker was Chris Richmond, Chief of Fire Safety Division at Springfield Fire District. He spoke to them about what Springfield Fire District is doing within the County. He said they are currently working with RPC and Local Emergency Planning Commission for Sangamon Valley on a GIS system to indentify where all the fire hydrants are, what type of fire hydrant it is, the pressure at the hydrant, the lines, the size of the line that feeds the lines and what main it is on. This is a good planning tool when the crews go on a call for a fire. The information will be on a thumb drive. Mr. Taft said the other thing that they have is an inventory of all businesses that have hazardous material. Mr. Fairchild said they know the quantity they have on site. Mr. Sudeth said that he has thought about addressing the Farm Bureau to put a placard on every farm shed with hazardous materials. Mr. Plunk stated that like any organization like this they have funding issues right now Williamsville is supporting it. Mr. Plunk stated that they are moving forward with trustees training. He said that Cheri Breneman, Association Administrator from Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts (AFPD) has been attending these meetings and she announced they are working on providing online classes for their certification. He said this is what a couple of the members before this committee was established had asked about. Mr. Plunk said he thought it was going to be a very successful association. Mr. Taft stated that the next meeting will Monday, March 7, 2017 Williamsville Fire House 7:00 P.M. 

F. Create Network of Business Leaders - J.D. Sudeth & Josh Collins No report given. Chair Murphy said that he would like to thank the fact that the Chamber of Commerce did officially endorsed our efforts regards to both referendums formally. 

G. Regional Policing Study – Hon. Karen Hasara & Sen. Larry Bomke Hon. Hasara said she had spoken with Chair Murphy, Mr. Sims, and Mr. McFadden. She said she would like to put the study back on the front burner. Chair Murphy asked if we need to make one last pitch to the City to see if they are interested in co-funding it. Hon. Hasara said that it wouldn’t hurt but the CEC needs to tell them that the CEC is going to do it anyway. She said that she has told the Sheriff. Chair Murphy said that he would reach out to the Mayor. Mr. Sims said that the recommendation does not say anything about consolidation. Mr. Collins asked how much money the International Chiefs of Police Association wanted to do the study. Chair Murphy said he recalls $45,000 because each of the three entities would be paying $15,000. Mr. Collins asked if anyone thought about talking to the alderman as well? Hon. Hasara said she thought that was a really good idea and she would talk with them. She said that she would contact the International Chiefs of Police Association in Washington, DC to see if they are still available to do the study. Mr. Plunk asked about the January agenda and inviting the City and the Sheriff to see where they are at this time. He said we also talked about discussing what the topics would be that we wanted to talk about. 

VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Mr. Plunk said last month’s minutes that Chair Murphy had spoken to a couple of people from Illinois Policy Institute. Chair Murphy said that he had reached out to them but they were unable to attend this meeting and that is why they are not on the agenda. Hon. Hasara asked who is it? Chair Murphy said Christina Hibbert, Government Affairs Outreach Coordinator from the Illinois Policy Institute. He said that Ms. Hibbert and Mindy Ruckman, Policy Analyst had contacted the CEC and wanted to come to our meeting. They have an open ended invitation for them to tell the CEC what they are doing and how the CEC can benefit. Chair Murphy said that it would be an ongoing thing. 

IX. NEW BUSINESS A. Next Meeting Date – January 11, 2016, at 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. CEC Minutes –Dec 14, 2016/ pg.8 

X. PUBLIC COMMENTS 

Mr. Taft said that they have been having meeting once a quarter and Mr. Plunk has attended their meetings. He said that he believes the CEC gets a pretty fair summary from him. He said he appreciated the opportunity to come here and share stuff with the CEC and try to work together with the CEC to get things resolved. 

Mr. Taft said having said that he would state the obvious the CEC‘s letter they think the existing legislation works fine for the consolidating of the districts. Chair Murphy said that he appreciated his position on that and he thinks it could be a little bit easier on that and more fluid, okay. 

Mr. Fairchild said one of things that is a stumbling block for combining districts, he knows this from firsthand experience watching his neighbors to the west (Mechanicsburg, Buffalo, and Dawson) as far as he knows have tabled their plans to consolidate because they all three have separate tax rates. He said that Mechanicsburg’s is considerable higher than Buffalo’s and slightly higher than Dawson’s. He said if they combine current legislation requires that they go to the highest rate which obviously throws a burden on Buffalo and Dawson. 

Mr. Taft said that believes will also affect their homeowner’s insurance rate based on their fire rate. 

Mr. Fairchild said in his opinion if there would be some way legislation could address that problem that would grease the wheels. 

Chair Murphy said you are agreeing with the CEC now because we just want to make it easier. He said the CEC is not saying it should be done but in cases when it needs to be done. The CEC would like those things to be handled easier y those districts. 

XI. ADJOURNMENT 

Chair Mike Murphy asked if there were any further comments. There being none, he called for a motion to adjourn. Mr. Sudeth motioned to adjourn. Mr. Collins seconded the motion. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully Submitted, Gail Weiskopf Acting as Recording Secretary