2003-168-Minutes for Meeting February 24,2003 Recorded 3/11/2003COUNTY
TES
FICIAL
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COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 03/11/2003 02;29;00 PM
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DESCHUTES COUNTY CLERK
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Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1130 NW Harriman St., Bend, OR 97701-1947
(541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 388-4752
www.deschutes.org
:MINUTES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LIAISON
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2003
Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Tom De Wolf, and Michael M. Daly.
Also present were Mike Maier, County Administrator; Susan Ross, Anna Johnson
and David Givans, Commissioners' Office; Marty Wynne, Finance; Tammy
Credicott, Property Management; and Rick Isham, Legal Counsel. Also present
were Architect Scott Steele and Providence Preferred representative Phil Jackson.
No media representatives were in attendance.
The meeting began at 1:30 p.m.
1. Property Update.
Tammy Credicott explained that the County needs to foreclose on a property
that was purchased under contract; five years of property taxes have not been
paid. The property was sold to the Luthers, who then sold it to the Johnsons
on contract. The Johnsons claim they own it free and clear, but there is
nothing in the record that confirms this. Notices have been sent to the
Johnson at a P.O. Box in Sisters, with no response.
To complicate matters even more, the Winston family has been renting the
property for sixteen years. They have been sending their rent checks to the
Johnsons, and the checks evidently have been cashed by Mrs. Johnson.
Although not required, a thirty -day courtesy notice has been sent to the
Winstons. Also, this situation has been going on since last summer, so the
Winstons are already aware of the possibility that they may have to find other
housing.
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, February 24, 2003
Page l of 5 Pages
Ms. Credicott reported that the property is in a state of disrepair, and it's
possible that it no longer meets habitability codes. It will be difficult to sell in
its present condition.
Commissioner Luke suggested that Ms. Credicott hold off recording the
judgment against the sale for thirty days. Commissioner DeWolf said that
letters from the Commissioners need to be sent to all parties, explaining the
situation.
In another matter, Ms. Credicott then explained that a La Pine property with a
mobile home on it was foreclosed on last year. Since then there has been no
response to the notices sent to the previous owner, Steve White, who
reportedly still occupies the property. Therefore, a formal eviction process
needs to be enacted at this time. A final thirty -day notice to vacate has been
sent, and is up next week.
Commissioner DeWolf stated that a letter from the Board needs to be sent this
person, as well as the other family; the other Commissioners concurred. He
added that in the future he wants to know about these issues ahead of time,
and not at the last minute, since the Board does not like to be surprised by
possible calls from residents and/or the media regarding the County evicting
people from their homes.
2. Discussion of the Adoption of an Ordinance regarding the County
Auditor.
David Givans said that Legal Counsel has recommended that this ordinance
be adopted. He indicated that other counties do this in regard to internal
auditor positions. Rick Isham added that personnel rules are ordinances, and
that certain delegated powers may not be available through policies or
personnel rules.
Mike Maier observed that there are no ordinances in place to cover the duties
of Legal Counsel, the Personnel Director or the County Administrator, and he
doesn't see the necessity for an ordinance to cover the duties of the Internal
Auditor.
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, February 24, 2003
Page 2 of 5 Pages
Commissioner DeWolf stated that these duties should be placed under
personnel rules, and that this position should not be separated out from what is
in place for others. After further discussion, Mike Maier said that this should
be a supplement to the job description.
3. Update of Development of Fraud Policy.
David Givans said he has made some revisions to this proposed policy, and
the draft has been routed to the Board for review.
4. Update of (_'ounty Projects.
Susan Ross introduced Scott Steele, the architect handling the County's
current projects. Ms Ross said that the property adjacent to the new
warehouse location is finally now under contract, so the warehouse building
can now be a single story instead of two stories as had previously seemed
necessary.:Mike Maier stated that although the original cost of the building
will be somewhat higher because of the purchase of the additional property, in
the long run there are many benefits, such as no need for an elevator.
Ms. Ross explained that an RFP process with bids required will take five or
six months to complete; and that Mr. Steele has an option for the Board to
consider.
Mr. Steele stated that the CMGC process would be quicker, but needs to
include findings on why this is being done by other than the lowest bid
process. The building itself will take about six months to build. He explained
that pre -construction input for the contractor reduces change orders and results
in lower costs this way; and also that this process would cut two or three
months off the process. He said there are between five to seven contractors
who would fit these requirements of the project. Commissioner Luke
explained he likes this process when there is a tight timeline, and certainly
when the building must fill very specialized needs.
Mr. Steele said this process would expedite the schedule, is less adversarial,
and results in higher quality control; better screening, would result in
competitive sub -bids, and would the process would help to eliminate
marginally qualified bidders.
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, February 24, 2003
Page 3 of 5 Pages
Commissioner DeWolf asked if this would make the project cost more; Ms.
Ross said because of the cooperation involved in the CMGC process and the
qualifications of those involved, it should come out about the same. Rick
Isham added that the City is behind this process.
DEWOLF: Move approval, subject to legal review.
LUKE: Second.
VOTE: DALY: Yes.
DEWOLF: Yes.
LUKE: Chair votes yes.
5. Providence Preferred Provider Presentation.
Mike Maier explained that several times he has tried negotiating a discount
on fees with St. Charles Medical Center, and they have indicated that they
don't give discounts. Phil Jackson of Providence Preferred is attempting to
negotiate with them at this time.
Mr. Jackson said that there are different levels of discounts in various areas;
for instance, in Portland, discounts can run from 15% to 30%. In rural areas,
however, often there are no discounts with physicians and/or hospitals
because of demand and a lack of competing services.
He stated that he has been approaching St. Charles in this regard for years,
and even though there are some large self-funded groups in the Central
Oregon area that total about 10,000 people, such as Les Schwab,
Brightwood; Jeld-Wen, Bend Resources and others, discounts are still hard
to come by.
He said that because of these numbers, he started out by asking for a 15%
discount and hoped for 10%; but the hospital's board recently reevaluated
its contracting principles and decided on some changes, which will result in
a discount rate of only 3% for self-funded groups, beginning July 1.
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, February 24, 2003
Page 4 of 5 Pages
He added that he had hoped for something as good as what Blue Cross-
Regence gets, but the hospital would not match this. Because St. Charles
covers so much of the state, self-funded groups have virtually no leverage in
regard to discounting.
He added that St. Charles also claims that it is more efficiently run than
hospitals in the Portland area, and it is hard to get firm results from an
argument of this type of opinion. He also added there's no way to know if the
self-funded groups are being handled on a level playing field.
Being no further items brought before the group, the meeting adjourned at
2:55 p. m.
DATED this 24th Day of February 2003 for the Deschutes County Board
of Commissioners.
Dennis R. Luke, Chair
Tom DeWolf, Commissioner
ATTEST: Mic el M. Daly, Co missioner
Recording Secretary
Minutes of Administrative Liaison Monday, February 24, 2003
Page 5 of 5 Pages