Commissioners notified of obsolete credit card machine at airport

Nate Messenger, Fixed Base Operator for Hot Springs County Airport informed the commissioners he was going to have to start looking into a new credit card system for fuel at the airport, as their current system will be obsolete after June 30.

Messenger said obsolete didn’t necessarily mean the system would stop working, just that it will no longer be covered by the company it was purchased from and parts would be difficult to come by.

The commissioners had recently signed a new, year-long contract with the company for service and repair of the credit card system so they were rather perturbed it would only be viable for the next five months.

Messenger said if the company will not make good on the contract he is going to try to get the money back that has already been paid to them for the contract.

County Road and Bridge supervisor Dave Schlager discussed culvert replacements that need done on Sand Draw. He would like to see the lower culverts replaced this spring and suggested purchasing the culverts separately so the county isn’t paying the 20 percent mark-up they would have if purchased through a contractor.

If everything goes as planned, Schlager said they could have a bid opening and recommendation for the project to the commissioners by March.

County Planner Bo Bowman told the commissioners there would be no planning meeting for the month of February, but did want to set up a workshop with the commissioners to go over the recently revised county plan.

They agreed to meet on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. to go over the plan that has taken several years to develop.

The Sheriff’s Department has had an unexpected expense arise, one that needs to be taken care of rather quickly.

Sheriff Jerimie Kraushaar told the commissioners that an industrial washer and dryer had been installed at the jail in 1997. Since that time a home-style washing machine was purchased to replace the defunked industrial washer not once, but twice.

Now, not only is the washing machine going out again, but the industrial dryer is on its last leg as well, sometimes not drying at all and sometimes running so hot it has actually melted items belonging to inmates.

Kraushaar said he does not have enough money in his budget to cover the approximate $9,200 needed for the new machines, but he can afford to put $3,500 of his budget toward the purchase.

The commissioners approved the purchase and will take the additional $6,000 out of emergency expenditures.

The commissioners also had an extensive report on the GIS system that will allow the public access to a database filled with everything from where roads are located to who owns what properties in the county.

The project has run into an issue using the “cloud” to store the database and suggested using Amazon Web Services instead at a considerably lower price.

Security is always a concern when it comes to public information and what is stored at the courthouse, so what will be uploaded to the site will be copies of the original information. This will prevent anyone from disturbing the originals.

The commissioners are still discussing whether or not there is some information in the databases that should not be made available to the public unless they come to the courthouse in person.