Commission discusses credit card policy and property-casualty insurance

The Hill County Commission once again discussed a potential change to how the county pays for property-casualty insurance at a weekly business meeting Thursday and drew criticism from county officials for their handling of it.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said previously that the commission sat down with Hill County Auditor Kathy Olson to create a new system after Montana Association of Counties made changes to how it handles this insurance.

McLean said she believes the proposal, which breaks out the cost of that insurance between Hill County’s general fund and the various departments based on how much those departments make use of the insurance and how likely it is that they would need to make use of it, is fair.

Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong and Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown said they were concerned about not being involved in creating this new method.

A similar scene played out earlier this week, with McLean saying she received no request to review the proposed change from department heads.

Armstrong and Brown said no information on the change was ever sent to department heads, despite Hill County commissioner Mark Peterson saying he would get the information to them.

McLean said the change is something that needs to be done, with departments making their budgets and the end of the fiscal year coming up.

Armstrong said adjustments can always be made after the fiscal year ends, so, on that front, there shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Eventually the commission voted 2-1 to table the matter, with Peterson and commissioner Jake Strissel voting for tabling it and McLean voting against.

Peterson said he would get information to department heads after the meeting.

The commissioners also tabled a potential contract between the Hill County Council on Aging and A Plus Health Care after Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln said she had concerns about the contract.

Lincoln said there is an auto-renewal clause in the contract that she thinks the commission should carefully consider before voting, as well as an apparent inconsistency regarding the cost-per-hour for in-home respite care she’d like to get clarified.

She also said they should look at amending the contract regarding the monthly billing date, which she said may need to be changed given how the count currently handles claims.

Lincoln also said she’s been in touch with department heads regarding a potential county credit card policy and, based on the responses she’s gotten, she should have a final version soon.

Department heads for several years had asked that their departments be issued cards they could use on expenses instead of paying out-of-pocket and asking for reimbursement, especially for out-of-town travel. The commissioners agreed in April to get one card for the county under the management of Olson, with the intention to eventually approve more.

Since then the commission has been discussing setting up policies for the credit card, but when they attempted to pass one last week Lincoln objected, saying she wanted to see the policy before they voted on it and that other department heads should be given the opportunity to go over it as well.

The commission voted Thursday to table the matter for one more week to make sure everyone has a chance to look at it and so a final draft could be drawn up.

The commission also unanimously approved an agreement between the county and the Montana Department of Natural Resource Conservation’s Water Resources Division for the installation of streamflow monitoring equipment on Beaver Creek Reservoir, a project that will cost $58,517.87 which McLean said a grant will cover.

Peterson said this will allow DNRC to install the equipment which will allow water levels, inflow and outflow to be more actively monitored and reported on DNRC’s website.

McLean said the project must be done by Dec. 31, 2023, but they want to get it started right away.