Hill County Commission hears copy machine requests from departments

The Hill County Commission discussed requests for new copy machines at its weekly business meeting Thursday, which started with the commission approving a number of contracts and requests including excess medical insurance for inmates at the Hill County Detention Center.

The plan adopted unanimously by the commission was the same as last year’s with coverage for inmates at a rate of 98 cents per inmate per day.

The also, like the previous year elected to purchase additional coverage for mental and nervous disorders at an extra 3 cents per inmate per day and additional coverage for substance abuse treatment at another 3 cents per inmate per day for a total of $1.06 per inmate per day.

The commission however elected not to purchase additional coverage for AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex, or additional coverage for pregnancy treatment, both of which would have cost an additional 2 cents per inmate per day.

At the meeting the commission also approved their yearly agreement to help fund Montana State University Extension’s work in natural resources, community development and family and consumer science.

Commissioners also approved a six-month contract with Bridgercare for family planning at the request of Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg.

The also approved a new safety manual for county employees, one that Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said has been reviewed by County Attorney Lacey Lincoln, who says it passes legal muster.

After all of this, the commission also discussed getting a new copy machine, prompting an argument regarding how much money to spend.

McLean said they are looking at three possible models, one of which has a copy rate of 45 pages per minute, another has a rate of 40 per minute and the third has a rate of 31 per minute.

She said the current copy machine’s rate is 40 per minute.

After Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson made a motion to purchase the first and most expensive of them, Commission Executive Assistant Sheri Williams said she doesn’t think the copy rate is a big deal for their office and they should go with the third and least expensive one, saving the county $1,200.

She said the commission very rarely needs to print something that’s long enough for the page rate to make a huge difference in her experience so she thinks it would be better to save a little money.

Peterson disagreed.

“Anytime I’ve made a purchase and gone backwards it’s not been a good purchase, whether it’s been on farm equipment or anything else,” he said.

Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown said she prints documents at the request of the commission all the time, and her copy machine is extremely slow, though she doesn’t know off the top of her head what its rate is.

After some discussion the commission elected to approve the purchase of a copy machine but leave the decision of which one until their next business meeting, since the offer lasts for 15 days.

They also approved a request by Hill County Clerk of Courts Kathie Vigliotti to let her office purchase a new copy machine as theirs is well over a decade old and finding parts for it is beginning to become problematic.