Report to the Board of County Commissioners
August 2, 2011
1- The Board asked at the last meeting for information regarding the disposition of the money raised by seafood workers when they buy the DACS license. According to Joe Shields, the state imposed the license at the request of the industry after the 1985 hurricane season. Hurricanes Kate and Elena had devastated the oyster industry in Texas and Louisiana and a lot of out of town harvesters came over to work the Apalachicola Bay. A license and fee was required in order to help maintain some order in the industry.
The money raised by the license fee is used by DACS to support the oyster lab at the DACS office. The lab in Apalachicola is the only oyster lab in the state.
2- Inform the Board that the Finance Office is preparing the health insurance survey to go out to all employees. I have discussed the issue with the Finance Office and we are using the Gulf County program as a guide as it appears to have saved Gulf County money. Gulf County provides a waiver to employees who opt out of being on the Gulf County health insurance plan, but in order to be eligible for the waiver the employee must show proof of health insurance from another source, either group or individual.
Mr. Don Butler, Gulf County Administrator, told me that out of approximately 150 county employees about 40 have taken Gulf County up on their waiver.
The Finance Office hopes to have the results of the insurance survey available at the Aug. 16 Board meeting.
3- Inform the Board that Commissioner Jackel was appointed to a National Association of Counties steering committee on Community and Economic Development.
4- Inform the Board that Senator Nelson has submitted federal legislation that will direct 80% of the Clean Water Act fines from the BP oil spill to the Gulf Coast. This will keep the money from being spread to a larger area.
5- Inform the Board that the information provided by the Chairman and Commissioner Jackel regarding solar panels appears to be working out. Mark Curenton has been in contact with a firm, AEG of Cape Coral, Inc, who appear to be a subsidiary of a firm out of the northeastern United States that received Stimulus money to install solar panels for non-profits. The company is scheduling a site visit to look at the feasibility of solar panels on the courthouse, the Chapman Auditorium, the Armory, the Sheriff’s Office, and Weems Hospital.
6- Board action to approve Debbie Roumelis as the sole source for administration of the CR 67 project supplemental funds. The Board has already selected Ms. Roumelis as the administrator for the initial $267,000 CDBG fund to raise the approaches to the bridge on CR 67, and when the additional $100K money became available the Board could decide it wants a separate administrator but it makes no sense to have two CDBG administrators working on the same project.
7- Board action to approve an agreement with Johnson Peterson Architects to assist me in replacing the AC unit that serves the State Attorney’s Office with a properly sized unit. The actual replacement unit will have to bid out as it is a 40 ton unit and will probably cost $30-50,000 to replace. The coils in the unit have been eaten by corrosion and the unit is losing its cooling capacity. Johnson Peterson will help draw the specs and supervise installation.
8- Mr. Ted Mosteller, Airport Manager, requests the Board accept the low bid for the “Bat wing” mower that was opened at the last meeting. The low bid was $17,600, submitted by Green South Equipment. Board action to accept low bid. State funds will be used to purchase the mower.
9- All the other items that were bid, including the FBO, are still under review by the Airport Committee. One of the more complicated bids, the bid for remarking the runway, may have to be re-bid because of FAA requirements. It will be re-bid in a more simplified manner.
10- The record need to reflect that the executed change order for Shumaker for minor changes to the new corporate hanger approved by the Airport Committee will be in the August 2 Board file.
11- The Weems Hospital Board met in regular session on Thursday, July 28, and these are the items of interest from the meeting:
A) The Hospital Board agreed to put solar panels on Weems Hospital as I have reported earlier.
B) On Wed. July 28, the Hospital received $310K in Disproportionate Share funds. This amount was substantially higher than what was received last year. Since this came in after the Clerk’s accounting of funds at the last meeting, the current balance of cash on hand is approximately $400,000 and that does not include the 2 CDs.
C) The USDA application is not complete and it is a priority of the Hospital Board and the new CEO to submit that document immediately. Both I and the County Attorney have been in contact with Mr. Joe Fritz, USDA, regarding the county’s application. Because of the size of the county’s request it has to go to Washington for approval. The Hospital Board wants the community to understand that this is an application for a USDA loan. The loan has not been granted yet, and there are circumstances where it might not be granted.
D) There was a great deal of discussion regarding finances and the need to capture all the revenue the Hospital is entitled to. In discussion the Hospital Board would like the County Commission to understand that approximately 55% of the Hospital revenue comes from Medicare patients and 15% from Medicaid. There are a number of Franklin County residents who qualify for Medicaid but have never applied for it. It appears that when the State of Florida closed the local HRS office several years ago and made people utilize an on-line service to sign up for Medicaid the number of applicants dropped. The Hospital is utilizing a clerk at both the Hospital and the Urgent Care Clinic to assist patients in signing up for Medicaid but patients must sign up. The Hospital can not enroll people without their permission. By taking part in Medicaid, patients are helping themselves to services they are entitled to, and they are helping the Hospital. The Hospital receives 101% of the cost of servicing Medicaid patients so it is in everyone’s best interest to identify all eligible Medicaid patients.
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