By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

After another round of cuts, the Ellis County Commission moved forward with its 2019 budget at Monday’s commission meeting.

At last week’s meeting, the county commissioners sent the budget back to staff and called for an additional 1 percent cut in general fund spending. That was after already directing staff to keep 2019 budget requests similar to 2018.

According to County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes, all but three departments submitted a budget that contained the reduction while the rest were close to the 1 percent mark.

County Commissioner Barb Wasinger read a prepared statement and called on the county to take action now.

“Each and every elected official and department head needs to change how they operate,” she said. “I know that department heads have started working on this, but it was also made abundantly clear that this is not a popular idea with elected officials or employees.”

Wasinger also said it is necessary to get control of spending now and not place the burden on future commissions.

“We were elected by the taxpayers of Ellis County to make hard decisions when it comes to spending and that’s what we need to do now and in the future,” she said.

Watch Wasinger’s full statement below

In her prepared statement, Wasinger also address a letter sent to Smith-Hanes and the commission from County Attorney Tom Drees. Wasinger called the letter a threat.

“I believe this thinly veiled threat of legal action is unappreciated, unwise and in very poor taste,” said Wasinger. “Particularly with a requested budget of $924,787, which has risen steadily every year from his budget of 2015.”

In an interview after the meeting, Drees said the letter was not a threat but instead an attempt to inform the commission that his office might not be able to come in at the proposed budget level.

“I was simply pointing out that the statute requires the county to ‘adequately fund the county attorney,’ ” said Drees. “This was not a threat, veiled or otherwise, as to legal action. I was simply advising them that at this 1 percent cut it’s a very real possibility I will come in over budget.”

According to Drees, his budget was cut by just less than $15,000 from his original request. That request contained an additional request of $38,000 to bring his assistant county attorney’s to the mid-level on the pay scale.

One of the goals the commission laid out in the beginning of the budget process was to bring all employees to the mid-level, but the $38,000 request was cut from the proposed budget in the first budget meeting by the commission.

According to Drees, many county attorneys offices in counties comparable to Ellis County have larger budgets and more staff.

In fiscal year 2017, Ellis County ranked 15th in the state in the number of criminal and civil prosecutions or settlements but ranked 21st in population.

Commissioner Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland said they agreed with Wasinger’s statement.

Haselhorst also said they may have to look at the commission taking a 2 percent pay cut in the future.

But because both Wasinger and McClelland are involved in political races, he did not want to implement changes to could affect future commissioners without their involvement.

The budget that will be published for the public and subject of a public meeting Aug. 6 is $22.1 million and does not contain a mill levy increase for the general fund or Fire District No. 1.

In other business, the commission:

• Approved the purchase of natural gas for November 2019 through March 2020 and November 2020 and March 2021 for the price of $3.20 from Secure Energy. The commission locked in the price of $3.57 for the 2018-2019 winter months.

• Approved County Counselor Bill Jeter to continue with an upcoming tax foreclosure sale. He said they currently have 20 properties eligible for sale this year.

• Signed a letter of support for the city of Hays for a BUILD Grant for improved for the north Vine Street corridor.

US ATTORNEY FOR KS

WICHITA – Michael D. Golightley, 34, Larned, Kan., is charged with seven counts of damaging a protected computer and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in March 2017 in Ellis County, Kan.

According to a July 17 news release from U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister in the District of Kansas, the indictment alleges Golightley hired an entity known as DDosCity to carry out a series of denial-of-service attacks against computers served by an internet service provider called Nex-Tech.

Nex-Tech provided backup and monitoring Service for Ellis County’s Emergency Medical Service administrative voice lines, Russell County’s hospital voice lines, the Quinter hospital’s voice lines, the Grove County Sheriff’s administrative voice lines, the Russell County Sheriff’s administrative voice lines and the administrative voice lines for the police and fire departments of Russell County.

The indictment alleges Golightley sent an e-mail to Nex-Tech stating: “Take down my ad again when my description doesn’t violate copyright (and) I will violate this site by bringing it offline.”

If convicted, he faces up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on each of the counts. The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger is prosecuting.

The Hays Police Department responded to 7 animal calls and conducted 19 traffic stops Mon., July 16, 2018, according to the HPD Activity Log.

Mental Health Call–1400 block E 29th St, Hays; 6:43 AM
Animal At Large–15th and Walnut St, Hays; 6:46 AM
Animal At Large–3200 block Vine St, Hays; 7:30 AM
Domestic Disturbance–1000 block Reservation Rd, Hays; 7:38 AM
Abandoned Vehicle–700 block E 6th St, Hays; 9:56 AM
Assist – Other (not MV)–1100 block E 27th St, Hays; 10:26 AM
Civil Dispute–2700 block Canal Blvd, Hays; 11:01 AM
Theft (general)–1700 block Sunset Trl, Hays; 7/2 11:16 AM; 7/5 12 PM
MV Accident-Private Property-Hit and Run–2900 block Willow St, Hays; 12:15 PM
Theft of Services–1900 block Vine St, Hays; 12:26 PM
Theft (general)–1100 block Cody Ave, Hays; 1:07 PM
Theft of Services–300 block Mopar Dr, Hays; 1:48 PM
Phone/Mail Scam–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 2:45 PM
Fraud–300 block E 8th St, Hays; 2:46 PM
MV Accident-Private Property–1000 block W 37 St, Hays; 4:29 PM
Burglary/vehicle–3700 block Canal Blvd, Hays; 7/15 12 AM; 6 AM
Civil Dispute–200 block Ash St, Hays; 5:57 PM
Mental Health Call–1400 block E 29th St, Hays; 7:01 PM
Harassment, Telephone/FAX–100 block W 12th St, Hays; 9:11 PM
Burglary/residence–500 block Ash St, Hays; 7/13 7 PM; 7/15 8 PM
Suspicious Activity–600 block E 5th St, Hays; 11:52 PM

Click HERE for a listing of Ellis County Fair results.

Midwest Energy is reporting that dozens of businesses in Hays and Colby have received scam calls, telling the business their bill is overdue and instructing them to purchase a money card to pay their bill.

“We never tell a customer to use a money card to pay a bill,” said Mike Morley, Director of Corporate Communications for Midwest Energy. “In fact, we don’t even accept money cards as payment. We accept cash, check, credit card, and bank draft for payment, but not money cards or gift cards.”

Anyone receiving a suspected scam call should report it to Midwest Energy at 1-800-222-3121.

— Midwest Energy