Rick Riffe, of the State Auditor's Office, paid a visit to the commissioners on Monday, Mar. 1 to explain the new State audit procedures for county governments. The current procedures have been effect for the past 20 years. Riffe explained how dishonest and poor business practices of the Enron debacle helped force the development of documents from Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB, pronounced Gazbee). These documents were created to "improve standards of state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting". Now these standards have trickled down to the local county governments. They may create extra paper work and detailed financial analysis for small offices, leaving some counties without funds for adequate preparation. Just a few of the many changes will be listed here. Counties will now be audited every 2 years, instead of annually. They will be expected to do a lot of the audit themselves with non-audit procedures being conducted by the State Auditor's office. The fees for those non-audit procedures will be increased. The counties will have to inventory equipment and land. These procedural changes and Oklahoma State legislation may change funding for various projects. In addition, the Auditor's Office will be assessing the competency of county employees who conduct elements of the audits. Hopefully the benefits will outweigh the efforts.

The commissioners approved the minutes of the Feb. 26 meeting and 1 report.

During the officers' reports, Commissioner Dale Dunn reported that ODOT has documented 690 temporary bridges that have existed for at least 6 years. ODOT wants these removed, which will save the counties $160,000 per year in inspection fees. Of the 16 temporary bridges of Jackson County, 6 have existed for more than the requisite 6 years. Dunn wants written assurance that when these temporary bridges are removed, if they are rebuilt, it will be done with BR funds, instead of having to use all county funds. He also said that these bridges should be put back on the 5-year plan.

County Clerk, Christi Hair asked for signatures on the Assessor's Office 5-year exemption for manufacturing. This was signed.

The commissioners approved several blanket purchase orders.

Dan McMahan presented information to the commissioners regarding the stimulus or recovery zone facility bonds and economic development bonds. He proposed a resolution to extend the deadline for proposals for the facility bonds. McMahan said 4 proposals are near completion but have been delayed due to the recent ice storm. The resolution also requests consideration for more funds as they are reallocated. McMahan presented 3 possible scenarios to the commissioners. Since Jackson County is looking for ways to add on to the courthouse, those scenarios covered a $7 million, $8 million and $9 million version of loans for a Courthouse Annex. The federal government would pay 45% of the interest on these bonds. Based on this information, the commissioners approved this Resolution 2010-07. It will be prepared for signatures. No decisions have been made regarding an annex, just application for available funds and an extension for proposals.

Susan Walker was approved as Receiving Officer for the Election Office. The commissioners also approved list of surplus items submitted for the County Election Office.

Resolution 2010-08 was approved by the commissioners regarding the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the 4-mile stretch of Racetrack Road. The project was estimated by Dunn to cost $353,310.18. If the full $150,000 grant is received, that would mean Jackson County would pay $203,310.18 on the project. The competition is tight though because there is only $2 million in this CDBG kitty for the whole state.

Also approved was the agreement for a sub-grant for the Emergency Management Performance Grant Program. Emergency Managment Director for the County,

Jerry Gibson, earns this $10,000 grant quarterly for the county, based on his performance. He is currently saving funds for a truck for Emergency Management. He wants it to be self-supporting through this grant. This agreement was approved.

The SWODA Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grant that provided $75,000 for the Elmer Fire Department is all gone. The close out document for that grant was signed by the commissioners.

In one of the many new business items, 3 Jackson County Fair Board applications were received. An election was not necessary. These people will be approved in the next meeting as appointees: Lee Vier of Blair, Shelly Hurst of Eldorado, and Pam Booker of Headrick.

Gibson also announced he and Altus Emergency Management Director Lloyd Colston will be conducting the first SWODA Hazard Mitigation Grant meeting to be held Wednesday, Mar. 24, at 1 p.m. at 915 N. Main Street in Altus. It is Gibson's hope that generators for the schools may be covered by this grant. Members of the community are invited to this meeting.

The commissioners announced that the doors at the Jackson County Courthouse will now open at 8 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.

Now that Governor Henry and President Obama have declared the storm damage of Dec. 24-26 a disaster, Gibson will be turning in a Public Assistance Application for Jackson County at Great Plains Technology Center, Building 100 at 4500 SW Lee Blvd, in Lawton, on Monday, Mar. 8 at 10 a.m.

The commissioners approved Dunn adding an addendum to the RFP for debris abatement.

There was no public participation.

In the vendor participation, representatives of Neel-Schaffer came to discuss some details on the RFP for debris monitoring.

All claims were approved and the meeting adjourned after 2 1/2 hours.