Monday March 16th Mitchell County Commisioners Meeting

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, March 15, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Ides of March treated the Mitchell County Commissioners much more kindly than the treatment given to Julius Caesar on this historic date. While the date was fatal to Caesar, our local Commissioners escaped with a light agenda of business items which they dispatched in a quick and professional fashion. All three Commissioners and the County Clerk were present to take care of the business of the citizens of Mitchell County.

The meeting began with a mention of the fifty thousand dollar grant given to Mitchell County by the Dane Hansen Foundation. The grant money will be administered by the Solomon Valley Community Foundation directed by Heather Hartman. Grant applications for these funds must be in one of five categories: Human Service, Community Beautification, Intergenerational, Environmental, and Art. Interested parties should contact Hartman’s office for further details.

Two Neighborhood Revitalization Grants were unanimously approved. One grant application was from Jamie and Stephanie Meier for a private home to be located on lot four at the Silver Fox Estates in the amount of five hundred eighteen thousand, seven hundred thirty-two thousand dollars. The second application was from NCK Properties, LLC for a remodeling job at the former location of Jensen’s Café in the amount of fifty-five thousand dollars.

Mention was made of an upcoming fund raising activity by the American Legion. A poker tournament will be held at Down Under for the purpose of raising money for the summer baseball program. The tournament will be held Saturday, March twenty-first starting at one p.m. One hundred percent of the money raised will go to the Legion’s very worthy summer ball program.

Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintendent, requested a twenty minute executive session for the purpose of discussing trade secrets of a corporation. No action was taken as a result of that closed session.

When the open session resumed, Emerson told the Commissioners that it was his opinion that the John Deere tractor bid received last week appeared to the be most satisfactory choice. The Case-IH tractor had a warranty of only twelve months and the John Deere’s warranty was for twenty four months. With that recommendation in hand, the Commissioner voted to accept the bid by Carrico Implement for a Sixty-One Twenty-Five model John Deere tractor. An older IH tractor and a John Deere forty-twenty tractor were used as trade ins to reduce the price of the new tractor to fifty-one thousand thirty-nine dollars. Kevin Moore, salesperson for Carrico’s, was on hand to expedite the process. He believes the new tractor should be delivered within ninety days.

Emerson also informed the Commissioners that he had negotiated a thirty month contract with Ron Heller to continue quarrying gravel on his property.

Commissioner Tom Claussen reported that his inquiry to KCAMP, the county’s insurance carrier, resulted in their reporting that posting caution signs for bicycles and pedestrians would not affect the County’s insurance rates. It would appear that twelve to fifteen signs would initially be needed in an attempt to notify the driving public that bicyclists could also be expected on the roads of Mitchell County.

Have dealt with all items on the agenda the meeting was adjourned.

Other News

Beloit, KS 67420, USA