Monday June 8th Mitchell County Commisioners Meeting

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, June 8, 2015

by Terry Bailey

All three County Commissioners and the County Clerk were present on Monday, June 8th for their weekly meeting to oversee the business of Mitchell County.

The meeting was kicked off with good news for the County. The Smoky Hills Public Television, KOOD out of Bunker Hill, has contacted Heather Hartman, economic development specialist, to work on a television show entitled Points of Interest in Mitchell County. Few details of the project are available at this time but additional information should be forthcoming in the near future.

Tom Claussen, chairperson of the County Commissioners, announced he had been in brief contact with Jeff Jerome from the Denver office that is overseeing the Causeway Improvement Project. The new project specifications call for steel guard rail to replace the current two cable system. Mr. Jerome also advised that if the causeway road is closed 24 hour a day, 7 days a week during the length of the construction project, the contractors could work more freely than if the road remained open utilizing a one-lane arrangement. Having the entire area available for work all the time, would allow the project to proceed more quickly and, in turn, resulting in savings. These savings could be used to incorporate more distance to the improvement project. A specified detour route would need to be identified to re-route traffic. The Commissioners felt very favorable toward this plan of action.

Carol Torkelson was on hand to inform the Commissioners that a possible $30,000 in additional funds may be available to apply to the four-county Rural Development Program to rehabilitate homes so that homeowners could remain in their home by making them more accessible. Torkelson said they had more applicants for the rehabilitation projects that they had money to fund. The additional $30,000 could be used to add to the current limit of $12,500 limit on individual projects or to fund additional projects. The money is available as part of a grant with a July 6 deadline. The money will be awarded in October so nothing definite can be planned before that time.

Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintendent appeared before the Commissioners. He was accompanied by Casey Fraser salesman for Foley Equipment Company. Fraser has firmed up he numbers for a bid on a new motor grader for Mitchell County. He presented a bid to the Commissioners for a 2015 model 120 M2 All Wheel Drive, 209 horsepower motor grader for the amount of $267,236. Mitchell County will be trading in a 2006 model 12H motor grader with 5,388 hours on it. Foley will allow a trade in value of $100,500 on the 12H grader. This makes the final price for the new piece of equipment at $166,736. After discussing the relative merits of buying now or deferring the purchase, the Commissioners voted to make the purchase now rather than later. The new motor grader will be purchased using Emerson’s special equipment fund. Delivery will be within two weeks.

Emerson then discussed a problematic culvert near Dick Wise’s home on the Tipton blacktop. The current culvert has been not draining well. His crews cut about four feet off one end but discovered there is considerable rust on the bottom and on the sides of the 8 foot galvanized culvert. It appears that the culvert will need replacing in the near future and that the old culvert will be replaced by a bridge.

Road crews have begun mowing. Emerson noted that “some places need mowing real bad while others do not need mowing at all.”

Emerson said his crews were also doing blading of township roads where the roads are dry enough to be worked. Others will need to dry some before they can be bladed.

Emerson and the Commissioners discussed the Cawker City Causeway project. The work will be scheduled for August and September of 2016. The last two weeks in June and the first two weeks in July will be avoided because of wheat harvest.

A delegation from OCCK was present to discuss the 2016 budget with the Commissioners. This 9 county, non-profit agency is in its 46^th of assisting disabled citizens live more productive lives. Sheila Nelson-Stout, president and CEO of OCCK highlighted pertinent statistics regarding the benefits received by residents of Mitchell County from OCCK. Also accompanying Nelson-Stout were Lorraine Harris, Pat Wallerius (wall-er-ee-us), and Barb Wise.

The current contribution made to OCCK by Mitchell County is $50,992. They are requesting a 5% increase in that amount, noting they had stayed at the same level for several years. The Commissioners said they would take the request under advisement.

Kelly Hawk, Emergency Medical Services director provided the Commissioners with the monthly report for May. During the past month EMS made 54 runs. Friday continues to be the day with the most activity and the 7 p.m. to 11p.m. time period being the busiest. Twenty-eight males and twenty females were transported in May. Hawk pointed out that at this time last year, EMS had logged 218 runs. For the current year, EMS has made 250 runs.

Hawk announced that there will two EMT classes held locally in the near future. He encouraged anyone who is interested in taking the EMT training to contact him at the Ambulance barn. The class meets two days per week with each meeting lasting four hours. The class takes approximately six months to complete.

Having successfully dealt with all items on the agenda, the Commissions adjourned the meeting.

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