Monday Aug 24 Mitchell County Commissioners Meeting

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, August 24, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their regular weekly meeting at the Courthouse on Monday morning, August 24, 2015. All Commissioners were present as well as the County Clerk.

The meeting was called to order promptly at 8:30 a.m. At 8:35 the meeting was suspended and a public hearing was called to order to allow for public comments regarding the Fire District #3 2016 budget. After a suitable time period in which nobody stepped forward to speak about the budget, the public hearing was adjourned and the business meeting was again called to order. Bill Bunger, Assistant Fire Chief of District #3 was on hand to answer questions regarding the budget. The Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the 2016 First District #3 budget as printed.

The business meeting was once again adjourned and a public hearing was called to order to discuss the 2016 Mitchell County budget. The Commissioners announced that the mil levy for the upcoming year was decreased from 97 mils for the current year to 92.840 for the 2016 budget. The decrease is mainly attributable to the increased valuation numbers in the County. Last year’s evaluation in Mitchell County was 68,000,000. This year’s evaluation has increased 5.7 million to a total of $73,759,000. Also, there was a cash carryover balance of $600,000 to help fund the next year’s budget. After due time and with no one coming forward to speak for or against the 2016 proposed budget, the public hearing was closed and the business meeting was once again called to order. The Commissioners voted unanimously to accept the proposed 2016 budget as presented. Bill Bunger, a former County Commissioner for many years commented, “If people want the services that are provided, they have to pay for them. I have no problem paying for the many services the County provides.”

Next on the agenda was the opening of bids for a bridge in Center Township east of Brian Jordan’s house. This bridge is fully funded by the State with no County money involved. This is a new program sponsored by the State Department of Transportation. On hand for the opening of bids was John Cashatt, local Schwab-Eaton engineer, and John Merkel. Schwab-Eaton engineer from Salina.

Three bids had been submitted for the bridge project.

The first was from Bridges, Inc. of Newton. Their bid was for $178,520.

The second bid was from Reece Construction of Scandia. Their bid was for $139,623.

The third bid was from L & M Contractors of Great Bend. Their bid was for the amount of $131,850.

Schwab-Eaton engineer John Merkel told the commissioners that his estimate for bridge was $156,130.

With all the associated terms and conditions of the bids being similar, the Commissioners voted to accept the low bid submitted by L & M Contractors. John Cashatt said that L&M had built numerous bridges in our area and was a very reputable company.

Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintended, passed along a request to the Commissioners regard the waiving of landfill fees. A resident of Glen Elder is a disabled veteran having received a serious foot injury from an IED while serving in the military. Local volunteers are organizing to do remodeling on his home. Hiserote and Dunstan are donating the use of dumpsters and not charging for hauling of the material to the dump. The volunteers are requesting that the County waive the landfill fee. The Commissioners decided that a project such as this had great merit. They voted to waive the landfill fees for this worthwhile undertaking by volunteers.

Emerson told the Commissioners that the bridge on M Road between 150 and 160 Roads was completed. The overlay work north or Cawker City all the way to the County line has been finalized. They are doing overlay work below the dam and will move to the job on the blacktop north of Glen Elder when the work below the dam is completed.

Emerson’s secretary Karm Princ joined him for a 15 minute executive session with the Commissioners to discuss non-elected personnel. At the end of the 15 minute time period, the session was extended for ten minutes. When the regular meeting was resumed it was announced that no decisions had been made.

County Clerk Chris Treaster announced that the plans to move the election polling site from the Municipal Building to the VFW had not worked out as she had hoped. The VFW site was attractive because of ample parking whereas the parking at the Municipal Building was limited along Highway 14.

Because next Monday is the fifth Monday of the month no meeting will be held. The first Monday of September is Labor Day so the next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 8.

Having cleared the agenda of all scheduled items, the meeting was adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA