Monday April 17th Mitchell County Commisioners Meeting

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, April 17, 2017

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioner conducted their regular weekly meeting at the Courthouse on Monday, April 17, 2017. All Commissioners were present as well as the County Clerk.

Randy Gengler from the Rescue Squad was on hand to discuss the disposition of the old Rescue Squad truck. A few weeks ago they purchased a newer model vehicle from the Bailey, Colorado fire department. Gengler was seeking guidance from the Commissioners on their wishes in disposing of the older vehicle. Gengler said the Glen Elder Fire Department indicated interest in the vehicle but when they came over examined it closely they decided it was not the type of vehicle and equipment they were looking for.

Gengler said this vehicle, a 1985 GMC equipped as a Rescue Vehicle, has limited market value. Older model farm trucks similar to this one have a lower retail value. Simply put, people are not standing in line to buy vehicles such as this.

The Commissioners directed Gengler to check out the Purple Wave website as well as other methods that might serve as a good marketing outlet for the old rescue truck. Everyone realized the vehicle would sell, but it might take a while.

Gengler also said that the recently purchased Rescue Vehicle needed more storage boxes on the bed of the truck to adequately store all the necessary gear securely. He had received a bid from Watts, Manufacturing in Salina to build and install these boxes. The bid was for $3,590. The Commissioners gave their approval to Gengler to have the work done.

The Commissioners approved Resolution 2-17 which took action to raise the daily fee for housing prisoners from locations outside Mitchell County from $30 to $35 a day.

Melinda Latham, Mitchell County Assessor, requested a 15 minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. When the business meeting resumed it was announced that no action was taken as a result of the closed session.

The Commissioners then voted 3-0 to extend Latham’s contract as County Assessor beginning on July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2021. Her salary will remain the same as her current reimbursement.

A Neighborhood Revitalization Grant application was approved for E-Z Store, Inc. for a 240’x42’ storage building. This building will served mainly as a storage building for RVs and Boats. The amount of the grant was $62,741

Dale House, Superintendent of Public Works, was present to discuss township road work with the Commissioners. They are experiencing growing pains with the County assuming the maintenance of township roads in three townships. In most cases, the townships have not assessed adequate tax levies to fund the maintenance of the roads. When the County assumed maintenance of the roads, they also assumed the tax money in the township treasuries to do the work. It appears that adequate funds do not exist to do all the work that is wanted or needed to be done.

Housch was insistent, “We want to treat all townships the same. Right now we are working out all the details of who needs what and how much money do they have to pay for the work. The money in everyone’s budget is set through the end of the year. It will take a while to see how much increase needs to be made in everyone’s budget and tax mil levy to get things straightened out.”

Tom Claussen added, “It has always been our policy to give emphasis to roads that lead to a mailbox, a school bus stop, or a residence.”

Kristi Vandaveer, Assistant County Clerk, requested a five minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No actions were taken as a result of that closed session.

County Clerk Chris Treaster announced that her office had recently received a new computer. In the transfer of information from the old to the new machines, some information was lost. The most noticeable was the mailing list for people receiving agendas for the weekly Commissioner meetings. If you have not been receiving emails of the agendas or feel you have been left out of the loop on other items please contact her at ctreaster@mitchellcountyks.gov

Having completed all the items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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