MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - Monday, January 8, 2024

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners braved the dense wet snow to conduct their regular weekly meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning, January 8. Commissioners Tom Claussen and Mike Cooper were present for the meeting and Commissioner Jim Marshall was absent.
Due to an error on the part of this reporter, it was inaccurately reported that at the December 29 meeting, Terrence Silva was replacing Missy McGinnis who had retired as the EMS Director. The truth of the matter was that he replaced Becky Snook, who had resigned as the Director of Communications. Silva is the new Director of Communications for Mitchell County. Missy McGinnis will remains as the Director of the Emergency Medical Services. My apologies for my confusion.
Tom Claussen was named the new Chairperson of the Mitchell County Commission. He has served last year as the vice-Commissioner. Mike Cooper was named vice-chair for 2024. This is an activity that occurs at the first meeting of the new calendar year.
Marty Hernandez, Superintendent of Public Works, reported that the new trailer had arrived and has been put into use. This is used by the Solid Waste department to haul solid waste.
The trailer had been on order since last October and was purchased from Wilson Trailers in Stockton. Hernandez told the Commissioners that the old trailer was eight years old and was virtually worn out, but that Wilson allowed them $8,000 on a trade in. With this allowance the cost of the new trailer was $104,750.
The bulk of the meeting was taken up with the passing of resolutions.
Resolution 2021 - This was the resolution reorganizing the officers of the Commission for the 2024 year.
Resolution 2022 - Named the financial institutions serving as depositories of the County's funds. They are: First Bank of Beloit, Guaranty Bank of Beloit, Guaranty Bank of Glen Elder, and the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Cawker City.
Resolution 2023 - Adopted a GAAP Waver for the bookkeeping practices of Mitchell County.
Resolution 2024 - Adopted the dates of all official County meetings in the year 2024.
Resolution 2025 - Named the Beloit Call as the official newspaper of the County. The Cawker City Ledger was named as an associate publication for County news.
The Commissioners acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the auditing firm of Lindberg, Vogel, Pierce, Ferris Chartered requesting they continue to be the official auditing firm tor Mitchell County. The Commissioners voted to continue with that firm as the County's auditors.
The Commissioners were in receipt of a bill from the North Central Kansas Juvenile Detention Facility in Junction City. The cost for their services for the first quarter of 2024 are $2,674.72 whether or not any Mitchell County youths are sent there.
David Dohe and Missy McGinnis were present to request some budget transfers.
First they requested the creation of a Water Rescue Special Equipment Fund so that money could be transferred to this fund. The Commissioners agreed to this move.
The County Clerk announced that the deadline to file for any offices in the election is June 3 at noon.
A Neighborhood Revitalization Grant was approved for Woods and Durham. They want to reclaim the back portion of their property currently used by Bumper to Bumper. They plan to build office and meeting space in that area.
The Commissioners officially passed two proclamations.
The first is to name January 2024 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness month.
The second proclamation named January 2024 as National Stalking Awareness month.
Missy McGinnis requested a ten-minute executive session to discuss non-elect personnel. No action was taken as a result of that closed session.
Cortney Murrow and Jesee Benedick were present to announce the completion of their ADA compliant parking lot at the County Health Department. They were very pleased with the vendor, Johnny Brummer Construction.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA