Mitchell County Commissioners
Monday, October 14, 2019
By Terry Bailey
County Engineer, Stewart Porter, appeared before the Mitchell County Commissioners Monday morning to report on the status of a grant application for a guardrail and cable replacement possibility on the Cawker City causeway. The previous guardrail replacement project was viewed by area citizens as a tremendous improvement but there was not enough money to complete the whole project at that time. Porter has found a cost sharing program with K-DOT that would reduce the County’s expense on the project. In this program the County would have to pay for all the engineering fees. Fairly solid preliminary cost indicate that K-DOT’s contribution would be $807,210 and Mitchell County would pay $379,070. Porter said the most optimistic timeline would have the work being done next fall. The Commissioners unanimously approved Porter’s submission of the grant application.
Eric Hamel, Emergency Medical Service director, presented his monthly report to the Commissioners. The EMS made 47 runs during the month of September. 34 of these runs were in Beloit, 4 each to Glen Elder and Tipton, 2 to Cawker City, and 1 each to Concordia, Simpson, Downs and Glasco. The time period of 3 pm to 4 pm recorded five runs each and 4 runs were recorded during the time periods of 9 am to 10 am, 6 pm to 7 pm, and 7 pm to 8 pm.
Sunday was the busiest day for run activities with 10 runs that day with Thursday having 9 runs. Thirty-six of the 47 calls saw the ambulance leaving the barn within 2 minutes of having the call received.
Considerable discussion was given to areas flooded right east of Highway 24 and south of the Country Club. During one of the deluge-style rains greatly more rain came down the high ground than the drainage could handle. Considerable damage was experienced by flood waters having nowhere to go. This is a ticklish situation because virtually all the areas needed “fixing up” is on private land. The Commissioners will continue to study the problem with hopes a remedy can be found.
Jon Jorgen talked with the Commissioners about township issues. He asked, “Who is responsible for railroad sign maintenance or replacement?” Jorgensen has noticed railroad signs missing or in need of repair. The Commissioners told him that Kyle Railroad is responsible for maintenance of railroad signs. They may or may not pay close attention to signs in the distant rural areas.
Jorgenson asked about stop/yield signs and noted there did not seem to be any in his township and that many intersections that needed controlled, were not controlled. Jorgenson noted the township did not have any money in its budget to purchase and place signs. The Commissioners urged him to explore a Dane Hansen grant for traffic signs.
Jorgensen, who operates the township motor grader, asked about the location of utility wires. He was told some were buried deep in the ditches, some were buried lightly in the ditches, some are buried along the side of the road and some were buried in the middle or the road. It other words, they are underground all over the place. He said he was very careful when blading the roads but it seems as if he will eventually come into contact with a buried utility wire.
The Commissioners signed a Proclamation declaring the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Mitchell County.
They also signed a letter of support for the Solomon Valley Transportation System.