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MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - Monday, April 7, 2025

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their regular weekly meeting at the Courthouse on Monday morning, April 7. All Commissioners and the County Clerk were present.
Commission Chairperson Tom Claussen read a letter from the Port Library. They were announcing their summer reading program. This is always a very successful program and draws folks, young and old, to the city's library. They are soliciting donations to enable the program to offer the best opportunity for everyone. They are encouraging anyone interesting in donating to please do so.
A blood drive will be conducted at the Vocational College on April 9. Also on the 9th, a Storm Spotter train will be offered, once again at Tech School.
A 15-minute executive session was conducted with the Commissioners and Jessy Bliss, County IT director, to discuss Courthouse security. No decisions were made as a result of this closed session.
Brian Streit and "Digger" Jake Heskett, DBA Great Plains Trenching, were on hand to discuss plumbing needs of the Courthouse sewer system. This is a particularly big problem because the section of line most needing attention is directly underneath the Courthouse. The entire line all the way to the street needs replaced, but the section underneath the Courthouse is the most critical.
Streit and Jake provided a video of the pipe obtained with an inspection camera inserted into the sewer line in question. It was obvious there was considerable deterioration of the line. The proposal is to clean out the old cast iron line and insert a liner to repair the deteriorated line where needed. The cost estimate is $64,160 for the repair work all the way to the street. The Commissioners approved an expenditure of not to exceed $30,000 for the initial "under the building" replacement work.
Janelle Kieker, CEO of the Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems, was present to speak about the financial status. In the 2025 budget, the Commissioner allowed a tax levy of three mils to go toward the operation of the hospital. Kieker told the Commissioner that as things now stand, they started the fiscal year one million dollars behind.
The Commissioners told Kieker that they are working on an advanced plan to increase the funding increased to six mils, but this cannot happen overnight. They realize that a first-class medical system is one of the drawing cards of Beloit.
Katie Schroeder, Beloit City Attorney, spoke to the Commissioners regarding the process to clean up unfit structures. The process takes time as the legalities of such structures are worked out.
One such problematic structure is the old Mac's Quick Trip facility just south of the Courthouse. It has set empty for quite some time and is slowly deteriorating. It does not yet meet the qualifications of an unfit structure. The owner does not want to sell but he is falling delinquent in the property taxes. Once again, due to the legalities, this situation will take time to resolve.
This is a possibility that Mitchell County could assume ownership of two roadways currently identified as Kanas Highways 193 and 194. Highway 193 is the hard surfaced road south of Highway 24 to Asherville. Highway 194 is the hard surfaced road from Highway 24, south to Simpson.
While at first this seemed to be a bargain opportunity, there are many long-range considerations to assuming ownership of these roadways. The Commissioners will study this consideration before making a final decision.
Having addressed all the items on the printed agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA