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MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS â€“ Monday, July 10, 2023

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners gave final approval to the Flood Plain Proposal after several months of consideration and a few revisions. The Flood Plain plan, in its most simple terms, is to provide information to citizens who are considering building a structure in areas of Mitchell County that are subject to flooding. Banks are reluctant to loan money to build structures that might be slightly or totally damaged in a flood. Insurance companies are of the same mind.
David Dohe, Emergency Management Coordinator, has been the intermediary between the Commissioners and the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Water Resources Division in Topeka. A meeting with the County Planning Commission was attended by Cheyenne Suneagle, a specialist from the Water Resources Division. Greg Drum, Planning Commission president, gave her great credit with providing satisfactory answers to the questions posed by the attendees of the meeting.
After hearing the report from Dohe and Drum the Commissioners unanimously adopted the plan for its submission to the Water Resources Board in Topeka. Anyone with questions about the Flood Plain are encouraged to contact David Dohe at the Emergency Management Office.
Bri Beck from the Regional Planning Commission was present to conduct a Community Development Block Grant hearing. This block grant program, should it be approved for application by the Commissioners, will provide grant money for businesses that were open prior to March of 2020 and are still operating with the same owners. Fifty percent or more of the employees of these businesses must be qualified as low or moderate income workers. Businesses must have fewer than fifty employees. The Commissioners gave their approval for Beck to submit an application for this Community Block Grant Covid Resiliency program. As usual, nobody from the community attended the meeting.
Additionally, the Commissioners signed an agreement for professional services with the NCK Regional Planning Commissioner for the administration of various grants that are available to the County.
Amanda Johnson from the Soil Conservation Service gave her annual report to the Commissioners. She submitted a budget request for $30,000 for the upcoming budget year.
A Neighborhood Revitalization Grant was approved for Carter Wessling to construct a garage in the amount of $90,000.
A Neighborhood Revitalization Grant was approved for Eric Eilert for a Morton building in the amount of $1,083,911.
Commissioner Tom Claussen reported on his attendance at the latest Mitchell County Tourism Board meeting. Claussen told the Commission that because they delayed raising the rate of contribution from tax receipts from 2% to 4% for the first three months of the year; the Tourism Board experienced a shortfall during that time. The Commission voted to reimburse the Tourism Board $4,100 for lost revenue. ARPA funds will be used to cover this expense.
The Commissioners took time to discuss the sale of the Beloit Super Eight motel to AYRA Hospitality, a company from Texas.
Having addressed all the items on the printed agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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