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MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS – Monday, April 14, 2025 – Lewis Honored for Years of Service

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their weekly meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning, April 14. All Commissioners were present as well as the County Clerk.
One note of significance was when Commission Chairperson Tom Claussen announced that Dale Lewis, after 40 years of service to Mitchell, will retire soon. A reception to honor Lewis will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the County Shop building on April 25. Everyone and anyone are invited to stop by and congratulate Lewis on his noteworthy accomplishment.
Heather Weston, County Clerk and Head Election Official, told the Commissioners that she must review the voting districts of the County every three years to make sure the number of voters in each district are roughly equal. This is a year for review.
She presented the Commissioners a draft map of a revision of the districts. This is based on the bedrock American principle of "one man, one vote." If one would review the Congressional districts of Kansas, they would see that the First Congressional district encompasses most of the counties from the Colorado border to a location near Wichita. The physical size of this district indicates the low population density in the western and mid-Kansas counties.
The newly redrawn map of the Mitchell County voting districts shows that District number one of the western side of the county encompasses 1,266 people. District #3 is represented by Cole Eberle.
District #2 takes in the six middle townships of the county and part of the City of Beloit and includes 1,552 voters. This district is represented by Mike Riemann.
The first district covers the eastern four townships, two of the middle townships, and part of the City of Beloit, and has 1,419 people. This district is represented by Tom Claussen.
Melissa Latham, County appraiser, made an appearance to talk about taxes. She said the major factors to determine tax rates are the market and sales value of comparable homes. She also noted that neighborhoods are another factor. The City of Beloit has four distinct neighborhoods: the old section of town, the Circle Drive area, the North Campus, and the West side of town. All the information regarding a home is fed into a computer and then the computer provides a number.
Chairperson Claussen said he was in receipt of a letter from the 12th Judicial District accepting the nomination of Jeff Zimmer to replace the retiring Dwight Daniels as a member of the district nominating committee.
The Commissioners all were in agreement that the new traffic flow plan to letting off and picking up students at the Beloit Elementary school has some major glitches that need to be worked out. Simply put, the new plan is not an effective plan.
Terrence Silvia requested the signatures of the Commissioners on a certificate for Nathan Gentry. The certificate was to memorialize Gentry's ten years of service to the County.
Brian Streit was on hand to discuss the process of examining the sewer line from the boiler in the courthouse basement to the main sewer line in the middle of the street. At last week's meeting, the Commissioners approved an amount not to exceed $30,000 to repair the sewer line underneath the Courthouse building proper. With the knowledge gained from the work done so far, it appears it would be advisable to repair and replace the entire sewer line all the way to the street. Streit commented, "The whole line has problems. It is a mess." The Commissioners then approved an additional $15,000 for completing the additional work.
Melissa Latham told the group that recent bill passed by the legislature has exempted golf carts, side by sides, 4-wheelers, and boats from property tax effective January 1, 2026.
Superintendent of Public Works Marty Hernandez told the Commissioners that his crews would start mowing the roadside ditches in May. He said Steve Hawk had requested permission to mow and hay township roads. He was given the okay to do so. He said they have a dozer torn apart and it needs work. He has a quote of $30,000 to do the work.
The group discussed a proposal to identify an area where citizens can dump grass clippings and tree limbs. They believed this would be a good service to people.
The Commissioners revisited the proposal for Mitchell County take over the ownership of the two asphalt roads leading to Asherville and Simpson. They are deliberating the long-term implications of doing so.
Having addressed all the items on the printed agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA