MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS â€“ Monday, August 8, 2022

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell Country Commissioners conducted their weekly meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning. All Commissioners and the County Clerk were present.
One of the more noteworthy announcement of the meeting occurred during budget hearing of the Solomon Rapids Fire District #3. Bill Bunger announced his retirement at the end of his current term. Nobody could recall the Fire District operating without Bunger being present. The reason for this was that Bunger was one of the organizing members or the original Fire District in 1974. He has served continuously since the formation of the Fire District for the past 48 years. Everyone wished him well in his much-deserved retirement.
Eric Hamel, Director of the Mitchell County Emergency Medical Services, was present to give his monthly report about the ambulance service in the month of July. There were 59 runs in the month of July. Forty-four of these were in the City of Beloit. Six runs were made to Glen Elder. Three runs were made to both Cawker City and Tipton. One run was made to Glasco, Barnard, and Downs. The busiest time periods were that of 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. with six runs each. Friday was the busiest day with 14 runs closely followed by Saturday with 11 runs. The ambulance left the barn within five minutes in 95% of the calls. The age group category of 70-80 years of age was the top category with sixteen runs.
Cortney Murrow, County Health Official, was present to discuss the outbreak of Monkey Pox. It is becoming more and more of a big deal each week. Kansas has only one confirmed case of the disease but there are over 10,000 case in the United States. Murrow said that the cause is difficult to identify but it appears that direct skin to skin contact is the leading cause of transmission. Mitchell County does not have any vaccine at this time. There are many conjectures to the origin of this disease, but no clinically defined cause have been identified. As could be expected the states with the highest populations have the highest cases.
Murrow asked for a five-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of this closed session.
Murrow reported she had applied for grants totaling $74,000. She was granted $110,000.
An open hearing was called to order to allow residents of Lulu, Logan, and Hayes township to comment or ask questions about their proposed 2023 budget. No one appeared to speak, and the hearing was closed after the appropriate amount or time had passed.
The open hearing for the Solomon Rapids Fire District #3 was called to order at 9:00 a.m. Bill Bunger, Dan Emmott, Gary Clark and Alan Eilert were present to discuss their budget request. They reported that their budget has remained the same for many years and were planning to make slight increases each year to build a capital equipment outlay so that could systemically replace their aging machinery. The Commissioners approved their budget request. The hearing was closed at 9:47 a.m.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA