MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS â€“ Monday, November 14, 2022

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their weekly meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning, November 14th. All Commissioners and the County Clerk were present.
The Commissioners had several items on their agenda, but a number of them were executive session discussions.
First off the Commissioners voted to approve a contract with Pawnee Mental Health to offer services to residents of Mitchell County for the 2023 year at an expenditure of $54,071. All in attendance agreed it was money well spent.
Cortney Murrow, County Health Nurse, and Lisa Blad were present to discuss how the County would like to celebrate the Christmas season. In past seasons the Commissioners had hosted a Christmas party for all employees. However due to the increasing cost of the party, several years ago the Commissioners opted to discontinue the party and instead offer each employee a bonus in the form of Chamber of Commerce dollars. The end result was that County employees would receive a cash gift from the County, but they would need to spend the money in Beloit. Currently each employee receives $150 in Chamber Bucks to spend as they wish as long as it is in Beloit.
Murrow reported that the Health Department had given 900 flu shots so far this season. She added that they had given "a lot" of Covid booster shots.
Murrow informed the Commissioners that the grant they received to re-do their parking lot must be expended by June of 2024. She felt they could easily meet that goal. She requested to employ Schwab-Eaton to perform the engineering work for the project. The Commissioners approved her request. Murrow added that with the closing of the south entrance to the Hospital parking lot for the sidewalk project, traffic has greatly increased through the Health Department parking lot. She emphasized that many people were speeding through the parking lot, increasing the possibility of a collision of some sort.
Murrow said she and her staff had conducted a transition fair at the Technical College for some area high school juniors and seniors. Most attendees were surprised that when they turned 18 years old, their parents are no longer legally liable for many of the tasks they had performed before that time. Morrow highlighted many of the ways things change when kids turn 18.
Melinda Latham, Mitchell County Assessor, requested a ten-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of the closed session.
Eric Hamel, Director of the Emergency Medical Service, gave his monthly report to the Commissioners. Seventy-one runs were conducted in the month of October. Fifty-one runs were made in the city of Beloit, ten to Cawker City, two each to Glen Elder and Tipton, and one each to Concordia, Simpson, Downs, and Hays. The time period from five to six p.m. was the busiest with eight runs during that time block. The time periods from eight to nine a.m., eleven a.m. to noon, and one p.m. to two p.m. were next with five runs in each of those time periods. Monday was the busiest day with fourteen runs that day. Next in line was Thursday with eleven runs. The average time from when a call was received until an ambulance left the barn was one point one minutes. The age range of 75 to 79 and 80 to 89 years of age were the busiest with fifteen runs each.
Superintendent of Public Works, Marty Hernandez, requested a fifteen-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of that closed session.
The Commissioners then voted to spend $47,800 for a new 2022 Chevy half-ton crew cab pickup truck for the Road Department.
Yvonne Melton, Mitchell County Treasurer, requested a ten-minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of that closed session.
Mitchell County Sheriff, Tony Perez, presented the Commissioners with a resolution authorizing the raising of the charge to house out of county prisoners from $35 per day to $40 per day. He said that with inflationary factors, the cost of housing prisoners has increased. Perez said, "We are not in the money-making business, but we do want to break even."
Perez reported that about half of the prisoners in the jail are from Saline County. The Mitchell County jail has a capacity for forty-two prisoners.
The Commissioners voted to accept the resolution to increase the daily cost of housing out of county prisoners.
Having addressed all the items on the printed agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA