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MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - Monday, January 13, 2025

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By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners, new and old, conducted their weekly meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning, January 13, 2025. The majority of the meeting time was devoted to organizational activities for the new year.
The meeting saw a "Changing of the Guard" for the County governing body for the upcoming year. Long-time Commissioners Jim Marshall and Mike Cooper will be stepping down as Commissioners. Newly elected Commissioners, Cole Eberle and Mike Riemann, will replace Marshall and Cooper on the governance body for Mitchell County. Tom Claussen, first elected in 2010, was elected to another term as Commissioners last November and will continue to serve as the Chairperson of the Commissioner to give stability. Mike Riemann was elected as vice-chairperson of the Commission.
Deputy County Clerk Lynn Imboden administered the Oath of Office to all newly elected County Officials. These include: Heather Weston, County Clerk; Tony Perez, County Sheriff; Mike Riemann, County Commissioner; Mark Noah, County Attorney; Cole Eberle, County Commissioner; and Tami Eck, Register of Deeds.
The Commissioners selected The Famers and Merchants State Bank of Cawker City as the official depository for the County funds. The Beloit Call was named as the official publication for County business.
The Commissioners voted to waive the GAAP principles for the accounting basis for county bookkeeping. This is a normal procedure for the County.
The Commissioners discussed the possibility of observing Juneteenth as an official County holiday with employees receiving a day off with pay. According to information provided by the County Clerk Heather Weston, 24 Kansas Counties officially observe this holiday, 54 do not and 23 counties did not reply for a request for information.
Commissioner Mike Riemann observed that currently the County officially observes ten holidays for County employees. He also observed that the County awards the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas as paid holidays. He suggested to keep the number of paid holidays the same for 2025 and to give thought about which holidays to observe in the future. The Commissioners adopted this line of action.
The Commissioners approved the official salaries of all elected employees. This information is public record and is available to anyone upon request.
David Dohe, Director of Emergency Management, gave the Commissioners a detailed accounting of this job duties. Commission Chairperson Tom Claussen, noted that the Emergency Management department came into existence in response to the September 11 tragedy in 2001.
Following Dohe were other Department heads giving the new Commissioners an accounting of their duties. These officials and their departments were: Terrence Silvia, Communications; Cortney Murrow, County Health; Jessy Bliss, Information Technology; Phil Murrow, Regional Sanitary Engineer; and Marty Hernandez, Superintendent of Public Works.
Haley Roberson, Beloit City Manager, was on hand to invite the new Commissioners to stop in any time and discuss any areas of mutual concern.
Missy McGinnis gave a rundown of her departure's status. She said they were fully staff with 12 full-time employees and 16 part-time employees. She said the MC2 ambulance is still in the mechanic's shop in Cawker City. She told the Commissioners that the new ambulance scheduled for delivery in late 2025 has been pushed back for a 2026 delivery date. Even with those complications, McGinnis believes Osage Ambulance Manufacturing Company in Missouri is far superior other ambulance vendors.
The Commissioners conducted a ten-minute executive session to discus non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of that closed session.
Having addressed all the items on the published agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA