MITCHELL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS – Tuesday, January 17, 2023

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their weekly meeting on Tuesday, January 17th, due to Monday being a national holiday. All Commissioners were present.
First up was Marty Hernandez, Superintendent of Public Works. He reported that one of their dump trucks had been performing poorly and finally the engine is shot. The expense of replacing the engine is more than the truck is worth. Hernandez reported he located a used dump on the KDOT used equipment list. It has 140,000 miles on it and it is very good condition. He had the money in his equipment fun so he bought the dump truck for $30,000. It also came with a snowplow and blade.
The shop building is nearing completion and the shop men are moving things from the old building to the new building. An open house is planned for the County residents to by stop by and take a look The Open House is scheduled for the first week of April.
Hernandez also reported the new motor grader ordered almost a year ago should be delivered this week. The Covid pandemic caused a shortage of materials used to build heavy equipment. Asherville Township has made arrangements to purchase the old grader.
Jay Rowh stopped by to inform the Commissioners on the progress on the future of three local operations. The Food Pantry, the Economy Shop, and the Senior Center will consolidate their efforts from one location rather than three. The organizations have purchased the land known as where Denis Shumate lived on the grounds of the Youth Center. For the newer folks, it is immediately northwest of the Port Library building. The goal of combining the services is that the consolidation should allow each to better serve their clients. A new building will be constructed. Rowh estimated the cost of the new building would be in the neighborhood of $2 million.
Eric Hamel, EMS director, reported on the ambulance activity for the month of December, 2022. Statistics were not available.
Having addressed all the items on the printed agenda the meeting was adjourned.