Much as the City of Greensburg has done in recent weeks in regard to building permit fees, Kiowa County has moved to bring charges for dumping concrete and demolition in its landfill in line with that of surrounding counties.
Road and Bridge Superintendent Gunnar Stauth revealed to commissioners at their June 30 meeting a comparative sheet that showed that while Kiowa County was still charging $7 a ton for “C & D” (concrete and demolition) and $1.75 per ton for concrete, Ford County asks $32 a ton for either, while Harper County isn’t far behind at $26 per ton for either, prompting Commission Chair Gene West to move a hike to $10 per ton for either form of refuse—a motion that was approved unanimously and will go into effect August 1.
Stauth meanwhile was given permission to move ahead to secure the services of a company to grind up the 5,000 or so tons of concrete already in the landfill to be used later to surface county roadways.
As for raising the dumping fees at the landfill Stauth said, “These people (those in Greensburg with property still holding concrete in the form of abandoned basements after the tornado) have had plenty of time to have gotten this concrete out there (to the landfill) at the lower rates.
In other matters…
*Stauth sought and received permission to purchase 40,000 gallons of oil for chat sealing of paved roads this summer. While the cost of doing so from Vance Brothers of Kansas City would have been nearly $1,000 less--$76,000 versus $76,840 from Ergon Asphalt of Dodge City—the commission decided to go with Ergon because of them being geographically closer than Vance.
It was also agreed to secure asphalt with a 15 percent crushed concrete mix from Heft and Sons at $49 a ton, rather than from Apac Shears of Dodge at $47 a ton because of Heft being a Greensburg based business. At 500 tons the Heft purchase will amount to an additional $3,000.
*Marilyn Brown and Mike Case appeared representing the Fairview Cemetery Board in regard to a recent comment by commissioners concerning capital outlay funds for the various cemetery boards of the county appearing in The Signal, Brown saying, “We didn’t even realize there was a capital outlay in our budget. We need a clarification.”
West pointed out that while the board’s current year budget calls for $8,000 in capital outlay, the cemetery isn’t necessarily limited to that amount.
“With $8,000 in your budget for capital outlay you can spend $10,000 instead for that if you need, but $2,000 will have to come from somewhere else in your budget,” West said. “That figure is your estimation of what you’ll need for capital outlay in that given year, but you aren’t necessarily tied to it.”
Once the issue of finances was concluded West moved on to how the Fairview Board selects its members and whether it annually holds a public meting, Case indicating no such meeting is held.
“Then as a cemetery board who are you answerable to?” West asked. “I don’t know what the state law says in regard to this but maybe it’s something the county attorney needs to look into…I do have some questions on being appointed for life (to a cemetery board) when it’s taxpayer money involved (in supporting the cemetery’s maintenance on an annual basis).”
*Asked if he had “ever heard back from Haviland on (the city paying for extended service through a) Law Enforcement Contract,” Sheriff Kendal Lothman said, “No, and I don’t think we will. They don’t have all that many city ordinances they want us to enforce. As for Mullinville, the only thing they really wanted enforced was dog ordinances and I told them they might want to make their city man their dog catcher and contract with the Pratt Humane Society like Greensburg did and I think they’re going to do that.”
*Lothman reported the “adjusted number” from The Law Company of Wichita—the contractor with the lowest base bid for the fairgrounds project at $189,000—was now at $87,985. “That’s nothing but framing, drywall and acoustical ceiling and electrical service to the community building,” he continued.
He added that to make the wiring connection from the pole 200 feet east of the community building to the structure itself above ground rather than underground would lower the price $5,000 to $82,985. Even at that level, however, the County is more than $30,000 short.
“We’ve only got $50,000 to go towards that and I don’t know where it’s going to come from,” Lothman said. “I checked with Matt (Christenson) this morning and it just isn’t there anywhere.”
West, however, mentioned $40,000 that had been designated for support of an economic development director of which only half will be needed. “So there’s $20,000 we could move over,” he said. “Let’s visit with (auditor) Theresa on that $20,000 and see if there’s anything else laying around. For instance, there was $11,000 marked for the city pool in ’07 and it wasn’t open that year. Where’s that money? Tell Theresa we’re looking for fluff,” West told Lothman. “You might also have her look into the special equipment fund. Let’s touch base with her and see what we can come up with. I think we can find the money to come up to that $87,000 figure.”
*Lothman also reported work on the new jail is still on schedule “even with the wet weather we’ve had lately.” He also said the County “will end up with 25 beds in that (new) jail so we’ll have a couple more than before.”
The configuration calls for two eight-man cells in the basement, both of which Lothman plans to dedicate to housing Sedgwick County prisoners, which should “bring in at least $38,000 income” annually. He also said the construction standards of the new facility would allow the County’s new jail to keep both INS and DOC prisoners if Sedgwick County doesn’t keep the basement full. “We will meet federal standards for keeping those kinds of prisoners,” Lothman said.
