The
Commissioners met with all members.
Present were Barbara Kolde, chairman; Richard Carlson, vice chairman;
and Tom Doperalski, member.
Gary
Conklin, county counselor, informed the Commission of a meeting he has
scheduled at 1:00 today with Uncopiers and CDBG.
Commission
approved noxious weed employees Rodney Biesenthal and Chris Wege attending
training classes.
Commission
approved payment of $240 for Kansas County Commissioners Association membership
dues for 2003.
Terry
Rewerts, appraiser met with the Commissioners to update them on his
department. He showed them a map of the
area near the Wamego Missile Base where water contamination has tested in
residential wells. Thursday evening a
meeting was held at the Wamego City Library with Terry and two of his staff
members as well as Commissioner Doperalski and Robert Reece, county
administrator. The purpose of the
meeting was to inform any residents concerned with the contaminated water in
the Missile Base area of their option to contact the Board of Tax Appeals
regarding the valuation of their property.
Terry stated that he informed the group that he would not lower the
value of property in the area based only on the condition of the wells. One of considerations for lowering values
would be support from sales. Currently
appraised values are at 85% of the sale prices.
Betty
Abitz, register of deeds, met with the Commissioners to update them on her
department. She presented them with a
copy of a letter she had drafted to Senator Pugh and Representative Osborne
regarding HB 2249 dealing with the County Treasurer’s Motor Vehicle fund and
the Register of Deeds Technology Fee Fund.
Betty stated that she currently has $21,000 in the tech fund. She is planning to use a portion of the
money to upgrade the server and a portion to continuing with the microfilming
and digitizing.
At
10:00 the Chairman declared bidding closed for Bituminous Surface Course
Project AP2003. Bids were opened and
read by Leu Lowrey, public works director.
Bids submitted were: Andrews
Asphalt & Construction, Inc of Topeka for $696,884.55; Ritchie Paving of
Manhattan for $486,548.94; and Shilling Construction Co, Inc of Manhattan for
$461,303.09. The Engineers estimate was
$635,706.44. Leu will tabulate and
review the bids and submit his recommendation to the Commissioners on Monday
for their formal approval.
Leu
informed the Board that Rees Development had contacted him regarding a request
for petitions to develop Phase V in Timber Creek. The Commission discussed the fact that the property can’t be
developed with the current water status.
If Rees Development proceeds with development now, they would have to
hook on to the Rural Water District.
Gail
McConnaughey, zoning administrator, presented the Commissioners with a rezoning
request from Eldon Crouch for their consideration with the recommendation to
send it back to the Planning Commission.
Richard Carlson moved and Tom Doperalski seconded to send back to the
Planning Commission for their reconsideration Mr. Crouch’s request to change
the zoning from A1 to R1 for the purpose of a single-family residential
subdivision. Motion carried 2 to 1 with
Commissioners Carlson and Doperalski voting in favor and Commissioner Kolde
opposing stating that she is concerned about agricultural burns near
subdivisions in agricultural areas.
(Attachment #1)
At
11:00 the Chairman declared bidding closed for mowing county cemeteries. Rodney Biesenthal, noxious weed director,
presented bids submitted. There are 9
cemeteries to be considered in the bidding.
They are Berg, Beulah, Cedar Hill, Old Westy, Oak Grove, Pauley Creek,
Pleasant Hill, Poor Farm, and Sales cemeteries. Chairman opened and read the bids. Bids were submitted by: S
& K of Alma for $585 per mowing of 5 of the cemeteries; Hazen Lawn Service
of Frankfort for $279 per mowing of 6 of the cemeteries; Little Apple Lawn and
Landscape of Wamego for $600 per mowing of all 9 cemeteries; Katelyn and Kally
Hood of Westmoreland for $70 per mowing of the Sales Cemetery; Dave Luttig of
Emmett for $1130 per mowing of all 9 cemeteries; EnviroCare, LLC of Wamego for
$474.85 per mowing of all 9 cemeteries; Gary Spring of Rossville for $770.83
per mowing of all 9 cemeteries; Cory Redding of St. George for $415 per mowing
of all 9 cemeteries; and Robert Rickstrew of Wamego for $490 per mowing of all
9 cemeteries. Rodney will review the
bids further and also check on liability insurance of the bidders. He will submit his recommendation to the
Commissioners next Monday.
Rodney
also discussed with the Commissioners charging interest or applying a late
charge on past due accounts with his department. Commissioner Carlson suggested that the counselor could draft a
form letter to be used to notify individuals of past due accounts. Commissioner Kolde stated that she didn’t
want to spend more staff time than the collection notice would bring in. Commissioner Doperalski stated that it might
be more hassle than it was worth and that the idea of a form letter would be a
good possibility. The Commissioners
agreed that they were not in favor of a late fee.
Rodney
also informed the Commission that his department has been converting one of the
old ambulances into a spray truck.
Administrator
discussed with the Commissioners lease purchase information for a fire truck
for Fire District No. 10. The purchase
price is $139,213. If the fire district
can pay down to $120,000, they can get a 7-year lease purchase at a rate of 4%
through Kaw Valley Bank. The annual
payment would be just under $20,000.
The Commissioners agreed to the terms of the lease purchase and directed
Robert to contact the fire board chairman to proceed with finalizing the
paperwork and purchasing the truck.
Robert
gave the Commissioners a copy of the State’s Performance Audit Report for their
review.
Approved
minutes of February 20, 2003.
The
meeting was adjourned at 11:50.
______________________ ____________________
County
Clerk Chairman
____________________
Vice Chairman
____________________
Member