Staff writer
Office, storage, and jail spaces are three topics Marion County Commissioners want to address in 2011, they said Monday.
The county has taken steps to alleviate mold issues at the health department building, and the jail has been a topic of discussion for years, with a bond election that failed in November 2008.
Commission Chairman Randy Dallke said there are still many issues to be resolved regarding a jail, such as whether dispatch and the sheriff’s department should be included.
Commissioner Dan Holub said he would like to have a proposal ready for an April election. With elections for boards of education, it will be a countywide election. The next countywide election isn’t until November 2012.
“We have got to have a jail,” Holub said. “I am not going to spend three quarters of a million dollars hauling prisoners.”
County Clerk Carol Maggard said mid-February is the cutoff to get a ballot issue on for the April election.
“I think the financing is going to be important,” commissioner Bob Hein said.
In other business:
- Economic Development Director Teresa Huffman told commissioners that she didn’t think nine representatives — three from each commission district — would be enough for a new county economic development group to function. Single-purpose volunteer committees are the best way to handle events, to get people involved in the things they’re passionate about, she added.
- Baker Bros. Printing of Hillsboro will sell 500,000 sheets of copy paper to the county for a total of $2,999. The paper will be delivered as needed. Navrat’s Office Products, Emporia, bid $3,250; Dick’s Business Machines, Emporia, bid $3,140; and Office Plus of Kansas, Wichita, bid $3,060.
- Brad Vannocker of Hillsboro was appointed to Marion County Planning Commission.
- A backup skid steer at the transfer station has a hydraulic leak. Commissioners instructed Transfer Station Director Rollin Schmidt to see if an employee of Road and Bridge Department is able to repair it.
- Markley Service of Marion will sell 25 gallons of Pathway herbicide to Noxious Weed Department for $770. Ag Service, Hillsboro, bid $774; Cooperative Grain and Supply, Hillsboro, and Agri-Producers Inc., Tampa, each bid $876.
- Dale Koop called Road and Bridge Superintendent Jim Herzet about open grazing. Koop owns land on both sides of a dirt road in Logan Township and wants permission for open grazing between the two areas. Commissioners said they would consider allowing it.
- Road and Bridge Department will change the course of 220th Road between Upland and Sunrise roads to reduce erosion from a creek.
- Herzet told commissioners a wood chipper would simplify brush-clearing issues. A new chipper would cost about $30,000, he said.
The next commission meeting will be Monday.