Part-time sanitarian is hired by county
Staff reporter
With the absence of a county zoning administrator and sanitarian, Marion County Commission made some decisions Monday to maintain the departments until a professional is hired.
County clerk Carol Maggard reported the McPherson County sanitarian is not available to assist the county as hoped. She made contact with the sanitation department in Saline County and was told one of the sanitarians is available to work in Marion County one day a week. His request was to be paid the same hourly rate he currently earns in Saline County and the same mileage.
To date there are four applications for lagoons or sewer systems and the clerk's office has received daily phone calls from individuals with questions.
Also there are seven inspections that need to be completed in June for the owners to receive a cost share.
The commission approved the hiring of part-time employee Bronson Farmer at a rate of $18.43 per hour and 40.5 cents per mile.
Maggard also reported there are two applications for construction permits. She asked the commission to consider and the commission agreed to place the applications on the agenda for the county planning commission to review. The commission will meet Thursday.
In other business:
— Transfer station manager Rollin Schmidt requested and received a five-minute executive session to discuss personnel. When the session reconvened, the announcement was made that a transfer station employee was fired. Schmidt said he will advertise for the position.
— A letter had been received from the City of Hillsboro regarding a zoning change for Howard Dalke. Dalke could receive a permit to build a new house on the east edge of Hillsboro city limits if the city would agree to provide services.
The commission approved the zoning change from agriculture to rural residential.
— Jack Chappell, landfill closure consultant, will attend a commission meeting June 5 to discuss the next step in installing monitoring wells at the former county landfill.
Maggard said the step for closure was to have gas wells drilled. Chappell told Maggard it would be most feasible to hire an independent lab to collect and test water sampling four times a year. There is money in the budget to purchase gas monitoring equipment which could be done in-house twice a year.
The water wells are already installed.
— Information from last week's teleconference with consultant Jim Kaup was distributed and reviewed by the commission. Maggard said it made sense to send an appeal form for a reduction in solid waste charges to property owners who live at a residence for six months or less per year. Currently the county issues refunds.
To address concerns for those properties that receive federal funding, Kaup suggested adding a housing authority exemption to the resolution for those apartment complexes with 10 or more apartments. During the teleconference, comments were made that it takes less time and effort for solid waste workers to remove trash from a main site instead of going to individual apartments for collection.
Housing authorities are located in Marion, Peabody, Florence, and Goessel.
Commission chairman Dan Holub said he was concerned about limiting the exemption only to those authorities with 10 or more units.
The commission decided to table the decision for a week and will discuss it at the May 31 meeting.
— One application has been received for the planning, zoning, and sanitarian position. The commission asked Maggard to set up an interview.
— The commission reviewed a map of areas that have been sprayed and will be sprayed by noxious weed department.
