ALLEN COUNTY, Kan. — Matters involving Allen County Airport took up a major part of Tuesday’s County Commission meeting. Last week the Commission approved hangar rent increases and changes in priority policies for rental of hangars.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels, who voted against the changes last week, said in his view these matters should have been a listed agenda item for discussion rather than being brought up at the end of the meeting as it was. Commissioners and airport manager Robert Poydack engaged in a lengthy discussion on how rental fees are charged, whether lower rents should be charged to businesses operating from the airport, and the change giving Allen County residents priority
Public Works Director Mitch Garner submitted the annual plan for the Landfill to Commissioners for their review. Garner said only minor changes were made to the document which has to be submitted to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Commissioners asked legal counsel to review the document before approval, expected next week.
Commissioners approved the purchase of noxious weed chemicals from Sims Fertilizer and Chemical. Their $42,000 bid was the lowest of four received. Road and Bridge Supervisor Jeremy Hopkins also provided updates on current projects, said he’s accepting applications for dust control, and told Commissioners he had not had any concerns brought to him about increased traffic on West Virginia Road near Mildred related to a bridge replacement on K-3.
The Commission approved a request to provide $200 to the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature. Alice Bolin, who represents Allen County in the SHL which advises the Kansas Legislature on issues connected with aging populations, said these funds would assist with travel and other expenses related to it. Bolin said in their region, only Allen, Bourbon and Crawford counties have representation in the SHL, and she is planning to talk to other counties in the area about providing financial support and members from those areas.
The Commission authorized signing a letter on behalf of Allen County Regional Hospital involving a grant application being submitted to upgrade mammography equipment and/or provide for a new radiology room. The Hospital was made aware of this opportunity last week by a representative from the officer of Congressman Derek Schmidt.
EMS Director Michael Burnett discussed having another remount done on an ambulance, which would take the existing box and put it on a new chassis. This was recently done on another box, and Burnett would like to look at either doing a remount or purchase of a new ambulance, with the remount being the less costly option. If they proceed with this, it would not happen until the fall of 2027.
A decision on proceeding with a remount will probably be made in the next month or two. In the not-too-distant future, the county may be looking at purchasing a new ambulance.
Burnett was also given permission to replace a ventilator on one of the ambulances which recently failed. The current ventilator is considered obsolete and is not able to be repaired. The $7,134.39 cost is the same as for another ventilator that was replaced last year.
Related to EMS, Commissioner David Lee brought up the idea of again submitting a sales tax proposal to Allen County voters, who recently turned down a similar request. In discussing this, it was noted if EMS was to be moved to sales tax funding, it could allow for a six-mill reduction in property taxes. It was indicated that if a tax proposal were to be put back on the ballot it would specify these funds would replace current property tax revenue.
The Commission was informed Bukaty, the insurance firm the county works with, will be meeting with county officials next Thursday, and gave Allen County Farmers Market permission to use the east side of the Courthouse Square again this year.
