McPHERSON COUNTY, Kan. — McPherson County Commissioners have adopted a burn ban for the County.
Emergency Management and Communications Director Emily Yates said county fire chiefs requested the ban Monday due to ongoing extremely dry and windy conditions that have created an extreme fire danger, with any fires that develop being difficult to control and putting a strain on fire department manpower and resources.
There are exceptions provided for under the ban, including prescribed burning if approved in advance by the local fire chief. The Burn ban will be reviewed on a week to week basis.
Commissioners agreed to extend a mill and overlay project to be done on Cherokee Road into the city of Inman. Public Works Director David Bohnenblust said the Inman City Council has agreed to cover the estimated $50,000-$60,000 cost of this work on a 2500 foot segment of Center Street, which Cherokee Road is in the city.
Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks for road work along Pueblo Road through Maxwell Wildlife Refuge north of Canton, which KDWP will reimburse the county $50,000 for, this project currently in progress by county crews. The MOU, presented to them last week, has been reviewed by County Counselor Brian Bina.
Two purchases for the Public Works Department were deferred to next week. One was for a new grapple bucket for a wheel loader to load trees into trucks and stack trees at the tree pit. Shop Foreman Mike Evans obtained a couple of quotes, however Commissioner Keith Becker while at last month’s Salina Farm Show had seen another grapple bucket, which he’s obtained information on, which may not be as expensive as either of the other proposals.
The other item deferred was purchase of a pickup for Public Works office personnel. The County had a truck for this purpose which former director Tom Kramer had sold last year. Commissioners discussed the purchase during their study session following the meeting.
IT Director Jeff Butler presented a proposal to install queuing and appointment software for county departments. Butler said this system focuses on the offices that will be relocating to the County Building when its renovation has been completed and cut down on the amount of time people have to stand in line for such things as tax and license tag matters and advanced voting.
Through this system, people will be able to sign in to the system, and be alerted when it’s near the time when they can come in and take care of their business. Reno County currently has this system for the four departments housed in their Annex building southeast of the Courthouse including their County Clerk and Treasurer offices.
This system would have an initial cost of $6,900 with an annual subscription fee of $4,500 after that. Commissioners deferred taking any action on the proposal, wanting to hear input from department heads and to see if any counties of this size are using this kind of system.
The McPherson County Commission has approved a resolution ensuring publication of 15 prior resolutions related to special use permits. Planning, Zoning and Environment Administrator Jon Kinsey said in a review of resolutions, 15 adopted between 2010 and 2015 were either never published or an affidavit of publication received by the County.
The Commission also adopted resolutions proclaiming this week as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and the month of April as National and Kansas County Government Month.
