McPHERSON COUNTY, Kan. — McPherson County Commissioners intend to sell a building on Hospital Drive that for about the last two years has been leased to McPherson USD 418 on behalf of the McPherson County Special Education Cooperative for their infant-toddler program.
The current lease on that building runs through the end of the year, and in a meeting last week USD 418 officials were informed the County plans to not renew that lease. County Administrator Rick Witte said the program in that event might not have a place to go due to lack of other available space either in McPherson or other districts in the cooperative.
However, USD 418, the sponsoring district of the Cooperative, has expressed interest in purchasing that building, a 3,500 square foot facility initially constructed in 1979. Commissioners agreed to pursue that concept, setting an initial offer price of $300,000. There are some legal steps the county will have to take in order to sell it.
Work on addressing sinkhole issues at 8th and Comanche Road should be wrapped up about any time now if it’s not already done. Public Works Director David Bohnenblust reported milling work is beginning on Old Highway 81, or 14th Avenue north of McPherson, with overlay hopefully to start at week’s end, after which they will move to Cherokee Road east of Inman, which might be delayed a week or two due to rain and a box culvert issue.
Bohnenblust said the road work at Maxwell Wildlife refuge is basically done, and with topsoil obtained they will begin work next on seeding of shoulders, seed for which was ordered and will need to be planted in the next couple of weeks. Bohnenblust noted if they get a lot of rain in the next few weeks they may go back in put some additional gravel down on that road.
The Commission approved a bid from Yutzy Roofing Service of Partridge for a coating to be applied to the roof of the Public Works shop. Although the bid from Yutzy was slightly higher than that from Rhoden Roofing of Wichita, shop foreman Mike Evans recommended the Yutzy bid be approved based on their offering a ten-year warranty against leaks, with Rhoden’s warranty only two years on workmanship and five years on material.
Commissioners also approved purchase of a new work truck for the Public Works office staff from Midway Motors for $49,847. While a bid from Conklin Automotive Group was a bit lower, Midway’s bid was within the two percent local preference purchasing policy of the county.
Commissioners approved two changes related to reimbursement for Public Works employees. The Employee Safety Allowance was raised from $150 to $250 a year. This covers such things as the steel toe boots that most of them have to wear. This reimbursement had not been increased in at least 20 years.
It also approved a $200 annual tool allowance for the department’s mechanics. The mechanics are required to provide their own tools, which is common in the private sector, but up to now the county hasn’t provided an allowance for that. Under both policies, eligible employees must have completed their introductory stage of employment, and unused funds will not carry over to the following year. Commissioners also approved hiring of a maintenance worker to start April 28th.
The Commissioners approved the close-out documents related to a Community Development Block Grant awarded to Rural Water District 1 in the Roxbury area. Related to that, Commissioners approved the final payment to Ranson Financial Group of Wichita, which served as grant administrator. The $1,342,500 project involved replacement of 2,750 feet of water line along with a new standpipe and chlorination system along with removal of exiting line and an existing tower. A $250,000 CDBG grant was combined with low interest loans for the project which has partial forgiveness as it combines two existing systems into one.
RWD 1 also has a second phase to run a line from the standpipe to Roxbury and a future phase will replace additional lines, both of which will be funded to KDHE loans that will also have loan forgiveness.
Seasonal fireworks stands in unincorporated areas of McPherson County will get additional days to sell starting this year. McPherson County Commissioners Monday approved the change, which was authorized through an add-on to a bill that passed the Kansas Legislature this year. Planning, Zoning and Environmental Administrator Jon Kinsey said seasonal fireworks sales can now take place between June 20th and July 7th, extending the start date by a week and end by two days.
In addition, a change was approved to fireworks regulations related to notification requirements that will only require that to those within 1,000 feet of the stand site for the initial year of that site its ownership remains the same. It also eliminated a publication requirement for stand operators.
Commissioners Monday approved a quote from PayIt for an online payment system that initially would take care of the Health Department, County Attorney’s Office, and 911 and Emergency Management. Ultimately this could be extended to other departments. The County Treasurer including the tag department currently uses a similar system. Harvey County has PayIt, which also is the backbone of the system the state of Kansas uses for online tag renewals. IT Director Jeff Butler said this would be billed on a month-to-month basis, and users would pay a fee to make payments through it whether by credit card or ACH transfer.
