By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON COUNTY, Kan. — A proposal to designate a one mile road segment in New Gottland Township as a minimum maintenance road was approved by McPherson County Commissioners Monday. The township asked designation 13th Avenue between Pioneer and Pueblo Roads, the mile line west of McPherson Country Club as minimum maintenance. Public Works Director Tom Kramer said if it were up to him that road should be closed. The land on both sides of the road is owned by the same person.
The Commission approved a resolution related to plat review prior to submission to the Register of Deeds that clears up some issues as it relates to how those plats are reviewed by surveyors and the zoning administrator.
Commissioners approved an engineering agreement with Kirkham Michael for design and survey work of the four 2026 concrete box projects that will be done by county public works crews.
It also approved the agreements with KDOT for a bridge project on Arapaho Road about a mile west of 8th Avenue south of Inman which has been awarded grant funds from the FY 2025 Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program, for which there is a 15 percent local match and maximum award of $950,000. The County is also responsible for the design costs for the project along with any utility relocation or right of way acquisition if needed.
Commissioners approved two reimbursements from ARPA funding. One went to Rural Water District 1 at Roxbury for construction work, well treatment and service work on the system, in the amount of $24,000. The Other was for the City of Lindsborg for just over $171,000 for an ambulance remount and related equipment.
The Commission also adopted a resolution to prohibit use of engine or compression braking, commonly known as “jake brakes”: at the corner of 17th and Pawnee, where a resident in the area complained about use of that kind of breaking by McPherson Area Solid Waste Utility trucks hauling trash from the transfer station east of McPherson to the landfill north of McPherson.
