The Linn County Commission is looking at necessary repairs to the county Courthouse. Repairs will need to be approved by the state's historic preservation office. (Journal file photo)
MOUND CITY – Because the Linn County Courthouse is a registered historic landmark, any work to repair or replace part of that structure has to get the approval of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) before work can begin,
At the Linn County Commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, Linn County Public Works Director Shaun West told the commissioners that he had contacted the SHPO about repairs to the gazebo, the courthouse and the Baskerville Road Bridge
West informed the commissioners that the gazebo was not on the historic registry so it could be rebuilt without approval from the state. But he recommended that, as a courtesy, the county would notify the state of their plans and let them review those plans.
He said as long as the county did not impact the historic nature of the courthouse with the repairs to the gazebo then the commission is in total control of proceeding with gazebo.
Commission Chair Jim Johnson asked if they had to approve fixing the floor in the clerk’s office.
West said that the county had to give the state a plan about work on the courthouse including repairing the floor in the clerk’s office. The county has to let them know how they we are going to fix it.
If the state and the county disagree, it would come back to a meeting and then a decision by this board on how to fix it. He said that ultimately it is the county’s building, but there are some steps and hoops if the county disagrees with SHPO.
West said that the floor was going to be the first thing that needed to be done. He said it might be able to be done through some grant programs. West said that the biggest issue on the flooring is the color matching.
“I’m okay with fixing the floor, aren’t you?” Johnson asked Commissioner Alison Hamilton.
“I’m okay with fixing the floor,” Hamilton replied, “but I thought the issue was in the basement with the humidity, the heat, coming up. It’s rising. So if you fix the floor and you don’t fix the problem, the floor is just going to keep having a problem.”
“Have you been to the basement?” Hamilton asked. “There’s no reason to fix the floor if you don’t fix the basement. Does that make sense?”
She was talking about the steam and humidity produced by the boiler system and pipes. She told West that one shield was not even on the pipe it should be covering.
Johnson said it had been a couple of years since he had been down there.
“There are three pipes,” Hamilton explained, “two have aluminum like covering that goes above. And the one that doesn’t that’s where the problem is with the floor and you can stand over the cone in the clerk’s office and you can feel the heat just blowing through.”
Hamilton said that the shield for the third pipe is there sitting in the basement.
“It needs to be attached,” stated Hamilton. “I think that could get done this week if possible.”
“So the plan on the floor and the roof, SHPO will not come down until we submit a plan or will they come down and help us with the plan?” Hamilton asked West. “Because I thought Katrina (employee of SHPO) would come down and go walk this area. That’s what they usually do. They come in and they walk through the buildings. They look at everything, at the things we want to replace or upgrade and then they give a report as well. So, I just don’t want to spend a lot of time.”
“As far as we’re qualified to submit the plan,” she continued, “when we’re going to submit the plan and then they’re going to come back and say that’s not going to work. I just don’t want to waste time when we could just ask Katrina to come down with the state, walk through it all and just put it all out there.”
West said that he thought the flooring was simple enough that it could be completed while they worked through the other issues, including the roof – which is also going to involve the steeples – and some tuckpointing.
West said that he saw the floor itself as more of an emergency, get it done, get it over with problem while the county works long-term to fix the building.
“I would agree, but I thought you just said that the state had to approve the plan for the floor so that is why I said let’s have them come here,” Hamilton said. “If you are saying that’s an emergency, let’s do that, I agree with you.
“But, I thought you said that the state still needed to approve the floor. So that is why I need them to come here first to approve the floor and everything.”
“Let’s start with that (the application for the flooring),” she said, “then we’ll move on to having the state come here for the roof and the other. Also this week, I would like maintenance to put the cap over the steam pipe.”
As far as the gazebo, West said that as soon as county construction manager Randy Page is able to get a plan for the gazebo and have the state look at it, it can be started.
West will ask Page to come in on March 3 with the gazebo plan.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Danielle Souza was sworn in as Linn County Clerk by Judge Andrea Purvis
• Heard from Sheriff James Akes that juveniles from Linn County could be sent to Douglas and Johnson County juvenile facilities. Akes said that they both were the same price. Akes said that both counties could do it on an on-call basis. Contracts will be drawn up to save a place in those systems for Linn County.
• Approved a bid for leasing the land at 9310 Thomas Rd. for one year at the price of $18,500 from Kenny Baugh.
• Accepted the resignation of Curtis Brown, a recently hired road department employee.
• Heard from Road Operations Manager Jesse Walton that the road crew was getting ready for the storm coming in this week.
• Learned that Enbridge was going to start on March 1 on their pipeline maintenance.
• Heard from Walton that he wanted to start putting together a plan for chip and seal and striping for this year. He said putting a middle of the road stripe down County Road 1077 from Parker to Blue Mound should start around the end of April or first of May.
• Learned from Walton that Bettis Paving is going to be putting a hot plant in on the north side of the county. The plant will be located near 1077 just north of the Linn County line in Miami County.
• Discussed notification of roads that would be closed for a day or two for culvert replacement. The county mobile sign will be used as well as messages on the notification system and the website.
• Introduced the new planning and zoning administrator Kent Harris. Harris said that he was fire marshal in Olathe and worked with planning and zoning, the city council and the chamber bringing businesses into town and making sure things were good. Then after retiring, he went to the sheriff’s office in Olathe. He said that his family moved to Pleasanton from Lenexa.
• Approved an assistance application for Mt. Carmel Cemetery for the county to blade and haul rock if needed into the cemetery.
• Hamilton expressed concerns about when the Christmas lights at the courthouse would be taken down. She thinks there should be a plan and timeline for putting them up and taking them do and assigning who is responsible for that.
• Hamilton said she would like to have a list of all county equipment. She would also like West to give the commissioners a demonstration on how the county uses PubWorks. Johnson said he would like to see the mileage and hours each month of each piece of machinery.
• Approved a request for proposal (RFP) for roll-offs. The RFP will be for three trucks to haul the waste containers.
• Learned from West that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) would have a written answer to the county this Friday about whether two entities can be on a solid waste license.
• Learned from West that the Kansas County Association of Multiline Pool (KCAMP),
the county’s insurance provider, would insure the swimming area project at the Linn County Park. KCAMP asked for a copy of the lease with Evergy and wanted to update the county’s insurance with the water levels and the design.
• Discussed the swimming area at the Linn County Park. Hamilton brought up concerns about liability in the future if people swimming were exposed to contaminants, like heavy metal toxins in the water. She asked if there would be water samples done. Her concerns are related to the issues with the Montrose, Mo., plant and fly ash contamination.
West said that Kansas Wildlife and Parks (KWP) have a lease on the water. Currently there are people pulling fish from the water. He said he couldn’t tell the commission what KDWP would do, but the agency’s comfort level is to allow fishing and wildlife sports going on the water.
West reported that he had met with Page and Linn County Park Manager Sheri Loveland at the cabins this week, and a plan and costs are being worked up for renovation on those.
• West told the commissioners that he spoke to a board member at Hidden Valley Lakes about the northeast entrance being opened. West said he told the person that there is no record in the county where they had applied to cross the county right of way. The Hidden Valley Lakes board will take this up at their next meeting.
• Appointed Karen Springer as Sheridan Township Treasurer and Karen German as the Sheridan Township Trustee. Both had been in these positions previously.
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