By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – The Linn County Commissioners asked Public Works Director Shaun West to set up a meeting with the cities and lake developments to discuss the compactor sites next week at the Tuesday, Nov. 12, meeting at 11 a.m.
West said that he had sent out information to the cities and all had been returned except from one homeowner’s association at a lake development.
The meeting is designed to open communication between the cities, lake developments and the county about the compactor sites. The commissioners have discussed turning the licensing over to the cities and lake developments so that each entity could set up their site and hours of operation and the county would not be in the middle between the location and the state.
The commissioners have discussed continuing to fund the sites and the licensing fees, however, the reasoning has been that allowing each site to do its own licensing would allow flexibility for each entity.
Commissioners also authorized Commissioner Chair Danny McCullough to sign the four transportation documents for the grant money from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and federal programs.
Public transportation manager Joyce Hall told the commissioners that the proposal for the transportation grant will be $118,570. Hall said that is a decrease of nearly $5,600 from last year’s grant. Hall explained that because the county has two new replacement vans now, she is not anticipating as many repair expenses. She said she left the fuel line alone since she has no ideas what fuel prices are going to do.
Hall also told the commissioners that the administrative portion of the grant was an 80/20 grant with the federal paying 80% and the county paying 20% or $19,000. For the operation part of the grant, federal program pays 50%, the state pays 20% and the county pays 30% or just over $6,800. The total county portion will be about $26,000.
Hall said she expected that the county’s revenue would probably decrease about $1,000 this year because they have seen an increase in people asking for rides because it is cheaper for the county to take them than for them to pay for gas themselves. She said there were a lot more people on the state’s Department for Children and Families (DCF) assistance as well, so those are reduced fares that cut into the county’s collections.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Changed next week’s meeting to Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 9 a.m. due to the Veteran’s Day Holiday on Monday.
• Hired Chasity Ware of Mound City as the new county Economic and Development Director at a salary of $57,461 per year . Ware previously taught the family and consumer sciences (FACs) classes at Jayhawk-Linn high school.
• Appointed Noxious Weed Director Johnny Taylor as an alternate on the Lake Region Solid Waste Authority (LRSWA) council to replace Economic Development Director Jessica Hightower, who resigned her position last summer.
• Discussed the funding of the roof repair at the main courthouse. Commissioners also talked about setting up meetings with two different preservation companies.
• Learned from West that County Attorney Burton Harding was working on the document for Kwikom.
• Directed West to set up a meeting with an administrator from Kansas Wildlife and Parks to discuss Queens Road. Commissioners Jim Johnson and Jason Hightower wanted to make sure that if the county turned the road over to the state that it would stay open.
• Approved a 2-inch water line burial permit at 4950 Ingram Road in Blue Mound.
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