The Barton County Road and Bridge Department has been busy keeping the county’s inventory of road signs maintained, Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips said.

Since June 1, 48 signs were damaged by either accidents or vandalism and 10 signs had wind damage. In all, 47 signs have been moved or replaced. 

This was part of County Administrator Richard Boeckman’s biweekly service update presented at the County Commission meeting Monday morning. Other highlights included:

Road and Bridge  

• Work continues on sealing roads during the last two weeks. Although wet weather has slowed operations, work is progressing. 

• Sealing work is being performed in the north and northwest area of Barton County.

County Engineer Barry McManaman

• Looked at drainage issues at various locations in the County due to recent rains

• Looked at an entrance request for one township

• Technician assisting with the asphalt roadway sealing project being done by Road and Bridge

Solid Waste Director Phil Hathcock

In the last reporting period, the Barton County Landfill took in:

• 1,973 tons of municipal solid waste

• 450 tons of construction/demolition waste

• 338 tons of special waste

• 1,104 loads of waste received for disposal

• $103,593.25 of revenue generated through disposal fees

Notable events 

• Solid Waste staff has been busy t aking advantage of dry conditions by repairing erosion of Landfill cover caused by recent heavy rains. Staff has also been busy with the various recycling operations at the facility, including transporting mattresses to Hutchinson Correctional Facility; transporting bicycles to Ellsworth Correctional Facility; and transporting E-waste (electronics) to Rice County E-waste Facility in Lyons. The Landfill receives a large amount of electronics waste per week from citizens and businesses in Barton County. The majority of this is computer components and televisions.

Emergency Risk Manager Amy Miller

On Aug. 25, the Kansas Department of Agriculture held a workshop in Great Bend to discuss animal disease preparedness, biosecurity, disease control activities, and continuity of business topics for feedlots, dairies, veterinarians and other individuals interested in emergency planning for an animal disease event, said Barton County Emergency Risk Manager Amy Miller who attended the event.

Featured speaker at the workshop was Bret Marsh, Indiana state veterinarian. Marsh discussed lessons learned from the avian influenza outbreak in Indiana which affected turkeys in the southwestern portion of state in January 2016. 

The importance of emergency planning for an animal disease outbreak by state and federal agriculture officials, commercial and small producers, other industry partners, and local officials, provided an awareness of the many issues that must be considered for the response to a foreign animal disease event, Miller said.

Good biosecurity practices by producers and the importance of business continuity plans was emphasized by Dr. Danelle Bickett-Weddle, associate director at the Center for Feed Security and Public Health at Iowa State University. In addition, both Dr. Bickett-Weddle and Dr. Marsh discussed public education and information during an animal disease outbreak. Such an event requires an intensive response by industry and regulators to continue a safe and secure food supply for consumers. 

Agriculture officials and emergency management officials throughout the State of Kansas have prepared and exercised plans for responding to an animal disease outbreak. 

Health Director Shelly Schneider

• Participated in an Informatics Meeting in Topeka to allow assistance in the development of an Information Catalog that persons wanting to navigate the Public Health Information world. 

• The Suicide Task Force sponsored the “Ucantberased” (you can’t be erased) Teen Suicide Prevention Program by Luke Maxwell, a teen recovering from depression, Tuesday night. He spoke with the area middle school and high school students and staff.

• Senior Farmer’s Market will be wrapped up on Sept. 8. Good participation allowed local citizens access to fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the summer. 

• The Kansas Department of Health and Environment visited the Health Department on Sept. 8 to provide technical assistance on the children with special health care needs. Barton County houses a satellite office. Many diagnosis are covered and financial assistance can be available to qualifying families.

• The Health Department gave 1,295 immunizations in August. 

Juvenile Services Interim Director Marissa Woodmansee

• All Stars class was presented to Riley Elementary school. 

• Human Trafficking meeting was attended by three staff members from Juvenile Services.

• Day time staff completed security awareness and internet safety training from Kansas Department of Corrections.

• Met with Stafford County judicial staff regarding SB 367, which amended the state’s juvenile justice system, and upcoming board meeting.

• Youth Awareness class was held for drug and alcohol and anger control.

• Juvenile Intake and Assessment has completed four intakes since last Thursday.

• Juvenile Intensive Supervised Probation and Case Management currently are supervising 68 youth from the 20th Judicial District.

• Project Stay is the case management program for youth who have truancy issues and currently provides case management for 30 youth in the district

• Teen Court is held every month and currently has 16 active cases 

• Audit and site visit from Kansas Department of Corrections for federal compliance was completed.