Barton County Environmental Manager Judy Goreham has completed the most recent update to the county Zoning Regulations Version II which included provisions for commercial solar facilities, commercial agricultural product storage facilities and a new definition for “structures,” the County Commission was told Monday morning.
The county’s zoning regs have been around since 2000 and revised in 2013. The most recent changes, the first in four years, were approved in June.
In addition, Goreham is still seeking one member for the Barton County Planning Commission. Applicants must be a Barton County resident.
The focus of the Planning Commission is to plan for the proper growth of the county through planning and zoning laws It also functions as the Board of Zoning Appeals.
The next regular meeting of the Barton County Planning Commission is scheduled for 3 p.m., Tuesday, July 11, at the Barton County Courthouse, first floor conference room.
The public is invited to attend.
The zoning report was part of the biweekly departmental update presented to the commission by Operations Manager Phil Hathcock. Other highlights included:
County Engineer Barry McManaman
• Met with a Pawnee Rock official and reviewed floodplain issues in relation to tornado-damaged structures.
• Prepared paperwork for a Supplemental Agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation for additional funds available for repairs related to the flooding in the spring of 2015.
• Preparing the paperwork to solicit letters of interest from consulting firms to design the 2019 High Risk Rural Roads Signing Project.
Road and Bridge/Memorial Parks departments
Road and Bridge
• Asphalt Road overlay work is being performed west of Great Bend and in the Pawnee Rock area. Asphalt crews will move to the Albert area and then to the Hoisington area for road repairs.
• Mowers are operating in the central/west-central area of the county. Mowers will mow out west (Great Bend) Tenth Street right-of-way in anticipation of the Barton County Fair.
• Staff rebuilt barricades damaged after the recent storms.
• Staff repaired three guardrails after the recent flooding damaged the rails. Roadways over the bridges were repaired as well.
Memorial Parks
• The Memorial Parks were readied for the Fourth of July Holiday.
911 Director Dena Popp
• Statistics for June 2017 – Created and processed 3,559 radio dispatch cards in Enterpol CAD (computer aided dispatch). This includes officer initiated traffic stops or service of civil process/court documents.
• Handled 6,843 phone calls from the public and officers/deputies. Of those, 1,021 were 911 calls and 5,822 were administrative calls.
• Approved 104 requests to utilize burn permits.
County Treasurer Kevin Wondra
• The Treasurer’s Office processed a total of 1,429 motor vehicle transactions between June 15 and June 28. Of those, 932 were vehicle renewals and 226 were new titles. In the past two weeks, staff has renewed, registered or updated 18 commercial vehicles.
• There was one payment received for a property on this year’s tax sale; this leaves 63 parcels on the sale. To redeem, all taxes, interest, abstract and court fees must be paid in full.
• The bookkeepers are current with daily work.
Juvenile Services Director Marissa Woodmansee
• Juvenile Intake and Assessment has completed 16 intakes since June 7.
• Juvenile Intensive Supervised Probation and Case Management currently are supervising 41 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 34 youth in the district.
• Teen Court is held every month and currently has nine youth participating.
• A cognitive class for drug and alcohol youth is being taught to three youth.
• Anger Control class started with five youth participating.
• Immediate Intervention has 22 youth currently participating in the program.
