Like it or not, 2011 is grinding to a close, and Barton County officials took care of some end-of-year business when the Barton County Commission met Monday.
Commissioners approved the annual appointment of special deputy coroners, as requested by District Coroner Dr. Edward Jones.
Appointed for Barton County were Terri Bahr, Rick Robison and Steve Boltin. For Ellsworth County, Shawn McGowan was appointed. And Doris Tompkins was appointed for Stafford County.
Special deputy coroners, according to information from the county are “appointed for one-year calendar terms, do not have the necessary credentials to be a deputy, but generally have a medical background.”
Also on Monday, the commissioners approved the annual occupancy agreements for the county office building at 12th and Kansas.
The building houses both the Extension Department and Kansas Parole Office.
While the county provides the office space, the departments help pay for utilities and phone service.
In a related discussion, Barton County Administrator Richard Boeckman commented on the coming changes to that area.
When the new movie theater is constructed at Lakin and Kansas, it will impact where the county has been using part of a privately owned parking lot. Boeckman said there will still be plenty of on-street parking and he noted that there is a city-owned parking lot across the street to the west of the entrance of the building that is used by Extension.
For Parole Services that may require more of a walk, but it will offer off-street parking. “There’s plenty of parking there. People will have to walk a little bit,” he said.