The Barton County Landfill is gearing up for the start of household hazardous waste collection season which officially began Tuesday, Solid Waste Manager Mark Witt reported to the County Commission Monday morning. The first on-site collection will be 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 19, at the facility.
Witt’s report was part of County Administrator Richard Boeckman’s biweekly departmental update.
Witt also noted:
• 981.54 tons of municipal solid waste
• 222.36 tons of construction/demolition waste
• 31.82 tons of petroleum contaminated soil
• 288.23 tons of sodium chloride (brine) impacted soil
• 7.88 tons of special waste
• 1.43 tons of mattresses transported to Hutchinson Correctional Facility for recycling
• 1.48 tons of electronics waste (E-waste) transported to Rice County E-waste Facility
• 570 loads of waste received for disposal
• $57,538.60 revenue generated through disposal fees
Other highlights from Boeckman’s update included:

Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips
 Road and Bridge:
 • Continued sign work over the reporting period, replacing signs on scheduled High-Risk Rural Roads routes and replacing damaged signs as needed.
• Hauled sand from Ellinwood to Great Bend for the summer road-work season.
• Culvert and drainage work continues on scheduled projects.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency repairs are nearly complete with two locations remaining.
 Noxious Weed:
• Spraying of County road right of way continues.
 Memorial Parks
• Work at the Memorial Parks was completed as scheduled. This included preparing the site for the Veterans Memorial for concrete construction.
 
Information Technology Director John Debes
• Phone systems update – Nex-tech has removed taxes from the billing, reduced the cost of fax lines and is looking into potential cost savings on our cell phone by upgrading air cards.
• Various equipment at the Sheriff’s Office and at 911 is being updated.
• The Courthouse security (analog) cameras were purchased and installed in 2005. Planned upgrades have been presented to the Commission. More information has been requested.
• Completed a current real estate values report for the Great Bend Tribune.
• Received the first seven of the 4g air cards for the Sheriff’s Office.
• Real estate information from ORION is being sent to Noxious Weed to be used for landowner identification when spraying.

Health Director Lily Akings
Clinic contacts totaled 264