Commissioners outline conference trip
BY DALE HOGG
dhogg@gbtribune.com
From July 19-22, Barton County commissioners Jennifer Schartz and Don Davis traveled to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to attend the National Association of Counties annual conference.
Monday morning, they addressed the rest of the County Commission on what they learned.
“Barton County is in a pretty good position,” Schartz said. She based this on her conversations with other county commissioners from around the nation who faced dire problems.
“We’re doing good financially,” she said. Barton County has no debt and this is almost unheard of based on what others said .
She also learned of the importance of long-range planning. “We have to keep an eye on the future.”
She said the local commission does this, but could even do more.
Other topics she recalled included public/private partnerships and corporate sponsorship of county projects. She also mentioned the popular prescription drug card offered through the county (made possible through the NACo membership) and the new dental card that the county could offer in the future.
“Counties matter nationwide,” Davis said. There are over 3,000 counties in America that employ 3.5 million people and have budgets totalling over $460 billion. “That’s a huge economic impact.”
From emergency responses to flu shots, he said everyone is touched in some way by county government.
Not all the sessions were applicable to Barton County. But, Davis said he and Schartz were still able to bring back useful information.
In other business Monday morning, the County Commission:
• Learned that the county will be reimbursed, at least in part, for a costly sexual predator case tried in Barton County last year. Mike Keeley, chief judge for the 20h Judicial District, said the county has received a check for $24,946.61 from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. Officials had tried earlier to get money from the state’s Sexual Predator Fund, however, the Legislature did not fund that program. It was suggested the county contact the AG’s Office which had just received an allocation of $25,000. The AG agreed the case met the terms to be covered and sent the money.
“We were in the right place at the right time,” Keeley said. But, he added, there was a lot of effort and paperwork involved in the process.
• Approved contracting with Straight Line Striping Inc. to stripe approximately 105 miles of county roads. The estimated cost, at no more than $90,000, was included in the 2013 Road and Bridge Budget. The cost is about $817 per mile. The county has around 415 miles of blacktops which are on a four-year rotation to be re-sealed and striped. The striping will begin in September.
• Approved purchasing assorted culverts from J&J Drainage Products for $34,970. These are culverts of various sizes that the Road and Bridge Department keeps in inventory and uses as needed.
• Approved the purchase and installation of two Hunter-brand ceiling fans in the first-floor courthouse conference room. The fans will be purchased from and installed by Silverado Electric of Great Bend for $1,029.65.
There’s nothing the county can do. That was the message to rural Great Bend residents Reland Cole at the Barton County Commission meeting Monday morning.
Cole, who lives one of several homes east of U.S. 281 on the north side of SW 20 Road, presented a petition signed by him and 13 of his neighbors to the commission. He is seeking to block Venture Corporation from building a large machine repair facility on 43 acres on the south side of the blacktop.
He presented the same petition to the Great Bend City Council July 15. But, “they didn’t want me at the meeting,” he said, adding he was treated poorly by city officials, from City Administrator Howard Partington to Mayor Mike Allison.
“This is why I decided to come here,” he said to the commission.
Cole, who operates an auto body business, was concerned about the noise, dirt lights and pollution caused by the work at the new shop. Should extra shifts be added through the night, “how am I supposed to get any sleep or have any quality of life?”
The land was rezoned in early 2000 by Barton County from agricultural use to commercial/industrial use. This was prior to the city taking over such duties within a three-mile radius of the city limits later that same year. The city was not involved in the change.
“It’s a major issue for us,” he said of the area residents. But, “I’m most affected by it.”
He said he’s talked to Venture officials, but has not gotten the response he is looking for. They told him the planned on installing a six-foot privacy fence, but said the building will have 16-foot sidewalls and that fence won’t do much good.
However, even though the commissioners understood Cole’s problem, they said there wasn’t much they could do. “The county has no authority,” said commission Chairman Don Cates.
The county may have rezoned the property, but that duty now belongs to the City of Great Bend.
Cates said the situation does place the residents in an awkward position. “The zoning is being done by people they didn’t help elect.”
Cole’s neighborhood falls outside the city limits, despite being zoned by the city.
County Administrator Richard Boeckman said he had met with Cole. He gave him some ideas, but none involved the county.
During the City Council meeting, Cole was told that since the property is properly zoned, the company was within its rights to build the shop. The council said it had no way to stop the project.
