It’s official. The road to the Great Bend Compost Site is now Pat Keenan Memorial Road as Barton County Road and Bridge Department crews recently installed the large blue sign.
That’s not the sign installed, the department has also put up several more of the bicycle awareness signs on rural county blacktops.
This information came up during Barton Count Administrator Richard Boeckman’s departmental update at the Monday morning County Commission meeting. Other highlights included:

The Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips
Road and Bridge
• Asphalt work continues in the Odin area on NE 90 Avenue. Other duties includes patching and overlay work. Staff also mixed asphalt for these jobs.
• Drainage and culvert work was completed on NE 90 Avenue.
•  Four stop signs were replaced.
• Asphalt was hauled to the Odin area work zones and sand was hauled from Ellinwood to stockpile sites.
• Preparations are being made for the paint striping program.
• Staff completed sweeping the 10th street Bridge in preparation for its reopening on Friday, Oct 2.
Noxious Weed Department
• Spraying of noxious weed is concentrated as follows:
State Highway right of way Bindweed and musk thistle
County road right of way Bindweed and Johnson grass.
• Staff performed building maintenance and winterization of water tankers.
Memorial Parks
• Work included marking graves, repairing roads and picking up debris from the grounds.

Solid Waste Manager Phil Hathcock
• 1,047.18 tons of municipal solid waste
• 242.47 tons of construction/demolition waste
• 334.82 tons of special waste
• 176 loads of waste received for disposal
• $58,251.76 of revenue generated through disposal fees
The Solid Waste Department collected 423.5 pounds of household hazardous waste on Oct. 4 in Larned. There is one household hazardous waste collection dates left this year, Oct. 18, at the landfill. Personnel transported 62 mattresses to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility for recycling. For more information on  recycling, household hazardous waste or regular household waste, call the landfill at 620-793-1898.

Emergency Risk Manager Amy Miller
On Sept. 4, Miller participated in a review of the Great Bend Airport Emergency Plan. The Emergency Plan was reviewed with local emergency response agencies and SeaPort Airlines. Agencies attending included the Great Bend Police Department, Barton County 911 Communications, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Great Bend Fire/EMS, SeaPort Airlines, Transportation Safety Administration personnel and the Great Bend Airport staff.
Emergency preparedness presentations for individual preparedness were given by Miller as part of the National Preparedness Month effort sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Presentations were given to the Optimist Club and Farmers Bank and Trust. Individuals were encouraged to make a plan and develop a personal preparedness kit as well as get vaccinations, first aid and CPR training.

911 Director Doug Hubbard
2014 statistics September
911 land lines, 283
911 Wireless, 987
Administrative lines, 9,353
Total calls, 10,623
Radio calls, 109,043
Calls for service, 3,290