On Monday morning, the Barton County Commission approved the purchase of a new power broom, an implement used to clean road surfaces before or after a road work project.
The demonstrator-model broom for the Road and Bridge Department came with a pricetag of $39,939. It is new and has a full warranty, but has a few hours on it, said Dale Phillips, Road and Bridge director.
Originally, the unit cost over $53,000, but the usage and a state discount brought the price down, he said. This will be one of four brooms used by the department – two are older and one was purchased in 2011.
The number of brooms allows crews to work more efficiently, he said. They can be used in tandem to save time, manpower, and wear-and-tear on the machines.
The new unit is made by Broce Manufacturing of Dodge City.
In a related matter, the commission also OKed a bid from Venture Corporation to mix 20,000 tons of cold-mixed asphalt for the Barton County Road and Bridge Department at $7.13 per ton. The department will furnish all the materials. Using county specifications, Venture will do the worked at the county pit on South Washington, Great Bend, Phillips said.
In other business Monday morning, the Barton County Commission:
• Approve a retroactive disaster proclamation resolution for the February blizzards as requested by Emergency Manager Amy Miller. Due to the record snow fall and the cost of the storms (the county cost combined with those statewide), Barton County is eligible for a federal disaster declaration.
• Approved the purchase of a L SCAN 1000PX  from Cross Match Technologies for $15,325. This is a compact, high-resolution fingerprint and palm print scanner for booking criminal suspects into police identification systems. The system includes patented Auto Capture for  image capture and real-time image preview for the highest quality biometric data collection. The cost includes the scanner, desktop computer, supplies, training and warranty. Also included is a discount on currently owned equipment that will be traded in for the new system. The existing unit is outdated and would require about $4,000 in upgrades, and still would be compatible with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation requirements. Sheriff Brian Bellendir said he worked with Information Technology Director John Debes on the project.
 • The Kansas Department of Agriculture, Weed and Pesticide Division, requires that each County’s Noxious Weed Department submit an annual report of their activities for the previous year. In Barton County, that duty falls to the Road and Bridge Department, Phillips said during his report Monday morning. The program was appropriated around $387,000 in 2012, but brought in revenue totalling nearly $450,000. Phillips said the department works well with landowners, townships, cities and railroad companies in fighting noxious weeds in the county, adding that no warning notices were issued last year.
• Attended a luncheon at the Barton County Historical Society after the meeting at the society’s museum complex south of Great Bend.