BY KEITH LIPPOLDT

klippoldt@gbtribune.com

The Barton County Commissioners had a heavy schedule of agenda items set for its final meeting of 2024. But before they could get to those items on Tuesday they needed to open a Budget Amendment Hearing to make changes to the General Fund, Road and Bridge Fund, as well as 911 Tax Fund.

County Administrator Matt Patzner explained that these changes were necessary “to get us where we need to be covered in a lot of cases.”

The amendment to the General Fund will increase its budget by $3,490,000 to allow for the transfer of unanticipated revenue to preserve funds for future projects, if it is deemed practical and necessary.

“A lot of this unanticipated revenue can be attributed to anticipating tax credits, receiving those this year,” Patzner said. “I’m still not sure if we’re going to receive those in 2024 or if we’ll see them in 2025, but this was in anticipation of that.”

Other sources of revenue included in this transfer was the amount of interest the county took in beyond what they had budgeted for as well as KDOT reimbursements for projects done in 2023 that were reimbursed in 2024.

The Road and Bridge budget will increase budget authority by $380,000 to cover additional purchases for aggregates and other consumable goods that are necessary for operations.

The 911 Tax Fund will increase budget authority by $100,000 to cover equipment maintenance costs that were not anticipated at the time the 2024 budget was adopted.

Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson made a motion to close the Budget Amendment Hearing. It was seconded by Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger. The motion passed 5-0 allowing the commissioners to move forward to the agenda meeting. 

The Budget Amendment was approved in the Agenda meeting.

Cereal Malt Beverage licenses

The Commissioners heard from County Clerk Bev Schmeidler pertaining to the renewals of Cereal Malt Beverage licenses in the County. The establishments requesting licenses are Lake Barton Golf Course, two licenses for Miller Time LLC in Beaver, the Odin Community Club and the Odin Store.

“Background checks were done by the Sheriff’s Office,” Schmeidler said. “Miller Time has two of them. They have one for consumption on the premises and one for sale in unopened containers for consumption off premises so they can sell it.”

Commissioner Donna Zimmerman questioned why there were so few this year as she remembers more being licensed in the past. Schmeidler replied that most of these businesses have switched to drinking establishments and are not selling it to go, lessening the number of licenses issued.

Solid Waste

Solid Waste Director Jennifer Hamby reported the landfill is required to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures plan per EPA regulation 40 CFR 112.3. 

“This plan details a description of oil storage and handling operations, spill prevention practices, discharge drainage controls and the personnel, equipment and resources at the facility that are used to prevent oil spills from reaching navigable waters or adjoining shorelines,” Hamby explained. “Landfill management has received three bids for the preparation of this plan. The bids we received were from Argus Consulting Incorporated for $16,000 and UES and SCS Engineers were both at $8,500. I’m recommending we approve the bid from SCS Engineers for $8,500 because they have been our engineers for 40 years. They know our landfill better than anybody.” 

Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger motioned to accept the bid from SCS and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Duane Reif. The motion carried 5-0.

Equipment Repair

Hamby also presented the Commissioners with a bid for equipment repair on the Caterpillar 826K Compactor that is used to push and compact trash. She says that operators are continually cleaning debris that gets wrapped around the axles that could potentially cause “catastrophic” damage.

“Occasionally, debris will get tightly wrapped around the axles or in a spot that the operators are unable to move it,” she said. “This requires clean out by removing the wheels. After a recent service on the compactor, it was recommended by Foley’s that the wheels be removed and axles cleaned to check for and/or prevent any machine damage.”

To clean the axles, a crane is needed to remove and replace the 7,000 pound (each) wheels. The bid from Foley’s came in at $20,180.11.

Reif commented that “preventative maintenance is well worth the money because a repair could be double this price.”

Schlessiger made the motion to accept the bid from Foley and it was seconded by Hutchinson. The motion carried 5-0.

Bridge widening

County Engineer Barry McManaman presented a request for bid approval for the widening of an existing Reinforced Concrete Box (RCB) Bridge, No. OS 156, located on NW 10 Ave., approximately .25 miles south of NW 20 Road.

“This is another one of our narrow structures, and it has a steel angle iron guard rail on it that’s pretty close to the edge of the road,” McManaman said. “And so as a safety improvement, I’ve put together a project that would extend the box six feet on each side, very similar to some of the other ones that we’ve done, the most recent one being the one we just finished a mile east of Beaver. L&M Contractors out of Great Bend was the only bid that we’ve received, and it was in the amount of $87,713 – which came in very close to my estimate.

“You get that drop-off out away from the edge of the road, then you don’t require the guardrail, so you’re eliminating that obstruction just by doing that. Some of these old guardrails that we have on our boxes are very short, and they don’t serve a whole lot of function. And in some cases, over the years, the roads build up and they’ve gotten too short, and they’re not going to redirect you anyway. You’re probably going to fall over the top of some of them. So, yeah, just a good safety improvement.”

Schlessiger made a motion to accept the bid from L&M Contractors that was seconded by Hutchinson. The motion passed 5-0.

Due to the holiday schedule, the next Commission meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 9 a.m. at the Courthouse.