The Reno County Commission decided Tuesday to delay further taking up a $50,000 funding request from New Beginnings to help remodel its transitional housing into a new detox and in-patient treatment center.
The board agreed to put off the issue, which was tabled at last week’s commission meeting, until next week – or perhaps some time into April.
County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan asked for the one-week extension.
“Among other things, the Hutchinson City Attorney is preparing a contract with its (the city’s) concerns or issues, and I’ve not been provided that yet,” O’Sullivan said. “I’d like also to review the matter with Randy Partington (the new county administrator) when he gets here.”
“I was aware the city attorney is working on this,” Commissioner Bob Bush said. “And, since they’re doing $50,000 for the same purpose, I wanted to make sure what the city attorney was saying in writing, so we’re in lockstep.”
Commissioner Ron Hirst also agreed to the delay until at least March 3, but suggested extending the issue out even further, “even into April, dependent” on the need.
“I agree we’re not in a huge rush,” Bush responded. “Since we’re talking $50,000, we want to make sure we do this right once. Planning is the key, so it may go into April as well.”
The Hutchinson City Council unanimously agreed Jan. 21 to contribute $50,000 to the project.
New Beginnings Inc. is attempting to raise $200,000 toward the remodel of Meadowlark Commons, 100 E. Second, to convert it into a detoxification and drug and alcohol treatment center. Half that cost is for a fire sprinkler system.
The total remodel costs, New Beginnings Executive Director Shara Gonzales told the commission last week, are estimated at $430,000, but the agency will use reserves to cover more than half of that.
In other business Tuesday:
– The commission approved awarding a bid to Summit Truck Group of Kansas City, Mo., for the purchase of two International tandem-axle dump trucks, including 12-foot snowplows and salt-sand spreaders, for a total $311,180.
The bid was the lowest of three received for the trucks and equipment and includes $54,000 in trade-in for two 2009 Sterling dump trucks, with attachments, in the county fleet they will replace.
“These are the last two trucks that were here when I hired on,” said Public Works Director Don Brittain. “They had issues, but we fixed them. My plan is to not trade them out until they are 12 years old or have 225,000 miles, whichever comes first. We created that policy in 2010.”
In response to a question from Commissioner Ron Hirst, Brittain said they will include the old plows and spreaders in the trade because they are smaller than new equipment and have wear-and-tear.
“It’s better to get a whole unit and let the used units go,” he said. “There’s a lot of counties waiting for our used trucks, and that plow and spreader is a bonus for them.”
– The commission received a resolution from the County Clerk’s office asking it to consider canceling 95 checks worth a cumulative $2,414 written by the county in 2017 that have never been cashed.
The list can be found with the commission’s Feb. 11 agenda online at renogov.org, or residents can call the clerk’s office at 694-2934 to see if they might have a check, County Clerk Donna Patton advised.
The issue was on the agenda as a discussion item, to give the public notice so they can ask for new checks to be written or the checks to be canceled.
Patton said she’ll be back in two weeks asking the board to approve canceling those remaining on the list.
Nearly half the checks are for $10, issued from the county’s general fund for individuals who had jury duty. Another 15 were issued by the Treasurer’s Office, likely for overpaid taxes, Patton said. Another 25 were from the tag office.
Only two of the checks were for more than $100, with the largest $333, though one individual, Paul Monroe, was issued three checks together valued at $220.
– The commission accepted an annual noxious weed report and 2021 management plan.
The county sprayed the equivalent of 177 acres in the roadside right-of-way during 2019, with about 68 percent of that targeting bindweed.
The county sold chemicals to farmers to spray the equivalent of more than 3,400 acres, about half of which was for bindweed and 41 percent for musk thistle. Chemicals were also sold to treat Johnson Grass and Sericea Lespedeza.
Townships bought chemicals to treat about 44 acres, also for bindweed and Johnson Grass.
Brittain said acreages sprayed by the county and farmers were about equal to 2018, though township spraying jumped from just 18 acres in 2018.
– The commission thanked Youth Services Director Bill Hermes for his service as acting-County Administrator since the beginning of the year. Partington is scheduled to fill the post starting next week. Hermes called it “an honor and a privilege to help out.”
