Mitchell County Commisioners Meeting Nov 14

Mitchell County Commissioners

Monday, November 14, 206

By Terry Bailey

The Mitchell County Commissioners conducted their regular weekly business meeting at the Courthouse Monday morning, November 14. All Commissioners were present. Kristi Hillman sat in for County Clerk Chris Treaster.

First on the agenda was a visit from two professors, Dr. David Brown from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and Dr. Laslo Kulcsar (kulk-sar) from the Department of Sociology at K-State University, who are conducting a study on the aging population of rural areas and the resulting access to services by those in these rural areas. The professors noted that rural areas are aging, some more than others. Mitchell County has an average age of 46 years old, which puts it in the second highest category, nearing the oldest category of aging population.

The professors noted that as the age of the population of an area goes up, the number of services goes down. They are not sure why this happens and this is one of the topics of their study. They have plans for the next four days to interview those who offer services to the people of Mitchell County with an emphasis on services to the aging population. They plan to return within a month to conduct one-to-one interviews with senior citizens of Mitchell County.

Kelly Hawk, EMS Director, gave his monthly report to the Commissioners. The EMS conducted 53 runs during the month of October. Friday was the day of the week for the most runs. The time period of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. was the busiest time period. Twenty-one females and twenty-four males were transported. The average age of the patients was 65 years of age. Total charges of $30, 351 were made and money collected was $19, 925.

Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintendent, gave the Commissioners an update of the activity within his department. He told the Commissioners that next Monday his crews will go back to working 8 hour days.

He asked the Commissioners for direction on assuming the road duties of the township which voted to turn over these duties to the County. Commissioner Tom Claussen said it was his understanding that the transfer would take place on January 1, 2017. Also, there will be little, if any, money transferred from the township to apply to the increased costs to the County for machinery or labor costs.

Emerson said that e-waste collection boxes had been set up at the Landfill. Everything will be accepted for collection except refrigerators and microwaves.

He also said they would be putting crushed rock on the Victor Road. Emerson noted that a lot of grain piled on the ground in Mitchell County will need to be transported yet, most of it over the county roads. This will undoubtedly have an impact of the conditions of the roads.

Kathy Webster, Mitchell Country Representative to the Pawnee Mental Health Board of Directors, was present to request that the Commissioners sign a Proclamation recognizing the 60^th anniversary of Pawnee Mental Health offering services to the residents of North Central Kansas. Pawnee traces its origin to the creation of the Riley County Mental Health Center on November 19, 1956. The organization has shown steady growth since that time to its current ten county service area. The Commissioners voted unanimously to support the Proclamation.

Having successfully addressed all the items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.

The Commissioners then went into session as the Board of Canvassers to officially canvass the results of last week’s election.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA