Courthouse security plan gets OK
By GAYLE WEBER
District court officials have given their approval to a plan to secure the Ellis County Courthouse, and now Sheriff Ed Harbin will be getting bids for the cameras, monitors and other security equipment needed to implement the plan.
Harbin first presented options to commissioners in December for securing the courthouse. At the time, he recommended installing more than 20 cameras in the courthouse, limiting access to the third floor courtroom and court offices and hiring an additional sheriff's deputy in order to have two with their eyes on the courthouse throughout the day.
Court officials approved of the plan, and Harbin said adjustments would be made as it is implemented in order to accommodate both employees and visitors to the courthouse.
"Based on this building, there's no simple answers," Court Administrator Phil Fielder said Monday. "Any step forward is an improvement."
Although he had received one bid already, Harbin said he would be re-bidding the equipment, which would include a monitor station that one deputy would be based at each day.
In other business:
* Commissioners approved a state highway spraying contract and a noxious weed eradication report. Noxious Weed Director George Korobka said he probably will have to spray the ditches on U.S. Highway 183 north of Hays at least three times to treat the newly-planted grass following road reconstruction.
* A stretch of Old U.S. Highway 40 from Yocemento to Ellis will undergo a road safety assessment this year. The state will pay for the $50,000 project and awarded it to Ellis County based on traffic count and the number of accidents that have occurred on that stretch of roadway. The assessment should be done by the fall.
* Commissioners indicated they want to explore their options when the county's contract to haul solid waste to a Topeka site expires in a year. Public Works Administrator Mike Graf said he would start compiling options for commissioners to consider to reduce costs in solid waste.
* Rural Fire Director Dick Klaus told commissioners he is looking to upgrade fire trucks in Catharine and Munjor in order to comply with new guidelines, which will require engines to pump 250 gallons per minute in those communities. The previous requirement was 50 gallons per minute.