County commission to meet in evenings
By GAYLE WEBER
Starting Nov. 30, the Ellis County Commission will meet in the evenings.
Commissioners approved the measure Monday in an effort to free up a courtroom for the 23rd Judicial District.
"I talked with the judges, and they said they absolutely need this courtroom to alleviate their scheduling conflicts," Commissioner Glenn Diehl said.
Diehl said the most immediate use of the commission chambers will be as a courtroom for magistrate judges, who have been conducting court in a meeting room across the street from the courthouse.
"I think it would be a cheap solution to the courts' space needs right now," said Diehl, who campaigned in 2008 on the idea of moving commission meetings to evenings.
The commission will meet at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 30 and continue meeting Monday nights on a trial basis until the end of March.
"We'll do it for a few months and then if we have a qualm about it or it's not working out, we'll just let the courts know," Commission Chairman Perry Henman said. "After two months, we ought to know."
The move to evening meetings was recommended by the county's space needs committee. Included in the recommendation was a measure to secure the courthouse. Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin still is working on that measure.
In other business:
* Ellis County made more than $73,000 by listing seven pieces of equipment from the public works department with Purple Wave Auction. Commissioners opted to try the Purple Wave listing instead of taking dealer trade-ins for the equipment.
* Commissioners approved the purchase of a light tower for $1,500 from federal surplus, a refrigerator for $9,579 for the health department and 15 pagers for rural fire for $6,930.
* The Kansas Department of Transportation awarded the bid for construction of a bridge southwest of Walker to King Construction, Hesston, for $391,317.24. Since the construction bid was well below estimate and construction engineering costs still fit into the $557,882 allotment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the county will not have a local match on the project. Ellis County, however, has paid for preliminary engineering on the bridge.
* Commissioners wavered Monday on the amount of in-kind services they thought county employees could provide for the Hays sports complex.
Earlier this year, commissioners had given their approval for county crews to do dirt work at the complex site; however, engineers are estimating about 270,000 cubic yards of dirt would need to be moved. Public Works Administrator Mike Graf said that would amount to two to three months of work for his employees.
"I don't want this impacting your road maintenance," Diehl told Graf.
Instead, commissioners said they would like to talk to sports complex committee members again about the amount of in-kind services the county is willing to offer.
* Commissioners approved the purchase of geographic information systems server with the total amount of $7,944 split between the city and county. The server will be used to help run a Web site that will display public GIS information.
* Commissioners met in executive session for an hour and 15 minutes Monday to discuss negotiations concerning proposed decommissioning, payment in lieu of taxes and road maintenance agreements with Hays Wind.