Commission tables decision on well waiver
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
Next time Ellis County commissioners meet, they will be back to full strength, and they will be meeting at a new time.
Chairman Perry Henman missed Monday's meeting because of a prior commitment, and starting Nov. 30, the commission meetings will move to night instead of the traditional morning time.
Start time for weekly meetings now will be 6:45 p.m. in the Ellis County Courthouse.
On Monday, Keith Pfannenstiel, owner of Pfannenstiel Water Well Service of Hays, presented a request for a waiver for the placement of a water well in Ellis County.
The well, located in the new Limestone Acres housing development near Yocemento, doesn't meet the required setback from other property, according to county regulations.
However, Pfannenstiel had letters from owners of the two adjoining properties stating they were OK with a variance.
"According to Kansas regulations," Pfannenstiel said, "this well meets every requirement for a waiver."
Because Henman was absent, commissioners Vernon Berens and Glenn Diehl agreed to table the matter until the next meeting.
Butch Schlyer, county health administrator, reported his department has received and administered about 1,500 of the 3,900 vaccines allotted to Ellis County to date for the H1N1 flu virus.
Vaccines have been administered to students in 11 of the 16 schools in the county, with two more scheduled for today.
But, Schlyer added, the county health office doesn't expect to receive any more seasonal flu vaccines any time soon, if at all this year.
"Our two providers have informed us they've quit production," Schlyer said.
County Treasurer Mickey Billinger presented his investment performance report for the third quarter of 2009. With the closing of the county tax roll at the end of October, Billinger reported that 98.06 percent of taxes had been paid, leaving a delinquent list of only 1.904 percent.
Although that was up slightly from the 1.40 percent delinquency of a year ago, that didn't worry Billinger.
"Considering the state of the economy, our delinquents are not that high in Ellis County," he said. "We felt really good that while (delinquents) were up slightly from 2007, it was nothing we needed to be concerned about."
Also Monday, the commissioners signed three purchase orders for a GIS server and related expenses that Ellis County is splitting costs with the city of Hays.
The county's share was $3,972.