Joan Strickler, observer
Riley County
Commission June 25, 2015
Commissioners
Wells, Boyd and Wilson present, Wells presiding.
In general comments
the Commissioners expressed a great deal of frustration with the actions taken
in the Legislature during the current session.
They tended to doubt that the tax limitation placed on the counties
would gather the votes in the veto session to eliminate the problem. Reportedly Pottawatomie County Commissioners
are threatening to declare “Home Rule” and ignore the law. A question was raised about the possibility
of avoiding the limitation problems by passing a county budget in June (the
current fiscal year) to avoid coming under the new restrictions voted for FY
2016.
It has been
reported that the Kansas Department of Transportation will have no money to
fund any asphalt overlays in the coming year.
Assistant
County Engineer Gary Rosewicz recommended a cost increase of $2 a ton to handle
the Municipal Solid Waste disposal delivered to the County site. The increase
is needed to keep the facility self-funded. The Commissioners voted to
approve the increase beginning August l.
It was
agreed to name a small group of knowledgeable people to come up with recommendations
on how to proceed with a new RCPD shooting range training facility. Commissioner Wilson will serve on the
committee. The committee will be staffed
by the Planning/Special Projects Director Monty Wedel. It is hoped that the objections of area
residents near the proposed facility can be addressed positively.
A budget
work session focused on requests from those services providing agencies not
part of the County government such as the Crisis Center, Pawnee Mental Health
etc. It was suggested a 10% cut be made
to all the agencies requests, but instead agreed that each should be dealt with
individually.
