Rhodes on Roads- Your section man has multiple tasks to cover

Written by Martin Rhodes Wednesday, 31 October 2007 12:42

Your section man—the man who grades your road—is someone you probably know by name. His day normally begins at 7 a.m. when he radios the office to check in for the day. Of course, if there’s been a snow or ice storm the night before, his day starts around 3 a.m.

Each section man is responsible to maintain an average of 120 miles of dirt or rock road with a grader. He’s also responsible to maintain the ditches that, generally speaking, run on either side of those roads.

Sometimes we’re asked why the grader man sometimes grades loose dirt or rock to the middle of the road.

The answer is simple: Water runs downhill. If he didn’t from time to time build up the center of the road, but continued to push dirt to the side...

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Rhodes on Roads- County 4th in road miles in KS

Written by Martin Rhodes Wednesday, 24 October 2007 10:12

This is the first in a series of articles that is intended to acquaint you with the Marion County Road & Bridge employees, what they do for you on a daily basis and why they do it.

The series is written mainly for the folks who live in the rural areas of our county, but some of the topics will surely be of interest to our “city slickers,” too, because we all pay the taxes that fund the department’s work.

The Road & Bridge Depart­ment currently has 41 employees with a combined 412 years of experience and service to Marion County.

When it comes to roads and bridges, we live in the fourth largest county in Kansas. Scattered over our 1,008 square miles of beautiful Kansas countryside are about 1,700 miles of dirt and gravel roads...

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First lot sold in new Hillsboro Business Park

Written by Don Ratzlaff Wednesday, 24 October 2007 10:09

The Hillsboro City Council authorized the sale of the first lot in the newly platted Hillsboro Business Park during its Oct. 16 meeting.

Albert Reimer, veteran Hillsboro businessman, had asked to purchase Lot 1, Block 1 in HBP for $20,000. An earnest-money deposit on the property has been received by the city.

At a meeting earlier this year, Reimer had outlined his plan to build a new business there that would feature recreational vehicles that would appeal to “lake-traffic” clientele driving to and from Marion Reservoir.

The new business park is located immediately east of North Ash Street between U.S. Highway 56 and the north boundary of the former AMPI property.

No timetable for the new development was announced.

Bill...

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Marion country club developers ask for city assistance

Written by Jerry Engler Wednesday, 24 October 2007 10:08

Attorney Chris Costello, representing Country Club Heights developers Doug Sharp and Roger Hannaford III at the Marion City Council meeting Monday, asked that the city assume more than $17,000 expected expense in paving the development’s access street called Country Club Heights.

City Administrator David Mayfield said this would raise the city’s total expense on the project to more than $40,000 because it already has responsibility for one side as the result of taking ownership from the former owner.

Costello said the proposal was one of establishing fairness because at the time the developers began the project 13 or 14 years ago, the Marion City Commission of that time promised construction of a city street if four or five homes...

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