Herzet was appointed to the position because former supervisor Gerald Kelsey needed recuperation time from illness. Kelsey hasn't returned since.

Dallke said he is tired of phone calls from the public demanding gravel on roads.

"I don't know how road inspections are being done," he said, "but I want to correct the situation so I don't get these kinds of calls. These are people who have good reason to make these calls, and they expect something from the commission."

Dallke said Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for road and bridge are "setting there" and he wants to see a plan of action for them to be spent in upgrading roads.

Commissioner Dan Holub said road and bridge is in the process of restructuring how road grader operators go about their jobs. He said many road problems were caused by digging out road centers, leaving concave roads. The roads that are working well are convex with the centers built up.

Dallke had a list for Herzet of roads and names of residents living on them where restructuring and more rock are wanted. He said he drove the roads himself to check conditions.

Herzet responded with a status for each road, and what his crews are doing to upgrade them.

Commission Chair Bob Hein told the other commissioners that he listens to road complaints, but he also advises his constituents that "they have to let these guys catch up. There's only so much they can do at a time, and after this weather, it will be a while before they're caught up with the rock."

Dallke wanted to know whether the other commissioners thought they should reconsider an inquiry from the bridge construction engineering firm of Cooke, Flatt and Strobel as to whether they wanted a plaque with the commissioners' names on the latest bridge.

Hein said previous commissioners have rejected the idea of spending extra money for plaques.

Dallke said he thought, particularly if the bridges were numbered, that it might be important "50 years down the road when we're in our graves" for people to be able to identify bridges and who built them.

Jack Chappelle, landfill-closing consulting engineer, and David Brazil, environmental health, transfer station and planning and zoning director who has been working on the closing with Chappelle, came to the meeting with letters prepared for commissioners to send.

Chappelle said the communications with involved parties are necessary because the dirt-moving contractor that will construct the final cover over the old landfill southwest of Marion has been delayed by rain on its current project, a golf course in Newton.

He said Unruh Construction has guaranteed a starting date at the landfill of June 6.

As long as the county takes the time to notify the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and takes care not to violate agreements, Chappelle said this should not be a problem.

Hein said the county will have no problem in being agreeable to the delay as long as KDHE finds no fault.

Chappelle briefly reviewed what will be required of the county to monitor the landfill once it is closed. He said both groundwater quality and methane gas release will have to be monitored.

He said of particular concern will be four different chemicals, each of which can be found as pollutants in the methane. But the gas monitoring tests are simple enough that a county employee can be trained to do them without the expense of laboratory checks, he said.

The commissioners went into executive session by teleconference for 15 minutes with Steve Pigg, attorney for solid waste affairs in Topeka, with no announced decisions.

A delegation led by former County Commissioner Howard Collett presented a county-wide neighborhood revitalization proposal to the commissioners.

The group started looking at county plans in February, and Collett said they settled on copying the Marshall County plan with Marion County numbers and needs substituted in.

Their findings say that the revitalization program would encourage housing, commercial and industrial development through an incremental tax rebate program for a set period of time.

It wouldn't interfere with current property tax revenues. It would be designed to create development where it otherwise might not occur, and thereby create jobs.

Other benefits listed would be to halt outward migration, and to stabilize land values.

As a commissioner, Collett contended such a program was needed to halt the trend that saw Marion County decline from 23,000 people in 1920 to 12,888 in 2000.

The report prepared by the group added that the average wage per job here in 1999 was $16,754 annually compared to a state-wide average of $25,671.

The plan would apply both to cities and rural areas wishing to participate.

County Treasurer Jeannine Bateman said the cities of Tampa and Lincolnville have said they will join the plan while Goessel, Florence, Peabody and Burns are still considering it.

Collett said Durham already has "opted out," and Lehigh has not replied.

He said Marion wants to be included in the plan but isn't sure of the effect on its current Main Street corridor revitalization plan.

Holub said both Lost Springs and Ramona have told him they intend to join.

Hillsboro businessman Jim Baker said Hillsboro still is considering how to line the county plan up with its own plan.

Noting that some of the planning called for construction of farm out-buildings, commissioners Dallke and Holub questioned whether they were worth an abatement because of their short-term depreciation schedules.

Baker said even if the dollar return from taxes from the buildings themselves is low, it doesn't defeat the plan's purpose. He said construction of the buildings would create employment, sales of material, and have an economic impact.

In the group's report, they also wanted to see farm buildings replaced that are in sub-standard or unsafe conditions.

Baker said the plan also could be used as a incentive pitch to Marion County alumni who have moved to states like California to move back. He said a California resident who lives in a $300,000 house there might be able to build the same house here for $150,000, and have the other $150,000 from the first home's sale for furniture or other purposes.

Hein told the group they came up with good planning and information that can be used by the commission in the final revitalization plan.

Emergency Medical Services Director Darryl Thiessen told commissioners his department has collected more than $186,000 of more than $248,000 billed for from the backlog of ambulance billings being sent out. The department's billings fell behind during a time when computer programs changed along with department directors.

Thiessen said a new computer that has been added is moving the process forward.

The commissioners determined to write a letter of support for Northview Development Services, Inc., application for tax credits from the Kansas Department of Commerce to be used as fund-raising incentive in seeking donations for a new campus center.

Director Stan Zienkewicz said the $2,775,000 center to be built on land owned by Northview in Newton will include an activity center, greenhouse, connecting health/case management services, staff training and an administrative center.

Hein said a visit to Northview facilities had been an "eye opener" to him on how much good they do in helping persons with disabilities work in the Marion County community.

Northview representatives said Marion County needs are projected to increase with more students graduating out of special education programs and more senior citizens with needs.

The commissioners approved plans by Park Director Dale Snelling for purchasing a new $45,000 EZ Dock floating polyvinyl dock with interlocking air spaces at the county lake. The money would come from 75-percent grant money plus $11,000 local funds already in Snelling's budget.

The commissioners passed a resolution recognizing April as Fair Housing Month, and recognized April 10-16 as National Safety Telecommunications Week honoring the dispatchers who work with law enforcement.

A report from Bateman showed the county's cash position as of March 31 at $6,866,476.75 with $27,835.95 in interest income earned for the year as of that date.

There was $1,821,748.71 in the county general fund and $1,209,768.87 in the road and bridge fund.

Bateman reported $1,269.52 in special auto funds expenditures for the month and a balance in the motor vehicle operating fund account of $91,801.63.