Commissioner Randy Dallke, acting as chairman in the absence of Dan Holub, said he was planning to attend a meeting the following day, Sept. 19, in Harvey County regarding the future of the organization that serves clients from Harvey, McPherson and Marion counties.

At last week's meeting, commissioners agreed they needed more information about the decisions and actions that had transpired before deciding whether to supply NDS with county funding.

Commissioner Bob Hein said contacts he had had with NDS board members over the previous week made him "feel good" about the future of the organization.

Decline involvement

The two commissioners listened to, but declined to become involved with, a lagoon issue at the rural residence of Nancy Marr southwest of Marion.

Marr said a lagoon system approved by the county was improperly installed at her home, which once served as the county's poor farm.

She said when the electricity goes out and it rains heavily, water backs up into the basement of the stone structure, which she described as an "historic treasure."

She asked the county to help her rectify the problem because she is financially and physically unable to do so.

"I want the community to reach out to me because I'm shy and don't reach out to them," she said.

Dallke told Marr he sympathized with her plight, but felt it was not within the jurisdiction of county government to act on the issue.

Another building tour

Hein told Dallke he has arranged a tour of the former AMPI plant in Hillsboro to see how it might work as an alternate facility for a new county jail. The tour will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25.

On that subject, Dallke said the commissioners' recent tour of a former health-care facility in Florence raised doubts about that structure being a realistic option for anything but a minimum-security facility.

Without major and costly renovation, Dallke said he felt the structure was not built heavy enough to use as a jail.

Telephone system upgrade

The commissioners expressed approval of the recommendation of its telecommunications consultant, Gene Wilson, to upgrade the courthouse telephone system from Plexar 2 to Plexar Comfort.

After he explained the results of his review of the county's telecommunication needs and uses, Wilson projected the upgrade would require the county to add nine phone stations to the 66 it already has, but the move ultimately would save the county about $2,600 a year because of the plan's lower rates.

Wilson said he would return in the near future with a contract outlining the change and commissioners can formally approve the change at that time.

Other business

In other matters, the board:

-- approved and signed a letter that will be delivered personally to Delbert Thiessen and Alvin J. Thiessen stating that the pair have seven days to clear off items from their salvage operation that have spilled onto the county's right-of-way.

Bobbi Strait, director of planning, zoning and environmental health, submitted the letter to commissioners, saying that the two men had been notified of the problem but had not responded to her office in a week and a half.

Further, she said, at least one of the items-a flatbed trailer-is a traffic hazard because it lies so close to the public roadway.

-- approved two conditional-use permits that had been positively reviewed by the county's planning and zoning commission.

One permit will be used by Belinda Engler to develop an equine riding school at 1469 260th Road. The other will be used to erect a building to store recreational vehicles at 1702 220th.

-- approved a bid from Peabody State Bank to finance a lease-purchase agreement for the county's new computer system. Peabody State's was one of eight submitted to finance the $70,545 project.

Its loan rate of 4.81 was second lowest to the bid from Infinitec Inc./Bank of Hays (4.75), but commissioners gave the edge to the local provider.

-- decided Randy Dallke will be the voting delegate at the Kansas Association of Counties meeting in November with Dan Holub serving as first alternate and Bob Hein as second alternate.

-- approved an agreement reached with the McPherson Area Solid Waste Utility for the coming year.

-- accepted total bid of $15,905 from Cooperative Grain & Supply of Hillsboro for 8,000 gallons of fuel. The competing bid was $16,038 from Cardie Oil of Tampa.