Consultant commends county’s bridge program

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BRENDA CONYERS
A report given at Monday’s county commission meeting by Milton Lowmaster, of Cook, Flat and Strobel, commended Marion County for its bridge program.



Lowmaster said out of 86 rural secondary (RS) bridges in the county, fewer than 20 need to be reviewed again in one year, 71 county bridges received a rating of “excellent,” and five of the 20 bridges to be reviewed next year are already scheduled for replacement.



“You are to be commended for what you have done with your bridge program,” Lowmaster said. “Most counties I review are not in this good of shape.”



Lowmaster was impressed with the bridge program started 10 years ago, in which the county replaced three to four off-system bridges each year.



“I think we have done pretty well in having replaced 25 bridges in the last 10 years,” said Gerald Kelsey, county road and bridge supervisor.



In addition to the 86 RS bridges, Marion County has 216 off-system bridges, some of which were built as early as the 1930s.



Lowmaster suggested some of the older bridges that were built before 1940 might need to be looked at for limited use. He said agriculture and ranching have large trucks moving all the time, and these heavy weights need to be considered when looking at the life and safety of these bridges.



“However, all the counties in this area are looking at the same situation with these older bridges,” Lowmaster said.



In other business:



— Carol Maggard, county clerk, said the Girl Scout storage shed had been purchased with monies received from aluminum can recycling. The 15×18 shed will be placed at Marion County Lake and will be used to store camping equipment and other Girl Scout supplies.



Maggard said the Girl Scouts organization would be paying expenses for building installation and utilities. But since they do not have a tax-exemption certificate, the question was raised whether the county could own the building, and have the organization pay the bills through the commission.



Maggard will explore options and bring the matter before the County Attorney for his thoughts.



— The Local Emergency Planning Committee will meet at 2 p.m Wednesday, Nov. 8. They will meet with Jacob Kovel, a professor from University of Kansas, to discuss the emergency preparedness plan and also grants available to the county for education and exercises for safety professionals.



Commission chair Linda Peterson said she knew the idea has been discussed of having exercises to prepare for such events as a railroad derailment, or to use a bus to practice extrication in the case of an accident and other types of exercises-which all have a cost.



Grants for these types of practices are available, and commissioners hope Kovel can direct the LEPC in the direction for applications.



— Marion County has a 2 percent unemployment rate, which is below the state rate of 3.3 to 3.2 percent.



— Kevin Freuchting has been named to sit on the judicial nominating committee to replace Robert Hein.



— The Marion County Substance Abuse Board presented their Revision of Resolution 80-8 to the commission for review.



The changes were needed to allow the board to operate more efficiently. The proposed resolution will be given to the county attorney for his review and will come back before the county commission once again as a resolution.



— JoAnn Knak, director of the county’s Emergency Medical Services, reported the city of Goessel has given permission to the First Responders to use the old library adjoining the current firestation for their parking building.



According to Knak, the First Responders vehicle is now parked at an angle with the bumper touching one of the firetrucks.



Knak said not only is the angular parking a potential problem, but utility poles in the alley pose another threat to the vehicle as it pulls out.



She also requested, due to increased workload, that a part-time clerk position in the office be increased to a full-time position.



“With every run sheet we have five entries or more, then we have to figure out how to bill it, then code it.,” she said. “The workload just isn’t getting any lighter.”



The commission agreed to the additional hours, but instructed Knak to bring back a job description so the position may be properly updated in the county employee system.



— Bill Smithhart, director of the noxious weed department, reported the Marion County household hazardous waste mobile collection unit went to Peabody as part of their city’s fall cleanup program. The unit opened at 8:30 a.m. and was full by 11:30 a.m. The unit picked up 2,571 pounds of household hazardous waste.

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