ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JERRY ENGLER
Two members of the public offered points of view to the Marion County Commission Monday that seemed to give direction to county concerns.
Warren Kreutziger, owner of Canada Bait & Tackle near Marion Reservoir and an active member of the reservoir’s lake association, asked for support in talking to Congressmen about development at Cottonwood Point that could vastly increase tourism at the lake.
Harry Bennett, who has worked at community development and organic grain contracting, suggested clarifications to the proposed community corrections and judicial center proposal that could increase its chances of passing in a public bond vote.
Bennett said that as far as he could tell in conversations with Judge Michael Powers and consultant Dan Hall, the projection that 48 prisoner beds would be needed for Marion County prisoners alone came from a Colorado consultant based on demographics of Marion County.
Bennett said the commissioners need “to really pin that number down for the public to decide.”
On the subject of “adding beds” beyond the 48, Bennett likened it to the grain trade, where he has to go through a lot of numbers and math “for it to make sense.”
He said he has heard the figure “$40” for the standard rate a county might pay to keep a prisoner in another county’s jail.
But he feels the commissioners need to go through a “lot of numbers” to show the people what the margin of profit would be with these prisoners.
The commissioners told him that one big cost would belong to counties where the prisoners came from: medical costs. Bennett called that a “win-win” situation because the money spent for medical care probably would be through hospitals in the county, most likely St. Luke Hospital.
Bennett said in the grain trade there has to be sales commitment-a contract-before there is a deal.
The commissioners assured him they are working on getting letters of intent from other governing entities that may house prisoners here.
Bennett noted that as a member of the committee that helped write a grant for the Marion city library/railroad depot, he saw how vital it was to the success of the effort to include it in the courthouse square area for historic preservation of a sense of the community.
He asked the commissioners make a more concerted effort to keep the jail and judicial center in the courthouse area.
On another program, Bennett, who also is vice president of the Kansas Rural Center, said it is good that Marion County recently has formed a surface-area water board that can work on funding for greater conservation and water quality issues.
Bennett said that in the new farm bill being written, the Rural Center hopes for a greater effort toward conservation programs that benefit all sizes of farms instead of commodity supports that benefit larger operators more. This is more possible, he said, because the new ethanol industry is increasing grain prices.
Bennett encouraged commissioners to use a strategem that helps favor new programs being adapted, such as filing an environmental impact statement at the beginning to clarify understanding instead of filing it at the end of a project.
Bennett noted that in a 1912 quote from William Allen White, Marion County had the highest valuation per capita of any county, largely because of its wealth in agriculture spread amongst the entire populations.
He suggested the commissioners could use that past wealth in agriculture as a base for the future.
Commission Chairman Randy Dallke and Bennett both criticized Rep. Don Dahl for not being more “accountable” to local government in asking for help from state and federal sources.
Kruetziger said recent surveys show that Marion County is taking in fewer tourism dollars than any of the counties that surround it, “even Chase.”
That situation could easily be changed, he said, if the $5 million in improvements planned for Cottonwood Point to improve camping by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were completed.
The project would add 100 campsites attracting an average of three persons to each every weekend, he said.
“Think of what 300 more people here every weekend would do for the economy,” he said.
Commissioner Bob Hein said 300 additional tourists could have a high impact on the county.
“I think it’s important,” he said.
The key to this, Kreutziger said, would be for all government agencies and persons who could benefit to contact congressmen to let them know they want the project funded for the Corps. The Corps is forbidden by regulations to ask for money itself, he said.
The project could done one area at a time in eight areas, he said, with price tages for each ranging from a little more than $200,000 on up. The Corps and the rural water district already have cooperated to lay water lines, he said.
“We’ll be sure to support it,” Hein said.
