The county had given King 90 days to make improvements at the salvage yard in keeping with state laws. King asked for an extension to the first of the year when the state of Kansas will decide whether to issue him a state permit.
Commissioner Dan Holub and Commission Vice-Chairman Bob Hein agreed that King?s reasons for an extension did not overcome what they saw as an inadequate response to correct inadequacies. Planning and Zoning Director Bobbi Strait said she agreed with the decision.
Commission Chairman Randy Dallke was absent.
King said working toward compliance for three state agencies, the State Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, had been confusing to him. Added to this, he said, was a misunderstanding with Strait as to whether the state was going to inspect him before he turned in a permit application for waste water control.
Strait countered that King knew he was to turn in the permit application on his own without inspection by Aug. 1.
Holub said that King?s failure to make any effort to complete the application showed a lack of good faith to complete operations.
Holub said he had driven by to see King?s salvage yard on his own, and had been disappointed to find that little had been done. He especially had hoped to see required fencing built or in progress, and required trees planted.
Strait said that even putting in posts for the fence would have been a demonstration of good intent.
King said he had been hampered by more than two feet of rainfall in May, June and July. He said he had needed recovery time after breaking a prosthetic leg.
He said that getting wheels under a house that needed to be moved from the site had been very difficult.
Holub contended that moving the house wasn?t a part of the requirements.
King said moving the house would give more parking room for salvage materials and fire lanes.
King said his neighbor had been content with the situation until he was required to make a survey for boundary lines to set fences and trees. He said the boundary lines had been the same for 108 years, but the survey showed them off by eight feet in favor of his neighbor on his east side and by two feet on his north side.
He said the property also sets at a correction line so that county roads at the location are off.
King said he had to move property and remove existing hedgerow trees to reestablish new boundaries. This added to the impact of running water coming across from an adjoining 80 acres, therefore increasing requirements of compliance with KDHE, he said.
King said he has spent $15,000 complying with county requirements, and that he borrowed it from Central National Bank. He said the bank may want to be involved in determining the outcome of the county?s decisions.
Holub said he wasn?t there to hear about the bank?s concerns ?one way or the other.?
?I went out here expecting to see positive changes,? Holub said. ?I saw more junk moved over by the house. I saw red survey flags, trees taken out and brush piles.
?I didn?t see any progress on fences or tree planting.
?I thought we?d see a lot more done in 90 days.?
King said, ?You act like I?ve been sitting on my hands, not doing anything.? He added that he?d been through all kinds of traumas in trying for compliance, including the murder of a friend who was going to help.
King said he thought the county would have more guidance and stand between himself and the state. ?You?re the local governing body,? he said. ?You?ve made me file for permits and jump through all them hoops.?
Holub said, ?I can?t go along with an extension. I?m sorry, Daniel, but we expected a lot more.?
Holub moved for a resolution denying the permit, Hein seconded and joined him in denial.
King said, ?Well, I guess we?ll see you in court then.?
In other business:
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County Clerk Carol Maggard said sign-off sheets giving county credit cards for use by selected employees have been completed. She said the cards have $500 limits subject to review on a case by case basis.
Holub said an employee travelling to a 5-day school could easily exceed the $500 in motel costs, travel and meals.
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Maggard said former Road and Bridge Director Jim Herzet had clarified that KDOT doesn?t need the bids for the Sunflower Road construction but only payment invoices as they come through. The state allotted $432,622.99 to help on the project because of damage done when Sunflower was used as a detour road during U.S. Highway 77 reconstruction.
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Hein signed an interlocal agreement with the City of Durham that allows enforcement of city ordinances by the sheriff?s office.
Sheriff Lee Becker and County Attorney Susan Robson must also sign off on the agreement, Maggard noted.
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Jo Ottensmeier was called into the Commission meeting to be congratulated for her official appointment from the Governor to succeed Faye Makovec as county register of deeds.
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Markley Service was awarded a noxious weed department $2,921 herbicides bid for 180 gallons of 2,4-D amine at $9.35 a gallon, 30 gallons of Pathway at $26.10 a gallon and 10 gallons of Crossbow at $45.50 a gallon.
Competitive bids were $3,282.50 from Ag Service, and $3,426.30 from both co-ops at Hillsboro and Tampa.
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Transfer Station Manager Rollin Schmidt reported 38 semi hauls from Marion to Perry in September at an average 20.11 tons per haul, bringing total hauls for the year to 299, at an average weight of 20.14 tons, he said.
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Road and Bridge Director Martin Rhodes said settlement is being reached with Joe Novak in Pilsen after a county employee mistakenly trimmed out Novak?s cedar windbreak on a private road.
Rhodes said Novak probably will agree to split costs on putting in 125 feet of 6-foot tall cedar fencing for a windbreak with the county removing what is left of the trees.
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The commissioners accepted a bid of $10 from Mark Tachman to purchase a 10-by-20 wood shed at Marion County Lake. Hein noted that Tachman will be required to move the shed within a time limit to be determined.
