Minutes 03/16/10 & 03/23/10

March 16, 2010

The Morris County Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at 9:00 a.m., all members present.

Cereal malt beverage licenses were approved (Jost, Hay) for Kahola Joe’s.  Motion carried.

John Lee gave the weekly solid waste and noxious weed reports.  Bids were opened and reviewed for weed chemical as follows.  The bids noted with (*) were accepted.

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Commissioners approved (Jost, Hay) a cover letter and survey card concerning the recycling program that will be sent to residential property owners.   Motion carried.

The county is facing funding challenges for the recycling program, and input from taxpayers will help the commissioners determine a course of action in funding the program. 

Jeff Blosser, county engineer, gave the weekly report of the road and bridge department.   Additions to the county’s five-year project plan were discussed. 

Morris County was included in a recent FEMA declaration due to the snow storms during the period of December 22, 2009 to January 8, 2010.  

The minutes of the March 9 meeting was approved (Jost, Hay) as presented. 

Motion carried.

A public hearing was held at 1:30 p.m. to hear comments pertaining to the proposed vacation of a potion of DD Ave in Twp 17, Rg 7.  Attending the hearing included Carol Jory, Ross Jory, Ray Crawford, William Kassebaum, Jeff Blosser, county engineer, and Charles Rayl, attorney.  Mr. Rayl, on behalf of Mrs. Jory, voiced opposition to the proposed vacation. 

Noting the objection, commissioners formally vacated (Jost, Hay) the road as published in Resolution No. 2010-05.  Motion carried. 

It was decided to seek bids for a tract of county owned hay ground located in 28-16-6.  Bid opening is set for March 30^th at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

March 23, 2010

The Morris County Commissioners met on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 9:00 a.m., all members present.

Sheriff Coover gave a department report.  Repairs in the jail cell areas include the replacement of ventilator fan motors and fixing plumbing leaks.

Jeff Blosser, road engineer, gave his weekly report.  Various reports of roads needing attention were discussed.  The recent snows and rains have caused problems on county roads.  The county has spent over $150,000 on rock so far this year.  Blosser said his department is looking for locations to get creek gravel to help in getting rock on county roads.

Chuck Rodman thanked the county crews on their efforts to maintain the roads in his area.  He also reported that there are some piles of brush that need to be removed from road rights-of-way.  The piles were created when brush and trees were trimmed last year.

The exterior of the new county shop at White City is complete and interior work will be completed in a couple of weeks. 

The box culvert project at 700 Rd and Donnon St. has been completed, and construction has commenced on the Rock Creek bridge project.

The contracting company that laid the fiber option lines for TCT is in the process of cleaning up and repairing roads that were damaged during the project. 

Possible additions to the county’s five-year project plan include a bridge project on the Kelso Rd (RS-210); a bridge project on J Ave and 1500 Rd (OS-29) and two bridge projects on 575 Rd (OS-58 and OS-59).

Quotes were received for 4,000 gallons of summer blend diesel and 4,000 gallons of regular unleaded fuel as follows:

                 Bidder                                                  Diesel                        Reg Unleaded     

              S & S Oil                                                  2.483/gal                      2.497/gal   

              Farmers Coop, Manhattan                    2.509/gal                      2.519/gal            

              Cardie Oil, Marion                                  2.563/gal                      2.575/gal

The lowest bids submitted by S & S Oil were accepted (Hay, Jost).  Motion carried.

A bid of $8,361.46 from Metal Culverts, Inc was accepted (Hay, Jost) for pipes.   Motion carried.  A bid of $9,064.36 was submitted by Welborn Sales.

Bill Alspaw inquired about the procedure for conducting a judicial tax sale.  The county counselor explained the procedure.

The minutes of the March 16^th meeting were approved (Jost, Hay) as presented.  Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m.