Staff writer
Residents appeared at Marion County Commission Monday to protest proposed rule changes at Marion County Park and Lake.
David Oursler and Kevin Timmermeyer objected to proposed changes regarding boats and docks at the lake.
At a previous meeting, the commission asked Park and Lake Superintendent Steve Hudson to enforce a rule requiring Kansas boat registration for permits at the lake. He was also instructed to enforce a provision which was believed to require docks to be accessible from the water and shore.
There is no requirement that docks be accessible from land, Timmermeyer said.
Commissioner Dan Holub said he read the rules twice and wasn’t able to find any such rule.
Commissioner Randy Dallke said he wanted to make sure the lake remained as accessible to the public as possible.
Oursler and Timmermeyer said they wouldn’t oppose a requirement that new docks include shore access.
Timmermeyer protested the commission’s decision to enforce the Kansas registration requirement for county boat permits. Boats are supposed to be registered in the state they are in most of the time, and his boat is kept in Oklahoma. Taxes on the boat would be about 10 times as high in Kansas as Oklahoma, he said.
Boat permits are only available to Marion County residents and cost up to $40, depending on the horsepower of the boat.
The commissioners voted to remove the in-state boat registration rule for one year. The commission will review it in 2010.
In other department business:
- Hudson will compile electricity and water use figures for 2008. The commissioners requested the data to help determine an equitable way to recover the county’s utility cost for mobile home hook-ups at the lake.
- A new bathroom for $14,598 will be installed near the heated dock. It will have seals in case of flooding, Hudson said. The restroom was purchased from CXT Inc. of Spokane, Wash. It is the only company Hudson could find that produces this type of bathroom.