Ambulance fees increase
Staff writer
Marion County Commissioners Monday approved the proposed increase in ambulance-run rates, to $450 and $500, an increase of $200 per run from the current $250 and $300.
Commissioners thought they had approved it several weeks ago, but found they had not officially approved it by motion until Monday. The vote was 3-0.
David Brazil, planning, zoning, sanitation and transfer station director, asked for and received commissioners' approval to have another meeting about the water-algae incident that created a crisis in the county last month.
Brazil said he wanted to get all of the entities and agencies involved "around the table to be sure all are still communicating, working together to solve the problems."
The blue-green algae is still present at Marion Reservoir, he said. It's also on other reservoirs in Kansas, he and commissioners said.
Representatives of Marion, Hillsboro, Peabody, Marion County, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be invited to the meeting, Brazil said.
"Everyone needs to work together, and I think all are doing their own thing now and not sharing information. I want to at least attempt to get them in the same room," he said.
Commissioner Leroy Wetta said, "We have no control over it (the water situation and its handling). I don't want to get where we are responsible for that situation."
Brazil said "culprits" in the algae formation, providing nutrients for its growth, include storm drains, agricultural uses, cities, fertilizer applied to yards, and others.
"It's not just one entity," he said. He assured Wetta that it would not be a matter of getting the county "in deeper."
Commission chairman Howard Collett said he thought proactively consulting and support was a good idea. "Maybe a board or committee could be formed" to study the matter, he said.
Brazil said, "I don't want to lead it (committee) OR the meeting."
KDHE has jurisdiction over permitting and inspection of water sources, he said.
The courthouse restoration work is expected to be completed this week, county clerk Carol Maggard said.
Gerald Kelsey, director of roads and bridges, said the county had received a check from its insurance carrier for $72,333 toward replacement of a motor grader totaled in an accident June 16 in the northwest part of the county.
His department will use $56,000 of this sum to pay off the debt on a different previously purchased grader, Kelsey said.
Commissioners approved purchase of transport fuel for Kelsey's department from the sole bidder, Cardie Oil, Inc., Tampa, for $9,395.25.
The bid includes 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel for Tank No. 3, for $4,473.60; 1,500 gallons of off-road diesel fuel for Tank 1, for $1,292.55; and 3,000 gallons of gasoline for $3,629.
