Commissioners push forward on hiring administrator
Staff writer
County commissioners will interview two of four recruiting firms that sent bids to recruit a county administrator.
- League of Kansas Municipalities bid $14,896 to $15,469 with no additional fees within a year.
- Gov HR USA bid $23,500 plus travel costs if requested. If an additional search is needed within a year, it would charge only actual expenses.
- Pracademic Partners bid $19,500 plus advertising and travel expenses. If there are not enough candidates, additional cost may be incurred to move forward, Pracademic’s bid said.
- Virchow Krause bid $26,950.
Commissioners selected the low bidder, Pracademic, and League of Kansas Municipalities, to interview before choosing a recruiter.
“If we don’t like them, we can go on,” commissioner Randy Dallke said.
Commissioners voted to increase solid waste assessment fees on property taxes to cover a funding shortfall for 2024.
Commissioner Kent Becker cast the sole vote Monday in opposition to raising rates 25% for both commercial and residential properties.
Last time he was at the transfer station, it was full of construction and demolition waste, he said, and people with pickup loads were being told to just go ahead and dump it.
He said he’d rather have better efficiency than higher rates.
Rates now are $100 a year for residential properties and $132 a year for commercial properties.
Next year, rates will be $125 a year for residential property and $165 a year for commercial property.
The increase is needed because expenses keep increasing, county clerk Tina Spencer said. A lease-purchase payment on the transfer station building is also paid from that solid waste assessment, she said.
Spencer said specific disposal fees charged at the transfer station, such as tire disposal, recycling, construction and demolition waste, and fees for white goods, will be evaluated in the future.
Commissioners also voted Monday to give Kansas Legal Services $5,000 for fiscal year 2024.
The nonprofit legal firm provided services to 68 county residents during 2022, managing attorney Ty Wheeler said.
Those services included disability, divorce, guardianship, and protection cases.
Twenty cases are still open, he said.
Kansas Legal Services focuses on special needs people, such as victims of domestic violence, the homeless, children in foster care, the elderly, farmers, people with disabilities, people seeking access to health care, people looking for mediation services, and people who need basic life skills and employment training.