Budget cuts cause concern
Staff writer
State budget cuts and red tape for mental health care providers “are setting these people up to fail,” Commissioner Dan Holub said Monday.
Jessie Kaye, president of Prairie View, told commissioners that four mental health centers in the state have been forced to close in the past nine years.
Obtaining authorization from the state to provide services under the KanCare program has led to delays, she said.
“You don’t get to make up for lost time,” she said.
Wind farm
With assurance that all agreements are fully assignable and binding in the future, the commission adopted minor amendments in three conditional use permits for wind turbines planned between Aulne, Peabody, and Florence.
Rex Savage of Windborne Energy and County Attorney Susan Robson met with commissioners, to discuss changes to payments in lieu of taxes.
In other business:
- Commissioners approved a $967 monthly salary for full-time transfer station operator Douglas Hanson and a $10 per hour wage for Christopher Janzen as part-time help.
- Commissioners seemed unlikely to grant Sheriff Rob Craft’s request to hire a deputy, but said they would continue discussing the option. A grant would cover 25 percent of the first three years of employment and 100 percent of the fourth.
- Road and Bridge Superintendent Randy Crawford said work on Pilsen Road began Monday. Commissioners also accepted a $21,312 bid for routine inspections of county bridges proposal from Cook Flatt & Strobel Engineers.
- The district court system presented its 2015 budget, asking the county for $12,379 or 11 percent of the $113,896 total for the district, which includes Dickinson, Geary, and Morris counties.