County to buy salon
May move health department from hospital
Staff writer
The county health department soon could have spacious and updated quarters in north Marion.
Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase a building at 1240 Commercial Dr., north of US-56 in Marion, for $160,000. The building recently housed Silk Salon. The building was put on the market in September. Owners say they intend to open in a new location.
Commissioner Randy Dallke said the building probably was going to be the site of the county health department. The county is paying $1,600 a month for a portion of a building owned by St. Luke Hospital.
Commissioners started work toward this year’s budget process when department heads made budget requests.
Emergency medical services director Travis Parmley requested $1,574,596, a $14,350 decrease.
Planning and zoning’s proposed budget is $164,897, a $28,249 decrease.
Harvey County Community Developmental Disability Organization asked for $70,000.
Register of deeds Rebecca Wingfield asked for $121,286. Last year’s amount was $103,912.
Wingfield said the reason for the increase was because a part-time position would be eliminated and a full-time position added.
Road and Bridge’s budget request was $6,332,000. The department is working on repaving projects and having 140th Rd. tested to see whether a full-depth reclamation is possible.
County attorney Joel Ensey requested $253,682, a $10,000 increase over last year’s budget.
Ensey told commissioners he didn’t expect to make personnel changes this year, but would like to hire someone to answer phones and serve as a victim and witness coordinator.
Presenting an attorney general’s opinion that child-in-need-of-care cases are the duty of the county counselor and not the county attorney, Ensey asked for additional compensation for himself and the staff.
Ensey requested $18,000 more to handle those cases, which he said he would divide equally among staff for a $4,500 raise each.
Ensey also said his department was outgrowing its office space. Moving books out of a vault would help but would not be a permanent fix, he said.
In other matters, commissioners heard that a Lawrence company would install groundwater monitoring equipment on transfer station property to monitor petroleum levels caused by an underground storage tank leak.
The leak, discovered when the transfer station was being built, is from when the property was owned by the city of Marion and used to produce electricity.
Commissioners granted Larsen and Associates access to station property to install the equipment. Their services are being paid for by Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Budget requests for remaining departments will be made today.