Don George, a district fisheries biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, told Allen County commissioners Tuesday he’d like to help develop fishing opportunities on Elm Creek at the south edge of Iola.
George told commissioners that KDWP has programs to lease private land for fishing access and promote trails and access structures along streams. George suggested a trail along Elm Creek, concrete fishing platforms and boat launches for canoes.
He told of a trail built along the Marmaton River in Fort Scott and a pond built near Uniontown High School.
“Uniontown’s campus is probably the only one in the state to have a pond where the biology instructor can walk out the door and teach water quality,” he said.
KDWP, like other state agencies, doesn’t have much discretionary money, George said, “but our goal is to do things that might be helpful.”
FISHING access along the creek has been an issue since commissioners in late spring closed a road that cut through the Public Works Department motor pool lot at the south end of Iola.
Fishermen for years had used the road to reach a dam on Elm Creek. The dam had been built by Lehigh Cement Co., which closed in the 1960s, to create a reservoir for its plant.
Commissioners at that time also discouraged exiting State Street onto private property near an old low-water bridge on Elm Creek where Iolans have fished for half a century.
Potential vandalism — a rationale for closing the road — is actually lessened with built improvements, George said.
“When you make a place better for people to be, there are fewer problems,” he said.
As for concerns about safety near the State Street site, George said creating a parking area nearby might be the answer.
Commissioners said they might enlist assistance from the Allen County Leadership class tutored by Fred Heismeyer.
“They might have some good ideas and might be able to help,” Gary McIntosh said.
“Nothing we’ve done since I’ve been on the commission (since January 2009) has generated as many telephone calls to me,” McIntosh said. “We don’t want to forget about it, and we won’t.”
NO ONE attended a hearing for the 2011 budget, which forecasts overall expenditures of $12,369,419, supported by a levy of 67.493 mills that will raise $6.15 million when applied to the county’s assessed valuation of $91,176,288. The levy is 2.98 mills more than this year.
A levy of 1 mill raises $1 for each $1,000 of assessed valuation, meaning the owner of a house with a market value of $100,000 will pay county taxes of $776.17, or $35.73 more than in 2010.
Commissioners accepted a bid of $49 a ton for road salt from Frank Bills Trucking, Severy, the lower of two. The county anticipates buying 125 tons, which will cost $6,125.
