Soggy roads are soft, sloppy roads, Allen Countys Public Works Director Mitch Garner warned commissioners at their meeting Tuesday morning. Until the rain stops and the ground dries, theres not a lot county crews can do.
This weeks deluge has dropped 5.81 inches in Iola since Monday, with rain expected to continue through Friday and return Sunday night into Monday.
And thats after storms have dumped more than 14.70 inches so far this year, more than 5 inches above normal. At the end of 2018, rain totals exceeded normal by 10 inches.
All that wet weather makes it difficult to maintain county roads, Garner said. Though crews are unable to grade the roads, theyve been traveling the county to repair areas that have been washed out, he said.
Once the weather cooperates, the department is ready to start repairs, Garner said, having received 30 tons of asphalt with more on the way.
Commissioners also plan to ask Kansas Department of Transportation officials to attend a future meeting to discuss the U.S. 169 project, which has closed much of the highway between Iola and Chanute at various times and diverted traffic through Humboldt. The project has been underway for about a year and is expected to wrap up this summer.
Tuesdays discussion about roads prompted Sheriff Brian Murphy to ask about damage on Tank Farm Road, especially near the Monarch Cement Company. Garner said the county would like to convert a stretch of that road to concrete to make it less susceptible to wear and tear from heavy truck traffic, but doing so would present logistical challenges for trucks going in and out of the plant.
THE COUNTY received bids for a public storm shelter at Mildred. Atlas Safe Rooms provided two bids, one for a 6.5 foot by 12.5 foot shelter for $8,595 or a smaller shelter at 6.5 foot by 8.5 foot for $7,295. Oklahoma Shelters offered bids for steel safe rooms, ranging from 8 foot by 10 foot for $8,300 to 8 foot by 20 foot for $18,300. A bid from Protection Shelters for a 10 foot by 10 concrete shelter came in at $19,949.34.
Commissioners Jerry Daniels and Bill King said they would wait to decide. Commissioner Bruce Symes was absent and Tuesdays meeting featured a light agenda with no action taken.
COMMISSIONERS asked Terry Call, with Emergency Medical Services, to give the public a chance to bid on an old ambulance before using it as a trade-in for a new ambulance.
Call said he had received an offer of $5,500 for the ambulance from Osage Ambulances,
But Daniels and King said they wanted Call to advertise the old ambulance and give the public and other ambulance companies a chance to bid on it. The ambulance needs motor work estimated to cost a few thousand dollars, and has more than 331,000 miles, Call said.
SHERIFF Murphy warned commissioners he planned to ask them to make some changes when it comes to discussing next years budget. The Allen County Jail has earned about $250,000 in revenue from housing out-of-county prisoners this past year, and Murphy would like to see at least some of that money returned to the sheriffs department budget. Currently, any jail revenue goes into the countys general fund.
But housing out-of-county inmates comes with additional expenses like increased utility costs, Murphy said.
Daniels told Murphy to give commissioners a breakdown of expenses and revenue so they can discuss the issue as they work on next years budget.
