County hopes to bid Champion, Wauneta road projects in December

Decisions continue to be made by Chase County Commissioners Jacci Brown, Duane Dinnel and Dennis Kunneman concerning the future of the roads around Wauneta and Champion.
Engineering Internationals Jeff Tidyman was at the Sept. 28 commissioners’ meeting and said if the county doesn’t do anything they may as well tear up the pavement south of Wauneta and west of Champion.
Though no one wants to do anything that drastic, finalizing a plan for the roads is still in the works.
Tidyman would prefer that wider cracks in the roads be  filled with cold mix this fall. He went on to suggest milling 1.5 inches off the Champion road this spring to get to the bottom of the ruts, then adding a four inch overlay.
Tidyman would like more time to review the Wauneta project, but would like to bid both projects around December.
No action was taken.
Robert Kohl and Page Johnston have finished their training and the commissioners approved increasing their wages to $16 an hour. Dallas Gockley has been a transit driver for 13 years and plans to retire.
The board elected not to provide a flu shot clinic for employees this year due to low attendance in the past. With around 50 county employees, only 16 got flu shots last year at a cost of $750 to the county. Dinnel said a person’s health is their responsibility.
The commissioners spent time at the county EMS building with Duane Dreiling and Darley Robotics’ Bruce Ireland for a drone demonstration. The group compared the county’s current drone with the drone Ireland brought with him. Part of the demo included reviewing the thermal and zoom features of the drone’s camera.
Out of 32 distress warrants all but eight were collected by the Sheriff’s Office. Most distress warrants were mobile homes, one was ag equipment that had been sold.
The next meeting of the commissioners will be Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. in the courthouse.