Lyon County commissioners raised jury fees during today’s action session.
Jury fees beginning in January will be $10 for the first day and $40 every day thereafter.
After the fees were approved 3-0, Commissioner Myron VanGundy asked if it was going to be ok with the city to raise those fees. Commissioners then joked about whether or not a petition was going to be needed. They then immediately laughed and more light-hearted jokes were briefly exchanged as they moved to the next item on the agenda.
The commissioner’s comments stem from earlier petitions circulated by the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau that call for two more commissioners and a county manager. Both petitions had enough signatures to make it on the November ballot, when voters will decide what they want.
Before the conversation about jury fees, County Clerk Karen Hartenbower discussed with commissioners the difference in bonds between the city and county. Hartenbower said Lyon County owes $14.2 million in bonds compared to Emporia’s figure of $45 million in bonds. Some of the city’s bonds are revenue bonds, Hartenbower said.
“That’s not something you see in the paper,” Hartenbower told commissioners. “The city owes a lot more money than we do.”
Also during today’s meeting, commissioners gave County Engineer Chip Woods the go-ahead to send out requests for bids for complete signs and sign faces to five vendors.
“Apparently they’re a good target to paintballers,” Woods said. Woods added that every time a sign is paintballed, it has to be re-faced or replaced because washing the paint off damages the sign’s ability to reflect light.
There will be no county meeting Wednesday. Commissioners will have their next meeting on Sept. 7.