Construction to alleviate the flooding problem at Emporia Child Care Center III, 420 W. 15th Ave., likely will begin next week.
Chip Woods, Lyon County engineer, is following direction from Lyon County commissioners. Woods spoke to commissioners about the solution to the flooding at the center.
On Sept. 12, Woods brought a topographical map of the playground area. In August, Woods said alterations to the playground have caused the water to flow into the child care center instead of away from it. He pointed this out to commissioners during Wednesday’s meeting on the drawing of the playground. A sidewalk was built in the middle of the drainage path, Woods said.
Commissioner Marshall Miller said he would like to see the corrective measures started as soon as possible. Woods said it likely will begin next week. To fix the issue, a trench will be cut east of the sidewalk to direct water to the curb and a retaining wall will be built on the west side of the sidewalk and filled in with dirt to try to keep water out of the building.
Woods also talked about the condition of Lyon County’s roads following last week’s floods. Woods said the roads sustained about $20,000 to $25,000 in flood damage.
“We were lucky,” Woods said. “The water came up slowly and went down slowly.”
Woods said much of the gravel that was washed off the roads can be salvaged, as it was washed into ditches instead of nearby fields.
In other business, more volunteers are needed for the mass vaccination clinic in October.
Lyon County commissioners heard from Lougene Marsh, executive director of Flint Hills Community Health Center, who explained the mass flu clinic, which will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Anderson Building at the Lyon County Fairgrounds. The cost of the vaccination this year is $20.
“We needed to bump our cost a little bit because vaccine prices have continued to creep up,” Marsh said.
Marsh said the clinic is an opportunity for the public to get vaccinated and emergency personnel to practice a mass vaccination exercise. Volunteers are needed for the event. To volunteer call (620) 342-4864, Ext. 278. There is a consent form available at www.flinthillshealth.org. People can download the form and fill it out to bring with them on Oct. 21, Marsh said.
“It will certainly help speed up the process,” Marsh said.
Marsh said she would like to see as many Lyon County employees at the mass vaccination clinic as possible so emergency personnel can benefit from the mass vaccination exercise.
“It really serves two purposes,” Marsh said.
There will be a town hall meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Emporia Library to talk about health care reform, Marsh said. The public is welcome to discuss health care reform.
Other agenda items included:
• Woods discussed two county employees attending the Kansas Bridge Maintenance: A Workshop for Local Agencies in Topeka on Nov. 6 and pay the $65 registration fees and related travel expenses.
• Woods discussed attending the KAC Conference on Nov. 17 and pay the $125 registration and related travel expenses.
• Discussed the of tires for dump trucks for a total price of $2,087.80.
• Commissioners discussed sending a written notice to K-Camp from the commission on or before Nov. 1. The letter states that Lyon County is seeking bids from other insurance companies.