Lyon County commissioners approved the purchase of a truck to tow the Northeast Region Command trailer during Thursday’s action session on a vote of 2-1.
When Lyon County took delivery of the 36-foot gooseneck trailer, officials realized that existing county equipment didn’t have the capacity to tow it. The trailer is designed to support a nine-person incident management team.
“This trailer was not designed to pull with less than an eight-foot bed,” Rick Frevert, of Lyon County Emergency Management, said.
Commissioners approved the purchase of a truck to tow the trailer for up to $15,000. Commissioners Rollie Martin and Teresa Walters voted to approve the purchase while Scott Briggs voted against the purchase. Briggs said he opposed the purchase because he feels that FEMA, the agency that gave Lyon County the trailer, should fund equipment to tow the trailer.
In other business, Chip Woods, Lyon County engineer, spoke to commissioners about economic stimulus money and possible projects that would qualify for stimulus money. Woods suggested four projects for which to apply for stimulus funds. Woods said commissioners must prioritize the projects and determine whether they are willing to put up any matching funds. The projects that Woods suggested are:
F Americus Road south: Americus Road from Highway 50 north to the north edge of Americus for an asphalt leveling course and a 2-inch asphalt overlay.
F Americus Road north: Americus Road from the north edge of Americus north to U.S. Highway 56 for an asphalt leveling course and a 2-inch asphalt overlay.
F Road 175: Road 175 (north old Highway 50) from the east end of the off-ramps for Interstate 35 east to the Lyon-Coffey County line for milling and a 2-inch asphalt overlay.
F Bridge on South Avenue: The bridge on South Avenue west of Prairie Street and east of the transfer station. This project would replace the bridge only.
Woods said the South Avenue bridge project likely has the best chance of receiving stimulus funds. The distribution of the funds would be left to the Kansas Department of Transportation, which has $11 million it needs to delegate to the KDOT District 1 area.
In other matters commissioners:
F Approved warrants payable in the amount of $150,645.34 and payroll payable in the amount of $211,852.57 and payroll withholdings in the amount of $126,354.53.
F Accepted the Ivy Township report.
F Approved sending Woods to the Kansas Transportation Engineering Conference in Manhattan in April.
F Appointed Martin to be on the joint city/county contracts committee.
F Discussed a Kansas Mutual Aid agreement between Coffey and Lyon counties. The item was deferred for two weeks.