Kris Miller
Hiawatha World
A bid process was approved to renovate and add to the Noxious Weed and Solid Waste building at the Brown County Landfill during Monday morning’s meeting on a 2-1 vote.
Landfill Director Don Pounds met with the commissioners about requesting a new addition of the Noxious Weed and Solid Waste building at the Brown County Landfill; the work being requested was a renovation of the existing building and an addition to that building. The current state of the building was described as not being in good shape; ceiling tiles were falling off and water was running through in the structure. A new heating and cooling system were also needed for the proposed project.
Pounds asked permission to follow a formal bid process for the Jan. 20, 2025 commission meeting. Commissioner Lehmkuhl and Commissioner Lamar Shoemaker voted in favor of the bid process, while Commissioner William Pollock voted against the bid process.
Meeting 62nd District Representative Scott Willcott
62nd District Representative Scott Willcott visited the Brown County Commission. Willcott introduced himself to the commissioners and stated he wanted to reach out to different leadership entities in the 62nd District.
The representative gave some of his background; Willcott’s professional background is in engineering and holds a mechanical engineering degree from Kansas State University. Willcott and his wife own and operate Willcott Brewing Company in Holton and Leavenworth.
Willcott continued with his background, as he oversaw projects at St. Louis, MO-based Anheuser-Busch on the manufacturing engineering side. Willcott has been assigned to social services, economic development and federal and state affairs.
The representative left the commissioners some contact information.
Meeting with Lloyd Group
The commissioners spoke with D. Scot Lloyd of Galva-based Lloyd Group, who discussed with them about doing Brown County’s budget. Lloyd gave a summary of his services, starting that he has helped other counties with their budgets.
Lloyd discussed the process of how the Lloyd Group would work with the county budget and working to get the budget revenue-neutral. After walking the commissioners through Lloyd Group’s budget-working process, Lloyd gave the commissioners his contact information for any future meetings if the commissioners consider Lloyd Group to work with Brown County’s budget needs.
Other items of discussion
• All commissioners voted to approve the health incentive plan, with the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan to be in effect starting in January 2025.
• Brown County Appraiser Steve Markham spoke with the commissioners about looking for a new printing company for changes of values, as he did not trust the current company due to errors that occurred last year. He recommended printing company Witchita-based Postalocity, as there were no increases in the new services. Markham was recommended to do some research on the cost wit Postalocity before proceeding forward.
