Kris Miller
Hiawatha World
Two of the Brown County commissioners voted to approve signing election equipment agreements during Monday’s Brown County meeting on a 2-1 vote.
Commissioners Richard Lehmkuhl and Lamar Shoemaker spoke in favor of signing the agreements while Commissioner William Pollock dissented, stating that the discussion needed to be tabled for three days. County Clerk Nikki Lee pointed out that the voting machines themselves were already approved. Both Lehmkuhl and Shoemaker voted to approve signing the agreements for the machines, while Pollock voted against the motion.
Discussion of Wolf River dam projects
The commission met with United States Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Service civil engineer Larry Schieferecke about two stabilization dam projects at Wolf River that are in the planning stages. Schieferecke elaborated with, “If there’s any federal funds involved, according to the national environmental policy act, we need to notify any government agencies that have any interest in the projects.”
The civil engineer explained that there is a dam project three miles east of Everest and another three miles south of Hiawatha. He said the dams are for flood control and funded through the NRCS, with the sponsor being the Wolf River Watershed JT District #66, headed by manager Barb Oltjen.
Schieferecke explained he reached out to the commissioners as this topic related to road and bridges and how it related to flood control.
“The reason we contacted you is that you would have some interest in this,” Schieferecke said. “As we build these dams that will reduce the flow below those dams, and so any drainage structures you have, you might want to have some input on that.”
Schieferecke also stated that emergency simulation in case a breach wave happened; he also mentioned that a letter was sent to the emergency coordinator. The commissioners asked questions about specifics of the flood project, from how the dam would fill up and drain to how it would affect landowners to matters of grants for bridge projects. Schieferecke said that the county could be a cooperating agency and could select a representative for public commenting regarding the dam projects. All commissioners passed a motion to be a cooperating agency with NCRS.
Other items of discussion
• All commissioners voted to approve $199,667 for KCamp Contributions.
• All commissioners voted to pass a Kansas Department of Finance and Authority bond intended for provisions for a beginning farmer’s program for Jeremy and Kailey Patton and for acquisition for 78 acres of land.
