Last Rooks County Commission meeting of 2019 held

The Rooks County Commission held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, December 31st. After they approved the December 17th regular meeting minutes as presented, the commissioners gave their reports.

Commissioner Corky Hagan said he had visited with a few people during the week, but reported it was relatively quiet due to the holidays. Hagan’s portion of the county received around 2.30 inches of rain/snow over the weekend.

Commissioner Greg Balthazor reported that he had received a call from individuals at Woodston about the highway department cleaning up the County property by the highway. The crew was driving on their property. Balthazor talked to the crew who thought the area they were driving on was County land.

Commissioner John Ruder reported for road and bridge supervisor Rich Bouchey, who was absent from the meeting. The department had received calls about ruts in the roads after the weekend moisture. The three commissioners also talked about vehicles that had gotten stuck because of the rain/snow. The truck, which was being looked at dealing with a possible injector problem, turned out to have a cylinder problem. A course of action will be discussed at a later date. Ruder then gave the Redbud Village update.

Sheriff Gary Knight was at the meeting and informed the commissioners that there is a leak in the skylight roof of the jail. This is being taken care of. The two radiant heaters have been installed and the three-phase heaters will be sold on Purple Wave.

The commissioners reviewed all of the departments’ end-of-the-year transfers before they approved a $75.00 a month phone expense for the county attorney. The commissioners received an invitation to a “Hope In the Heartland” program at High Plains Mental Health in Hays set for February 8th.

The commissioners spent the remainder of the morning reviewing and signing end-of-the-year vouchers and payroll.