Web posted
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
County signs contract with KDOT for weed control
By JOSHUA AMES
Courier Staff Writer
Cowley County Commission chair Gary Wilson and commissioner Carmelita
Clarkson voted to renew a contract between the county and the Kansas
Department of Transportation at Tuesday morning's commission meeting.
Commissioner Dick Bonfy was absent.
In their second year with a contract with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the Cowley County Noxious Weeds Department sprays noxious weeds and other vegetative nuisances on the county's roads and state highways.
The department services over 1,000 miles of road in the county.
Cowley County Noxious Weeds Director Leslynn Moore said all the recent nasty weather is helping them to get a jump on the upcoming weed killing season.
"With Mother Nature helping us, we are up and ready to go and get a head start on the noxious weeds on the county's highways and roads," she said.
At the suggestion of county engineer Dale Steward, commissioners also passed
a motion saying that not all weight limit signs posted on short concrete span bridges throughout the county are necessary.
Steward argued that a lot of the shorter concrete span bridges in the area don't need weight signs posted on them, since some of the bridges have been here for 50 years and still show minimal signs of wear and erosion. Steward also said the money and time spent on posting signs on these bridges could be used elsewhere in the county's budget.
"Technically, with those signs posted on the bridges, a lot of bigger trucks (rock trucks) can't legally go over some of these bridges, when a short span bridge is capable of carrying a lot more weight," said Steward. "As long as there is no visible stress on the bridges, the signs aren't necessary."
Commissioner Wilson agreed with Steward, saying that the effort that is put
into posting the signs by county workers could be used elsewhere.
"It will save money and man hours," Wilson said.
Other business commissioners:
* Granted the Cowley County Management Information Systems department a $26,000 purchase order to the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.(ESRI) for a new Inline Complete ArcGIS Server 9.2 Standard Enterprise with ESRI related ArcGIS software that is already loaded for the county's Geographical Information System (GIS).
The new system will convert the current geographical information on the county's GIS to be used on the Internet and will keep all the information current.
* Approved a seismic testing cable to be laid across Cowley 3 in the coming
year.
The cable will begin at Udall and gradually move six miles south into the ditch of 122nd Road.
The purpose of the cable is to detect the depth of limestone and other minerals, along with possible oil and natural gas pockets. The cable is only expected to go across the roadway for two or three days at a time.
* Authorized a new service agreement with SECURUS Technologies. SECURUS, a phone service based out of Dallas, Texas, will provide an Inmate Telephone Service to the Cowley County Jail and Work Release Center. The new service
is Web based.
|
