During the County Commissioners’ Jan. 9 meeting, the board:
• held its annual reorganizational meeting, where the board elects its chairperson and appoints members to various boards and committees.
• denied a rezoning request from Christopher Smith to change land off 196th and McKelvie roads, south of Garland, from agricultural to transitional-agriculture, which would allow more housing.
Six landowners in the area spoke against the rezone, mainly citing water concerns, as that area is in the water conservation district.
• received a quarterly update from Laura McDougall of Four Corners Health Department. She said there has been an increase in influenza in the area. She suggested those with the flu visit their doctor of antiviral medication, which will help their symptoms, and stay home to avoid spreading the illness.
McDougall also said Four Corners has completed its community health assessments.
• approved an estimated $4,500 for a new card reader for the Seward County Justice Center. Detention Center Director Maria Hatfield said a room that was intended as an emergency operations center has been utilized as a conference/training room instead. Because of that, a door in that room that leads to the sheriff’s department needs the card reader to limit access to that area.
• discussed an on-call policy for county offices. Human Resources Director Michaela Tuttle said the board needs to consider several components for an on-call policy, like what departments are affected, what is considered on call, any restrictions placed on employees while they are on call that may affect their response times, compensation and disciplinary action if an employee does not respond to a call.
The board focused discussion on the roads and buildings and grounds departments. No formal action was taken.
