Bids to fix county road washouts opened

    The Chase County Commissioners at their May 12 meeting moved one step forward in the process to repair washouts along county roads.
    After only receiving one bid two weeks ago, the county received one bid, from the same company, despite county highway superintendent Jeff Tidyman expecting more.
    Washouts bordering Kelly Fanning and John Lewis’ properties and one along Old Highway 6 are on tap to be fixed.
    BSB Construction of Curtis bid $56,000 for work on Road 735 along Fanning’s property, nearly $30,000 for work on Avenue 334 near Lewis’  property and $40,000 for work along Old Highway 6. The bids include dirt work, culverts and seeding the area.
    Tidyman estimated the county would also need to buy over $20,000 worth of dirt to fill in the washouts.
    “The total is a lot more than I wanted to see,” Tidyman said.
    With the new budget year beginning July 1, the commissioners discussed splitting cost of the work between this budget year and the next. Work is to be completed by June 30.
    Moving on from the washouts, Tidyman said he’d like to explore putting up guardrails along certain roads in the county.
    In other business, the commissioners spent time discussing the purchase of tax sales with County Treasurer Cindy Schoenberger.
    Though the commissioners tabled the issue, discussion included not buying the tax sales and forcing foreclosures.
Conditional use extension
    The issue of extensions for conditional use permits will be revisited during a public hearing at the May 26 commissioners’ meeting.
    Bart Stromberger attended the Feb. 25 public hearing to give his opinion on the proposed extension changes. He voiced several concerns, starting with using 51% completion of a project as the standard to apply for an extension.
    After discussion, the commissioners tabled the item and sent it back to the zoning board. The commissioners will tackle the issue again at their next meeting.