The signing of an agreement for an ongoing development project and multiple proclamations highlighted the Lyon County Commission’s weekly action session Thursday.
Commissioners unanimously approved a “Form of guaranty agreement” with Southern Power Company for the Reading Wind Farm project. The wind farm will stretch from Reading to western Osage County covering over 20,000 acres.
The agreement signed by commissioners earmarks $2 million for Southern Power Company to repair any damages to county roads during the project. According to commissioner Scott Briggs, an agreement such as this is standard procedure to protect the county — and its taxpayers — from incurring any costs due to repairing damaged roads at the completion of the work.
Lyon County Zoning and Flood Plain Manager Sam Seeley explains the agreement basically follows the age-old rule of “you break it, you buy it.”
The $2 million is for immediate action in the event damages were to occur. According to Seeley, if repair work were to cost more than the allocated sum, Southern Power would then utilize their liability insurance to help cover the cost.
According to Seeley, there is currently no timeline for when the work will officially begin or the length of time it will take to complete.
In other business, commissioners proclaimed April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Bev Long of the Kansas Children’s Service League and SOS CASA of the Flinthills Director Dena Russel also discussed the number of child abuse cases reported in Lyon County in 2018 and services provided by both agencies.
In 2018, over 900 cases were reported with 156 children having cases filed. Russel says currently SOS is able to serve roughly 35-40 percent of children in need of a CASA volunteer.
She attributes this to several factors including a need for volunteers and the number of children coming into care rising drastically over the past few years.
The county’s proclamation follows a proclamation made by the Emporia City Commission during their action session Wednesday.
Also during their session, commissioners approved several requests from Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods. The requests included an entrance application for Bill and Lori Metcalf at 510 Hackberry in Americus.
Commissioners also approved the sending out of requests for structural steel, 100 pieces of 10” steel “H” piling, a galvanized steel bridge plank and aluminized steel type 2 metric sheet piling. A proclamation was also made declaring April 9th-15th as National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week in Lyon County.
All of the requested materials are for planned work on county bridges.
The commission also awarded a bid for work on the Prairie St. Overpass to Snoddgrass and Sons Construction of Wichita in the amount of $337,407.34. The Lyon County Commission will next meet Thursday, April 11 at 8 am inside the Lyon County Courthouse.
