Reno County Commission Meeting March 26, 2025 Highlights
RENO COUNTY, Kan. — The moratorium on large scale solar development in the zoned portion of Reno County was lifted Wednesday by County Commissioners. The existing moratorium will remain in place at least through May 1 for the un-zoned areas of the county, which basically is most areas west of K-14 excluding some areas surrounding Nickerson and South Hutchinson.
The Planning Commission will be asked to develop regulations for the un-zoned areas such as was done for wind energy systems. There continues to be strong opposition in western Reno County to extend full zoning to that area.
Public Works Director Don Brittain announced the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has given a $704,660 grant to Yoder’s Rural Water District 101 for a supply connection to Hutchinson. Public Works Director Don Brittain said with the grant, the water system project is now fully funded. Water District 101 has been dealing with high nitrate levels for several years.
Action was tabled on two items, one of which is a proposed agreement with Interfaith Housing and Community Services to continue the Brush Up Hutch program in unincorporated areas of the County. Commissioners had questions related to income guidelines and other aspects of the program.
Also tabled was a proposal for a sign-on bonus policy. As written, this would have targeted hard to fill positions such as in the District Attorney’s office and Health Department for which advance degrees are required. Commissioners expressed interest in expanding this to fill other difficult positions to fill for the county.
The Commission approved joining the Kansas Natural Resource Council, a group of primarily rural counties that advocates on a variety of issues impacting rural communities. An overview of KNRC was provided by its chair, Pawnee County Commissioner Bob Rein, and executive director Tracy Barton.
Major issues the group has been involved with recently include the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge water dispute, which does impact a portion of western Reno County, and the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor that at one point proposed a five-mile-wide corridor from the Dodge City area to west of Great Bend and then to the Nebraska border counties and east.
Reno County Commissioners have appointed a fence viewing board to look at a fence line in the Nickerson Area, as requested by two landowners in that area between the pasture ground of one and cropland of the other. This is a duty that is set out by state law, and the viewers, designated as Commissioner Ron Hirst, Public Works Director Don Brittain, and County Counselor Patrick Hoffman, with the viewing to take place in April.
Commissioners authorized disposal of two fire vehicles. One is a 1979 tender truck for Fire District 4 that is being replaced with a new truck expected to arrive about any day now. No other district was interested in this unit.
The other is a 1994 pumper truck owned by Fire District 9 that had a catastrophic pump failure last year, with its replacement due to be delivered in April.
Both will be sold via online auction.
The Commission also approved the purchase for Fire District 9 of a brush truck to replace one totaled in a rollover accident last year. The chassis will be purchased from Midwest Ford and the firefighting bed from Prairie Poly Manufacturing with a combined price of just over $127,000.
Commissioners approved purchase of used vehicles for two departments. One is an SUV to replace a car currently used by the Health Department that has also been part of a pool car program and originally purchased by the Appraiser’s Office. The other is for an SUV to replace a like vehicle in the Appraiser’s office. Both purchases are budgeted for this year.
Commissioners approved purchase of two tandem axle dump truck chassis with a 16 foot dump body for the Public Works Department. This is a budgeted and scheduled purchase as the existing dump trucks have exceeded their usual 12-year or 225,000-mile replacement timeline. Total cost comes to just under $468,000 through Rush Truck Center in Wichita.
Commissioners authorized signing of an agreement for funding of a bridge replacement on Castleton Road through the Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program of the Kansas Department of Transportation, along with purchase from Fairview Service of a Zero Turn Radius mower for the Maintenance Department having a smaller deck that will work better on smaller properties, and appointed Jack McMillian Jr to fill the vacant position of Valley Township Clerk.
