Gazette - PAID Subscriptions

TEG Friday, January 22, 2016 V V V L a s t PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING P u s h t o FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895 V V V D o n a t e United Way near fundraising goal Good Evening VVV Congratulations United Way of the Flint Hills. WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM USD 251 North Lyon County to make motion to call bond election By Jessie Wagoner [email protected] tal will be announced during the campaign celebration on Feb. 26. Drive Chair Stuart Symmonds said the campaign has gone really well. “I am surprised with the generosity of everyone in the community and the support for the United Way,” Symmonds said. Executive Director Jami The North Lyon County Board of Education has an important decision to make on Monday evening — they will vote on a motion to call for another bond election. The board originally called a bond election in October of 2015, asking voters to approve a $39 million bond to build a consolidated kindergartenthrough-12th-grade building. That bond was voted down by a small margin. Since that time, the board has worked with the architects and builders to trim the costs of the building project and have successfully reduced the to $30.9 million. “I thought we did a good job of chopping,” Matt Horton, board president said at the board meeting held on Jan. 13. “I really thought it worked well to sit down with them and just hammer it out and take a little bit off here and there.” The board has reduced the Please see United Way, Page 3 Please see 251, Page 3 Courtesy Photo Employees of the Medicine Shoppe present a check to the community in the amount of $5,181.80, which represents their support of this year’s United Way campaign. As part of their workplace campaign, the Medicine Shoppe encourages employees to donate through payroll deduction and participate in Jeans Day for the United Way. Customers were also invited to support the campaign by purchasing raffle tickets for a Halloween-themed giveaway.  By Brandy Nance [email protected] The United Way of the Flint Hills has seen one of the strongest campaigns in years, according to officials, with less than $30,000 to raise before the campaign celebration in midFebruary. As of Wednesday, the campaign has raised $551,261 of the $580,000 goal. The final to- L y o n C o u n t y Lyon County Commission Eight Lyon Country bridges to discusses budgets and fireworks undergo repairs in 2016 By John Robinson [email protected] Falling fuel and diesel prices helped the Lyon County Highway Department finish 2015 under budget as the Lyon County Commission reviewed 2015 expenses at the action session Thursday morning. Even with the savings, County Engineer Chip Woods had only one word to describe the highway department’s accomplishment. “Barely,” he said. “The decrease in diesel and fuel was a big thing, that freed up more money we could spend on rocks.” The highway department budgeted $300,000 to spend on gas, but only ended up spending $140,092.86, while the amount spent on diesel was just over half of what was expected, spending $305,132.67 out of the budgeted $600,000. With those savings, the highway department went over their initial budget of $427,927 for rocks, spending $567,430.03 in 2015. “We have 1,300 miles of gravel road,” Woods said. “So, the more rock we own, the more we can put down and the better the roads are.” The department distributed the largest amount of crushed rock since 2011 with 69,035 tons laid through November of 2015. Fireworks permits The Lyon County Commission wants the Emporia City Commission to change the guidelines in their fireworks ordinance to match the VOL. 124, NO. 174 John Robinson/Gazette Chip Woods addresses the Lyon County Commission about the Lyon County Highway Department’s 2015 budget. The highway department came in under the budget in 2015. county and state regulations. Under county and state rules, the sale and discharge of Class C fireworks are allowed within Lyon County between June 27 and July 5 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the exception of July 4 (10 a.m. to midnight). According to Emporia City Ordinance 15-13, Class C fireworks are consumer fireworks which are authorized by the Kansas State Fire Marshall to be legally sold to consumers in the State of Kansas, not to include “bottle rockets” (rockets mounted on a wire or stick), sparklers with wire rods and unmanned aerial luminaries, which are specifically excluded and remain banned. Fireworks sales inside the city of Emporia have a tighter deadline on the sale of Class C fireworks, which can be sold between June 29 and July 2 from the hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and limited on July 3 and 4, to 10 a.m. through 11 p.m. in the city limits. According to the county commissioners, the issue is vendors who set up in the 3-mile metropolitan area around Emporia and whether those vendors would fall under city or county jurisdiction. “(The city) isn’t sure if they’re selling the permits or if we’re selling the permits,” said County Commissioner Dan Slater. “This is stuff we have to find out and get nailed down in black and white.” Slater said the county is considering raising the price of their permits to allow for county-wide inspections but said there is nothing concrete yet and the conversation would continue at the next action session on Jan. 28. “This is important for vendors who want to sell fireworks in this area,” Slater said. “They need to know where they can sell and what they can buy because they’ll be ordering their stock soon.” Mark McArnarney, the city manager for Emporia, said he hopes to discuss the issue at the next city-county luncheon. Kendra Johnson/Gazette By John Robinson [email protected] Eight Lyon County bridges are currently cleared for repairs a