Friday, August 28, 2015
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THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS
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ABATEMENT
From PAGE 1
KENDRA JOHNSON/GAZETTE
Beth Seimears writes a note in a card to Melissa Windsor during her farewell
reception on Thursday.
KENDRA JOHNSON/GAZETTE
Melissa Windsor wipes away tears while talking to Dale Hartley at her farewell
reception on Thursday. Windsor is stepping down as the Executive Director of the
Emporia Arts Center after working there for the past 10 years.
“If you have some body that has 20 employees and they create two
(jobs) then they qualify,”
Heermann.
Businesses also can
qualify for a partial abatement if they don’t meet
the threshold for total tax
abatement , Heermann
said.
“This can give some
discretion to the governing bodies if there is a project they think is in the best
interest of the community
they can grant a partial
abatement,” he said.
Heermann also discussed wages in the county.
“There seems to be lot
of discussion in the community that manufacturing (jobs) have low wages,” he said.
He discussed business
patterns in Lyon County.
The numbers, which are
from the North American
Industrial Classification
Code, have a two-year
lag time so the figures
are from 2013, he said.
On manufacturing there
were 2,823 employees as
of March 12, 2013. The
total annual payroll was
$119 million. The average
salary was $42,305.
“The total when you
look at all sectors it
will say the total annual
pay for Lyon County
this is for businesses is
$337,436,000 so there is
11,075 employees and
that average comes up to
$30,468,” Heerman said.
“That puts us in the mid-
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dle of the pack (with other counties in the state).
We’re not the lowest and
we’re not the highest. The
good news is we had high
unemployment here three
or four years ago. We have
low unemployment here
now. There is starting to
be more wage pressure on
some of the low-end wages are starting to come up
and they’re not being able
to find a lot of good-qualified workers at the lower
wage.”
Commissioners also
conducted a public hearing to finalize the Water
District Community Development Block Grant.
The grant, which was
through Lyon County Rural Water District 1, was
for $500,000 with a total
project cost of $1,285,509.
There was local funds of
$785,509. The project included modernization of
a lot of water lines.
Bruce Boettcher, of
BG Consultants, said the
project went well.
“The district is very
happy,” Boettcher said.
“They are very appreciative of the county commission assisting with it.”
About $1.3 million
has been been infused
through the Community
Development Block Grant
in Americus and the
Olpe and Hartford area,
Boettcher added.
In other business commissioners:
✦✦Approved the low bid
for upcoming Lyon
County Bridge repairs.
Mill Valley Construction, Inc., of Shawnee
Mission, submitted the
low bid for the amount
of $367,271.50. The
bridges to be repaired
are located in the 2900
block of Road L, Road
145 west of Neosho
Rapids and the 1500
block of Road F.
✦✦Approved payroll
in the amount of
$250,364.95.
✦✦Canceled a purchase
order to Jayhawk Fire
Sprinkler Co. in the
amount of $632 for the
annual fire sprinkler
systems test. The invoice was paid for on a
separate account.
✦✦Canceled a purchase
order to Smiths Detection, Inc. in the
amount of $2,557.50
for two registrations
for HiTrax Tech Training on X-ray machine.
Attempts to contact
the training coordinator have not been successful.
✦✦Signed a letter of support to ECKAN.
✦✦Approved a bill for
repair in the amount of
$2,250 for microwave
radios from WLS Technical Services, Corp.
✦✦Approved the purchase
of a cooling tower controller.
Commissioners approved the following
on the consent agenda:
✦✦Approved warrants
payable in the amount
of $146,954.89.
✦✦Approved the minutes
of the Aug. 20, 2015,
meeting.
✦✦Approved the chairman signing a request
for a lease agreement
from the State of
Kansas to lease space
in the Lyon County
Courthouse for Community Corrections.
MARKETS
STOCKS OF
LOCAL
INTEREST
KENDRA JOHNSON/GAZETTE
WINDSOR
From PAGE 1
members of the community. She shared hugs and
reminisced with others.
Windsor was gifted with
a beautiful stained glass
piece to take with her to Arizona — An original Harry
Hart piece.
“It is just beautiful, that
was Harry’s,” Windsor said.
“It is going to be beautiful.
Oh, I’m going to cry again.”
As Windsor prepares to
hand in her keys and make
her last exit of the arts center she loves so much she
says that the people have
made her time in Emporia
SUDOKU SOLUTION
so valuable. The relationships she has developed
with others through a
shared value of the arts will
be what she remembers
fondly.
“It has been the most rewarding experience of my
life,” Windsor said. “I don’t
know that there will be
anything that could match
it, other than motherhood.”
The search for Windsor’s
replacement continues.
Theresa Maley, president
of the executive committee
says that interested parties
can submit resumes until
Sept. 11. Maley says that
they have already received
several resumes and are
looking forward to beginning the interview process.
“We are going to be a
couple weeks without a director,” Maley said. “We are
going to handle that with
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