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Coffey County commission approves personnel actions, equipment purchase, property tax abatements and routine annual plans
Summary
At its March 24 meeting the Coffey County Commission approved a series of routine personnel and procurement motions, adopted the county noxious-weed management plan and eradication report, authorized equipment purchases and disposal by trade, and granted two disaster property-tax abatements for homes destroyed by fire.
The Coffey County Commission passed a package of routine personnel, procurement and administrative items and approved two disaster tax abatements during its March 24 meeting.
Most items were handled by voice vote and passed without roll-call tallies. Motions approved included minutes, multiple conditional personnel actions (CP-2 forms) for summer and new hires in the highway and sheriff departments, acceptance of the county's 2025 noxious-weed management plan and the 2024 eradication progress report, authorization to solicit bids for equipment, approval to purchase a wheel loader using government purchasing cooperative pricing, disposal of two older wheel loaders by trade, and the board's finding to advertise disposal notices. The commission also approved two disaster-relief property-tax abatements under K.S.A. 79-1613 for properties destroyed by fires in 2023.
Why it matters: The motions formalize routine workforce changes, continuing infrastructure work and equipment replacement that affect county road maintenance capacity and the county budget. The disaster-abatement decisions provide modest property-tax relief to homeowners who lost structures to fire and are governed by state statute.
Details of approved items (motions and outcomes) - Approval of the March 10, 2025 minutes — motion approved by voice vote. - Tax abatement: authorize chairman to sign one abatement in the amount of $2,553.82 — motion approved by voice vote. - Personnel (CP-2) actions: approved multiple CP-2 forms including summer hires and classification/step changes for highway and sheriff staff (Danny Fry; Tim Austin; Jared Shepherd; Dalton Rush; Kelly Baker); motions approved by voice vote. - Noxious weeds: approval of the 2025 management plan for noxious weeds on county and state rights-of-way — motion approved by voice vote. - Noxious weeds: approval of the 2024 noxious-weed eradication progress report — motion approved by voice vote. - Road & Bridge equipment procurement: authorization to solicit formal bids for one compact track loader to be paid from the General Fund public-works equipment line item — motion approved by voice vote. - Road & Bridge equipment purchase (single larger motion): the board waived competitive bidding and approved purchase of one 2024 John Deere 5204P wheel loader from Murphy Tractor & Equipment (Topeka) under Sourcewell cooperative pricing, quote no. 3248329, price $227,750 with an agreed trade allowance of $44,000 (net purchase $183,750); authorized signing of related documents — motion approved by voice vote. - Disposal/trade-in: the commission found that a 1991 Caterpillar 966F loader and a 1981 Caterpillar 950B loader were no longer required and authorized trade-ins to Murphy Tractor for $27,000 and $17,000 respectively; public notice of disposal to be published March 20 and March 27, 2025 — motions approved by voice votes. - Road & Bridge personnel: authorization to advertise and hire one mechanic to fill a current vacancy — motion approved by voice vote. - Solicitation and contracting motions for various road and bridge purchases, and several routine administrative motions — motions approved by voice vote. - Disaster tax relief determinations under K.S.A. 79-1613: two applications were approved after staff analysis. The board found that the applicants met statutory criteria and approved abatements/credits in the amounts shown in the county appraiser's calculations: $627.70 (property at 115 N. Sixth St., Newstron) and $705.44 (590 Sixteenth Road, Burlington). Motions approved by voice votes.
What the record shows: Most votes were recorded as voice votes with the board's usual procedure of "All in favor say aye." No roll-call tallies were entered in the transcript. The only legal authority explicitly cited during the meeting was K.S.A. 79-1613 for disaster tax abatements.
Looking ahead: Several procurement and equipment items will require document execution by county staff. Notices of intended disposal for the two trade-ins will be published as required by county procedure.
