Go
Saints!

Friday
March 29th, 2024

McCaffrey said the EOC is coming in useful in many ways, namely with having meetings with people from different areas of the community and other entities.

“I’m glad we took that step to set that up,” he said. “I think it’ll help us move forward. At this point in time, I’m not anticipating any changes to what we’ve done in so far as closing county facilities or altering the governor’s executive order on the 50 people.”

McCaffrey said there are still no positive cases of COVID-19 in Seward County.

“I don’t believe we have any in the connecting counties, and I don’t know that we have any in what we would consider Western Kansas, at least as far as the updates I got in the past couple days,” he said. “I’d also like to congratulate everybody in our community for what they have done to comply with the 50-person limit and the social distancing. It’s good to see our community is voluntarily following those guidelines, which makes it easier to not have to go to something more strict. I would just encourage people to continue to do that as much as possible. Observe the 50-person limit. Observe the social distancing guidelines, and just follow the recommendations of whatever employer you work for in so far as how they want to handle your day to day duties. All of that helps us do our jobs as well.”

Discussions then turned to Resolution No. 2020-05, which McCaffrey said adopts specific provisions regarding county operations, access to county facilities and addresses some specific facilities, including the Seward County Landfill and the Seward County Courthouse.

One section of the resolution give authority to Warden and Human Resources Director Maria Aguilar to adopt policies that may be needed quickly to comply with changing state and federal laws.

“There is honestly no way to keep track of that until it’s out there and we have it in our hot little hands,” McCaffrey said. “It’s hard to know if we would actually need to do that, but we felt that it was necessary to loosen the restrictions on that for April and Maria to comply with any changes quickly they needed.”

Another section deals with purchasing policy, specifically an existing resolution which allows purchases of less than $5,000 to be approved without a formal bid process. The section in Resolution 2020-05 temporarily increases that amount to $50,000 with Warden’s approval in consultation with McCaffrey and Vice Chairman Ada Linenbroker.

County Counsel Nathan Foreman said the limitations outlined in the resolution was something that needed careful consideration.

“It’s a balancing act of allowing people to access the facilities and also allowing our county officials to do their statutory duties while still protecting the public and the employees themselves,” he said.

Foreman said the county’s landfill will continue to be open, as will the courthouse.

“Business will be conducted through the scales,” he said of the landfill. “The Seward County Courthouse will be open for limited services pursuant to a Supreme Court order. As a county, we can’t control the court statutorily.”

Foreman said the resolution will remain in effect only for 60 days unless terminated earlier.

“It is only during the disaster,” he said. “When the disaster is over, it is no longer in effect. The purchasing policy is only for emergency purchases. It’s not for just any purchase.”

Warden, who joined the meeting by phone, praised the efforts of Foreman for putting the resolution together.

“I had gone over it with Nathan as he was preparing it, and I greatly appreciate all the work he put into it,” she said.

The resolution will be available on the county’s Web site at www.sewardcountyks.org. McCaffrey said for now, county meetings will go on as usual.

“It’s still my intent to keep these meetings as open as much as we can to comply with KOMA, which is still in effect,” he said referring to the Kansas Open Meetings Act. “Certainly, if we would start to have more than 50 people show up or we can’t observe the social distancing recommendations for people attending in person, we might have to look at some way to limit those numbers. Otherwise, I just plan to continue as needed. We may have a few more instances where we’re using the phone conference system for individuals who need to participate but are sick or just aren’t comfortable attending right now. We will try to make use of that as much as possible while still complying with the Kansas Open Meetings Act.”

Linenbroker said first responders and others have done a great job of keeping people safe from the spread of COVID-19.

“I just want to thank all the emergency management and all the emergency personnel and hospital and medical people,” she said. “They’re the ones who are still getting out and making sure people have their services. Also I want to thank all the people at the grocery stores and restaurants and businesses in town that are still supplying the supplies and everything else people need. When you go out in the public, please be nice to these people because they are working really, really hard, and we need to appreciate the effort they’re putting out for us so the community keeps running.”

“I want to also thank all the truck drivers,” Commissioner Randy Malin said.

After the discussion and approval of the resolution, the meeting was adjourned after about 20 minutes.

Liberal Local News

Governor Kelly signs bill honoring wartime chaplain Father Emil Kapaun

kapaun funeral church pageThe remains of Father Emil Kapaun are brought out from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency headquarters at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in September 2021. Last Friday, Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill directing the creation of a memorial honoring Kapaun and his service. FILE PHOTO/TRAVIS HEYING/THE WICHITA EAGLEELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

Father Emil Kapaun has been a prominent figure for Kansas Catholics for many years, having served as a chaplain in the Burma Theater of World War II, then served again as a chaplain with the U.S. Army in Korea, where he was captured and ultimately died in a prisoner of war camp. 

His remains were unaccounted for until 2021, when they were finally returned to Kansas and interred in Wichita.

Last Friday, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 431, which directs the Capitol Preservation Committee to create a memorial honoring Chaplain (Captain) Kapaun, according to a release from the State of Kansas.

“Father Emil Kapaun was known for his selfless, dedicated service and providing care to all, regardless of their religion or beliefs,” Gov. Kelly noted in the State of Kansas release. “I am proud to honor his legacy and sacrifices for our country by signing this bipartisan bill. Father Kapaun is the most highly decorated chaplain in United States Army history. After serving as a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Wichita, he tok his ministry to World War II and the Korean War. He was captured in the Battle of Unsan while refusing to leave the wounded and ultimately died as a prisoner of war in North Korea.”

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Other Interests

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Opinion

Key bills still have a chance to pass

RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator

 

This last, Week 11, for most committees to meet in the Legislature was kind of different from past years, in that there didn’t seem to be any big “crunch” to get everything done. 

We did work a fair number of bills — particularly in Ag and Fed and State, but used our full hour of meeting time only once — and that without even approving the bill which consumed most of it (SB 446, seeking to limit foreign property ownership) because it had simply become too cumbersome. 

The big news, I suppose, was that both houses held hearings on Medicaid expansion for the first time in four years, yet without moving it out of committee. The House provided some hope that tax relief might have another shot; however, with a two-tier instead of single rate like that adopted by the Senate, there is still a lot of “negotiating” to do to get a finished product that is “veto proof.” We’ll know more after their formal Floor consideration next week, but right now I’m optimistic we can come up with something taxpayers have been waiting on far too long.

Three totally unrelated measures that have generated a lot of constituent interest and do have a good chance of making it through are S Sub HB 2124, dealing with operational enhancement for “little guy” microbreweries; HB 2783, prohibiting government agencies from restricting the sale of motor vehicles based on energy source; and SB 527/HB 2813, making it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion. 

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