ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Two routine action items highlighted a short meeting Monday for the Seward County Commission.
The first action item concerned the reappointment of Angela Eichman as county appraiser for four years.
“The Board of County Commissioners pursuant to K.S.A. 19-430 and amendments thereto is directed on July 1, 1993, and July 1 of each fourth year thereafter to appoint a county appraiser for a term of four years and until a successor is appointed,” Vice Chairman Steve Helm said. “Angela Eichman was first appointed in 2009 and has been appointed in 2013, 2017 and 2021. The recommendation is to approve Resolution 2025-08 appointing Angela Eichman as the county appraiser for a term beginning July 1, 2025, and expiring June 30, 2029.”
Helm presided over Monday’s meeting in the absence of Chairman Scott Carr, who was in Washington D.C. with other local leaders to meet with federal lawmakers.
Administrator April Warden said Eichman is a real asset to the county, and she said she and County Clerk Stacia Long noticed how many counties were looking for appraisers.
“I stand up here today and working with her to say, I sure don’t want to lose her, and we have a real asset in her,” Warden said.
Commissioners voted 4-0 with Carr absent to approve the reappointment of Eichman as appraiser.
The second action item concerned a change order for a hot mix asphalt overlay project in various locations and varying mill and overlay depths.
“The change order is to revise the original contract start date from May 5, 2025, to July 7, 2025, and to remove the Kismet Main Street driving lanes section due to an existing water main repair that needs to be done,” Helm said. “A credit of $112,340 has been given for the removal of the Kismet Main Street driving lanes.”
Commissioners approved the change order 4-0 with Carr absent.
Earlier in the meeting, commissioners heard from Emergency Management Director Greg Standard about an upcoming training for elected officials and local leaders scheduled to start at 9 a.m. May 20 at the Seward County Activity Center.
“This training is designed to inform you of how our responses work and your role in that to manage the response to an emergency in our community,” he said. “It’s very important you attempt to make this meeting, and I really hope each and every one of you are able to make it. We’d also like to see the city commission, and I’ll visit with them later. We’ll also encourage hospital management, school management, all of those folks that are sub-jurisdictions in the city or county to attend as well. We find people who have been exposed to that training are much more comfortable when we’re actually responding.”
The training is through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Incident Management System and Incident Command System program.
“You won’t need to bring anything,” Standard said. “Just be there, and you’ll hear the presentation. You can ask questions and interact with the trainers we’re bringing in to do it. You’ll find it interesting and beneficial. We’ve been trying to arrange this for several years, and we finally have it set up.”
