ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Seward County’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department has spent a good amount of time performing work and assisting the City of Liberal with various services.
With a unanimous vote from the county commission at its July 7 meeting, the county will fully provide cooperative GIS services to the city.
Commissioners approved a resolution regarding cooperative use of the county’s GIS services in the city and an interlocal agreement between city and county commissioners concerning the services.
Seward County Administrator April Warden met with Liberal City Manager Scarlette Diseker, GIS Coordinator Lisa Olson and County Building Services Director Keith Bridenstine recently to discuss the efforts of both the city and the county to utilize the expertise and services of Olson and sharing the financial responsibility.
Warden said after that meeting, County Counsel Nathan Foreman drew up the joint ordinance and the interlocal agreement, and City Attorney Lynn Koehn reviewed the documents, as have city and county staff.
At its regular meeting Tuesday, May 13, the Liberal City Commission unanimously approved the ordinance.
“They have set aside $41,600,” Warden said. “They have set aside that money in their budget, and instead of going by a percentage, they would just like to know that’s the amount they’re budgeting every year.”
Warden said even if a new GIS department head were hired at a future date and the county decided to pay them a different rate, the city would still be obligated to pay the same amount agreed to with the agreement now in place.
“Nothing has changed in this interlocal agreement,” she said. “The city signed this back on May 13. The only thing we will have to change is the date if you choose to accept this and getting the publication sent. We do have to send the final documents off.”
Commission Vice Chairman Steve Helm made the motion to adopt Resolution 2025-09, a joint city/county agreement for GIS services, and the board unanimously to approve the motion.
Warden said the paperwork will be published and sent to the state to make the agreement official.
The commission also approved rate increases for EMS services. EMS Director John Ralston said the changes were presented to the commission at the county’s recent budget work sessions, and he has followed up with the county’s billing company.
“These are what the suggestions are, and it shows the indication on the need to bump up the rates because of insurance change and reimbursement rates on insurances on certain types of calls,” he said.
Ralston said the new rates will likely affect uninsured people more than those who have coverage.
“For people who are covered, it’ll probably be covered 100 percent on these rate increases by their insurance companies because they’re the rate increases they allow,” he said. “Some of them will be rolled to their deductibles depending on whether their deductible is covered or not, but these are some rate increases so we can keep within the form, and we don’t have to make a big jump sometime.”
Rather, Ralston said gradual increases can be made over time.
“This will be your second rate increase over a four-year period,” he said. “I look for the next one to be probably 2027 after they get the legislation on that with the Medicare and Medicaid evaluations the ambulance industry has to turn in every 10 years.”
Commissioner Tammy Sutherland-Abbott made the motion to adopt the changes for EMS calls, and the commission voted unanimously to approve the new rates.
