Riley County commissioners were updated on various projects in the county Monday morning by Public Works Director Leon Hobson.
Hobson said one of the wind turbines at the Public Works campus was recently repaired. The downed turbine was made aware to the commission earlier this month after it was damaged by a lightening strike.
“The Northwind turbine is up and operational now,” Hobson reported. “The cost to repair that is less than originally anticipated. We haven’t got the final bill but we hope it will be less than $9,000.”
Earlier this month repairs were estimated to be as much as $25,000.
Hobson also reported that a new soccer field has been graded and is in the process of being seeded at Fairmont Park and at CiCo Park, improvements have been made there, too.
“The contractor has completed the replacement of approximately 650 feet of the old asphalt walkways and we’ve replaced that with concrete at the fairgrounds,” he said.
In other items, a memo from the Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources at K-State has alerted county officials about EPA rule changes.
The new rules will matter most to spring burns in the area and smoke management efforts.
The ozone standard was changed to 70 parts per billion from 75 parts per billion and the ozone season was extended to include March, though that extension will not go into effect till 2017.
The new rules come from a memorandum that implements the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Ranchers in the Flint Hills region will be encouraged to spread out their burns and to plan them well in advance. There are also suggestions for more mid-week burns, rather than all of them being concentrated on the weekend.
