Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting was quite eventful. Speeches were made, cookies were eaten, and coffee was sipped as fellow commissioners, family, and friends said goodbye to outgoing commissioner Stan Hartwich and hello to incoming commissioner, Travis Altenhofen.
After winning the vote of Pottawatomie County residents and attending two commission meeting’s prior, Altenhofen was able to take his seat Monday as the county’s youngest commissioner at 28. For his first order of business, Altenhofen asked commissioners to approve the purchase of a new laptop for himself to do commissioner work with.
For the fifth time, Pottawatomie County Sheriff Greg Riat was sworn into office. When asked what the secret is to being re-elected that many times, Riat responded by saying “I think a good community and I have exceptional people that work with me at the sheriff’s office, as well as a very supportive community, and that is very, very helpful.”
Riat said that he and his staff will continue to try to make the community better for everyone in his next term.
Commissioners also approved hiring a company to do a camera inspection of the Sandy Hook drainage system in hopes of making it drain better. The Sandy Hook drainage pipe is 111-years-old and was originally built to serve 350-400 acres, but now serves approximately 1,800 acres. The company hired to do the job will perform the inspection by camera to inspect the pipe, which is at least 2,000 feet in length.
Public Works Director Peter Clark spoke with commissioners about an unofficial detour route that he expects to be used during the K-13 closure along the Tuttle Creek Dam. The stretch of K-13 is set to be closed by this April. Clark expects that nearly all traffic currently crossing the dam on K-13 will divert onto Barnes and Dyer Rd. to avoid a 20 mile trip increase that the official detour will impose.
