The bid opening for the Lakeside Sewer Benefit District took place at Monday’s Riley County Commission meeting, and only one bid was submitted. 
The bid came out of J and K Contracting in Junction City, and was set at $116,844. With the engineer’s estimate at $87,515, this bid was much higher than expected.
The commission approved moving the bids forward to Public Works staff for recommendations.
As of Tuesday, the new main driver’s license station will be open for business, even though the official ribbon cutting ceremony is not until Wednesday. Riley County Treasurer, Eileen King was present at the meeting to share information about the building. King said the facility was new, bigger and will provide a number of amenities.
One amenity is having a motorcyle driving test area on site, as there was not enough space for this at the previous facility. Also, customers can text or email in to secure a place in line without physically coming in to the building. To avoid the long lines and cut down on customer waiting periods, the station enacted this new service called Q-less. A customer is then notified 20 minutes before their appointment comes up.
Commissioner, Dave Lewis took the time to mention some special recognitions that took place at last week’s Kansas Association of Counties Awards Luncheon. Three Riley County officials spoke at the luncheon: Police Department Director-Brad Schoen, Legal Advisor for the Police Department-Mike Gillespie, and Commissioner-Karen McCulloh. Lewis mentioned, “Riley County Police Department is the only consolidated and accredited law enforcement in the state of Kansas”.
With Thanksgiving on Thursday, Riley County Extension Agent for Health, Nutrition and Food Safety, Ginny Barnard spoke during the press conference about cooking a turkey. When preparing a turkey, Barnard said you should keep it frozen until you are ready to thaw it, and estimate one pound of turkey per person. The turkey should be thawed in your refridgerator or in cold water. Depending on the size of the turkey, the thawing could take anywhere from two hours to a whole day. As far as cooking the turkey, Barnard said, “the magic number you are looking for on a cooking thermometer is 165 degrees”.
Other individuals at the meeting included: County Extension Horticulture Agent-Gregg Eyestone with a soil testing and fertilizing report, County Clerk-Rich Vargo who spoke about provisional ballots, County Historical Museum Dierctor-Cheryl Collins with a staff update, and County Counselor-Clancy Holeman who gave an administrative work session.
