Pottawatomie County has issued a seven-day disaster declaration for damages sustained from the Dec. 15 high winds and storms.
Emergency Management Director Jennifer Merrow says the declaration will give county officials time to gather additional reports, and submit those for potential aid. She spoke about damage reported at the Rock Creek High School campus.
Merrow says the U.S. Department of Agriculture is holding a Tuesday meeting to review some of the damage incurred by Pottawatomie County farmers.
Merrow says the National Weather Service surveyed wind damaged areas of the county. She says they couldn’t link any of the damage to radar indicated rotation which prompted tornado warnings.
Evergy and Bluestem Electric Cooperative reported an estimated 7,000 combined customers within the county experienced power outages. Bluestem reported about 10 damaged power poles within the county.
Merrow planned to meet with USDA officials Tuesday to discuss a possible new loan program being established for farmers. Details on that haven’t been formally announced.
Commissioners also spent time Monday, during commissioner comments, discussing the proposed detention pond northwest corner of Junietta and Moody Roads.
Commissioner Pat Weixelman said he was concerned about a letter recently received by the county from the developer on the land. Weixelman read from the letter and questioned whether the county or developer are driving this process.
Weixelman says in meeting with the planning commission last Thursday, commissioners seemed unaware of an MS4 study, done typically by municipalities to enforce storm water management around systems. County Planner Stephan Metzger noted it was possible the language over plans wasn’t entirely clear to members of the planning commission.
County Counselor John Watt says ideally the engineer will have the legal descriptions for a memorandum of understanding by mid-January, to include things the developer wants within it as well.
The developer hopes to begin selling lots for future development by October 2022, a process that could be further delayed by the Corps of Engineers, depending on if any additional re-channeling is necessary in that area. The county is legally required to complete the process by 2025.
Monthly updates were also shared Monday from the county appraiser and the county fire department.
