WTC commitment approved
Riley County commissioners moved Monday to commit $5,000 toward a grant application to expand public WiFi hot spots to under-served areas of the county.
The action follows a request from WTC last week seeking support for a 10% match toward an ADOPT grant from the Kansas Office of Broadband Development. The program will award close to $15 million to organizations in Kansas addressing challenges of broadband availability.
The company should find out within the next few weeks if it qualifies for the project.
Keats lagoon project update
In other business, Riley County officials hope to make a decision soon on which firm to hire to conduct an environmental assessment for a community lagoon in Keats.
The county’s planning department says it received four proposals but need the commission’s help to score them. Planning Director Amanda Webb says the environmental assessment is due in June.
Commissioners will take additional time at Thursday’s meeting to more thoroughly vet the proposals.
Webb says the county’s USDA Rural Development application for the project has also been considered incomplete as the environmental assessment was not done by the end of USDA’s fiscal year.
Sen. Jerry Moran’s office has placed a call to USDA in support of Riley County’s application.
Presidential Preference Primary and dates to be aware of
In less than two months, Kansas voters will participate in the state’s first Presidential Preference Primary since 1992.
The primary allows the state political parties to allocate delegates to presidential candidates at each party’s national convention to select each party’s presidential nominee. The election will take place on March 19. Riley County Clerk Rich Vargo said Monday that federal service ballots are required to go out Feb. 3. In addition, he says there are other key dates to be aware of.
Advance voting closes at noon on March 18. Polls will be open March 19 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and any advance ballots must be turned in by 7 p.m. that day.
The Secretary of State announced Friday that the Democratic candidates will include President Joe Biden, Jason Palmer, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson. Republican candidates include former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Ryan Binkley. DeSantis suspended his campaign over the weekend and endorsed the former president.
