MARION COUNTY — Marion Reservoir continues to be under a warning regarding blue-green algae problems.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) issue public health advisories for Kansas lakes due to blue-green algae throughout the spring and summer.

A harmful algal bloom (HAB) may look like foam, scum or paint floating on the water and be colored blue, bright green, brown or red. 

A Warning status indicates that conditions are unsafe for human and pet exposure.  Contact with the waterbody should be avoided. 

When a warning is issued, KDHE recommends the following precautions be taken: 

Lake water is not safe to drink for pets or livestock.  

Lake water, regardless of blue-green algae status, should never be consumed by humans.  

Fish may be eaten if they are rinsed with clean water and only the fillet portion is consumed, while all other parts are discarded.  

If lake water contacts skin, wash with clean water as soon as possible.  

Avoid areas of visible algae accumulation.  

Blooms can develop rapidly; if the water appears suspicious or there is decaying algae on the shore, avoid contact and keep dogs away. These toxins can be absorbed by ingestion, inhalation of aerosols and even skin contact. 

Symptoms vary depending upon the type of exposure (e.g. direct contact, ingestion, inhalation) but can include rash, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, and headache. If you, or your dog, come into contact with algae rinse the area with clean, fresh water. 

Suspected HAB-related health incidents, whether human or animal, regardless of season, should be reported to KDHE.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1593727789226.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>MARION COUNTY — Marion Reservoir continues to be under a warning regarding blue-green algae problems.The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) issue public health advisories for Kansas lakes due to blue-green algae throughout the spring and summer.A harmful algal bloom (HAB) may look like foam, scum or paint floating on the water and be colored blue, bright green, brown or red. A Warning status indicates that conditions are unsafe for human and pet exposure. Contact with the waterbody should be avoided. When a warning is issued, KDHE recommends the following precautions be taken: Lake water is not safe to drink for pets or livestock. Lake water, regardless of blue-green algae status, should never be consumed by humans. Water contact should be avoided. Fish may be eaten if they are rinsed with clean water and only the fillet portion is consumed, while all other parts are discarded. Do not allow pets to eat dried algae. If lake water contacts skin, wash with clean water as soon as possible. Avoid areas of visible algae accumulation. Blooms can develop rapidly; if the water appears suspicious or there is decaying algae on the shore, avoid contact and keep dogs away. These toxins can be absorbed by ingestion, inhalation of aerosols and even skin contact. Symptoms vary depending upon the type of exposure (e.g. direct contact, ingestion, inhalation) but can include rash, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, and headache. If you, or your dog, come into contact with algae rinse the area with clean, fresh water. Suspected HAB-related health incidents, whether human or animal, regardless of season, should be reported to KDHE.

Blue-green algae warning continues at Marion Reservoir

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Land Bank will hear a report on County ARPA funds as part of its agenda on Tuesday. They will hear from Clint Nelson with Interfaith Housing and then discuss possible interest in accepting donated property. 

The Land Bank has tabled the application to purchase 712 Maple Street until its September meeting. They originally denied an application to purchase the lot back in May because the offer was not close enough to the appraised value.

The Hutchinson Land Bank meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room at 125 E. Avenue B in Hutchinson.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1583236568561.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Land Bank will hear a report on County ARPA funds as part of its agenda on Tuesday. They will hear from Clint Nelson with Interfaith Housing and then discuss possible interest in accepting donated property. The Land Bank has tabled the application to purchase 712 Maple Street until its September meeting. They originally denied an application to purchase the lot back in May because the offer was not close enough to the appraised value.The Hutchinson Land Bank meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room at 125 E. Avenue B in Hutchinson.

Land Bank to meet Tuesday

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council will take action on a new 2023 contract
agreement with the local union representing its firefighters during Tuesday’s
agenda session.

The two sides
reached a tentative agreement earlier this month on a contract that will adjust
salaries in several areas. 

Under the new
contract, the city will recognize Martin Luther King Day as an official holiday
and will increase monthly holiday pay from 8 hours to 8.8 hours. It also calls
for an increase in hourly base pay for firefighters to $14.77 per hour. That
amounts to an annual base salary of $43,080. The increase amounts to about 2%.
Captains will also see an increase on anywhere from 3.2% to 9.2%. There will
also be a midyear adjustment for merit pay to make up for shortfalls in such pay
in 2019 and 2021.

The Hutchinson
City Council meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Hutchinson city offices.

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1641488830033.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council will take action on a new 2023 contract
agreement with the local union representing its firefighters during Tuesday’s
agenda session.The two sides
reached a tentative agreement earlier this month on a contract that will adjust
salaries in several areas. Under the new
contract, the city will recognize Martin Luther King Day as an official holiday
and will increase monthly holiday pay from 8 hours to 8.8 hours. It also calls
for an increase in hourly base pay for firefighters to $14.77 per hour. That
amounts to an annual base salary of $43,080. The increase amounts to about 2%.
Captains will also see an increase on anywhere from 3.2% to 9.2%. There will
also be a midyear adjustment for merit pay to make up for shortfalls in such pay
in 2019 and 2021.The Hutchinson
City Council meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Hutchinson city offices.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.

Hutchinson City Council to take action on fire department contract

SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Public Works announced Thursday that a portion of Sterling Road between Blanchard Avenue and Clark Road northwest of Abbyville is closed to all traffic Monday and Tuesday for crossroad pipe replacement.

If you need information on this or any other county road matter, contact Reno County Public Works at 620-694-2976.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658240376202.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Public Works announced Thursday that a portion of Sterling Road between Blanchard Avenue and Clark Road northwest of Abbyville is closed to all traffic Monday and Tuesday for crossroad pipe replacement.If you need information on this or any other county road matter, contact Reno County Public Works at 620-694-2976.

Sterling Road portion closed next week

OSAGE COUNTY —A Newton man was injured in an accident just before 3 p.m. Thursday in Osage County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2018 International semi driven by 31-year-old Eduardo&nbsp;Rivera-Villareal of Newton, was northbound on Interstate 35 three miles south of Williamsburg, when the driver failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle left the roadway to the left and traveled into the center median. 

The driver over corrected. The semi left the roadway to the right, overturned and came to rest in the right ditch.

EMS transported Rivera-Villareal to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. He was properly restrained, according to the KHP.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1643390829424.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>OSAGE COUNTY —A Newton man was injured in an accident just before 3 p.m. Thursday in Osage County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2018 International semi driven by 31-year-old Eduardo&nbsp;Rivera-Villareal of Newton, was northbound on Interstate 35 three miles south of Williamsburg, when the driver failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle left the roadway to the left and traveled into the center median. The driver over corrected. The semi left the roadway to the right, overturned and came to rest in the right ditch.EMS transported Rivera-Villareal to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. He was properly restrained, according to the KHP.

Newton man hospitalized after semi overturns

NICKERSON,
Kan. — The Nickerson USD 309 school district continues to move along with a
potential bond issue.

According to
Superintendent Curtis Nightingale, a meeting was held Wednesday with the
contractors to discuss the needs of the district. The contractors will begin
looking over the facilities next week. Following that a list of potential
improvements will be presented to the district. The district wants to stay at
around $10.5 million dollars for the proposal. 

The district
has been spending time gathering a list of needs and wants for the contractor
to go over and will continue to gather community input in what they would like
to see in district improvements. 

The district
has also used capital outlay funds to make some immediate improvements to areas
of great need over the past year. No date has been set on when the bond issue
will go before voters.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/8/1628266388485.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NICKERSON,
Kan. — The Nickerson USD 309 school district continues to move along with a
potential bond issue.According to
Superintendent Curtis Nightingale, a meeting was held Wednesday with the
contractors to discuss the needs of the district. The contractors will begin
looking over the facilities next week. Following that a list of potential
improvements will be presented to the district. The district wants to stay at
around $10.5 million dollars for the proposal. The district
has been spending time gathering a list of needs and wants for the contractor
to go over and will continue to gather community input in what they would like
to see in district improvements. The district
has also used capital outlay funds to make some immediate improvements to areas
of great need over the past year. No date has been set on when the bond issue
will go before voters.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.

Nickerson USD 309 moving along with potential bond issue

HUTCHINSON, Kan.
— Hutchinson Police, Reno County EMS and other emergency agencies all gathered
to do active shooter training at Hutchinson High School. The exercise has been
going on throughout the week. 

The police
department goes through active shooter training at the schools each summer and
rotates among the schools so they have a familiarity with each building.

The day
started with a briefing, followed by a breakout session where police, fire, EMS and
dispatch all gather and go over procedures, tactics and
drills. In the afternoon, all entities gather to do two simultaneous exercises.
One deals with an active shooter and how to take such a subject down. The
officers are not told of what to expect or what they will find in each
situation. They also use soft ammunition during the exercise. The other exercise
deals with how to rescue victims, remove them from the building and triage them
for treatment of injuries. The day ends with an assessment of the exercise.

Hutchinson
Police Chief Jeff Hooper says the drills are a necessary step to deal with
active shooter situations in schools. He said he wanted the public to know that
they are as prepared as they can possibly be to deal with any situation that
could arise.

Hutch Post
will have an expanded look at the training and more on what the emergency responders
do in a special edition of A Day in the Life on Sunday, Aug. 14th.

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1659043411877.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan.
— Hutchinson Police, Reno County EMS and other emergency agencies all gathered
to do active shooter training at Hutchinson High School. The exercise has been
going on throughout the week. The police
department goes through active shooter training at the schools each summer and
rotates among the schools so they have a familiarity with each building.The day
started with a briefing, followed by a breakout session where police, fire, EMS and
dispatch all gather and go over procedures, tactics and
drills. In the afternoon, all entities gather to do two simultaneous exercises.
One deals with an active shooter and how to take such a subject down. The
officers are not told of what to expect or what they will find in each
situation. They also use soft ammunition during the exercise. The other exercise
deals with how to rescue victims, remove them from the building and triage them
for treatment of injuries. The day ends with an assessment of the exercise.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1659043487277.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Hutchinson
Police Chief Jeff Hooper says the drills are a necessary step to deal with
active shooter situations in schools. He said he wanted the public to know that
they are as prepared as they can possibly be to deal with any situation that
could arise.Hutch Post
will have an expanded look at the training and more on what the emergency responders
do in a special edition of A Day in the Life on Sunday, Aug. 14th.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Active shooter training at Hutchinson High School

BUHLER, Kan.
— The Buhler USD 313 School Board gave approval to a new contract agreement with
its teachers during a special meeting Thursday afternoon. 

Under the
new contract the overall compensation package for USD 313 certified staff
increased 3.9%. Base pay for teachers increased $1,100 to $39,500. It also includes
adding to the step and column movement in the pay scale.&nbsp; It also calls for increased share of health
insurance, and adding $500 to the base of the supplemental schedule.

The board
also approved increases in wages for all classified and administrative positions.
The increase amounts to 3.9%. This includes a 3.4% increase in hourly wages as
well as an increase in the district's share of health insurance costs.

Also
Thursday, he board approved the new calendar for 2022 and 23. Under the new
calendar school will start Tuesday, Aug. 16.&nbsp;
Students will be off for Christmas from Dec 22 through Jan 3. Spring
break will run March 13 through the 17 and the last day of school will be May
18.

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584543839140.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BUHLER, Kan.
— The Buhler USD 313 School Board gave approval to a new contract agreement with
its teachers during a special meeting Thursday afternoon. Under the
new contract the overall compensation package for USD 313 certified staff
increased 3.9%. Base pay for teachers increased $1,100 to $39,500. It also includes
adding to the step and column movement in the pay scale.&nbsp; It also calls for increased share of health
insurance, and adding $500 to the base of the supplemental schedule.The board
also approved increases in wages for all classified and administrative positions.
The increase amounts to 3.9%. This includes a 3.4% increase in hourly wages as
well as an increase in the district's share of health insurance costs.Also
Thursday, he board approved the new calendar for 2022 and 23. Under the new
calendar school will start Tuesday, Aug. 16.&nbsp;
Students will be off for Christmas from Dec 22 through Jan 3. Spring
break will run March 13 through the 17 and the last day of school will be May
18.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Buhler USD 313 has new contract with employees


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Salt City Splash Aquatics Center will close early, July 28, at 3:30 p.m. This is due to low attendance and cooler temperatures. Salt City Splash will remain closed Friday, July 29, due to forecasted rain and cooler temperatures.

Buhler Pool will close early, July 28, at 4:00 p.m. This is due to low attendance and cooler temperatures. Buhler Pool will remain closed Friday, July 29, due to forecasted rain and cooler temperatures.

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Salt City Splash Aquatics Center will close early, July 28, at 3:30 p.m. This is due to low attendance and cooler temperatures. Salt City Splash will remain closed Friday, July 29, due to forecasted rain and cooler temperatures.Buhler Pool will close early, July 28, at 4:00 p.m. This is due to low attendance and cooler temperatures. Buhler Pool will remain closed Friday, July 29, due to forecasted rain and cooler temperatures.

Wet weather to close Salt City Splash and Buhler Pool


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — In commemoration of its Sesquicentennial Birthday, the City of Hutchinson is seeking the donation of meaningful items and artifacts from the public for inclusion in a time capsule to be buried at City Hall on August 15.

The city is seeking items from individuals, families, neighborhoods, and organizations around the community. Archivists will document and preserve items that are donated before placing them within the time capsule so that future generations will be able to get a glimpse of what life was like in Hutchinson in 2022.

Examples of donated objects could include photographs, essays, yearbooks, news articles, magazines, story recordings, meaningful objects, and other artifacts. 

Due to space constraints, two-dimensional items will be included first, and three-dimensional items will be included as space allows. 

To preserve the context and meaning of each item, the Reno County Historical Society asks that the following information to be included with donations:

PHOTOS MUST INCLUDE: • Where and/or why the photo was taken • When the photo was taken (date or year) • Who is in the photo (full names) • Who took the photo (if relevant)

*If you would like to include photos but need help getting them printed, you can email up to three to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> along with the required information and the Reno County Museum staff will print and label them for you. If you would like to include more than three, please bring them to one of the drop off events below, either printed or on a flash drive, and labeled with the required information.

LETTERS MUST INCLUDE: • Full name of both sender and recipient • Recipient birthdate and birthplace

*Letters or short digital documents can also be emailed to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> along with the required information.

3D OBJECTS MUST INCLUDE: • The object’s history and/or significance • Previous owners, if applicable (full name, birthplace, and birthdate) • Any stories or context you can provide about the object

*3D items will be included at the discretion of City Staff due to space limitations. Please provide contact information for items to be returned if not included. Items with historical or broad community significance will be prioritized. Included items will become property of the City.

WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE: • Anything with a built-in battery • Newspapers (If you would like to include a newspaper article, please print it out or make a photocopy as we will not be able to include newsprint due to its acidity.)

To donate items to the time capsule, please bring them to the following drop-off events: • The Reno County Museum | Saturday, August 6 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. • Hutchinson City Hall, 125 E Ave B | Monday, August 8 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. • The Reno County Museum | Tuesday, August 9 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Or email photos or letters (three maximum) to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> by August 10.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1659036438028.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — In commemoration of its Sesquicentennial Birthday, the City of Hutchinson is seeking the donation of meaningful items and artifacts from the public for inclusion in a time capsule to be buried at City Hall on August 15.The city is seeking items from individuals, families, neighborhoods, and organizations around the community. Archivists will document and preserve items that are donated before placing them within the time capsule so that future generations will be able to get a glimpse of what life was like in Hutchinson in 2022.Examples of donated objects could include photographs, essays, yearbooks, news articles, magazines, story recordings, meaningful objects, and other artifacts. Due to space constraints, two-dimensional items will be included first, and three-dimensional items will be included as space allows. To preserve the context and meaning of each item, the Reno County Historical Society asks that the following information to be included with donations:PHOTOS MUST INCLUDE: • Where and/or why the photo was taken • When the photo was taken (date or year) • Who is in the photo (full names) • Who took the photo (if relevant)*If you would like to include photos but need help getting them printed, you can email up to three to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> along with the required information and the Reno County Museum staff will print and label them for you. If you would like to include more than three, please bring them to one of the drop off events below, either printed or on a flash drive, and labeled with the required information.LETTERS MUST INCLUDE: • Full name of both sender and recipient • Recipient birthdate and birthplace*Letters or short digital documents can also be emailed to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> along with the required information.3D OBJECTS MUST INCLUDE: • The object’s history and/or significance • Previous owners, if applicable (full name, birthplace, and birthdate) • Any stories or context you can provide about the object*3D items will be included at the discretion of City Staff due to space limitations. Please provide contact information for items to be returned if not included. Items with historical or broad community significance will be prioritized. Included items will become property of the City.WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE: • Anything with a built-in battery • Newspapers (If you would like to include a newspaper article, please print it out or make a photocopy as we will not be able to include newsprint due to its acidity.)To donate items to the time capsule, please bring them to the following drop-off events: • The Reno County Museum | Saturday, August 6 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. • Hutchinson City Hall, 125 E Ave B | Monday, August 8 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. • The Reno County Museum | Tuesday, August 9 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.Or email photos or letters (three maximum) to <a href="mailto:timecapsule@renocomuseum.org">timecapsule@renocomuseum.org</a> by August 10.&nbsp;&nbsp;

City of Hutchinson looking for time capsule items


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — As has been planned for a few weeks, the Hutchinson City Council will discuss the City Manager search Monday with the consultant from Virchow-Krause.

This is following a series of meetings with stakeholder groups throughout the afternoon and they also plan on an online survey to get some public feedback, as well.&nbsp;

The council is searching for a permanent City Manager after Jeff Cantrell's contract was not renewed back in May. Former Reno County Administrator Gary Meagher is holding down the job on an interim basis while the search is made.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1642628385503.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — As has been planned for a few weeks, the Hutchinson City Council will discuss the City Manager search Monday with the consultant from Virchow-Krause.This is following a series of meetings with stakeholder groups throughout the afternoon and they also plan on an online survey to get some public feedback, as well.&nbsp;The council is searching for a permanent City Manager after Jeff Cantrell's contract was not renewed back in May. Former Reno County Administrator Gary Meagher is holding down the job on an interim basis while the search is made.

City Council to hold study session on City Manager search Monday evening

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — The annual music event to help out Buhler baseball is coming up Saturday night. Bre Beals is with the Crusader Diamond Club that hosts the Red Dirt and Diamonds event.

"There's a new location this year, which is at Allen Samuels," Beals said. "It will be the southwest part of the parking lot back behind the used car building, on back through their grassy area. Gates open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m."

Allen Samuels CDJR is at 1421 East 30th in Hutchinson. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-dirt-diamonds-music-fest-hosted-by-buhler-tickets-337300734577?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse">Tickets are already available online</a>.

"<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-dirt-diamonds-music-fest-hosted-by-buhler-tickets-337300734577?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse">Tickets are available on EventBrite</a>," Beals said. "Tickets will be available at the gate, but if they buy their tickets in advance, they are cheaper and we'll donate 10% to the Jones family fundraiser."

Advance tickets include Meal Deals for $6 with your choice of hamburger or hotdog served with chips and a drink, single adult tickets for $25 and VIP table packages for eight that come with 16 drink tickets for $350.

Students and Children 7 and up are $15. Children 6 and under are free.

Also new this year is a family 4 pack, 2 adults and 2 children for $75, and you can add additional child tickets for $12.50 each.

"Kyle Killgore Band from Wichita will be the opener," Beals said. "They're Red Dirt Country. EPIC will be the headliner. They are 80s and 90s rock."

All ticket proceeds beyond the advance portion going to the Jones Family will be donated to the Buhler Crusader Baseball program.

"We are also going to hold a 50-50 raffle the night of the concert," Beals said. "All of those funds will be donated to the Jones family, as well."

There will also be food trucks and a beer garden at the event. In the event of rain, Beals will let Hutch Post know of any changes as they are decided.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1659025202490.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON,
Kan. — The annual music event to help out Buhler baseball is coming up Saturday night. Bre Beals is with the Crusader Diamond Club that hosts the Red Dirt and Diamonds event."There's a new location this year, which is at Allen Samuels," Beals said. "It will be the southwest part of the parking lot back behind the used car building, on back through their grassy area. Gates open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m."Allen Samuels CDJR is at 1421 East 30th in Hutchinson. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-dirt-diamonds-music-fest-hosted-by-buhler-tickets-337300734577?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse">Tickets are already available online</a>."<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-dirt-diamonds-music-fest-hosted-by-buhler-tickets-337300734577?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse">Tickets are available on EventBrite</a>," Beals said. "Tickets will be available at the gate, but if they buy their tickets in advance, they are cheaper and we'll donate 10% to the Jones family fundraiser."Advance tickets include Meal Deals for $6 with your choice of hamburger or hotdog served with chips and a drink, single adult tickets for $25 and VIP table packages for eight that come with 16 drink tickets for $350.Students and Children 7 and up are $15. Children 6 and under are free.Also new this year is a family 4 pack, 2 adults and 2 children for $75, and you can add additional child tickets for $12.50 each."Kyle Killgore Band from Wichita will be the opener," Beals said. "They're Red Dirt Country. EPIC will be the headliner. They are 80s and 90s rock."All ticket proceeds beyond the advance portion going to the Jones Family will be donated to the Buhler Crusader Baseball program."We are also going to hold a 50-50 raffle the night of the concert," Beals said. "All of those funds will be donated to the Jones family, as well."There will also be food trucks and a beer garden at the event. In the event of rain, Beals will let Hutch Post know of any changes as they are decided.

Red Dirt and Diamonds event Saturday

The Reno County Commission Republican primary candidates are visiting the KWBW Morning Show to talk to Nick Gosnell about their campaigns. Below is a transcript of the answers of Mike Warren from July 28, 2022.

District five interviews continue. Mike Warren, running as a Republican, along with three other folks for the district five seat on the board of county commissioners. Good morning, Mike.

Hey, good morning. I'm glad you had me in here today.

No worries. We're trying to get everybody in at least once, although, Penelope Poitras from Haven was not able to join us because of the illness earlier on this week, but we will have the transcripts of the folks that we have had on up on Hutch Post later on. So, Mike, first of all, talk to us about who you are and where you come from and why you want to be a county commissioner.

Yes, thank you. My name is Mike Warren. I live out on East Fourth Street, just off the Haven-Buhler Road. I moved to Hutchinson in 1990. Jay Shears hired me as their equipment manager and I retired with them in December 31st, this past year as 31 years as the equipment manager. And I had no idea that I wanted to be a county commissioner, anything to do with political life until the board had the election back in November and said, we're gonna go to five commissioners. And I thought, what better way to get involved with the public and see if we can't drive this county up into the 21st century and try to help out and make sure that we're able to deliver what the public is wanting us to do. And I had, like I said, 31 years of service with a large corporation, so I've been dealing with a lot of money.

All right. So what should county government do and what should it leave to the private sector to do? What do you feel like the basic things that a county government should do are.

I think the county government needs to take care of the infrastructure around the county and taking care of the roads and making sure that our public services are up to date and take care of the fire and the police in that area.

Those are the first things and that's where you go from there. I guess Mike, follow up to you as with your experience as an equipment manager working in sort of the construction area. You probably have a better handle on what road and bridge actually ought to be, than maybe some folks would, though there are a lot in this particular race that have that kind of experience.

I talked with Mr. Brittain the other day and he's got a great handle on a plan of how he wants to maintain this county and keep the road systems up. We got over 500 miles of paved road, 1,260 miles of county roads out here, and he's got a plan of doing things in a segment and making sure that everything is handled in a timely manner and not lose the bases that you've already got on your road system.

So part of the issue, and I didn't get into this with the other candidates, but given your background, maybe you can help us to understand it a little bit better is when lane miles get traded off. When you have state projects that then become county roads, the easy examples are the old K-61 and then there are other times when the state decides that it's going to improve a road, they've got a certain number of miles of road that they, that the legislature has allowed them to have as state roads. Usually, what ends up happening with the old highway is that it ends up becoming a county responsibility when it's not within a city. So, when you're talking about those kind of things and the county then ends up with more of those lane miles of paved road, how do you prepare for the maintenance for a road that you weren't responsible for for a while and now you are.

My understanding is the state, when they give that over to you, they give you a projection of money set aside to maintain that road for a period of time. Once it gets turned back to the county, it will not get the traffic that it had on it back when the state had that road. So, it should extend the life of that road a little further and help out with the county and maintaining the road miles.

The county commission ended up doing a whole lot of things over the last couple of years that I think if you had said to county commissioners prior to 2020, what does the health department do, they would've said, well, they're the ones that give you your flu shots. And they take care of the gals that are on WIC and the little babies. And they just do what a health department does, but it's fairly routine. There's not a whole lot, I mean, 2019 and before that's the way people would've looked at it. Then we had a pandemic and the role of the health department came to the front for a couple of years, a whole lot more than maybe other people had expected it to before, and what people may not have realized is that the county commission as the board of health, ultimately was in charge of that. How do you see the role of the health department as we get past, hopefully crossing my fingers, the pandemic, and back into what might be regular order?

Wow, that's a great question. And I think that the health department has got to look at the whole of our county and we have a lot of people out here that need assistance. Not necessarily if the private sector has a good health insurance for them, we've got people out here that don't have the healthcare system that they need to have. So the county health department needs to step up and be able to address those issues at a cost savings to those people.

Explain how you understand the role of the county administrator and his relationship with the county commission.

Well, the county administrator, I think, is a good opportunity for the commissioners to step back a little bit, cause most of us, we only meet on two days a a month. And for them to understand what goes on with every department out there is real hard for those three commissioners to get around and see what happens with the county administrator. He is the liaison between the department heads and he brings that information back to the county, and the commissioners for them to rule on different issues.

All right, a lot of departments in the county, like the treasurer and the sheriff and, and those sorts of departments...county clerk...are not controlled by county officials as much as they are controlled by things they have to do by state statute. So how do you interact with them and be sure they have what they need while keeping an eye on the checkbook?

I think with us having five commissioners and we're gonna have the opportunity to sit down with each one of these departments and get to know them better. It's better to know your friends than it is to know somebody, a stranger. So by being able to sit down and visit with them and letting the county administrator deal with the day to day problems, and then maybe we can kind of watch their checkbook a little closer that way and understand how they're wanting to spend their money.

All right, given the truth in taxation law that passed in recent years in the legislature, the county can't just keep the mill levy flat and count on increased valuations to keep them up with inflation, because now you get that additional messaging where people will say...where people know that the county has more money to spend because valuation went up, not just individually, but generally as a county, do you believe in trying to stay revenue neutral, actual dollars neutral or keeping the mill levy flat is best or what? What do you think with those budget things?

Well, I think the revenue neutral is, is a great way for 'em to look at the money that's coming in and it'll adjust the mill levies as the taxation valuations go up. And I think it's a fair way for us to look at that and hold the money accountable to what's coming in from each tax entity.

You know, events come up and all of a sudden you have to figure out what's going to happen. Emergency preparedness is another area of the county we don't talk about unless something happens. Well, the Cottonwood Complex fire happened east of town. And so for those that have been a part of that...from a policy perspective, what is the county's role? Obviously, getting the fire out when it's happening is one thing, but what's the commission's role going forward?

I think the commission needs to look a little bit of help in how we work with the fire department. Number one, cause we've had quite a few fires out here in Reno County and they've been devastating to a lot of people. And I think the county needs to visit with the fire chief and see what we can do about some burn bans. People think it's time to burn during the wintertime when there's snow on the ground. And there's a lot of dry ground. And I think we need to expand our burn bans a little bit further. I think with discussions with the right departments, I think we can probably address some of these issues.

So when you sit in a room with, as you assuming you win, four other people and you start to hash out the decision making process, um, how does somebody build that relationship within the group of five so that when you're talking to the public, you are all giving them the same, the same answers, but still have that, everybody's ideas come to the table at the same time...

Yeah. By having the five commissioners, you kind of get a little bit away from the open meetings, that you're not so pinned down to where you can't visit with each other. It's gonna allow us to go to more meetings where we can have more than one representative to these other forums and things that's going on in the county was one with the mental health. The other day, we had two city commissioners there and only one county commissioner because of the open meetings law that you can't have more of 'em in one area. So it should allow us to have more togetherness with the, the commissioners that we can actually get together and, and understand each other.

Sure. And I know that they're gonna have that meeting for the rural water districts there, north of Yoder coming up here in a couple of weeks, that two of the commissioners are gonna attend. And that's why we got a note is because that technically then makes that an open meeting. It would've been an open meeting anyway, public was gonna come, but when you deal with those issues that come up through maybe no fault of anybody, but stuff just happens, uh, the nitrate levels in Yoder, the fires, all these things that are just these at exigent circumstances that you can't, that you couldn't have planned for before you got the job, how do you think about them when they come up? How did you deal with, how did you deal with things when, um, when something happened you didn't expect in your career and what do you expect to be able to do as a county commissioner

Research? You gotta dig down in the weeds and try to figure out what the issue is and try to get people involved from the outside to understand what's happening. Usually when somebody tells you no, that just means they need more information. So we gotta dig down and try to figure out what the root cause of these issues are and get along with the other commissioners. And hopefully we can get out with the community in our districts and have some little forums out there with them on a monthly basis and have these people understand what's going on within the county government.

The Reno County Commission Republican primary candidates are visiting the KWBW Morning Show to talk to Nick Gosnell about their campaigns. Below is a transcript of the answers of Mike Warren from July 28, 2022.Nick Gosnell:District five interviews continue. Mike Warren, running as a Republican, along with three other folks for the district five seat on the board of county commissioners. Good morning, Mike.Mike Warren:Hey, good morning. I'm glad you had me in here today.Nick Gosnell:No worries. We're trying to get everybody in at least once, although, Penelope Poitras from Haven was not able to join us because of the illness earlier on this week, but we will have the transcripts of the folks that we have had on up on Hutch Post later on. So, Mike, first of all, talk to us about who you are and where you come from and why you want to be a county commissioner.Mike Warren:Yes, thank you. My name is Mike Warren. I live out on East Fourth Street, just off the Haven-Buhler Road. I moved to Hutchinson in 1990. Jay Shears hired me as their equipment manager and I retired with them in December 31st, this past year as 31 years as the equipment manager. And I had no idea that I wanted to be a county commissioner, anything to do with political life until the board had the election back in November and said, we're gonna go to five commissioners. And I thought, what better way to get involved with the public and see if we can't drive this county up into the 21st century and try to help out and make sure that we're able to deliver what the public is wanting us to do. And I had, like I said, 31 years of service with a large corporation, so I've been dealing with a lot of money.Nick Gosnell:All right. So what should county government do and what should it leave to the private sector to do? What do you feel like the basic things that a county government should do are.Mike Warren:I think the county government needs to take care of the infrastructure around the county and taking care of the roads and making sure that our public services are up to date and take care of the fire and the police in that area.Nick Gosnell:Those are the first things and that's where you go from there. I guess Mike, follow up to you as with your experience as an equipment manager working in sort of the construction area. You probably have a better handle on what road and bridge actually ought to be, than maybe some folks would, though there are a lot in this particular race that have that kind of experience.Mike Warren:I talked with Mr. Brittain the other day and he's got a great handle on a plan of how he wants to maintain this county and keep the road systems up. We got over 500 miles of paved road, 1,260 miles of county roads out here, and he's got a plan of doing things in a segment and making sure that everything is handled in a timely manner and not lose the bases that you've already got on your road system.Nick Gosnell:So part of the issue, and I didn't get into this with the other candidates, but given your background, maybe you can help us to understand it a little bit better is when lane miles get traded off. When you have state projects that then become county roads, the easy examples are the old K-61 and then there are other times when the state decides that it's going to improve a road, they've got a certain number of miles of road that they, that the legislature has allowed them to have as state roads. Usually, what ends up happening with the old highway is that it ends up becoming a county responsibility when it's not within a city. So, when you're talking about those kind of things and the county then ends up with more of those lane miles of paved road, how do you prepare for the maintenance for a road that you weren't responsible for for a while and now you are.Mike Warren:My understanding is the state, when they give that over to you, they give you a projection of money set aside to maintain that road for a period of time. Once it gets turned back to the county, it will not get the traffic that it had on it back when the state had that road. So, it should extend the life of that road a little further and help out with the county and maintaining the road miles.Nick Gosnell:The county commission ended up doing a whole lot of things over the last couple of years that I think if you had said to county commissioners prior to 2020, what does the health department do, they would've said, well, they're the ones that give you your flu shots. And they take care of the gals that are on WIC and the little babies. And they just do what a health department does, but it's fairly routine. There's not a whole lot, I mean, 2019 and before that's the way people would've looked at it. Then we had a pandemic and the role of the health department came to the front for a couple of years, a whole lot more than maybe other people had expected it to before, and what people may not have realized is that the county commission as the board of health, ultimately was in charge of that. How do you see the role of the health department as we get past, hopefully crossing my fingers, the pandemic, and back into what might be regular order?Mike Warren:Wow, that's a great question. And I think that the health department has got to look at the whole of our county and we have a lot of people out here that need assistance. Not necessarily if the private sector has a good health insurance for them, we've got people out here that don't have the healthcare system that they need to have. So the county health department needs to step up and be able to address those issues at a cost savings to those people.Nick Gosnell:Explain how you understand the role of the county administrator and his relationship with the county commission.Mike Warren:Well, the county administrator, I think, is a good opportunity for the commissioners to step back a little bit, cause most of us, we only meet on two days a a month. And for them to understand what goes on with every department out there is real hard for those three commissioners to get around and see what happens with the county administrator. He is the liaison between the department heads and he brings that information back to the county, and the commissioners for them to rule on different issues.Nick Gosnell:All right, a lot of departments in the county, like the treasurer and the sheriff and, and those sorts of departments...county clerk...are not controlled by county officials as much as they are controlled by things they have to do by state statute. So how do you interact with them and be sure they have what they need while keeping an eye on the checkbook?Mike Warren:I think with us having five commissioners and we're gonna have the opportunity to sit down with each one of these departments and get to know them better. It's better to know your friends than it is to know somebody, a stranger. So by being able to sit down and visit with them and letting the county administrator deal with the day to day problems, and then maybe we can kind of watch their checkbook a little closer that way and understand how they're wanting to spend their money.Nick Gosnell:All right, given the truth in taxation law that passed in recent years in the legislature, the county can't just keep the mill levy flat and count on increased valuations to keep them up with inflation, because now you get that additional messaging where people will say...where people know that the county has more money to spend because valuation went up, not just individually, but generally as a county, do you believe in trying to stay revenue neutral, actual dollars neutral or keeping the mill levy flat is best or what? What do you think with those budget things?Mike Warren:Well, I think the revenue neutral is, is a great way for 'em to look at the money that's coming in and it'll adjust the mill levies as the taxation valuations go up. And I think it's a fair way for us to look at that and hold the money accountable to what's coming in from each tax entity.Nick Gosnell:You know, events come up and all of a sudden you have to figure out what's going to happen. Emergency preparedness is another area of the county we don't talk about unless something happens. Well, the Cottonwood Complex fire happened east of town. And so for those that have been a part of that...from a policy perspective, what is the county's role? Obviously, getting the fire out when it's happening is one thing, but what's the commission's role going forward?Mike Warren:I think the commission needs to look a little bit of help in how we work with the fire department. Number one, cause we've had quite a few fires out here in Reno County and they've been devastating to a lot of people. And I think the county needs to visit with the fire chief and see what we can do about some burn bans. People think it's time to burn during the wintertime when there's snow on the ground. And there's a lot of dry ground. And I think we need to expand our burn bans a little bit further. I think with discussions with the right departments, I think we can probably address some of these issues.Nick Gosnell:So when you sit in a room with, as you assuming you win, four other people and you start to hash out the decision making process, um, how does somebody build that relationship within the group of five so that when you're talking to the public, you are all giving them the same, the same answers, but still have that, everybody's ideas come to the table at the same time...Mike Warren:Having the continuity.Nick Gosnell:Exactly.Mike Warren:Yeah. By having the five commissioners, you kind of get a little bit away from the open meetings, that you're not so pinned down to where you can't visit with each other. It's gonna allow us to go to more meetings where we can have more than one representative to these other forums and things that's going on in the county was one with the mental health. The other day, we had two city commissioners there and only one county commissioner because of the open meetings law that you can't have more of 'em in one area. So it should allow us to have more togetherness with the, the commissioners that we can actually get together and, and understand each other.Nick Gosnell:Sure. And I know that they're gonna have that meeting for the rural water districts there, north of Yoder coming up here in a couple of weeks, that two of the commissioners are gonna attend. And that's why we got a note is because that technically then makes that an open meeting. It would've been an open meeting anyway, public was gonna come, but when you deal with those issues that come up through maybe no fault of anybody, but stuff just happens, uh, the nitrate levels in Yoder, the fires, all these things that are just these at exigent circumstances that you can't, that you couldn't have planned for before you got the job, how do you think about them when they come up? How did you deal with, how did you deal with things when, um, when something happened you didn't expect in your career and what do you expect to be able to do as a county commissionerMike Warren:Research? You gotta dig down in the weeds and try to figure out what the issue is and try to get people involved from the outside to understand what's happening. Usually when somebody tells you no, that just means they need more information. So we gotta dig down and try to figure out what the root cause of these issues are and get along with the other commissioners. And hopefully we can get out with the community in our districts and have some little forums out there with them on a monthly basis and have these people understand what's going on within the county government.

Mike Warren transcript from KWBW Morning Show

The Reno County Commission Republican primary candidates are visiting the KWBW Morning Show to talk to Nick Gosnell about their campaigns. Below is a transcript of the answers of Don Bogner from July 28, 2022.

In studio with us this morning, another candidate for Reno County commission district five, as we're trying to get through all the Republican primary candidates for the county commission district, we didn't have anybody from district four in, even though that's also new, because there are no opponents, there's one Republican candidate and one Democrat candidate. So they'll meet in the fall and we'll talk to them in the fall before that happens. But, on the Republican side, we've got four people running for this district five seat. And so, that's why Don Bogner is joining us. He's one of those candidates. Good morning. How are you, sir?

Just fine, Nick. It's a beautiful day in Reno County today.

Well, it really is. I mean, if you, if you understand how desperately we need the rain around here, that it is a beautiful day, isn't it?

That's right. I can't imagine what it's doing for the economy of Reno County right now.

All right. So talk about who you are and where you came from and why you want to be a county commissioner.

Well, I'm Dom Bogner, I live and grew up south of Haven about four miles. Our family's been in the area Southeast corner of the county for over 112 years now. We still own those properties and farm 'em and I'm a retired dairyman and farmer.

All right. Were you in the part of the county that would've been part of the wind project if they'd had it, or are you further away?

From that? Yes. Yes, I, we were in that area.

Okay. So, what do you think about that? I guess, because I couldn't remember if you were in that area or not.

Well, the best thing about the whole thing is everybody got their due process. Anybody is entitled to propose a development along with those rules come everybody's ability to address those in public forum and that all took place, and we had an outcome where the commissioners had their vote and that's where we're at at this point.

All right. So what should county government do and what do you think that maybe the private sector and other folks should be doing?

Okay, let me try to be more clear. Is county government the right size right now? Are they doing the things that are most important?

Well, first of all, you need to always address what is mandated and that would be your fire, EMS, policing comes under for the county under the sheriff. So those mandated things have to be addressed first. And then from there you prioritize and go on. Infrastructure would be very important to all of us, for getting our crops in and getting ourselves to work, we need good infrastructure. And for any economic, anything business wise in the economic portion of the county, we need our infrastructure. It needs to be in good shape.

Okay. So we're talking about public safety, emergency services, roads and bridges, all that kind of stuff. Is that it? Just the basic stuff?

Okay. That's still a lot of money when it comes to the county, especially when it comes to road and bridge. I've talked to some of the other candidates for district five about this. And so what do you think about the idea of having a certain amount of lane miles that they've gotta do every year to get all the way around the county and how to be sure everything gets done, but to be able to adjust the budget when you need to?

We all know that there are gonna be things that happen. They happen in our own private lives that we don't expect are going to happen. You'll have a bridge failure or something that you really didn't expect, a wreck. You know, you you've gotta have money set aside for those types of things. But, yes, they have a good program in place to routinely keep things up, to maintain what we have. You see them working on it all the time. I was fortunate enough to meet with Don Brittain the other day. And as I have some of the other heads of various other departments and it occurred to me that the people that I've talked to are being very careful with our funds better than I had thought they might be. And that gives me encouragement that we are operating more efficiently than I originally thought we were. And the other side of that is they've all pointed out to me that they work here, they get their taxes collected from them. So they tend to be pretty careful about any waste because they know they're taking money out of their own pocket in the end, just like we are having to finance those things. They're financing them right beside us.

Explain as you understand it, what the county administrator does for the county commission.

Well, I'd say my understanding is, is he puts together like the budgets from all the various entities, departments and does a lot of the day to day leg work for the commissioners. They went into that style of government, oh shoot, probably 10 years ago at least, maybe more, I can remember reading about it. Otherwise, the commission is a full-time job every day, if you're gonna handle the details. But once you've decided to go to that type of government or that type of organization, be it government or private, you need to let them do their job and then check on them. And if things are working the way they should,  things will all work out fine. If they're not, then we, as commissioners would have to do our job, which would be to make the changes necessary. But, as I see it right now, and I haven't been able to research it real close yet, but that's to come that's part of the job and we'll see what happens when we get a little further along in this.

All right. A lot of departments in the county are controlled, not by county officials, but rather by state statute, they're also elected. We're talking about the sheriff and the treasurer and the register of deeds and those kinds of departments. How do you interact with them when you're still helping with their budgets, but they are accountable to voters too?

Well, that's the thing like was pointed out here a few weeks ago, with some of these changes, the county government had to come up with some money that, to finance some of those mandates that they didn't have any control over. Probably neither did the individuals working here in the county. It's just one of those things that's happens. I don't know if there's a way to put money aside. I know you can for equipment bought, purchases and things like that. I don't know exactly how those are handled or what can legally be done, but we've got counsel that can inform us on what we can do to hopefully put a little aside for these things that happen to us.

All right. So, given the truth in taxation law that passed in the legislature. Now, the county can't just keep the mill levy flat and count on increased valuations to help them keep up with inflation without the voters knowing what's happening, there's additional reporting requirements. And so that's where this term revenue neutral rate has come in in the recent years is that when valuations increase, that means the people are actually being taxed more dollars for the same property. And so the revenue neutral rate would be where you cut to the point where you're not taxing any actual more dollars and the mill levy actually goes down. What do you think about budgeting and trying to get to the revenue neutral rate? Is that something you should do or do you worry more about keeping the mill levy flat?

Well, it's math. You have two factors there that control how much money you take in, and if the valuation's gonna go up, the mill levy can go down or the other way around. So trying to stay revenue neutral would probably be good in a lot of ways, but right now we are in severe inflation in our government just like our own personal budgets. There's certain things that are gonna be high and going up, and you've gotta provide for that some way or try to estimate what's gonna happen well enough that you will have a big enough budget to actually cover what you need to cover. So with that in mind, I'd say it's a balancing act and you've still got a budget, but you, you play with the numbers. You've got, you've got a formula there.

Don Bogner is with us here on KWBW, Hutchinson. He is on your ballot if you are a Republican and voting in the Republican primary for county district five of the county commission. Thank you, Don. Where can people find out more about you?

I've got a website up electbogner.com, all small letters, simple.

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 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The Reno County Commission Republican primary candidates are visiting the KWBW Morning Show to talk to Nick Gosnell about their campaigns. Below is a transcript of the answers of Don Bogner from July 28, 2022.Nick Gosnell:In studio with us this morning, another candidate for Reno County commission district five, as we're trying to get through all the Republican primary candidates for the county commission district, we didn't have anybody from district four in, even though that's also new, because there are no opponents, there's one Republican candidate and one Democrat candidate. So they'll meet in the fall and we'll talk to them in the fall before that happens. But, on the Republican side, we've got four people running for this district five seat. And so, that's why Don Bogner is joining us. He's one of those candidates. Good morning. How are you, sir?Don Bogner:Just fine, Nick. It's a beautiful day in Reno County today.Nick Gosnell:Well, it really is. I mean, if you, if you understand how desperately we need the rain around here, that it is a beautiful day, isn't it?Don Bogner:That's right. I can't imagine what it's doing for the economy of Reno County right now.Nick Gosnell:All right. So talk about who you are and where you came from and why you want to be a county commissioner.Don Bogner:Well, I'm Dom Bogner, I live and grew up south of Haven about four miles. Our family's been in the area Southeast corner of the county for over 112 years now. We still own those properties and farm 'em and I'm a retired dairyman and farmer.Nick Gosnell:All right. Were you in the part of the county that would've been part of the wind project if they'd had it, or are you further away?Don Bogner:From that? Yes. Yes, I, we were in that area.Nick Gosnell:Okay. So, what do you think about that? I guess, because I couldn't remember if you were in that area or not.Don Bogner:Well, the best thing about the whole thing is everybody got their due process. Anybody is entitled to propose a development along with those rules come everybody's ability to address those in public forum and that all took place, and we had an outcome where the commissioners had their vote and that's where we're at at this point.Nick Gosnell:All right. So what should county government do and what do you think that maybe the private sector and other folks should be doing?Don Bogner:As pertaining to?Nick Gosnell:Okay, let me try to be more clear. Is county government the right size right now? Are they doing the things that are most important?Don Bogner:Well, first of all, you need to always address what is mandated and that would be your fire, EMS, policing comes under for the county under the sheriff. So those mandated things have to be addressed first. And then from there you prioritize and go on. Infrastructure would be very important to all of us, for getting our crops in and getting ourselves to work, we need good infrastructure. And for any economic, anything business wise in the economic portion of the county, we need our infrastructure. It needs to be in good shape.Nick Gosnell:Okay. So we're talking about public safety, emergency services, roads and bridges, all that kind of stuff. Is that it? Just the basic stuff?Don Bogner:Yes.Nick Gosnell:Okay. That's still a lot of money when it comes to the county, especially when it comes to road and bridge. I've talked to some of the other candidates for district five about this. And so what do you think about the idea of having a certain amount of lane miles that they've gotta do every year to get all the way around the county and how to be sure everything gets done, but to be able to adjust the budget when you need to?Don Bogner:We all know that there are gonna be things that happen. They happen in our own private lives that we don't expect are going to happen. You'll have a bridge failure or something that you really didn't expect, a wreck. You know, you you've gotta have money set aside for those types of things. But, yes, they have a good program in place to routinely keep things up, to maintain what we have. You see them working on it all the time. I was fortunate enough to meet with Don Brittain the other day. And as I have some of the other heads of various other departments and it occurred to me that the people that I've talked to are being very careful with our funds better than I had thought they might be. And that gives me encouragement that we are operating more efficiently than I originally thought we were. And the other side of that is they've all pointed out to me that they work here, they get their taxes collected from them. So they tend to be pretty careful about any waste because they know they're taking money out of their own pocket in the end, just like we are having to finance those things. They're financing them right beside us.Nick Gosnell:Explain as you understand it, what the county administrator does for the county commission.Don Bogner:Well, I'd say my understanding is, is he puts together like the budgets from all the various entities, departments and does a lot of the day to day leg work for the commissioners. They went into that style of government, oh shoot, probably 10 years ago at least, maybe more, I can remember reading about it. Otherwise, the commission is a full-time job every day, if you're gonna handle the details. But once you've decided to go to that type of government or that type of organization, be it government or private, you need to let them do their job and then check on them. And if things are working the way they should, things will all work out fine. If they're not, then we, as commissioners would have to do our job, which would be to make the changes necessary. But, as I see it right now, and I haven't been able to research it real close yet, but that's to come that's part of the job and we'll see what happens when we get a little further along in this.Nick Gosnell:All right. A lot of departments in the county are controlled, not by county officials, but rather by state statute, they're also elected. We're talking about the sheriff and the treasurer and the register of deeds and those kinds of departments. How do you interact with them when you're still helping with their budgets, but they are accountable to voters too?Don Bogner:Well, that's the thing like was pointed out here a few weeks ago, with some of these changes, the county government had to come up with some money that, to finance some of those mandates that they didn't have any control over. Probably neither did the individuals working here in the county. It's just one of those things that's happens. I don't know if there's a way to put money aside. I know you can for equipment bought, purchases and things like that. I don't know exactly how those are handled or what can legally be done, but we've got counsel that can inform us on what we can do to hopefully put a little aside for these things that happen to us.Nick Gosnell:All right. So, given the truth in taxation law that passed in the legislature. Now, the county can't just keep the mill levy flat and count on increased valuations to help them keep up with inflation without the voters knowing what's happening, there's additional reporting requirements. And so that's where this term revenue neutral rate has come in in the recent years is that when valuations increase, that means the people are actually being taxed more dollars for the same property. And so the revenue neutral rate would be where you cut to the point where you're not taxing any actual more dollars and the mill levy actually goes down. What do you think about budgeting and trying to get to the revenue neutral rate? Is that something you should do or do you worry more about keeping the mill levy flat?Don Bogner:Well, it's math. You have two factors there that control how much money you take in, and if the valuation's gonna go up, the mill levy can go down or the other way around. So trying to stay revenue neutral would probably be good in a lot of ways, but right now we are in severe inflation in our government just like our own personal budgets. There's certain things that are gonna be high and going up, and you've gotta provide for that some way or try to estimate what's gonna happen well enough that you will have a big enough budget to actually cover what you need to cover. So with that in mind, I'd say it's a balancing act and you've still got a budget, but you, you play with the numbers. You've got, you've got a formula there.Nick Gosnell:Don Bogner is with us here on KWBW, Hutchinson. He is on your ballot if you are a Republican and voting in the Republican primary for county district five of the county commission. Thank you, Don. Where can people find out more about you?Don Bogner:I've got a website up electbogner.com, all small letters, simple.

Don Bogner transcript from KWBW Morning Show

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Summer meal programs are coming to an end
around the area as school is just around the corner.

Summer meals will end at Haven USD 312 on Friday. Summer
meals will end Thursday at Nickerson Elementary and on Friday at South Hutch
Elementary School. Meals ended last Friday for Hutchinson USD 308. 

Free and reduced lunch and breakfast applications are
available at all school districts and should be filled out as the pandemic-driven free meal program is no longer in place.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619205387108.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Summer meal programs are coming to an end
around the area as school is just around the corner.Summer meals will end at Haven USD 312 on Friday. Summer
meals will end Thursday at Nickerson Elementary and on Friday at South Hutch
Elementary School. Meals ended last Friday for Hutchinson USD 308. Free and reduced lunch and breakfast applications are
available at all school districts and should be filled out as the pandemic-driven free meal program is no longer in place.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Summer meal programs ending in Nickerson and Haven school districts

HAVEN, Kan.
— Haven USD 312 is currently taking applications for three and four-year-old
preschool for this approaching school year.

Both
preschools will be held at 202 E 5th. It is a free program. Bus transportation will be provided for the four-year-old program only. Parents or guardians will
have to drop off and pick up three-year-old students. Busing will be provided
from local daycares.

The program
is free. For more information you can call 620-465-1103 or go to <a href="http://www.havenschools.com">www.havenschools.com</a> for information or
an online application.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587053540131.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HAVEN, Kan.
— Haven USD 312 is currently taking applications for three and four-year-old
preschool for this approaching school year.Both
preschools will be held at 202 E 5th. It is a free program. Bus transportation will be provided for the four-year-old program only. Parents or guardians will
have to drop off and pick up three-year-old students. Busing will be provided
from local daycares.The program
is free. For more information you can call 620-465-1103 or go to <a href="http://www.havenschools.com">www.havenschools.com</a> for information or
an online application.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Haven preschool sign up is available

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. – &nbsp;One of the great traditions for
Hutchinson USD 308 is back in full force to kick off the school year.

Hutchinson
USD 308 announced Wednesday that the first in-person Convocation since 2019 will
take place on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at the Hutchinson Sports Arena from 8:00 a.m. to
10:00 a.m. The event is an annual kick off to the new school year. Due to
COVID-19, the last two Convocation events were held virtually. 

The
Convocation event will feature messages from USD 308 Board of Education
President, Greg Meredith, Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson, and local partners
like HNEA and United Way of Reno County. The highly anticipated announcement of
the Davis Foundation Teachers of the Year and the USD 308 Teacher of the Year
will also take place during the event.

A new
feature of this year’s event is a Resource Fair exclusively for USD 308 staff.
Local vendors and organizations will be available to meet with staff members
after the event program concludes. Organizations interested in participating
can contact the USD 308 Director of Communications, Marissa Meis, at
<a href="mailto:meis.marissa@usd308.com">meis.marissa@usd308.com</a> for more information.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655147159618.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan. – &nbsp;One of the great traditions for
Hutchinson USD 308 is back in full force to kick off the school year.Hutchinson
USD 308 announced Wednesday that the first in-person Convocation since 2019 will
take place on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at the Hutchinson Sports Arena from 8:00 a.m. to
10:00 a.m. The event is an annual kick off to the new school year. Due to
COVID-19, the last two Convocation events were held virtually. The
Convocation event will feature messages from USD 308 Board of Education
President, Greg Meredith, Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson, and local partners
like HNEA and United Way of Reno County. The highly anticipated announcement of
the Davis Foundation Teachers of the Year and the USD 308 Teacher of the Year
will also take place during the event.A new
feature of this year’s event is a Resource Fair exclusively for USD 308 staff.
Local vendors and organizations will be available to meet with staff members
after the event program concludes. Organizations interested in participating
can contact the USD 308 Director of Communications, Marissa Meis, at
<a href="mailto:meis.marissa@usd308.com">meis.marissa@usd308.com</a> for more information.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hutchinson USD 308 convocation is Aug. 9

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Local leaders in Hutchinson and Amtrak officials will celebrate the
completion of a $3 million improvement of the Hutchinson train station with a
ribbon cutting Friday afternoon. 

Amtrak
recently completed the renovation which includes a raised platform allowing for
easier boarding, new lighting which was not available before and the building’s
exterior has also been renovated. The improvements also include ADA parking and new
curbing and fencing adjacent to the platform.

To date,
Amtrak has completed 171 ADA station-related projects as part of the ADA
Stations Program, including 20 additional stations meeting ADA compliance last
fiscal year for $82 million. 

Hutchinson
is served by Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, with daily service to and from Chicago
and Los Angeles, via Kansas City and Albuquerque. About 4,000 Amtrak passengers
use the Hutchinson train station each year.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/4/1650553421677.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Local leaders in Hutchinson and Amtrak officials will celebrate the
completion of a $3 million improvement of the Hutchinson train station with a
ribbon cutting Friday afternoon. Amtrak
recently completed the renovation which includes a raised platform allowing for
easier boarding, new lighting which was not available before and the building’s
exterior has also been renovated. The improvements also include ADA parking and new
curbing and fencing adjacent to the platform.To date,
Amtrak has completed 171 ADA station-related projects as part of the ADA
Stations Program, including 20 additional stations meeting ADA compliance last
fiscal year for $82 million. Hutchinson
is served by Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, with daily service to and from Chicago
and Los Angeles, via Kansas City and Albuquerque. About 4,000 Amtrak passengers
use the Hutchinson train station each year.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Amtrak to celebrate Hutchinson train station renovations

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson man is jailed after a
domestic disturbance over the weekend.

Hutchinson Police took 37-year-old Robert Michael into custody
on potential charges of attempted second degree murder and felony interference with
law enforcement after Michael got into a altercation with a female in the city
Saturday afternoon.

Michael was arrested after police were dispatched to an
address in Hutchinson after a neighbor reported a female with facial injuries
in front of a residence. The neighbor also reported the female was ushered back
inside by a male.

Upon arrival on scene officers observed the male and female
inside but they would not answer the door. Officers had to force entry into the
residence. Through the investigation, it was determined the female had injuries
consistent with being strangled.

Michael is being held in the Reno County Correctional Facility
on a bond of $250,000.

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658947005383.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson man is jailed after a
domestic disturbance over the weekend.Hutchinson Police took 37-year-old Robert Michael into custody
on potential charges of attempted second degree murder and felony interference with
law enforcement after Michael got into a altercation with a female in the city
Saturday afternoon.Michael was arrested after police were dispatched to an
address in Hutchinson after a neighbor reported a female with facial injuries
in front of a residence. The neighbor also reported the female was ushered back
inside by a male.Upon arrival on scene officers observed the male and female
inside but they would not answer the door. Officers had to force entry into the
residence. Through the investigation, it was determined the female had injuries
consistent with being strangled.Michael is being held in the Reno County Correctional Facility
on a bond of $250,000.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.

Hutchinson man arrested on potential charges of attempted murder

HUTCHINSON,
Kan.– Administrators at Hutchinson Public Schools are preparing for the
return of students for the 2022-2023 school year with professional development
and welcome back events for staff.

USD 308 secretaries
and principals were welcomed back on July 25, and principals were joined by
district directors and administrators the following day, for an all-day
professional development summit. 

According to
a news release from USD 308, the key focuses of the professional development
day were setting goals for the new school year, updates on upcoming events, and
reflecting on how best to serve the students and families of the district.

Elementary
principals and school staff will welcome families back into their buildings for
in-person enrollment July 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

In-person
enrollment for middle school and high school will take place on August 2 from
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Online enrollment for all grades opened on July 15, and
can be accessed by visiting <a href="http://www.usd308.com">www.usd308.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658948384695.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan.– Administrators at Hutchinson Public Schools are preparing for the
return of students for the 2022-2023 school year with professional development
and welcome back events for staff.USD 308 secretaries
and principals were welcomed back on July 25, and principals were joined by
district directors and administrators the following day, for an all-day
professional development summit. According to
a news release from USD 308, the key focuses of the professional development
day were setting goals for the new school year, updates on upcoming events, and
reflecting on how best to serve the students and families of the district.Elementary
principals and school staff will welcome families back into their buildings for
in-person enrollment July 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.In-person
enrollment for middle school and high school will take place on August 2 from
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Online enrollment for all grades opened on July 15, and
can be accessed by visiting <a href="http://www.usd308.com">www.usd308.com</a>.

Hutchinson USD 308 preparing for school year

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — There are still no firm decisions on how the Reno County Commission will assemble
the 2023 budget.

During
Tuesday's meeting, the commission further discussed the budget with all three commissioners having a varying opinion of how to deal with the fiscal year. As with the ARPA
funds recently approved, the commissioners want County Administrator Randy Partington
to draw up a list of services in the budget and let each commissioner decide
where they want cuts and how much, if any. 

Partington
says that the commissioners will go over the suggestions during their Aug. 9
meeting and then follow up with the revisions at a following meeting. The
county would need to cut about $1.3 million from a proposed budget of just over
$81 million to hit the revenue neutral rate for the year. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640603109912.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — There are still no firm decisions on how the Reno County Commission will assemble
the 2023 budget.During
Tuesday's meeting, the commission further discussed the budget with all three commissioners having a varying opinion of how to deal with the fiscal year. As with the ARPA
funds recently approved, the commissioners want County Administrator Randy Partington
to draw up a list of services in the budget and let each commissioner decide
where they want cuts and how much, if any. Partington
says that the commissioners will go over the suggestions during their Aug. 9
meeting and then follow up with the revisions at a following meeting. The
county would need to cut about $1.3 million from a proposed budget of just over
$81 million to hit the revenue neutral rate for the year. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank"> CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Reno County to further study potential budget cuts

HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — With just a few days left until the Aug. 2 primary,&nbsp; the advance voting at
the Reno County Clerk’s office has been brisk. 

As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, 2078 votes had been cast with a long line waiting to vote. Deputy
Elections Clerk Jenna Fager also says more than 1,800 ballots have been mailed
out. Those ballots can be turned into the clerk’s office during business hours,
dropped off in the drop box located in front of the Reno County annex, or mailed
in and post marked by Aug 2.

The Annex
will be open until 7 p.m. this evening for advanced voting and then again from
9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657895118793.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — With just a few days left until the Aug. 2 primary,&nbsp; the advance voting at
the Reno County Clerk’s office has been brisk. As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, 2078 votes had been cast with a long line waiting to vote. Deputy
Elections Clerk Jenna Fager also says more than 1,800 ballots have been mailed
out. Those ballots can be turned into the clerk’s office during business hours,
dropped off in the drop box located in front of the Reno County annex, or mailed
in and post marked by Aug 2.The Annex
will be open until 7 p.m. this evening for advanced voting and then again from
9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday.<a href="https://hutchpost.com/download" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to download the HutchPost mobile app. <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5e73b532afae0f4d5f5d90ea" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Advance voting brisk in Reno Co.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The City of Hutchinson has been dealing with several water main breaks recently.&nbsp;

This past weekend the Water Maintenance division of Public Works had a literal flood of after-hours calls. Employees responded to five water main breaks in one day. 

The city says there are two types of water main breaks that are dealt with most often – a blowout, where a section of the pipe has broken away due to the pressure in the pipe, typically a high volume break causing major damage to nearby roadways, and a circumference crack where the pipe is still in one piece with water spraying out of a crack in the pipe. Once the location of the break is pinpointed and excavated, it takes approximately two hours to repair the line and restore service to the customers.&nbsp;

The city especially wanted to thank Tyler Price (Water Maintenance Supervisor), Chase Curl (Water Maintenance Worker), Cameron Smith (Water Maintenance Worker), John Terry (Water Maintenance Worker), and Kevin Long (Water Maintenance Worker) for their hard work and dedication. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658936403759.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The City of Hutchinson has been dealing with several water main breaks recently.&nbsp;This past weekend the Water Maintenance division of Public Works had a literal flood of after-hours calls. Employees responded to five water main breaks in one day. The city says there are two types of water main breaks that are dealt with most often – a blowout, where a section of the pipe has broken away due to the pressure in the pipe, typically a high volume break causing major damage to nearby roadways, and a circumference crack where the pipe is still in one piece with water spraying out of a crack in the pipe. Once the location of the break is pinpointed and excavated, it takes approximately two hours to repair the line and restore service to the customers.&nbsp;The city especially wanted to thank Tyler Price (Water Maintenance Supervisor), Chase Curl (Water Maintenance Worker), Cameron Smith (Water Maintenance Worker), John Terry (Water Maintenance Worker), and Kevin Long (Water Maintenance Worker) for their hard work and dedication. That crew worked tirelessly over the weekend to repair all of the broken water mains and restore service to the citizens.