Speed-limit discussion
The Pottawatomie County Commission voted 2-1 on Monday to lower the speed limit from 55 miles-per-hour to 40 miles-per-hour on gravel roads.
The vote was in response to concerns about safety and enforcement.
Pat Weixelman, the only county commissioner who voted against the measure, says that while he is in favor of the change, he does not think posting speed-limit signs will make much of a difference.
“People are going to drive what they want to drive,” Weixelman said. “You can put 30 miles-per-hour speed limits out there or you can run 60 miles-per-hour speed limits out there, if there’s not any enforcement, it’s not going to happen.”
Weixelman also wanted more information about the cost of posting speed-limit signs before holding a vote.
Shane Jager. the Pottawatomie County sheriff, says that while he agrees that signs have a limited impact, they still serve an important role.
“They speed on 24 Highway, they speed on I-70, they speed anywhere, but you have to set that threshold,” Jager said. “We will be enforcing it, but can we enforce it 24/7 on every gravel road? No, but we will be there to enforce it if there’s a sign there to enforce that and slow it down.”
According to Peter Clark, Pottawatomie County Public Works director, installing speed-limit signs around the county could cost up to about $120,000.
Patrolling gravel roads
During the same discussion, Weixelman suggested that the Sheriff’s office hire a deputy specifically for patrolling gravel roads.
“He works eight hours a day,” Weixelman said. “He’ll go on or off whenever he wants. He covers the whole county. He can figure out where the speeders are going to be. I would like someone to think about that a little bit, because I think that would be one way of patrolling it 40 hours a week and him being able to identify certain spots where there’s trouble.”
Jager says that while he can look into the proposition, patrolling an area the size of Pottawatomie County is simply a difficult task.
“There’s 862-square-miles and a lot of that is gravel,” Jager said. “So we can’t be everywhere at all times. That’s just a given fact.”
Jager says his department often relies on residents in rural areas for help in identifying areas that need to be patrolled.
Building-permits update
Gregg Webster, Pottawatomie County zoning administrator, gave an update during the meeting on construction activity in the area.
He says that his office has so far issued 211 total building permits this year, of which 108 were for new houses, six for commercial and 97 for everything else.
“Compared to last year, we had 106 new homes through October, three for commercial and 72 (other permits) for a total of 181,” Webster said.
According to Webster, his office issued 19 building permits during October 2020, of which 13 were for houses.
He says his office issued a similar amount during the same time period last year.
“We had 11 houses, 23 total in 2019,” Webster said. “A little bit more on the cost.”
While permit numbers from 2019 and 2020 currently look similar, that could change by the end of the month.
Webster says there was a big push for permits towards the end of November 2019.
In other Pottawatomie County Commission news:
- The commission is pursuing engineering services for the design of improvements to the Belvue Bridge
- The commission discussed hiring an engineering firm to temporarily take over certain duties when Peter Clark, Public Works director, eventually resigns.
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