Increasing COVID-19 cases numbers and calls for mask wearing
Local health administrators spoke to the Pottawatomie County Commission Monday about the urgency of the local COVID-19 situation and the need for increased mask wearing.
Steve Land, Wamego Health Center administrator, says that increased hospitalizations and the inability to transfer patients to other hospitals is currently one of the biggest concerns in healthcare.
“If we can’t help get this under control, it’s not just the COVID patients that we’re trying to transfer, it’s the patients that have the MI or the stroke,” Land said.
Todd Willert, Community HealthCare System chief executive officer, says that the spread of COVID-19 in Pottawatomie County has even caused some healthcare facilities to consider shutting down.
“Last week, we probably came within one positive test of closing a couple of clinics,” Willert said. “All we needed was one more nurse to test positive and we would’ve had to close some clinics. We’ve actually had discussions about closing emergency rooms if we need to because I don’t have enough staff.”
While some of the commissioners were open to discussing a mask policy, they did have some concerns.
Dee McKee, Pottawatomie County commissioner, says one of the difficult aspects of a mask policy is enforcement.
“I’ve been to the football games with my mask on and the whole crowd is not wearing them,” McKee said. “I don’t know that I’d put them in jail.”
Pat Weixelman, Pottawatomie County commissioner, says that while he is open to change, he wants to hear specific policy ideas before making a decision.
“Something else needs to be done,” Weixelman said. “It’s not working. I understand that, but I’m not a doctor. I’m not going to give any information out that is not right. But if somebody gives me some pertinent information on what should, could and would be taken care of, I’d truly entertain it and make a decision one way or the other.”
The commission did not take any action during the meeting.
On-call engineering services
The commission is considering pursuing on-call engineering services once current Peter Clark, Public Works director, steps down later this year.
The commission discussed during its meeting what this type of service might look like with Topeka-based engineering firm Bartlett and West .
Nathan Bergman, Bartlett and West engineer, says the firm currently provides services for several municipalities, including a few that are nearby.
“I’m the city engineer for the City of Russell,” Bergman said. “We’re also the City of Topeka’s water engineer. We’ve also got an on-call agreement with the City of Manhattan, but that’s just as projects come up.”
Weixelman questioned how the county would be billed for certain items and services, such as driving time and hourly rates for certain projects.
“I’m not going to be an open checkbook,” Weixelman said.
The commission plans to look at a contract with the firm within the next couple of weeks.
Green Valley Interceptor Project
The Pottawatomie County Commission approved spending $90,000 to finalize engineering designs for the Green Valley Interceptor Project.
Through this project, the county would aim to upgrade the sewer system in the area and eliminate the need for certain projects in the future.
Clark says that while construction has a projected cost of just over $1.2 million, the county could save nearly $1.2 million in the long run.
“In essence, it looks like it pays for itself, outside of the benefit of it facilitating the rest of the growth of the district,” Clark said. “That in itself is a benefit. It’s hard to put a quantifiable number to it, but by building this project, it allows us to continue to expand the residential growth, the commercial growth, within Blue Township,” Clark said.
Finalizing the project’s design will allow the county to open the project for bidding.
Once the county has bids, it will have a better idea of how much the project will actually cost.
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