The Riley County Commission heard a number of updates at Thursday’s meeting.
Supervision Officer II Sandi Harper presented about on-call staffing issues they are presently facing in Community Corrections, noting the department has been running with four on-call officers for the past year, the lowest amount in many years. Recently the department has had to use existing officers to cover some regular shifts.
Harper says it does not cost any extra money for eight versus four on-call officers, as only one at a time is on the clock at any given time.
Community Corrections requested additional funding to hire new on-call officers, a request unanimously approved by commissioners Thursday.
Washburn Small Business Development Center James Monson also spoke to the Riley County Commission, during the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly economic development update.
Monson spoke to commissioners about how his office can help businesses in the Manhattan area. Included in that is tech support, provided to folks wanting to start a new business or improve an existing one.
The small business development center contracts marketing consultants in Topeka that then provide services to clients for at no cost. Monson says they will soon have more options available to clients.
The Washburn Small Business Development Center has offices in six universities in Kansas.
