County approves bid, hears revised CBCC budget

With the Civic Center gearing up for the 2024 Grant County Fair, Civic Center Manager Mari Honstead has been working tirelessly to get ready.

With that in mind, the current 11-year-old commercial ice machine at the civic center is getting long in the tooth, and replacement parts are getting hard to find, so Honstead put the item up for bid a brand new machine. Honstead received two bids - one from ACC (Air Comfort Consultants) and one from Ross.

Of the two bids, ACC was the lowest at $6,625 to replace with a new machine, using the existing bin.

The new machine will be ready in time for the fair.

“I did have it on my 5-year plan for this year,” Honstead said.

•The commission was given a brief update from Tiffany Bowen from Cimarron Basin Community Corrections regarding a revision to the budget. Based in Liberal, CBCC approached the commission April 2 with an appropriations request seeking to receive assistance with their Fiscal Year 2025 Comprehensive Plan grant application in order to continue their services. Grant County is one of six counties served by Cimarron Basin Community Corrections, which strives to prevent the recurrence of crime among adult offenders by supervising and connecting with them utilizing innovative approaches to change problematic behaviors and thinking processes. CBCC provides a viable and cost-effective alternative to incarceration for offenders while enhancing their personal growth while working in partnerships with the Courts, Law Enforcement, and the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The state is allowing $55,000 for the substance abuse program and CBCC asked for additional funding from the state to pay for the counselor’s salary.

“Following the release of Governor Kelley’s budget, DOC awarded additional allocations to adult corrections agencies so we had to develop a revised budget and bring that back out for signature,” said Bowen.

CBCC did not have a specific budget request this year, but requested help with vehicle last year, which they received.

“This is strictly DOC which just has to have county oversight,” Bowen added.

CBCC requested $816,000 from the state to see if there were extra allocations on the behavioral side to fund their drug and alcohol counselor position, but that wasn’t available.

“But they increased the adult supervision side of things, so we ended up getting $764,000and some change for our FY 25.”

“We appreciate what you deal with,” Long said. “It’s a needed necessity, it’ll always be needed and we appreciate your hard work.”