Commission split on Christmas lights on courthouse, Justice Center light show to showcase area veterans
By Charlene Sims, Journal staff
MOUND CITY – Has the Grinch stole the Christmas spirit at the Linn County Courthouse? Maybe. A request by Linn County Commission Chair Alison Hamilton at the commission meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, to install Christmas lights on the courthouse found Commissioners Jim Johnson and Jason Hightower opposed to the idea, at least for now.
However, the light show for both Veterans Day and the Christmas season will return to the county’s Justice Center this year under the direction of Chris Martin, information technology director for the county.
The “Salute to Veterans Light Show” will run from Nov. 7 through Nov. 11 from 6 to 10 p.m. nightly. The show restarts every 30 minutes.
County residents can submit names and even photos of veterans to be featured in the show by filling out the form at the website: https://www.linncountyks.gov/289/2026-Salute-to-Veterans . The veterans names and photos will appear between the shows.
At the Oct. 13 meeting, Hamilton said that a few individuals had reached out to her about putting lights on the courthouse. She pointed out that the county spends $5,000 or more on the lights on the Justice Center and maybe some money should be spent to hire someone to put up the lights on the courthouse instead of the employees.
“I think it’s important that the courthouse has the same care with Christmas lights and decorations put up,” Hamilton said, “and I’d like to go to bid for a company to come in and install the Christmas lights this year. That’s my idea.”
”I’m not really in favor of spending money on Christmas lights more than what we already do,” Hightower said.
“I’m kind of leaning that way too,” said Johnson.
”You’re saying you’re okay with the courthouse not having Christmas lights at all?” Hamilton asked.
Hightower answer, “Yep.”
Public Works Administrator JD Handly said, “To be completely transparent I would have some safety concerns with individuals just going and doing that. So I don’t thing that’s in our best interest If that’s what’s been done in the past, I mean it’s a huge liability.”
“I’m outnumbered on this one,” Hamilton said. I completely disagree. I think that the courthouse is an important staple in the community. A lot of people go to the courthouse. The community goes to the court house.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t know. We have all of the decorations over there. It’s just going to take the employees or the community to come in and speak about their opinions on not maintaining Christmas decorations at the courthouse moving forward. So there’s nothing else I can do at this point.”
The decision follows complaints last spring by Hamilton that the lights had been left up on the courthouse well past the Christmas season.
In other business, the commissioners:
Approved a bid recommendation by Handly for propane from C&J Propane. Handly said that the company had not capped them on quantity and the price was $1.40 per gallon. The other company bidding was MFA bidding $1.50 per gallon with a minimum purchase of 10,000 gallons.
Approved one invoice from Whitaker Aggregates for $11,294 and another for $22,333 for road rock.
Approved spending $7,411 with Myrick Mechanical to replace one of the air conditioning units on the appraiser’s building. The costs are $3,711 for the equipment, $800 for the crane, $2,400 for labor and $500 for miscellaneous.
Adopted an asset liquidation resolution through Purple Wave. Included in that listing would be the assets from the fire departments that you approved a few weeks ago. No specific property was mentioned.
Authorized Handly to sign the Internet auction agreement from Purple Wave.
Approved an employee change form for Jeff Whitley solid waste moving him from an equipment operator to solid wast supervisor at the rate of $21.22.
Approved an invoice from Pomp tires for $6,044. Handly explained that this was for some two tier tires that cost a little more than cheaper tires.
Approved a quote from Travis Needham to repair and roof the larger shelter house at the Linn County Park just northeast of the marina. Needham will roof it with 30-year Owens Corning laminated shingles at $8,300.
Approved hiring Blake Hurd as a road shop tow equipment operator for $18.91 per hour. Handly told the commissioners that Hurd has a Class A commercial driver’s license.
Handly explained that there had been a resignation over there that he’s going to be filling. Handly said that there are still open positions.
Heard a recommendation from Handly that the county rein back the expansion at the landfill a little and just focus on Phase I and not Phase II. He said that the engineer had told him that Phase I could handle 25 to 50 years of construction debris depending on how deep the expansion can go with the cell floor.
Learned that there had been a meeting with multiple engineers, multiple Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) individuals, and Bettis asphalt about the overlay on then north part of 1095. Handly said Bettis is running behind schedule but is under KDOT timeline right now.
Heard an update from Handly on the Centerville road west of Centerville going to the county line where the culverts were recently replaced. He said the culverts have settled and are extremely rough, one of them is horribly rough. The road crew is assembling material and equipment and they’ll be starting Tuesday to get out there and get those patched and smoothed up for traffic. Immediately after that after that they will be moving over to the bridge by Goodrich to try to do some repairs there.
Learned from Handly that he was going to be looking for a replacement dump truck for Pleasanton because it’s basically went into limp mode. He said it was his understanding that they have fought it for years. It’s got some electrical issues that they just can’t seem to track down. It’s a 2007 with a MaxxForce engine that has a reputation in and of its own. Handly said that Pleasanton was borrowing a dump truck from District No. 1 at present.
Discussed Internet signs in the right of way that interfere with mowing the ditches. Handly will talk with the companies.
Discussed who was to work on the air conditioning units at the district court. Hamilton said it was in the Myrick Mechanical contract but she said she understood that Myrick is not allowed to work on the units without Sheriff Akes permission. Handly said that he did not want to speak for the sheriff but in a conversation with Akes, Akes had said that when it cam to matters of that nature, if he needed public works assistance he would let them know.
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