Prowers Commissioners Approve Health IGA

The Prowers County Commissioners acted on a limited agenda this past Thursday, April 25.  An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Prowers and Kiowa County for services from the Prowers County Pubic Health and Environment Department, not to exceed $39,000 for the year.  The areas of assistance include Emergency Preparedness and Response, Maternal Child Heath Care, Children with Special Needs, Immunizations, Vital Statistics, School Health Services and Environmental Health Services.  Prowers County has had similar agreements with Baca County as well, for limited health related services.  The yearly contract with the state to provide services for monitoring West Nile Virus was also approved.  Keith Siemsen, Environmental Health Manager said that given the continued drought conditions for the county, he didn’t expect any growth to the number of mosquitoes in the county from last year and in fact, some of last year’s traps were empty.  On the other side, however, Siemsen said that those few numbers of mosquitoes would tend to have a higher concentration of West Nile carriers.  There was only one incident of West Nile in Prowers County last year.

Three underground and utility permits were granted with two for Atmos Energy and one for Carrigan Excavating.  The commissioners held off membership for the Ports-to-Plains organization for another year, but will discuss budgeting the $1,300 annual fee for 2014.  Commissioner Buxton-Andrade felt that given the increased discussions regarding the proposed Highway 287 by-pass, the county would benefit from having a voice at the table in the near future.  The county has not been a Ports-to-Plains member for the past several years.  The commissioners did voice support for the City of Lamar’s grant application for CDOT RAMP program for the by-pass, or Reliever Route as it has been re-named.  The commissioners decided against a $2,400 contribution to a proposal for a coordinated plan to oppose the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s efforts to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as a Threatened Species.  Commissioner Marble stated that when the bird is placed on the endangered list, it goes under federal authority and is taken out of local control.

By Russ Baldwin