U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall has won the Republican primary in the sprawling rural 1st District of western and central Kansas. Marshall easily defeated Inman restaurant owner Nick Reinecker Tuesday night picking up 79-percent of the vote.

Marshall advances to a November matchup against Democrat Alan LaPolice of Clyde in the heavily Republican agricultural district.

Democrats did not have a candidate in 2016, but LaPolice launched a long-shot bid as an independent. LaPolice, an educator, is taking another shot at it this year running as a Democrat.

2018 Primary Election results from Barton County and Pawnee County on August 7. Barton and Pawnee results ONLY, not totals for state elections.

For all of the Barton County Primary results visit bartoncounty.org.

Barton County

Voter Turnout:
Ballots Cast – Total: 4,361
Ballots Cast – Republican: 3,708 (85%)
Ballots Cast – Democrat: 647 (15%)
Ballots Cast – Nonpartisan: 6

Barton County Commissioner – District 4
Alicia Straub – 649 (75%)
Randy Suchy – 213 (25%)

Barton County Commissioner – District 1
Kenny Schremmer – 642

Barton County Commissioner – District 5
Jennifer Schartz – 829

Great Bend City Council – Ward 1 (Top 2 Advance to November’s General Election)
Alan Moeder – 243 (51%)
Jessica Milsap – 140 (29%)
Bobby Lee Roller – 38 (8%)
Josh Ellis – 33 (7%)
Bradley McCune – 27 (6%)

District Judge – 20th District
Carey Hipp – 1,782 (51%)
Scott McPherson – 1,722 (49%)

State Representative – 109th District
Troy Waymaster – 318

State Representative – 112th District
Tory Marie Arnberger – 2,431

State Representative – 113th District (Republican)
Greg Lewis – 303
Brett Fairchild – 258

State Representative – 113th District (Democrat)
David Serrault – 38
David Curtis – 28

U.S. Representative – 1st District (Republican)
Roger Marshall – 2,963 (81%)
Nick Reinecker – 687 (19%)

U.S. Representative – 1st District (Democrat)
Alan LaPolice – 531

Secretary of State (Republican)
Randy Duncan – 1,422
Scott Schwab – 1,246
Dennis Taylor – 327
Craig McCullah – 260
Keith Essau – 118

Secretary of State (Democrat)
Brian “BAM” McClendon – 539

Governor – Republican
Kris Kobach – 1,654
Jeff Colyer – 1,455
Ken Selzer – 320
Jim Barnett – 213
Patrick Kucera – 14
Joseph Tutera Jr. – 11
Tyler Ruzich – 10

Governor – Democrat
Joshua Svaty – 236
Laura Kelly – 227
Carl Brewer – 131
Arden Anderson – 21
Jack Bergeson – 11

Pawnee County Results

County Commissioner – 1st District
Deborah Lewis – 93

District Judge – 24th District
Bruce Gatterman – 837

U.S. Representative – 1st District (Republican)
Roger Marshall – 683
Nick Reinecker – 155

U.S. Representative – 1st District (Democrat)
Alan LaPolice – 185

Secretary of State (Republican)
Scott Schwab – 304
Randy Duncan – 285
Dennis Taylor – 106
Craig McCullah – 82
Keith Essau – 34

Secretary of State (Democrat)
Brian “BAM” McClendon – 199

Governor (Republican)
Kris Kobach – 376
Jeff Colyer – 346
Ken Selzer – 94
Jim Barnett – 82
Tyler Ruzich – 9
Patrick Kucera – 3
Joseph Tutera Jr. – 0

Governor (Democrat)
Laura Kelly – 91
Joshua Svaty – 85
Carl Brewer – 50
Arden Anderson – 6
Jack Bergeson – 1

At Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting it was announced that Tractor Supply Company is planning on building a store in Great Bend. The retail chain that offers products for home improvement, agriculture, garden, livestock, and pet care will be building the store to the west of Walmart on Grant Street.

Great Bend City Attorney Bob Suelter says this development has moved quickly, but the problem is hooking up a sewer line to the property.

Bob Suelter Audio

When Walmart purchased their land, the company bought 50 feet of the land west of Grant Street to somewhat control what goes into the lot next door. Tractor Supply will be just west of that strip of land between 7^th Street and 8^th Street, approximately 300 feet going east to west.

The sewer line that was installed in the 1950s or 1960s runs about a half of a block north of 8^th Street underneath the parking lot of The Reserves of Trail Ridge apartment complex. Suelter says developing a sewer line connection to the Tractor Supply location will be difficult, but it will be necessary if further development is to happen along the soon-to-be paved portion of 8^th Street.

Bob Suelter Audio

The City Council waived the city ordinance that states no septic systems within city limits to allow Tractor Supply to place a temporary septic system to drain their sewage on the land owned by Lighthouse Investments of Great Bend LLC. Suelter says Tractor Supply plans for a couple of restrooms and sinks, so he did not anticipate much sewage. The septic system will allow Tractor Supply to begin building in October until a permanent sewer line can be connected in a year or two.

Tractor Supply owns and operates over 1,700 stores in 49 states. Suelter expected construction on the Great Bend store to be finished in February of 2019, with the store opening in either February or March.

Dr. Franklin Reinhardt was a member of the Boy Scout Troop 110 in 1940 that planted a Ginkgo tree near the Barton County Courthouse in Great Bend. The Ginkgo tree is one variety of tree that survived the atomic bomb in Japan and there are only three known Ginkgo trees in Great Bend.

Great Bend Chamber of Commerce CEO and Great Bend Rotary member Jan Peters says a special dedication for the unique tree took place Monday.

Jan Peters Audio

Reinhardt was back in Great Bend to assist with the dedication that was sponsored by the Rotary Club. The dedication featured a stone marker so that future generations will know how the odd tree came to its present location in Great Bend.

The other two known Ginkgo trees in Great Bend are at 16^th Street & Jackson and 2611 Broadway.

For Rotary Clubs throughout the world, 2018 is the “Year of the Tree.”

Great Bend Public Library Director Gail Santy went before the Great Bend City Council Monday night in an attempt to clear up any confusion with the Library’s budget going forward.

Previous years showed the City of Great Bend funding the Library $555,000 plus $100,000 that was used as a payment back to the City for a purchased HVAC system.

Confusion came from a payout in 2018 from an excess cash balance in the library fund. Santy says figuring out the payments from the fund will be accounted for in the future.

Gail Santy Audio

The Library is funded on a mill levy from city property, motor vehicle, and recreational vehicle tax. Barton County also collects delinquent tax that goes into a library fund.

The delinquent tax fund has been building up beyond what the budget authority has allowed to be paid out. The Library received a payout of approximately $72,000 from the fund in 2018, bumping their total budget to $727,000. The Library asked for $755,050 in 2019, but the City Council decided to fund the entity $690,000 to get closer to the original funding prior to the payout.

Not being funded at the same or higher amount from the previous year, the Library was set to lose out on state aid of over $21,000. Santy is working with the City to appeal the decision from the state, explaining the situation.

Gail Santy Audio

Santy feels confident in a favorable decision from the state regarding the funding.

City Clerk Shawna Schafer says the library fund from the County has been building up because it is receiving additional tax dollars that the City did not budget for in their three percent delinquent rate. Schafer says this means that more citizens are paying their delinquent taxes, which is good. Going forward, a $50,000 contingency line has been added to the Library’s fund so the City can make extra payments to the Library’s budget if the money is there.

Once the $920,000 HVAC system is paid off in 2023, the Library will be able to use the $100,000 each year that has been earmarked for a payment to the City for improvements.

The City of Great Bend was ready to move forward with paving 8^th Street between Grant Street and McKinley Street when they sent out for bids. Wanting to get started on the project as soon as possible to connect Walmart and Dillons to the south of The Reserves at Trail Ridge apartment complex, the City received four bids back. One bid was from Venture Corporation to asphalt the street, and the other three bids were from different companies to use concrete.

The problem that surfaced at Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting was that the three bids for concrete did not quite meet the specifications of the bid requests.

Great Bend’s on-call engineer Josh Golka stated there was a request to have all the bidders show proof of being pre-qualified by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Josh Golka Audio

The KDOT pre-qualification assures that the company is financially sound and has the means to perform the project. A crowd member at Monday’s meeting felt the KDOT pre-qualification was not needed since this was solely a city project. Golka added more often than not, the contractors are good to work with but the KDOT line protects the city legally.

The Venture asphalt bid came in at $468,876.95. Suchy Construction had the low bid for concrete at $462,951.61. Vogts-Parga Construction’s bid for concrete was $497,314.30 and L&M Contractors’ was $514,560.

Venture, who did not submit a concrete bid, felt that their asphalt pitch should be the only bid considered since it was the only one that followed the bid specifications.

Venture Corporation Employee Audio

The bid specifications read to submit written proof of KDOT prequalification within the bid submittal. Suchy identified proof after the bid deadline, and Vogts-Parga was identified as qualified on KDOT’s public website but did not physically submit the qualification. Golka says if the City followed the “letter of the law,” then Venture was the only company that should have appeared as an option, but mistakenly the other three were read.

Golka added that all the bids came drastically under the estimate, and because of this, the City should look at using concrete. Golka gave a shelf life of 25-30 years for asphalt roads and 40-50 years for concrete.

The City Council voted 4-3 to rebid the project to allow bidders to correctly show the KDOT approval.

In other City Council news from August 6…

– Great Bend Public Library Director Gail Santy addressed the Library’s 2019 budget. Santy says the Library has worked with city staff to avoid confusion on their budget going forward and will work an appeals process to the state to avoid losing state aid.

– City Administrator Kendal Francis says James Cell was hired as the Network Administrator, the Great Bend Police Department has hired a full staff, the waterline replacement project is roughly 70 percent complete and weather permitting should be done by late fall or early winter, and the city will launch a revamped website on August 27.

– Sanitarian Austin LaViolette presented three abatements. The Great Bend Hotel and Convention Center at 3017 10th Street was included on the list for trash and weeds. A crowd member questioned why the city does not take action on the eyesore on 10th, but City Attorney Bob Suelter again stated that is not much the city can do with the privately-owned building.

– The Council approved a second change order for the waterline project not to exceed $510,021.23.

– Suelter announced Tractor Supply plans to begin construction on a Great Bend store in October. The store will be located on Grant Street to the west of Walmart. Suelter noted some problems connecting a sewer line to the site, but the Council approved a temporary septic system to be used until a proper sewer connection is established.

On Sunday, August 5 at 11:33 a.m. the Ellinwood Police Department and Ellinwood Fire Department responded to the 300 block of east 4^th street in reference to a vehicle on fire.

Upon arrival, a 1999 Chevy 2500 pickup was found fully engulfed in flames parked near the alley.

The owner of the vehicle was uncooperative with commands from Firefighters and Law Enforcement to get away from the vehicle for safety concerns. The owner then entered a second pickup that was parked close by and rapidly backed up towards the responders, nearly striking several Fire Department Personnel and one Ellinwood Police Officer.  The driver then fled the scene driving erratically to the front of his residence where he barricaded himself inside the residence.

The driver came out of the residence a short time later where he was taken into custody by the Ellinwood Police Department.

The driver, Samuel Freeman of Ellinwood, was transported to the Barton County Jail where he was booked in on four counts of Aggravated Assault, one count of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, and Felony Interference with Law Enforcement.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Barton County Commissioners Monday updated a 1978 resolution dealing with the hours that offices in the courthouse along with satellite offices are open during the day. The updated resolution describes those offices operating outside of set hours, establishes a method for closing for training periods and posting closings due to staff or work needs. The Health Department will be one of those offices who will benefit from the updated resolution. According to Director Shelly Schneider, due to staff training, there are times when the entire office needs to be closed for a day in order to get the needed training completed.

Shelly Schneider Audio

Commissioners voted 5-0 to rescind the 1978 resolution and implement the new resolution that takes effect immediately.