The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met in a budgeting session Thursday.

County Transfer Station Executive Director Jotham Arber informed the Board that he is leaning towards an opening time of 7:30 am at the station, to reflect facilities in neighboring counties. Arber then presented new time clock technology to be used at the station, as well as the County Public Health and Environmental Health departments. He showed the Board the actual device and the software used to generate reports. He also informed the Board that security cameras will be installed Monday and all-season safety jackets and vests have been acquired. As far as personnel is concerned, the Environmental Health Department should be moved into the Public Health facility be the end of next week. Arber also mentioned the following: a cost analysis of paying for waste hauling in-house versus outsourcing, testing lasers to be used during septic measurements, a newly hired employee with a salary funded through an emergency preparedness state grant, and utilizing a $7,500 grant for tourniquet kits as part of the “Stop the Bleeding” campaign.

Guthrie County Fair Board President Grant Sheeder then presented the fiscal year 2019 budget and other updates from the current fiscal year. Sheeder informed the Board that last year’s fair saw record numbers. The Fair Board is also close to paying off all debt on the events center at the fairgrounds. Sheeder expects that debt to be resolved within six months. He is very pleased with the turnout, but knows there’s still work to be done. “We had a lot of people from out of town who had never seen this fair before. We’ve seen some great progress, but we’re not done yet. We’ve got a lot of things we want to do.”

The annual Steak Dinner to support fair costs raised nearly $59,000 last year. The next dinner is scheduled for March 3rd. To hear more on Sheeder’s reaction to the fair, listen to next Monday’s news magazine.