BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle
INDEPENDENCE — Montgomery County commissioners Monday agreed to provide a letter of support for Watco, Inc., the parent company of the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, to seek federal government funds for relocation of the SKO’s switch yard in Cherryvale.
The request for the support letter came from Trey Cocking, Cherryvale city administrator, and Brad Eilts, director of the Montgomery County Action Council. Cocking said the City of Cherryvale and the USD 447 Board of Education also approved similar letters of support for the Watco project.
Cocking said Watco envisions relocating the switch yard, now located in the downtown business district, to an area northwest of Cherryvale and north of the U.S. 169 highway. By moving the switch yard, train traffic and blocked crossings in the downtown area would be held to a minimum.
“Right now, every train on the SKO Railroad has to cross the downtown business district,” said Cocking. “The SKO has about 11 trains in Cherryvale per day. And, they use the downtown area to assemble and disassemble trains. Sometimes, it takes 25 to 30 minutes, which means delays for motorists at the crossings.”
Watco is planning to seek a $3 million grant from the Federal Rail Administration for the project, and the rail company will provide $1 million of its own money for the project.
Eilts said Watco is not now planning to seek local government funds for the project. At some point, the rail company may have to address several road issues, including closing one of the lesser-traveled rail crossings in and around Cherryvale. However, those issues will have to be addressed at a later time, he said.
Eilts did say that he hoped the city and county could take advantage of the switch yard relocation by encouraging more storage and warehousing opportunities for the rail company.
Watco’s application to the Federal Rail Administration is due on Friday, Nov. 28. Announcement of the grant recipients will be announced in December.
In other business transacted at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:
• agreed to appoint Jenny L. Blaes of rural Cherryvale as Cherry Township trustee based upon the recommendation of the other township officers.
• agreed to spend no more than $3,000 for the purchase of a new
computer server for the courthouse. Jason Clubine, a technician with the county’s computer department, said the current server was almost 15 years old and was unable to contend with the amount of internet traffic that goes in and out of courthouse computers each day. Clubine said internet traffic on the night of the Nov. 4 general election far exceeded the capacity of the server.
• accepted the Community Action Champion award from the Southeast Kansas Community Action Planning organization (SEK-CAP). A framed certificate and glass vase will be placed in the commission chambers.
• heard a report from Robert Bever, public works director, about a recent Kansas Department of Transportation announcement calling for the suspension of state-funded road improvement projects due to declining revenues at the state level.
However, two of those state-funded projects in Montgomery County will be allowed to move ahead, he said. They include bridge replacement on the Cheyenne Creek bridge on county road 1200 northwest of Caney and a bridge near the Montgomery State Fishing Lake on county road 3200. Beachner Construction has already been approved as the contract for those bridge replacement projects.
• agreed to have commissioner Tony Fowler, county counselor Paul Kritz and county appraiser Leroy Burk serve as negotiators for Montgomery County in a mediation meeting with representatives of Coffeyville Resources LLC, regarding Coffeyville’s Resources appeal of its 2007 property taxes. A mediation meeting is scheduled for mid-December.
