Ellsworth County commissioners briefly discussed reinstating the county wide burn ban Monday during their weekly meeting, but took no action.

On March 10, commissioners voted to rescind the burn ban during a special meeting, after a fresh blanket of snow covered the county. However, that snow quickly melted.

Commissioners said they would revisit the possibility of reinstating the burn ban at their Monday, March 21, meeting.

In other business: • Commissioners visited with Sheriff Murray Marston regarding a possible needs assessment for the county jail.

Marston said the two companies that have expressed interest in doing the assessment, one from Oklahoma and the other from Texas, would charge between $5,000-$10,000, depending upon how far the county wanted to go.

Marston said he just needs someone come in and evaluate and give their opinion on what the jail has and where it needs to be 30-40 years from now.

Marston noted his is not asking to do something because the jail is out of bed space.

“Bed space isn’t an issue,” he said. “It’s everything else that’s an issue.”

“We’re going to have to address this sooner or later,” Commissioner Greg Bender said.

Marston will do more research on the two companies and report back to commissioners.

• Shelly Vopat, county clerk, said Bruce Bowie of B&B Plumbing told her the value on the boiler in the county courthouse has not been rated since 2008 and it has failed its rating. She said Bowie said it would be cheaper to get a new value than to repair the old one. However, no dollar figures were given.

• Commissioners approved sending flowers to lifelong Ellsworth County resident Laverna Stroede in honor of her 100th birthday. Stroede now lives in Belleville with her daughter.

• Bender said he received a telephone call from Jackie Rathbun over the weekend regarding the building of and payment for a fence between the separate pastures owned by him and Deanna Rathbun. The issue, evidently, is still not settled between the two. At last week’s meeting, the commissioners decided to let the Rathbuns work it out themselves.

“We still might have to give our opinion,” Bender said.