Ellsworth County is the recipient of another road construction project, and concerns are being raised about access to Wilson in particular.

At Monday’s meeting of the Ellsworth County commissioners, EMS supervisor Jeremiah Brown said work is to begin this week on the widening of K-14 Highway from K-140 in Ellsworth north to Interstate 70. Add the ongoing bridge construction project on Old 40 Highway west of Ellsworth and his choices are limited in responding to a health emergency in Wilson.

“If somebody has something critical going on, we’re delayed,” he said.

There is only one EMS technician in Wilson and he would not be able to transport a patient by himself, Brown added.

Brown said his ambulance crews could take K-156 from Ellsworth north to I-70 and then take I-70 to Wilson, but that would add 18 miles to the response time. A second option would be to call Russell County EMS and ask whether personnel there could cover a daytime medical emergency call in Wilson.

“I would talk to Russell County,” Commissioner Kermit Rush said.

In a telephone interview with the Independent-Reporter, Delvin Schultz, sub-area superintendent for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said crews planned to set up this past Tuesday and begin work shortly thereafter, depending on the weather. He said the project will involve widening and overlaying the base on both sides of the highway. The work is similar to that done on K-140 Highway recently from Ellsworth to Salina. Schultz estimated the work will take about two months, again depending upon the weather.

In other business:

• Kerianne Ehrlich, supervisor of the county health department, said 72 county residents have been tested for COVID-19.

She said the county has a testing rate of 11.8 percent, which is based on per 1,000 in population.

“We’re actually quite a bit higher than a lot of the northern counties to the north of us,” Ehrlich said.

Ehrlich planned to meet with the Ellsworth County Fair Board Wednesday to discuss options for this year’s fair.

• Carl Miller, county appraiser, submitted a 2021 budget request of $169,500. That amount is 3.4 percent higher than last year’s $163,000 request.

• Kathy Mosher and Erica Green of the Central Kansas Mental Health Center in Salina said they have seen a 39 percent increase in the number of Ellsworth County clients served this year. Mosher is working to ramp up telehealth services to clients here as an alternative to seeing a therapist in person during the COVID-19 crisis.

Moser said the COVID-19 crisis is giving rise to a mental health crisis. As a result, the amount of funding CKMHC receives from Ellsworth County will need to increase by 4 percent in 2021 to deal with the influx of new clients.

“I know we have been behind on funding,” Rush said. “Maybe it’s time we step up and do a little more.”

Ellsworth County provided $27,766 in funding to CKMHC in 2020. The 4 percent increase for 2021 would increase that number to $28,877.

• Amy Boxberger of Central Kansas Community Corrections presented two documents, the CKCC Comprehensive Plan and the Behavioral Health Plan to the commissioners for their signatures.

Boxberger said the goal of the CKCC is to have no more than 25 percent of offenders with closed cases go to prison. Last year, the county was 13 percent. She said the county had 16 cases closed with two offenders sent to prison.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth County commissioners will be at 9 a.m. Monday, May 18, at the county courthouse.