By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
At Monday night’s Ellis County Commission meeting, commissioners voted against sponsoring the 2014 Western Kansas Legislative Briefing in Washington in March. The group sponsoring the event had asked Ellis County to sponsor $500 for the event. The briefing offers local officials a chance to speak with congressional representatives and staffs on local issues.

Commissioners Swede Holmgren and Dean Haselhorst both voted against sponsoring the briefing, asking for more information on the organization, Commissioner Barbara Wasinger was not present at the meeting. Haselhorst wanted to know how many counties pay the sponsorship fee.

“It is a good opportunity to get to know congressional staff,” County Administrator Greg Sund said.

Sund also said he worked a bill through Congress in the past and the staffer was a tremendous amount of help — and this is a good way to keep in touch with local staffers.

Sund pointed out the city of Hays has been extremely active, so Ellis County is represented.

• The commission approved the design engineering contract with Kirkham Michael for the design of a replacement bridge located 3 miles west and 2.7 south of Antonino.
• Commission also approved the construction engineering agreement with BG Consultants for the East Highway 40 road improvement project