By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

Drive down any county road for a few miles, and it’s likely there will be a corner without street signs.

County commissioners decided Monday to try a program from Harvey County where residents can pay for signs the county will put on their corners.

Commissioner Randy Dallke first proposed the idea in August.

Under the plan, a resident would pay $100 for the two signs to top off a pole provided by the county, and the county would install them.

“It’s figured on a corner with two signs and two brackets, without the post,” road and bridge worker Jesse Smith said.

“I think it’s a good idea, it kind of helps out the county,” road and bridge superintendent Randy Crawford said.

“For a sign on your corner, it’s a pretty good deal,” Dallke said.

Smith said the price could vary, as some signs with longer road names would cost slightly more, while shorter signs would cost less, and the county’s cost for installation will be lower in some places.

“If there’s a place where there’s a post already there, there’s no reason we can’t use it,” Smith said.

The question of sign theft was raised, but Crawford said paying for the sign would give people incentive to watch out for potential thieves.

“Maybe they’ll even cut the weeds around them,” Dallke said.

Health department director Diedre Selene met with commissioners about the danger power outages pose to refrigerated vaccines stored at the department.

When power goes out to the custom vaccine refrigerator, an alarm is transmitted to health department personnel. Someone has to drive to the department, often in inclement weather, to check and reset the alarm. If the outage is prolonged, vaccines have to be relocated to stable refrigeration.

“Right now we have over $8,000 worth of private vaccines,” Serene said. The health department owns an equal amount of vaccines, and with flu season coming, their stockpile will increase.

Commissioner Roger Fleming suggested Serene contact an electrician to determine if an isolated circuit and generator system could be built for the refrigerator.