By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Most of the time, members of the Barton County Planning Commission quietly plug away, making some big decisions in public but sparsely-attended meetings. That changed in 2023 and 2024 as the nine members had to contend with sizable crowds while drafting new solar regulations for the county with a large-scale solar farm potentially knocking on the door. Tuesday morning, Barton Zoning Administrator Judy Goreham proposed the reappointment of three incumbent planning commissioners to the board of commissioners.
“This is an annual process for our planning commission board,” Goreham said. “We have nine members. They all serve a three-year term, and every year, three of them term. I’ve been very fortunate that my same core group has been willing to reapply for many years. I feel that, although we have the same people, we also have people who know what they’re doing because they’ve been on the board.”
Goreham advertises the new openings each year but, since the solar regulations were passed, has received no interest. Three of her longest-standing commissioners have each served for more than 25 years. Tuesday morning, the board of commissioners approved the reappointment of Chad Ehrlich, JC Bosch, and Junior Welsch.
“They do about as much cognitive struggling and thinking that I have to do,” Goreham said of the planning commission. “It is a lot of work to come up with regulations that are not self-centered, that are for the good of the people and the good of the county.”
The planning commissioners serve uncompensated terms, and the board must include more members living in unincorporated areas of the county than within. The three appointments approved Tuesday will expire March 31, 2029.