By MIKE COURSON Great Bend Post

Barton County Commissioners meet for their regularly-scheduled meetings each Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. on the first floor of the Barton County Courthouse. Wednesday, the board convened for a few extra minutes to discuss changes at Barton County Communications.

"Today, we ask the commission to consider putting Sheriff (Brian) Bellendir as the interim executive director of the 911 Communications department," said County Administrator Matt Patzner.

"This would essentially appoint Sheriff Bellendir as a department head," Commissioner Donna Zimmerman confirmed.

There was no further discussion before the commission approved the measure.&nbsp;

"The reason this change was made yesterday was to establish chain of command with the sheriff as the Commissioners continue discussions about the long-term plans with the department," Patzner said on Thurdsay.&nbsp; "What this means for operations at Communications is that Sheriff Bellendir now has the authority to direct the department like any other department head for the county can for their specific department.&nbsp; We will plan to have another study session next week on this topic and what this will look like going forward."

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 </figure>By MIKE COURSON Great Bend PostBarton County Commissioners meet for their regularly-scheduled meetings each Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. on the first floor of the Barton County Courthouse. Wednesday, the board convened for a few extra minutes to discuss changes at Barton County Communications."Today, we ask the commission to consider putting Sheriff (Brian) Bellendir as the interim executive director of the 911 Communications department," said County Administrator Matt Patzner."This would essentially appoint Sheriff Bellendir as a department head," Commissioner Donna Zimmerman confirmed.There was no further discussion before the commission approved the measure.&nbsp;"The reason this change was made yesterday was to establish chain of command with the sheriff as the Commissioners continue discussions about the long-term plans with the department," Patzner said on Thurdsay.&nbsp; "What this means for operations at Communications is that Sheriff Bellendir now has the authority to direct the department like any other department head for the county can for their specific department.&nbsp; We will plan to have another study session next week on this topic and what this will look like going forward."

Bellendir now head of communications department after commission vote