Douglas County Commissioner Jere McElhaney said it might be time for the county to think about opening its own rock quarry.

McElhaney made the suggestion earlier this week as the county was discussing its road chip and seal program and the purchase of crushed rock for road maintenance.

“It was just kind of a shot off the top of my head that maybe we need to consider, and I don’t mind looking into it,” McElhaney said later about the idea.

“Sometimes we are held at the mercy of the market,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe for taxpayer benefits we might want to put ourselves in a bit better control.”

In a year, the county uses about 14,000 tons of rock for road maintenance, County Engineer Keith Browning said. And costs are going up.

This year the county budgeted $120,000 for rock, up from $110,000 last year, he said.

Commissioners Bob Johnson and Charles Jones also are willing to explore the idea of operating a rock quarry, but they warned there could be plenty of pitfalls if the county were to get in the rock business.

A heavy equipment operator at N.R. Hamm Quarry in North Lawrence works with rock. Douglas County Commissioner Jere McElhaney suggested this week that the county may want to consider opening its own rock quarry to help control construction costs.

Johnson noted that when the county is asked to approve a rock quarry use permit for businesses, there is usually an outcry from residents living near the proposed site. That’s what happened last year when Lecompton area residents successfully opposed a rock quarry proposal.

“If somebody could do the numbers and show that it would be more effective for the county to make a capital investment in its own land and a rock quarry, I don’t have any objections to seeing if it is the right thing to do,” Johnson said.

The county would face some of the same problems private entities do meeting federal and state regulations and public opposition, but a government isn’t out to make a profit, doesn’t have the same overhead expenses and doesn’t have to pay taxes, McElhaney said. Moreover, he wonders if it would be possible to operate a quarry in cooperation with some neighboring counties.

McElhaney said he’s thought about the rock quarry idea and discussed it with some township officials and rural residents.

“It’s just some coffee talk I’ve had with some people. It’s kind of my job to shoot ideas off people,” he said.

McElhaney said he would bring the idea up for further discussion at a retreat planned for county officials in the near future.

Jones said he hadn’t thought much about the idea.

“It’s good to have fresh ideas, but my guess is that would really be a substantial undertaking,” he said.

Some other Kansas counties that have their own quarry are Bourbon, Allen, Labette and Neosho, according to Neosho County Engineer Frank Young. Neosho County has had its quarry since 1948. In 1995, it spent $600,000 renovating the operation and getting new equipment, he said.

Neosho County produces its rock for less than $3 a ton and uses about 150,000 tons of rock per year, Young said.

“We know what it is going to cost us year in and year out,” Young said. “We’re not at the mercy of private quarries that would charge quite a bit more.”

At the same time, the county faces myriad regulations, including the same ones that apply to surface coal mining, Young said. Some employees receive special training, he said.