Great Bend City Councilman Gary Parr asked Monday if the work to restore with Sunflower Rod and Custom Association dragstrip at the Expo Complex is still on schedule.
“I’m a little concerned about that,” Parr said. “I heard they’re behind on progress out there, and they’re potentially going to miss a race or two already. Do you know if there’s any validation to that?” he asked City Administrator Logan Burns.
“They sent us an updated schedule that went into May,” Burns said. But to date, the contractor has not submitted a change order request for rescheduling completion. That would have to come to the city council. Until they do that, the contracted completion date is March 6.
“Do we know why they’re falling behind? We’ve had about a month and a half to two months of weather that we don’t have this time of year – unseasonably warm,” Parr said.
“That’s what everybody’s asking,” Burns said. “We’ve been asking the same questions.”
Even if the days are warm, temperatures fall below freezing some nights. This week’s favorable weather is expected to change starting Thursday. Burns said they need a two-week window of favorable conditions to pour concrete.
The workers did not stay for the holidays, he added.
They have poured concrete at the end of the track.
Questions about the pool
Parr’s questions came during the portion of the meeting alloted for councilmember reports. The agenda states, “Councilmembers will report on the boards and commissions they serve on.”
Parr typically uses the time to ask questions that constituents are asking him. This week there were questions about plans to build a swimming pool with water features, funded with bonds that the quality-of-life sales tax will pay for. This was approved on Dec. 15, starting a 30-day protest period if the public wants to petition for a special election on whether to approve the bonds. The Great Bend Tribune contacted the Barton County Clerk’s Office on Wednesday and learned no petition has been filed so far.
“I’ve talked to a great deal (of) people over the last three weeks... and I think their definition of what ‘quality of life’ is and ours might be considerably different,” Parr said. “I didn’t talk to a single person that said quality of life was a brand new, $10 million pool.”
Parr said, “I love the idea,” but his constituents say 'no' so he’ll remove his support. He voted in favor of a $705,000 contract with engineering firm JEO for design and other services.
“Why did I vote for a $700,000-plus rendering campaign? At this point, I’m going to withdraw my vote on that, because my people are upset about this,” he continued. “So far, I’m hearing that’s not what they see quality of life is. They see quality of life is their infrastructure, their sewer systems, their water systems, their streets. ‘How about making streets better that we drive on to get to the pool?’ is what I’ve heard 50 times in the last two weeks; our sidewalks, our curbs, all of those things that building infrastructure that could possibly raise an eyebrow to bring more industry to Great Bend, to help the city grow.”
Parr said he knows what the different city sales taxes are for, but the public doesn’t.
Burns said there is a quarter-cent sales tax to fund infrastructure improvements. It will come back to a vote in 2027. The .15% quality-of-life sales tax went into effect in 2022 after being approved by voters. After it passed, the city did surveys and made a list of medium-sized projects and large projects for which this money can be used.
Councilwoman Tina Mingenback commented. “So, just to clarify, the quality of life that we’re talking about with the pool is separate than the money set aside for roads and other items that he is bringing up.”
Burns said she was correct.
“And just so you know,” Mingenback continued, “I was on the pool committee and if the pool does not get fixed, we will not have a pool moving forward. ... We did choose the cheapest route that we could, (while) still doing what people are asking us to do, by having the slides and activities and things for children. If we don’t do that, we are just going to have a hole for people to go to, and that alone, right there, costs about $8 million.”
Burns said they looked at cutting the square footage of the pool in half to save money, and immediately received many phone calls from people who don’t want that to happen.
“And we’re going to be exploring grant opportunities here their year as well,” Burns said.
