The Great Bend City Council will hold its 2021 budget planning session at 6 p.m. Monday, July 13, at City Hall, 1209 Williams. However, it will be haunted by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
City Administrator Kendal Francis reminded council members of the meeting Monday night. Earlier in the day, he learned from Barton County officials that the city’s valuation did decrease about $2.3 million.
“So we will be taking those numbers into account as we finalize the budget,” he said. He also noted that city staff would be meeting this week to look at what impact the drop would have on their departments.
This amounts to about 2% of the city’s $105 million budget.
Wetlands Waterpark open
On Monday, Great Bend’s Wetlands Waterpark at Brit Spaugh Park opened after the opening was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Contrary to original plans to limit hours, “we decided to use our normal hours which are 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. seven days a week,” City Administrator Kendal Francis told the City Council Monday night, adding that the family swims take place from 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
By all indications, he said the facility has been busy.
But, he did want to clear up a couple of misconceptions. The pool is not only open to Great Bend residents, but swimmers from anywhere, and reservations are not required to enjoy the waterpark.
Bison now at Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo
In what City Administrator Kendal Francis told the City Council Monday night was the “worst kept secret in Great Bend,” the bison are now at Brit Spaugh Zoo.
“We now have two bison that call Brit Spaugh Zoo home,” he said. They are siblings named Gus (the brother) and Breeze (the sister) whose dad was born here at the zoo.
“But, right now the exhibit is not open to the public,” he said. “We want to give them time to get acclimated to their new surroundings.”
However, it will be open to the public when the facility opens Saturday. There will be a formalized ribbon cutting and grand opening probably a little bit later in the fall.
Mosquito fogging underway
The City of Great Bend has started fogging for mosquitoes, City Administrator Kendal Francis said, noting Thursday was the first night.
They also have plans to fog on the Thursday nights June 25 and July 2. As with years past, they will start fogging at 8 p.m. and go through midnight. The public is encouraged to take precautions to limit exposure to themselves, especially those with medical issues and pets.
For questions or concerns, contact Street Superintendent James Giles at 620-793-4150.
City archiving streamed council meetings
Even though the City of Great Bend doesn’t have the extra storage available to upload City Council meeting videos to its website, past meetings are still accessible, Community Coordinator Christina Hayes said, addressing the council Monday night.
They city has been and will continue to stream the meetings on Facebook. But, “we did figure out a way to create links to them.”
These will be on the greatbend.net site, under the agendas and minutes link. Along with tabs for minutes and agendas will be one labeled media, and that will take the viewer to the archived videos.
“You do not have to have a Facebook account to be able to watch the video,” she said.
As of now, the videos go back to the beginning of this year. They are still discussing how much further back they want to go.
Events Center remodeling in the works
The project to renovate portions of the Great Bend Events Center is “moving along pretty well,” City Administrator Kendal Francis told the City Council Monday night. The demolition is completed and they are starting to put things back together.
The council in May approved an over $500,000 renovation to a portion of the long-vacant office complex attached to the back of the venue. The project went to Brentwood Builders of Great Bend who tapped Moeder Plumbing, Heating and Air (Great Bend) and Haynes Electric (Larned) as the mechanical and electrical subcontractors.
Included in the renovation is 7,000 square feet on the office complex first floor. This leaves 21,000 square feet in the remainder of the building.
This work includes the Great Bend Economic Development Inc. office and secretarial space, two 75-120 person breakout rooms to use with the center to bring in bigger conventions, and extra space for the Convention and Visitors Bureau (for storage and preparing visitor packets). Both Eco Devo and the CVB are already housed in the center.
And, “we do have events booked for next month,” CVB Director Christina Hayes said, noting there is still nothing planned through June. “But we do have a couple meetings and one wedding at the end of next month. So that’s good as far as some revenue that would come in for the great Events Center.”
City welcome signs still on track
Great Bend City Community Coordinator Christina Hayes reported to the City Council Monday night that while the two new welcome signs at the north and east entrances to town are still on track, there have been some delays.
“There’s been a hiccup,” she said, noting that since both are on state highways, they require Kansas Department of Transportation approval. Delays with this paperwork are causing the snag.
So, the city is no longer on pace for July 1 installation as outlined in the city’s strategic plan, she said. “It’s still in the works. We’re still working with them.”
The east sign will be near the Kansas Department of Transportation office, and the north near the flood control levee. Flood lights will illuminate them from the front.
The signs will be suspended by two stone columns. They will stand 8 feet and be 19 feet across.
In December, the council approved a bid from Marks Custom Signs for a total of $38,724 ($17,122 for the north entrance. $21,102 for the east entrance, and a $500 state license fee). The east entrance costs more due to the earthwork involved.
Hayes reminded the council that funds for the signs will come from the Thelma Faye Harms Trust, and will not cost the city anything.
