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City receives final Bushnell funds for park improvements
Council OKs partnering with HOI on moderately priced housing grant application
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 The Great Bend City Council Monday night accepted a Barbara Bushnell Memorial Fund presentation from Golden Belt Community Foundation Executive Director Christy Tustin. This payment is the final of five annual grants from the fund and will provide money for improvements to Veterans Memorial Park and Brit Spaugh Park.

Each year, the city has received $5,000 for improvements to each of the two parks. This year, since the fund is being closed out, the payments will be around $5,900 for each facility.

Tustin said Bushnell wanted to help Brit Spaugh, Vets and the Barton County Historical Society with her estate. Past projects have included Christmas lights, the Vets walking trail, the arctic fox at the zoo and a new building at the Historical Society. 

In other business Monday night, the council:

 • Authorized Housing Opportunities Inc. to submit a grant application for a Moderate Income Housing Grant totalling $175,000 from the State of Kansas with the city being the official applicant. HOI would write the grant application, said HOI Executive Director Vicky Dayton.

Dayton said the funds would go towards down payment assistance for seven homes to be built on lots already owned by HOI.

Over the past few years, Dayton said the state has realized there is a shortage of moderate income housing in Kansas. To qualify for these homes, family incomes have to fall between 60 and 150 percent of the area’s median income (around here, a family of four could earn $99,469).

It has allotted $2 million each year for grants to communities. HOI is just seeking a portion of this.

• Approved adjusting the closure of 17th Street Terrance west of McKinley to White Sands Drive from 7 a.m. to midnight on Aug. 8 to utilize for extra parking for Party in the Park and allow one-way traffic to be directed to the west and have the street completely closed to all traffic except to car show from McKinley to the low road coming from the park. 

Only allow one way traffic to go through Vets Park that day with entry at the north entrance of Vets Park and the exit on 17th Street Because of the high number of cars already pre-registered with the car show and with the excitement of the Reality TV show coming, she needed to make a slight change in plan for the layout of the street.

She still needed 17th Street Terrance to be one way only to the west, however the response has forced a change.

Traffic will not flow clockwise, as earlier discussed, it will flow counterclockwise for the event day.

• Authorized Mayor Mike Allison to: Sign the contract agreement with Rosenbauer Minnesota LLC in the amount of $211,871.76 for the purchase of an Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Vehicle (fire truck) of which the city would be responsible for 10 percent of the cost; sign the contract agreement with Paul Wertenberger Construction Inc. in the amount of $341,500 for the construction of an ARFF vehicle storage building of which the city would be responsible for 10 percent of the cost; to sign the engineering service agreement with Burns & McDonnell in the amount of $83,285 for engineering service relating to the construction of the ARFF building of which the city would be responsible for 10 percent of the costs; and, along with airport manager Martin Miller, sign the performance bond with Paul Wertenberger Construction Inc.

These are funded under Federal Aviation Administration grants. These documents, once executed by the City, will allow the fire truck to be ordered, and construction of the building to commence.