Great Bend City Council meeting at a glance
Here is quick look at what the Great Bend City Council did Monday night:
The agenda includes:
• Approved a rezoning request from Steve Baize for 127 South U.S. 281.
Baize is looking to construct a home overlooking the pond at the property and wants it rezoned from Light Manufacturing-Service Commercial to Agriculture to be able to build on the property, Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said.
This lot previously completed a lot-split in order to separate the Agriculture zoning from Charter Energy that is located just to the south of the Baize’s property.
The city’s Planning Commission approved the change and recommended council approval as well.
• Approved the purchase of two Chevrolet Colorado pickups for the Utilities Department.
These trucks will be used by the lab technician and utilities superintendent, said Public Works Director Jason Cauley. The city will trade in its 2010 Ford F-150s.
“Multiple bids were gathered with Ehler Chevrolet in Hoisington being the lowest bid at $35,377 per truck,” he said.
They were told that the city can add $500 per vehicle to allow for the possibility of finding trucks that are already built and at another dealership. But if no trucks are found, then the city will get the bid price with a minimum of eight to 12 weeks, with up to 26 weeks, for delivery, he said.
• Approved a design services bid from BG Consultants of Manhattan for $85,400 for the project to improve the south end of Brit Spaugh Park.
On June 5, city staff released the requests for proposals for design services for the Brit Spaugh Park addition. Previous conceptual design and renderings, conceptual estimates and surveys were given to prospective bidders for the proposal, Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said.
On June 30, staff opened four proposals from design firms with the low bid coming in at $85,400 from BG Consultants. The bid includes both design services and construction administration costs in the price, and estimates a six-month timeframe for construction documents to be completed.
• Held two 30-minute executive sessions to discuss “information deemed privileged in the attorney-client relation” to seek legal advise for pending legal matters.
After reconvening in open session, no action was taken.
• Recessed so the governing body could tour the new, nearly completed, Justice Center at 12th and Baker. The meeting was adjourned from there.
• Heard a report from City Administrator Brandon Anderson. He focused on the damage from Sunday’s storm.
• Heard a report from Christina Hayes, Convention and Visitors Bureau director and community coordinator. She focused on Party in the Park, set for Saturday, Aug. 12 at Veterans Memorial Park.
• Approved the 2023 GAAP waiver. Each year the city requests a waiver from the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for the reporting of city’s financial statements and to allow the City to use the regulatory basis of accounting under the Kansas Municipal Audit and Accounting Guide, said City Clerk/Finance Director Shawna Schafer.
In short, GAAP requires reporting cash and non-cash assets, and liabilities.
However, when it comes to what the state wants in its budget documents, this won’t work. So, many municipalities waive GAAP annually and operate on a regulatory basis (modified cash basis), tracking cash, certain accounts payable and encumbrances only, to make reporting easier.
Auditors must note this in their reports, but there is no averse impact for it.
• Approved a garbage and refuse license for Kevin Burton, doing business as Estes Trash out of Great Bend.
New Great Bend City Administrator Brandon Anderson told the City Council Monday night that he had its update prepared for the meeting, but “obviously my report changed quite a bit at about 6:30 yesterday.”
He was of course referring to the supercell thunderstorm that roared through the community late Sunday afternoon and into the evening, leaving extensive damage in its wake.
“I was so impressed with our community,” he said. “I’m an outsider coming in, but man, we’ve got a great group here in Great Bend, citizens helping neighbors, helping neighbors and really getting out and making an impact. The city staff was making the best impact that we could as well to help them moving forward.”
He said every electrical customer in town was without power at some point, but Wheatland Electric reported to him that number was down to 1,500 customers by meeting time.
He urged residents to check on their families and loved once without electricity to make sure they are safe and have safe places to stay. He noted that the American Red Cross had established a cooling center at the Events Center.
“A lot of city property was damaged,” he said. This included buildings (such as the Front Door, which was closed Monday due the power being out), parks (Brit Spaugh and the Zoo had several trees down and Veterans Memorial Park had extensive damage to ball fields and tennis courts) and vehicles (including some that are totaled, including some police vehicles).
In light of all the damage to private property, “I would caution all of our citizens. We require that all contractors here in the City of Great Bend be licensed and insured. This protects our community and protects our citizens.”
He was echoing the comments of Daryn Keeter, a longtime Wichita roofing contractor who talked to the council about the need for folks to remain calm and follow the proper procedures. Keeter warned of fly-by-night contractors and scammers taking advantage of residents, especially the elderly.
“You’re going to get one opportunity to make things right using that insurance money,” Anderson said. “So let’s make sure that we make the best choices that we can as citizens. Contact your insurance company and do your due diligence when hiring a contractor.”
Anderson also noted that they are working to speed up the process so reputable trimmers and roofers can be available to help.
The city’s response
• “Our crews were out today doing mainly the cleanup to try to get access the streets unblocked and moving through,” said Public Works Director Jason Cauley. “We’ve got about seven or eight locations done and we got more to do.”
He noted that the compost site was busy, and portions were even closed for a time while piles of branches were moved.
Those waiting to dump limbs were backed up down Rail Road Avenue, he said. Barton County crews helped and even the Kansas Highway Patrol helped control traffic.
The compost site will be open for business again at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“Starting next week, we will start doing a citywide cleanup,” Cauley said. “Bring your limbs and your logs to the back of the curb, not into the street and on the sidewalk, but behind the curb, And we’ll start going through cleaning them up.”
They would like the limbs to be six feet in length or less, making them easier to load into trucks. They won’t take processed lumber, fencing or other trash.
The crews are hoping to make only one pass through all neighborhoods.
• Public Lands Director Scott Keeler said the Educational Building at the Zoo and the women’s restroom on the north end of the park were damaged by falling limbs.
His teams are working with Public Works and trying to get cemeteries, parks and everything else cleaned, while concentrating on the roads and making sure all power lines are safe for the community to get around.
At Vets Park, three different sets of bleachers were blown over the fences, one into a parking lot. At the Municipal Airport, several hangars were damaged, with most of the windows in the big hangar broken or shattered.
• With the Police Department, Chief Steve Haulmark said he had extra officers on duty and they responded to several weather-related calls, including folks stranded in the water. “We had ample patrols.”
They repeated the extra staffing Monday night as well.
In addition, he and several of his officers volunteered to help residents clean their properties.
• “Like everybody else, we started well over 24 hours ago,” Fire Chief Brent Smith said. “Since then, we’ve responded to almost 30 storm-related calls, plus our normal average call volume.”
These included everything from gas leaks to structure fires and power lines down, he said. These dropped off about 10:30 Sunday night, but as the power started to come back on, the electricity cause fires to start burning again.
• “I couldn’t be more proud of our community. It’s just so amazing to watch everybody come together when things like this happened to us,” said Mayor Cody Schmidt. “I just want to let everybody know I’m just blessed and thankful that we’re all here and it probably could have been a whole whole lot worse.”
