The Great Bend City Council Tuesday night spent an hour and a half taking a deep dive into numerous quality of life projects made possible via the .15% quality of life sales tax approved by Great Bend voters in November 2021.

During the work session following the agenda meeting, Interim City Administrator Logan Burns used slides to walk the council through a wide range of proposals. These ranged from the $2 million-plus improvements to the south end of Brit Spaugh Park and $650,000 for a splash pad at Veterans Memorial Park to $10,000 for upgrades to the dog park. 

Also included is $15,500 for fish habitats at the city’s lakes.

The projects are part of a 10-year quality of life capital improvement plan.

This past spring, the 13-member City of Great Bend Quality of Life Committee was formed. The purpose of the group which met for about six months was to look at how to best spend funds generated by the sales tax.

Then, come May, the group released a public survey. The purpose is to seek some feedback from citizens of all ages. 

The culmination of all those meetings and survey results were presented when the council during a study session on Sept. 19. The plan outlines the projects for the next decade, along with projected costs. Most of the items on the list were the top responses to the public survey.

City official picked the top handful from each category to wrap into the plan, many of which were discussed Tuesday night.

These included for this year and next:

• Restroom upgrades (using automatic timed locks for year-round access). This has already been done with some of the $40,000 allocated funds left over.

• Better lighting on the Veterans Memorial Park walking path. This will involve 20 LED light fixtures around the path and this should also come in under the $75,000 budgeted, 

• Reviving the sidewalk improvement cost-share program, which has been started. This has $110,000 set aside, but it has not been heavily used.

• The fishing habitats (working with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks). These are or will be installed. $15,500 was planned for this.

• Additional Christmas lights with the goal of making this a “Christmas City.” In all, $32,000 was set aside for enhancing and repairing the displays.

• A paintball course. This was a sticking point due to insurance concerns. The city planned $5,000 for a site at the Expo Complex west of town, but Burns said to make a safe course would cost around $80,000.

There is a chance that a different location may lower that cost due to the amount of protective netting required.

This is crucial for the teenaged crowd, council members said, but the cost is high.

• Dog park updates (perhaps making separate areas for large and small dogs). The plan sets aside $10,000 for this.

• Skate part improvements. There is $130,000 budgeted for this. This will include new asphalt and new fencing, and other upgrades.

• A public shooting range. This was shot down, due to liability concerns. 

It just wasn’t feasible due to the needed manpower to supervise such a facility.

• A splash pad. The city was planning $240,000 for this, but it will likely cost around $675,000.

There was talk that this could be moved down the priority list in light of the cost of the Brit Spaugh Project.

• Funds for what is know as the Brit Spaugh Project (the development of the south end of Brit Spaugh in cooperation with the Great Bend Recreation Commission). 

This amounts to over $2 million. The GBRC  has pledged $345,700 and the Thelma Harms Trust has pledged $60,00.

The effort will involve outdoor basketball and pickleball courts, a playground, mini-soccer field and restrooms. The horseshoe pits would be moved and the small baseball field would be eliminated.

Despite the expense, it was noted that there are community residents who have said private money is available to make up the difference, whatever it costs.

In the next couple years, other projects on the horizon are:

• Extending the walking/biking path.

• Adding restrooms at Langrehr Field.

• A $6 million bond project to build a community center that could included an indoor pool, walking track and other features.

• Improvements to Heizer Park and the 218 Bypass Park.

After the presentation, Burns said he would get more accurate numbers together so the council could get started on as many of these as possible.

Council members said they want to get these going so the public can see something coming from the sale tax they approved.