HOISINGTON – The Hoisington City Council Monday night voted to sell two lots in the McKenna Meadows addition. The addition in the northern end of Hoisington was subdivided several years ago. Homeowners were given vacant lots with conditions such as the size of the home to meet when they built on the lots. 

City Manager Jonathan Mitchell suggested selling two unclaimed lots to adjacent landowners. The council had discussed the sale of the lots in September using the proceeds to pay the new Windgate subdivision plotting. 

The McKenna lots located at 251 Williamson Way are valued at $30,700 and 1506 N. Vine St. at $14,080. At that September meeting, the council decided to accept written bids. One interested party was Council member Darren Reinert whose property adjoins 1506 N. Vine. Both properties have areas in the flood plain.  

During the last council meeting, the council asked about opening the bids to the general public after Mitchell had announced the bids submitted by the two McKenna Meadows homeowners, Reinert and John Robinson. At this meeting, Reinert asked about the fairness of asking for additional bids after announcing offers submitted at the previous meeting.

He said, “At the last meeting, you guys voted to table the discussion after the fact that you knew what the two bids were for that property were. You need to take the deal or not.” He also told the council that he did not wish to vote on the motion to accept the two bids announced at the previous meeting (which could be seen as a conflict of interest). 

Council member Jim Morris proposed to accept Reinert’s bid of $2,000 for 1506 N. Vine and Robinson’s bid of $3,500 for 251 Williamson Way from the previous meeting. The motion carried 6-1 with one abstention.

Public comments

• Hoisington businessman Randy Deutsch addressed the council during the public comment period. His first question concerned the farm ground the city owns west of Hoisington. He asked, “Where does that income show up in your financials?” 

Neither Mitchell nor City Clerk Cecilia Conrad had the answer as another staff member enters that data. Mitchell did explain that city has a 40-60 contract with the renter. He said the city has interest in developing the area into a housing subdivision and has acquired land to extend 11th street into the area.  

• Next, Deutsch asked about an electric abatement should a new business choose to move into Hoisington. Mitchell answered, “We did one of those years ago and we got a little grief for that. That would be up to the council to decide.”

• Council member Carrol Nather also took some public comment time to talk about trash dumpsters being left at the street for days. She said, “We need to post a warning on the container to move it then a fine if not moved. The trash blows everywhere in this town.” 

The city does have an ordinance limiting the trash containers to stay by the street for 24 hours before and after they are dumped.  

• The new business was discussion of a request from the Hoisington Chamber of Commerce to assist with their annual Turkey Bowl event. This fundraising event is scheduled to take place Nov. 11 at Cardinal Lanes. 

The Chamber requested and was granted $750 to assist with advertising the event, purchasing food and to offset the expense of prizes. The grant would be made from the Transient Guest Tax Fund which is collected by the local hotel for the promotion of tourism, conventions, commerce and economic development in Hoisington.  

In other updates:

• Second Street Project continues with pouring curb and gutter then the intersection. The company will not work on the Elm Street intersection until the Walnut intersection is open.

- The Barton County Commission would like to hold a joint session with the City Council in the near future. Some common topics include housing, Facade Improvement Grant program, work force, and child care.

• Zoning RFP requests have generated responses from two prospective firms.

• Windgate Apartments are being demolished this week.

• Veteran’s Day observation will cause an adjustment to the modified staff schedule. The staff will adjust to eight hours daily but will still be open the same hours to the Public (including lunch). A similar schedule will be used for the upcoming Holidays.

• The Electric Rate Study is in draft form and Mitchell hopes to have it for review in the near future.

• The water tower was drained last week to allow for a hatch to be repaired and should be back on line this week. This was an opportunity to run the city water system without the tower as it will be offline when the tower is repainted. 

• The new engine installation at the City Power Plant continues with the building of a catwalk and painting.

• The November election is coming soon.

• The City is meeting with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas regarding the premium for renewal.

• Mower bids are coming in.

• The Police Department have a proposal to purchase four tasers with accessories and a five year warranty for a cost of $11,428. The current tasers have reached their end of life date.

• The City is still working towards a closing date for the sale of 2.6 acres west of town.

• The City is in discussion with the City Library regarding CIP (Capital Improvement)  resolution.

• As a Local Giveback Initiative, a local massage therapist student is offering free massages as part of their training for the local government staff and First Responders. 

• Staff is still working up the Employee Safety Training Day.

• FLOCK Cameras are back on track and waiting installation after a Kansas Department of Transportation site visit earlier this month.

• An update to the Council meeting room to include replacing the current screens and projectors with LCD Televisions.