Larned City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a quick look at what the Larned City Council did Tuesday night:
• In the consent agenda, approved the 2023 budget calendar as amended beginning June 15 to August certification; approved the mayor’s signature for an easements agreement with Bert & Wetta of Larned originally approved on June 7, 2010; and approved a Cereal Malt Beverage license to the Pawnee County Fair Board for the upcoming county fair beer garden.
• Approved Appropriation Ordinance No. 5 in the amount of $849,291.24, plus transfers.
• Tabled until the August meeting a presentation from Aaron Koehn of VonFeldt, Bauer & VonFeldt, Chtd., on the 2021 city audit.
• Accepted bids from Eakin Enterprises Inc. on demolition of three structures deemed unsafe by city ordinance.
• Accepted a bid from Comfort Systems for two AFUE furnaces and two air conditioning units for City Hall at a cost of $19,507.06.
• Approved a three-month time extension and denied a request for extra funding regarding the City’s ongoing CDBG waterline project.
• Voted to seek bids on Santa Fe Street forced sewer main and Fry Street water main projects, using ARPA funds.
• Authorised City Manager Brad Eilts to pursue a proposed collaborative fuel purchase with the county.
• Approved a systems upgrade for the lighting system at the Larned Community Center at a cost of $6,500 by McClelland Inc.
• Adopted 2018 IPMC updates governing property maintenance and improvements.
LARNED – The Larned City Council rolled through a packed agenda for its July meeting that included a mixed bag of housekeeping and maintenance items. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday evening due to the July 4 holiday on Monday.
As the only item of old business, the council accepted demolition bids for each of three structures deemed unsafe back in April. Bids were received from Eakin Enterprises Inc. and the Ark River Sand Co. for demolition, cleanup and site repair for structures at 810 Topeka St.; 530 W. First St. and 301 W. Fourth St. in Larned. Bids for each location were considered separately with deference to the city’s condemnation process.
Eakin won all three bids, amounting to $4,800 each for 810 Topeka St. and 530 W. First St. The 301 W. Fourth St. location included two buildings, for a total of $31,650. The bid included building demolition, removal of concrete foundations; capping of sewers; backfill of building sites and asbestos siding removal with proper disposal on the second building.
CDBG waterline project
Among items considered were two requests for amendments by Schwab-Eaton related to Larned’s embattled CDBG waterline project. The project, at an original cost of $4.5 million with a Community Development Block Grant contribution amounting to $596,000, has suffered from delays and other issues relating to supply chain and work performance by the contractor of record Cobalt Construction. Several discussions between Schwab-Eaton and the council have centered on potential cost overruns and the project schedule over the past several months, including an engineering amendment for costs not to exceed $12,000 and a change order request that reduced the overall project cost by $5,613.50 at the council’s June meeting. The amount applied to engineering adjustments made to and including the month of June.
On Tuesday, the council agreed with Schwab-Eaton to pursue a three-month grant extension request, applicable to the Kansas Department of Commerce (distributor of the CDBG funds) to an end date of Oct. 14.
The Hutchinson engineering company also asked for an additional increase of $12,000 as a not-to-exceed amount to cover the proposed contract extension.
While the council approved extending the project deadline, it balked at the additional funding. Both Councilman Jason Murray and Councilman Kim Barnes, who have been vocal at such increase requests in previous meetings of the council, objected to granting the extra funding during discussion. The request for additional funding was then denied by council vote.
Forced sewer main and Fry Street
water line projects approved
With priority preference given to a repair of a section of forced sewer main on Santa Fe Street running between 14th and 17th Streets, the council approved seeking bids on both the sewer main and Fry Street water line repairs as presented at the June meeting. The Fry Street waterline is not part of the current CDBG project, serving residents in east Larned as well as the Edwards Park Golf Course and Pin High Restaurant.
City Manager Brad Eilts noted regarding the sewer main that the city had solicited three bids in prior months and received one, which has since expired.
Eilts noted that both projects would be eligible to receive funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
The council then voted to seek the bids with funding approval as recommended.
