Larned City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a brief look at what the Larned City Council did Monday evening:
• Heard presentations from Kyle Bahr, Golden Belt Telephone, on fiber optic project progress, and Aaron Koehn, with VonFeldt, Bauer and VonFeldt, on the 2022 city audit.
• Approved a request from the Larned Recreation Commission to renovate the former Phinney Elementary School site into a green space for additional soccer and flag football practice. Approval also included water usage at no charge from the city.
• Approved proceeding with the current Kansas Department of Transportation CCLIP projects scheduled in the city.
• Approved a BASE 2.0 grant agreement.
• Approved a bid from OPI in Larned in the amount of $7,495 for a new city office copier.
• Discussed appointments to the Water Rights Task Force.
• Voided a demolition contract with Titan Building Systems (Giles Construction) and accepted a renewal bid with Eakin Construction for 540 W. Seventh and an accessory building at 301 Toles as two unsafe structures within the city limits. The two properties are not yet demolished as part of a city award of six structures to be razed through an October 2022 agreement.
• Approved ordinance changes to city code.
• Accepted Adam Hewson and Jeromy Bartz as appointments to the city Building Trades Board.
• Passed an ordinance adopting the 2021 International Residential Code.
• Heard a staff presentation from Will Tice, Code Enforcement/Building Inspector.
• Accepted a bid of $11,800 from Ike Shaver Plumbing for replacement of the Eighth Street booster station HVAC unit.
Larned drops mill levy to meet RNR
LARNED — The hearing date for the proposed 2024 budget for the City of Larned has been set at Sept. 5, preceding the September meeting of the Larned City Council.
In preparatory notice to councilmembers, Finance Director Monica Steiner noted that the city’s assessed valuation had decreased slightly for four straight years, from the 2018 budget. However, valuation increased significantly in 2023, to $23,016,290 up from $19,497,861 the year before. This translates to an increase of 18.05%, or $3.5 million.
Because Revenue Neutral Rate legislation requires the same revenue level from the 2023 budget, the mill levy for 2024 as proposed has been reduced from 60.351 to 51.191.
Steiner noted that inflationary pressures, market conditions and supply chain issues continue to affect the economy, but interest revenue from deposited city funds is helping to maintain core services at high levels.
“We are still investing in infrastructure, equipment and amenities akin to that of a progressive community that understands where we are going and how to get there,” she noted.
LARNED — City code changes, future projects and a re-visit of a nine-month-old demolition contract to remove structures deemed unsafe but not yet completed filled the agenda for the Larned City Council Monday evening.
The demolition discussion occurred midway through the meeting and involved contracts issued by the city nine months ago for the removal of six structures that had been deemed unsafe. Two structures remain to be razed from the bids received in October 2022.
Giles Construction, also known as Titan Building Systems in Larned, had yet to begin work on razing a blighted residence at 540 W. Seventh St. and a garage at 301 Toles Ave.
City Manager Brad Eilts told the council Monday that the company confirmed that day that they would have those down by the end of the week. “I don’t know if that changes anything; there have been many deadlines that have come on and have been missed,” he said. “We have already begun advertising for a couple of other demolitions that need to be done.”
Eilts said that the contract could be voided under the condition that the work had not yet been completed. Another condition was that the contract from the city had not been signed by a company representative, nor returned.
Councilman Josh Riedl suggested that the two properties be added to the next set of bids as a rebid. “They have had plenty of time to get it done,” he said.
In response to a question from Mayor William Nusser, City Attorney Ron Smith confirmed that an unsigned contract means no contract.
A representative from Giles Construction, also known as Titan Building Systems, was not present at the meeting.
From the audience, Eakin Construction owner Chad Eakin said that a work bid from November should have been completed already. “One of the properties is clear full of trash and is a hazard and should come down.”
“That would be my motion, to put them on the next bid list, unless we can just move down the line,” Riedl said. The official motion as presented would be to void the contract for the two properties and put them on the next bid list.
Eilts noted that the next bid request would contain a deadline that the work be completed within 45 days.
“I would think that 45 days is OK,” Eakin said. “On a normal demo, maybe 45 days but maybe these need to come down in 30 or 20 days,” he said. “I think 45 days is OK.”
The original bid to demo 540 W, Seventh was $9,950 and the bid to demo the garage at 301 Toles was $2,600, Riedl noted. “There’s a little bit of price difference between the two, but time-wise, that is almost nine months to do something.”
Eakin noted he would honor the prices as discussed.
During discussion of the motion, Riedl said that he would agree that the council could go ahead and accept Eakin’s proposal.
Councilman Jacques Molleker seconded the motion to void the unsigned contract and award the bid to the next-highest bidder, which was Eakin Construction. The motion then passed unanimously among members present.
