LARNED — At Monday’s meeting of the Larned City Council, Attorney Ron Smith informed the governing body that he was in the process of putting the cap on a four-decade legal career.
This includes his current position as Larned City Attorney.
“After more than 40 years, I was thinking it’s about time that I called it a career,” he told those present. His last city council meeting would be the regular session meeting in December. He noted that he was still making plans as to what to do in his retirement.
Smith’s career
Prior to beginning his law practice in 2005, Smith served as general counsel to the Kansas Bar Association (1985-99) and most recently counsel for the Community Development division of the Kansas Department of Commerce.
A Navy photojournalist during the Vietnam conflict, he graduated from Kansas Wesleyan in 1973 and Washburn Law School in 1976. After law school, he practiced in Great Bend, then served as Deputy Secretary of Administration for then-Gov. John Carlin.
While at the State Bar, he was responsible for the association’s lobbying program and its ethics and professional programs.
In 2012 he was president of the Southwest Kansas Bar Association and remains on its board of directors.
In Larned, he is a past president of the Larned Rotary Club and current member of the Western Writers Association of America. He is the author of several books and news articles.
Smith’s practice is mostly estates, corporate, real estate, probate, elder law and municipal law.
Larned Council meeting at a glance
Here is a brief look at what the Larned City Council did Tuesday evening:
• Approved Appropriations Ordinance No. 10 for $1,533,529.21, plus transfers.
• In public comments, Dr. Mark Van Noorden expressed his concern over utility rates and presented examples of past bills regarding his Broadway Street Scraps business. Van Noorden was told that the council would be reviewing utility rates at its December meeting and invited him to reappear.
• Heard an announcement from City Attorney Ron Smith that he would be retiring at the first of next year.
• Approved Benish and Associates as the engineering firm connected with the Kansas Department of Transportation’s City Connecting Link Improvement Program project from Eighth to the 12th Street intersection on Broadway, at a cost of $27,000 for the FY 2025 project.
• Approved the city’s cost share portion of $7,893 for a proposed radio console upgrade requested by dispatcher Vanessa Feldman for the city’s 911 system. The total cost of $54,717 would mostly be defrayed by an approved Local Safety and Security Equipment (LSSE) grant in the amount of $46,824.
• Passed a resolution of support for a Middle Income Housing (MIH) grant from the Kansas Resources Corporation after initiating the application process in September. Joiner Brothers Property Group of Ellinwood will be assisting with construction and continued ownership and management of the properties planned for a vacated lot on West 18th St. and at 1201 Prairie Heights in Larned.
• Approved another $4,000 request from the Larned Ministerial Alliance for its Helping Hands utility assistance program, as funds for the current request have been exhausted. The initial amount of $4,000 had been approved in March 2023.
• After discussion, a bid of $6,250 from Stone Sand, Great Bend, was approved for demolition of the city-owned building in Schnack Park. The vacant building had once been used as a city shop storage facility; however, the cost of necessary repairs exceed the cost of demolition.
• A 10-minute executive session for attorney-client privilege regarding legal matters was held with Larned Police Chief Lance Duft in attendance, with no action taken.
• A 15-minute executive session for City Manager’s evaluation and contract renewal was held with City Manager Brad Eilts in attendance, with no action taken.
