HOISINGTON — At its meeting on Monday, the Hoisington City Council approved a lease with “The Long Drive” driving range for property located south of the city. It will be owned by Mark and Kristi Lovett.
They intend to have a grand opening in March, with a soft opening this fall by late October. They hope to have tee boxes done by mid to late October.
They are looking for sponsors and will have incentives for sponsors. In addition, in November they are pre-selling baskets of balls at a discount.
The driving range is 300 yards long.
Hoisington City Council member Brian Wilborn agreed that it was a good use of property. The city has currently only used the property for the Mud Run.
In other business, the Kansas Rural Water Association came to Hoisington to help train staff and estimate sludge levels in the lagoons last Tuesday. City Manager Jonathan Mitchell reported that the  sludge levels have not greatly increased since the last inspection in the late 1990s. Pool 1 lagoon hadn’t experienced much accumulation and Pools 2 and 3 had a several inches.
In other business, the city discussed a definition of acceptable electrical rates. The definition said, “The City of Hoisington’s municipal electric utility shall be considered competitive if the cost of energy and other services provided by the utility are within 10 percent of neighboring utilities. The 10 percent is included to account for the value of a locally owned and controlled electric system and is consistent with the local preference which is considered in any other major acquisition reviewed by the City of Hoisington.”
Clean up week is scheduled for Sept. 26-27. Barton County Landfill has reduced its tipping fees to accommodate extra trash.