Ellinwood City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a quick at what the Ellinwood City Council did Tuesday night:
• Tabled for further study a proposal by Royal Flagg, representing a private group who are interested in establishing a center housing undocumented immigrants at the former Woodhaven building at 510 W. Seventh St. in Ellinwood.
• Presented Ellinwood street department employee Ryan Komarek with a service award for five years with the City of Ellinwood.
• Approved the week of April 29 through May 7 as City Cleanup Week.
• Approved the city’s Emergency Water Plan. The plan is reviewed annually, and approved with no changes necessary.
• Heard an informational presentation of the annual city treasurer’s report as presented by City Administrator Chris Komarek.
• Approved city staff’s request to hire two part-time employees during the summer months at $14 per hour each for approximately 480 hours, with no benefits for an approximate total cost of $15,000.
• Heard a presentation from Fire Chief Spencer Proffitt, who has applied for an Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant to replace the city’s 1989 pumper truck.
• Heard a staff report from City Administrator Komarek on various ongoing and upcoming city projects.
ELLINWOOD — City Administrator Chris Komarek reported on a variety of items Tuesday in his update to the Ellinwood City Council, which included dirt work set to begin at the new Ellinwood District Hospital site west of town.
With an eye to the weather, project contractor McCownGordon will be setting up two doublewide trailers serving as project office and tool and equipment storage, in preparation for dirtwork at the hospital building location, Komarek noted.
“The first thing they will be doing is digging detention ponds and building up the site where the hospital is going to be,” Komarek said.
Komarek noted that the city has installed temporary electric service to the site and a driveway has been put in off of Park Street as a temporary drive.
“One of the first things to do is to construct a permanent drive off of Third Street,” Komarek said. “They needed a way in to get started on the dirtwork.”
A highway access drive will be one of the later phases of construction, Komarek said. No highway modifications are anticipated at this time.
The official address to the hospital has been designated as 300 Park Street, Komarek noted.
Komarek also addressed the status of several projects and upcoming considerations, including:
• Work on an easement between Third and Fourth Streets was begun in the fall. Lines were installed and water switched over, and Komarek noted that the city will return to the project as weather allows.
• Informed the council that Liz Nolan had been hired in the city office.
• The city’s Planning Commission will meet March 1 to review a proposed zoning change of four lots from R1 to R2 to accommodate Middle Income Housing duplexes to be built by Joiner Construction. The board will make its recommendation to the city council as an agenda item for the March meeting.
• Well No. 5 has been running for about a month. It is being pumped daily by recommendation, and the city will continue to take samples as needed.
• Wolf Hotel owner Chris McCord was the recipient of a matched grant totalling $90,000 in time to meet a renegotiated agreement with the city for funds tabbed as a portion of the city’s Kansas Department of Transportation match for sidewalk repairs to the hotel.
• Komarek advised that the downtown “Get Downtown” shopping event was again in the works for sometime in April.
• Komarek also suggested a study session be scheduled sometime following the March meeting to discuss current projects.
