With the understanding that sidewalks are important to the community, the Great Bend City Council Monday night approved the SAFE (Safer Access for Everyone) Sidewalk Program. “We know this is a key need in our community,” said City Administrator Kendal Francis. A survey conducted earlier this year by the city’s Quality-of-Life Committee identified the public’s desire for a cost share program to assist property owners with needed repairs of public sidewalks. The plan provides both residential and commercial property owners a 50% reimbursement of labor and materials up to $800 (corner lots are eligible for up to $1,600). If the repairs [...]

The City of Great Bend Monday morning broke ground on the long-awaited Justice Center during a ceremony at 12th and Baker, the site of the new Police Station and Municipal Court building. Mobilization for the 20,000-square-foot nearly $9 million project will begin this week. The building should be completed in about 11 months. “This is an exciting day,” City Administrator Kendal Francis said. “Today is a culmination of essentially to two years of hard work and planning.” In October of 2020, a committee appointed by Mayor Cody Schmidt began in earnest the preparation and site selection. Source: Great Bend Tribune

A half century ago, Barton County Rural Water District 1 was formed to serve a small territory just north of Hoisington. Now, it wants to join forces with the sprawling Russell County Rural Water District 3 in a multi-million plan allowing Hoisington to sell water to Bunker Hill, replace aging infrastructure and eventually allowing the districts to merge. Source: Great Bend Tribune

To help the City of Ellinwood to move forward on two key development projects, the Barton County Commission Wednesday morning approved offering $300,000 to defray the cost of materials of water and waste water improvements needed for the new hospital and a planned housing addition. Source: Great Bend Tribune

A Great Bend couple is hoping Great Bend zoning regulations can be amended and allow them to continue operating a dog boarding kennel in their west Broadway residential neighborhood. This is a possibility after the City Council Monday night voted to initiate a change for consideration by the city’s Planning Commission. Source: Great Bend Tribune

Construction workers began groundwork on Monday for an addition to the Macksville City Library. Library Director Jody Suiter said plans for this addition started in 2011 when the library’s motto was “Dreaming Bigger!” “With help from the South Central Kansas Library System, we consulted an architect and drew up preliminary plans,” Suiter said. “We then approached the City Council and were told, ‘If you can raise the funds, you can build it.’ “Now, 11 years down the road, and hundreds of memorials, many fundraisers, numerous grants, multiple gifts, raffles, and donations later, we are breaking ground for the new addition. In [...]

The road to property tax transparency is paved with good intentions. That was Kansas Sen. Alicia Straub’s assessment of Senate Bill 13, the so-called Truth in Taxation or Revenue Neutral bill enacted by the Kansas Legislature in 2021. Straub, from Ellinwood, serves the 33rd District and joined the Barton County Commission Wednesday morning to discuss the measure which created much consternation amongst local officials. During the 2021 session, the tax lid was removed and the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13, county Operations Director Matt Patzner said. This bill established notice and public hearing requirements if a taxing entity’s proposed budget [...]

After much discussion Monday night, some heated, it was clear the many on the governing body, including four council members and the mayor, opposed the of offering stipends to entice more people to run for the city offices. Although divisions amongst the council members remained, it was the consensus following a work session that the matter be laid to rest. The idea of the city offering some sort of benefit as an enticement first arose at the June 20 meeting, raised by Ward 1 City Councilwoman Lindsey Krom-Craven. It surfaced again at the next meeting July 5. City Administrator Kendal [...]

As County Communications continues its move to the system, the county’s Claflin and Ellinwood repeaters are no longer needed, 911 Director Dena Popp said. It was suggested the UHF TAC 11 (Ellinwood) and 18 (Claflin) be transferred to the cities for their utility and public works departments. Under the proposed agreements, the cities would be responsible for the transfer of the repeaters and utilities, if any, and assume all licensing, maintenance and other costs. Both were established over a decade ago and are atop the water towers. Popp said for the county to remove and get rid of them wasn’t [...]

Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis recently received the Credentialed Manager designation from ICMA, the International City/County Management Association. Francis is one of over 1,300 local government management professionals, worldwide, currently holding credentials through the ICMA Credentialing Program. ... To receive the prestigious ICMA credential, a member must have significant experience as a senior management executive in local government; earned an advanced degree, preferably in public administration; and demonstrated a commitment to high standards of integrity and to lifelong learning and professional development. Francis is qualified by 27 years of professional local government experience, 10 of which were at the executive [...]