Sumner NewsCow

The Wellington City Council denied a franchise agreement with Sumner-Cowley Electric Cooperative to serve the area that has been annexed by the city for the proposed VNA plant. Instead, the council unanimously approved that electricity will be provided by the city of Wellington. Kip Etter and Jennifer Heersche were not present for the meeting. The plant, if built, will be located at the southeast corner of U.S. 160 and Seneca Road. The entire parcel was annexed into the city of Wellington on August 6, 2019. VNA is proposing to build a biofuel industrial complex that will convert wheat straw into compressed [...]

Chandra Pourner, a graphic design student at Cowley College, presented a flag she had designed for the city. It was a class assignment to design a flag for a city, and she chose Wellington. It is a simple design of wheat stalks and stars on a blue field. Mayor Shelley Hansel said she liked the flag a lot. “I am blown away,” she said. “You did everything right. Simple colors, memorable and tells a story.” (Read more: Sumner NewsCow)

 Cowley College Workforce and Community Education is hosting a Workforce Employer Summit that will bring local industry and business partners together to learn how Cowley WCE can help them train incumbent workers and build a future talent pipeline. The event will take place from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at Cowley’s Sumner Campus in Wellington and from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Cowley’s main campus in Arkansas City. (Read more: Sumner NewsCow)

The Wellington City Council received its annual audit report at its meeting Tuesday and was told the books were in order.  CPA Kenneth Cooper, the city independent auditor, did the audit and presented the report. There were some minor “findings,” which are areas that need to be fixed. Cooper said his job was to make a report on the city’s financial statements and to see if they were stated fairly.  He said, in his opinion, they were fairly stated. You may see the entire audit here. (Read more: Sumner NewsCow)

Two new businesses are headed for downtown Wellington. The Wellington H&R Block Tax Preparation Office is making the move from its old building at 517 North G St. to 119 S. Washington Ave. which is the former location of RCB Bank in downtown Wellington. H&R Block officials confirmed the move and the new office will be open as soon as next month. In fact, the website is already sporting its new address (see here). The new RCB Bank is now on U.S. 160, east of the Wellington McDonalds. Another business, Travelin’ Smoke Barbecue which has the popular food truck on U.S. [...]

The saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Yes, 100 years ago, people were upset about the city’s production of electricity. In the summer of 1919, city commissioners were facing an increasing deficit in its electric department and were finding they were selling it for less than it cost to make. “For the last two or three years, they have been sailing along serenely, doing business in the sale of electric juice to private customers in Wellington and to surrounding towns, who have been buying the sparkling fluid through a corporation known as Western Sumner Electric Light [...]

2019 KANSAS WHEAT FESTIVAL “Official” SCHEDULE OF EVENTS July 9 – 13, 2019 *Schedule is subject to change* (Read more: Sumner NewsCow)

Sumner Newscow report — Wellington City Manager Shane Shields wrote in the June 7 City of Wellington newsletter, the initial estimate of flood damage and repair to city-owned property, turned into the Sumner County Emergency Management was $140,108.07. “This is only an estimate and there will be additional expense to add after all the repairs are done,” Shields wrote. According to data collected by the K-State Water Data Library, Wellington received 23.03 inches of rain according to the gauge at the Wellington C0-0p and 21.8 on three miles west of Wellington – both are records. (Read more: Sumner NewsCow)

The last time the Wellington City Council met it was the night of the big flood. It was a subject that dominated the regularly scheduled meeting two weeks later. Wellington City Manager Shane Shields presented a four-page, 1,800-word doc “flood event” report to the council that assessed the events and the damage that occurred on May 8 (see the full document here). “In the end, we certainly hope that this event is a rare and never again occurrence,” Shields surmised at the end of his verbal report to council. The question many in Wellington are contemplating, what is the status on [...]

The Wellington City Council agreed to continue to have a “common consumption area” for the Wheat Festival. The area where alcohol can be consumed was changed last year and it went well, said Wellington Chamber director Kelly Ford at the Tuesday meeting before the big flood had arrived. The council agreed and passed the resolution to continue the practice. In previous years there was an area, but it was off to the side more and patrons said it was hard to hear the music. The drinking area will be from 4 p.m. until midnight on July 13 at the Wheat Festival. [...]