Whether the fire department should add full-time firefighters was among the discussions Monday night as city commissioners plan for the next several years.
City Manager Kevyn Gero led the commission in discussion about future department needs as growth speeds up.
Thinking about more residents and a potential mixed-use development, it could be time to consider full-time staff for fire safety to have faster response times, Gero said.
Gero said applying for a SAFER grant through FEMA is an option to bring in these full-time positions. The grant would provide firefighters for three years.
Gero said although a volunteer may be on call, they may not actually be in the facility and instead respond to calls from their homes. It has also been harder for the station to staff shifts, both volunteer and part time, she said.
The commission was asked to weigh in on whether the city staff should continue to pursue the grant.
Mayor Tim Reazin said he was concerned about what would happen when the grant goes away and how the city would make room in the budget to employ all the new salaries added to the station.
He asked if the strategic plan underway at the station now would help understand service needs, but Gero said the study would not specifically focus on staffing needs.
Commissioner Alex Curnes said after the grant funding ends in three years, it may be the city’s obligation to pay for it, especially if there are more residences.
“But I feel like if the economic development programs are working the way that we’re wanting them to and/or there’s more housing, notwithstanding some sort of property tax payments like we’re talking about, you know, there is some funding there,” Curnes said.
Curnes said residents may be open to having their tax dollars spent on these kinds of services, but he is not saying taxes should be raised.
Commissioners JoleneCullen and Roberta Lehmann were also worried about hiring people and then having to let them go when the grant ended if the city was unable to find the funding in the budget.
Lehmann also said it would be better to apply for this type of grant when the housing is already here, rather than now when the finish date for new residences is still unknown. Commissioner Tim Bruce agreed there needs to be a plan instead of having to let all the new firefighters go after the grant ends.
“It’s not fair to the community for us to go down that road and then go like, ‘Oh, we couldn’t figure it out. So we just took the free money, and now you don’t get it anymore. Sorry,’” Bruce said.
Cullen asked if there was potential for the city to just hire a couple of firefighters instead of going to full staffing with 12 firefighters and using the grant. The grant is worth about $1.5 million for the city, Gero said.
Reazin said with all the other needs in each department, it’s hard to know what the plan for the fire station should be and what would also need to be updated in three years. Reazin is also interested in seeing more data before making a decision.
The commission will hear more about the financials of the grant at the April 8 meeting.
In other business, commissioners also discussed future needs as more families come to town and get involved with recreational activities.
For Parks and Rec, there have been more requests for senior, toddler and teen programming, which means resources may need to expand over the next few years.
Gero also said working on programming for the Village Green will be a priority.
Reazin said since the area was advertised as a farmers market place, he hopes that project can move forward.
Gero said getting some more amenities added to that area like bathrooms, trash cans, shade and places to sit will allow more spaces to happen there.
Commissioners agreed they want to see all kinds of development in the area, and are focusing on being proactive to do what they can do to prepare.
Last week, the Times interviewed each commissioner and heard their concerns and priorities as the city is one year out from the opening of Panasonic.
Curnes said he doesn’t want the city to focus on one kind of development, and he thinks commercial development is going to come with more residential growth.
Reazin said he hopes to bring more retail opportunities to keep people shopping and staying in town. Reazin also said there is still a lot of unknown, which is something every commissioner has brought up, so being thoughtful is important.
Thinking about how these new apartments, townhomes and homes will affect city services and public works was also a discussion of the night.
As the city’s infrastructure continues to age, having these conversations about providing maintenance will be needed, Gero said. Getting sewer in some areas of Eudora can be a restriction to development, she said. The RAISE grant will help with some of these issues, she said, and free up development to a significant portion of land.
Eudora had a 3% population increase between 2011 and 2021, but that could be higher in coming years, she said. There was a housing unit increase of 1.7%. There were 12 housing starts in 2023.
Currently the city has 35 miles of road, 43 miles of pole and 2,703 utility accounts, Gero said.
In other business Monday night, Chamber of Commerce President Meagan Cox gave a quarterly report to the commission. Cox gave an update on events and said about 100 people attended the recent annual gala, and 40 came out for the Chamber mixer last week.
The Chamber will continue to have monthly coffee connections to showcase local business owners and provide networking opportunities. At 8:30 a.m. April 2, Julia Ireland and Andrew Sexton, owners of Torched Goodness and managers of the Lodge, will host the event.
Cox said they hired Kelly Long in February to act as the Chamber’s special project coordinator. With her organization, Cox hopes the position can possibly turn over to a full-time employee in the future.
The Chamber will also host events for a shop local week May 5-10 since National Small Business Day is May 10.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
