Plans for bringing more businesses into the Nottingham Center are still underway, with more progress possible in the first half of 2025, the City Commission heard Thursday night. 

Kristen Flory, president and CEO of Foundations Commercial Real Estate, updated the commission on recent developments. 

Over the last year, they’ve had interest from potential retailers, including a liquor store that wanted to purchase one lot. However, since Casey’s has some exclusions with what it sells, Foundations was unable to move forward with that. 

Flory said they were also in negotiations with an auto retailer developer from out of state, but this never solidified. 

The most notable developments they have focused on are grocery, hardware, auto retailers and restaurants, she said.  

The objection they are receiving isn’t because people don’t want to come to Eudora, but rather because people don’t want to own property and build it themselves. 

“Build costs are high right now, and so we’ve kind of switched gears in engaging more on the development community, which means we have one that’s actually very engaged right now,” she said. 

City Manager Kevyn Gero and Assistant City Manager Zack Daniel met with Flory to get updated numbers on residential development that would help support the retail coming in. 

Talks are continuing with grocery stores and some restaurants, as well as mixed-use buildings, she said. 

Earlier this year, the commission and Flory discussed the idea of going vertical on the west side of the development with apartments above main floor retailers.

A developer will likely be submitting an offer in the coming months, Flory said. He would take the rest of the development and make a master plan for it. The plan would echo what was originally planned for the space – possibly a brewery with green space and other retailers/residential options. 

Flory’s contract with the city ends at the end of the year, so Flory asked that the commission extend her time. 

She said they are on the cusp of something being done in the first half of 2025. 

No action was taken by the commission on this update. 

In other business, the city voted to update its fee schedule. The new schedule includes increases to development costs that haven’t been updated in 20 years, City Clerk Kelly Delay said. There are also utility rate increases and administrative rate increases for open records requests. 

The utility rate increases were discussed during the 2025 budget planning cycle. The rates were not officially approved during that time as city code stipulates rates are set in a separate resolution. The budget stated that revenue was needed to fund utility operations, which comes mostly from rates, Daniel said. 

The city notes the expected rate adjustments during budgeting, but they were not formally approved until Thursday night, as the totals can shift before the time of the final vote. Daniel said this year there was no change in the percentages estimated at the time of budgeting and the time of the fee schedule approval. 

Here are the increases: 

• Electric – 3.5%

• Water – 6.5%

• Wastewater – 9% 

• Stormwater – 12% 

The city is increasing its current $15/hour rate for open records requests to $30/hour with a minimum of one hour. Delay said in figuring out this new rate, the city examined neighboring communities. The Eudora Times will be challenging this rate change. 

For developers, the cost to submit preliminary site/development plan applications will increase from $100 to $400 for residential projects up to 5,000 square feet. The higher square footage is also increasing for both residential, commercial and industrial. 

Rezoning is also increasing for all acreages by $100 for each size for all residential, commercial and industrial projects. 

More information about every fee increase is included in the agenda packet. 

The city also voted to update its cold and extreme weather policy for utility shut offs. 

Delay said right now the ordinance says it has to be above 32 degrees for 48 hours, but by amending it the city will have more flexibility when different situations arise – like if it is going to be freezing for two days in the upcoming week. 

Under the current policy, the city postpones disconnecting utilities for nonpayment until the outside temperature is above 32 degrees for 48 hours. 

The new wording will allow staff to take into consideration severe temperature changes in the forecast. 

The city also approved its 2025 meeting schedule. All the meetings will be held on the regular meeting dates other than the May and October meetings. The May 26 meeting will be May 27 and the Oct. 13 meeting will be Oct. 14. 

In other business, the commission approved trade-ins for two mowers and a gator for the Parks and Rec Department. These costs were already included in the 2025 budget, but Director Sally Pennington wants to go ahead and move forward with the purchases now as they want to be prepared for snow.  

The cost came in about $1,000 over budget totaling $55,285. 

Also included in the 2025 budget is a new police vehicle, which came in earlier than expected. Since the vehicle is ready, the department is asking to go ahead and pay for it, but the cost will still come out of the 2025 budget.

The commission approved the purchase of the new Dodge Durango for $41,500. 

In other business, the city also approved an extension with Vieste LLC for services related to planning the development south of K-10 that is proposed to include a sports and entertainment complex. 

Earlier this fall, Vieste shared new information as they continue to weigh options for the possible STAR bond project. The city’s last contract with Vieste ended in October. The new contract begins the first of the year and is for a year of services. 

Mayor Tim Reazin said he wanted to continue to work with Vieste rather than have to start over with another company. 

During commission and staff updates, Reazin asked when the commission will hear updates about a potential senior tax aid program. 

The plan is to have something to present at the first January meeting, Gero said. 

In other business, after requesting Gero’s amended contract following several closed meetings regarding her evaluation, Eudora Times received the document. 

Gero received a 2% raise to her prior $152,000 salary that will be retroactive to July 1. The review was for the time between June 2023 and June 30, 2024. 

The amendment also says the commission will conduct an annual review and evaluation of the city manager using a mutually agreeable performance evaluation process. The evaluation will be conducted proximate in time to the annual anniversary of this agreement, and will be in writing. 

The city manager will have 14 days to respond in writing after receiving the evaluation. The amendment says merit pay increases to the manager’s base salary may be awarded upon the annual evaluation by the City Commission.