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The cost to use the fitness center and the swimming pool has now gone up slightly following Monday night’s City Commission meeting.
All of the services are increasing by about 5%, City Clerk Kelly Delay said.
The price of daily admission to the pool is remaining the same, but the cost for pool parties is increasing to $150 per house instead of $125. A single pool pass will increase $5 to $75 and a family pass will increase by $10 to $160.
A fitness center membership will increase from $360 annually for a family to $378. For a single person annually, the price will rise to $252 instead of $240. The single day pass will also increase from $3 to $4.
The cost to rent a park or shelter will increase by $5 an hour or by $25 for the entire day, making it $50 total. The other facilities like community center gym or a community room are also increasing by $5.
The City Commission approved the fee schedule effective immediately.
The increase will help the city make up for increased maintenance and service costs.
“A lot of these haven’t been changed ever,” Parks and Rec Director Sally Pennington said.
Mayor Tim Reazin asked if there would still be a discount for buying the whole package. Pennington confirmed this was the case.
If someone has already paid for their membership, they won’t need to pay the increase until they have to sign up again.
In other business, there is not a contractor to complete work on the historic Pilla building at 701 Main St. The owners, Paul and Kawehi Wight, received a $250,000 federal grant in 2022 for the building’s renovations. The bid opening this summer only attracted one bid, which had some financial discrepancies.
“They went back to the contractor and asked for an explanation and then the contractor said, ‘Oh, those are just estimates instead of an actual bid,’ and then he submitted new numbers, which is not permitted,” Delay said.
The commission rejected the bid due to this issue, and the contractor was not allowed to resubmit its bid due to the grant’s conditions.
The Wights are working with the Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission on the project.
The Kansas Department of Commerce is the funding agency for the project. Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission is working with Commerce, the city and the Wights to determine how to move forward.
Solutions could range from adjusting the project scope of work, changing architects or going a different route for the project, the project’s grant administrator Susan Galemore said in an interview Tuesday.
“Basically, it could just be anything that we think could potentially get actual contractors to respond to the invitations of bids,” Galemore said.
Contractors may not bid because they are booked out past the grant’s timeline. Some may not have enough workers or subcontractors to complete the bid fully, she said.
Reazin said it was unfortunate timing that the project did not receive ample bids.
In other business, commissioners met new staff, including a new management fellow Alex Buzicky. Buzicky was previously a social worker but is now in the master of public administration program at KU.
Mindy Andrasevits introduced five of the nine new firefighters: Christopher Brisendine, Drake Patty, Gavin Hutcherson, Anthony Kamau and Rileigh Prins. Koen Cote, Alexander Hurd, Alexander Rains and Christopher Wolfe are also new to the force.
A new police officer, Andrew Schultz, has joined the department. He previously worked as a Douglas County corrections officer. Kasey Courtney has joined the city as a water plant operator.
Pennington also recognized lifeguards and swim lesson instructors, Dylan Coleman, Lucy Giffin, Sean Moffitt, Ezekiel Skinner, Caitlin Beets and Brennan Moeckel.
Commissioners heard updates on the sale of bonds to help move forward with the future addition of a new main lift station, vacuum truck, and land acquisition for water treatment and public works facility.
The bond went up for bid Monday morning. Out of six bids, the lowest bid came from Piper Sandler & Co. The commission voted to move forward with the bond sale.
Sean Gordon of Gordon CPA presented his findings from an audit of the city’s 2022 finances.
The audit’s most important finding was an unmodified opinion saying Gordon CPA issued the highest and cleanest opinion for the city’s financial statements for 2022.
“It reflects very well on the financial and internal control management by city staff during that time period.” Gordon said.
The audit also focused on ARPA funds that the city received due to the pandemic, and Gordon said it also reflected well on the city with an unmodified opinion.
Kate Dinneen, Douglas County Emergency Management’s community emergency response coordinator, talked to the commissioners and city staff about CERT training that will begin this October in Eudora.
The training will be offered in Eudora instead of where it is usually hosted in Lawrence. The free course will be offered to Douglas County residents from Oct. 13 through 15.
The program gives residents a way to learn about emergency response methods to take some of the stress off overwhelmed first responders when issues arise.
“We teach all the stuff that you could use in the event that there’s a disaster, but we also do a lot of disaster preparedness,” Dinneen said.
Sign up for the class by clicking here.
To prepare for the 2024 budget, budget analyst Michael Gentry created a five-year capital improvement plan. The plan details each capital improvement project for 2024 through 2028.
For 2024, projects include cemetery storm sewer improvements, fire response vehicle enhancements, chip seal improvements, aquatic center maintenance and fitness room equipment. The total cost for the 2024 plan is nearly $1.7 million.
“Obviously this is going to change and become updated, but it just allows us a long term planning document to kind of give us an idea of where we might be in a couple of year,” Gentry said.
A splash pad and spray park is in the plan for 2026 and 2027. New trails and connectivity are set for 2028.
In other business, Gordon Synder, Codes enforcement officer, gave out 51 overgrown grass/weeds, 45 sign regulations, 11 camper/RV parking and 16 non-permitted contractor violations from April to June.
During staff updates, the Fire Department will be going around door-to-door to place handouts on doors to let residents know they will be coming back at the end of the month to install free smoke detectors. Andrasevits said they are doing the initial reminders on Wednesday and said they would appreciate any volunteers who could help.
Pennington said the second youth triathlon was a success with 30 kids participating.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]
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