By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The bid for reconstruction of 13th Street between Main and Milner with one additional alternate was approved 3-2 by Hays City Commissioners during their Thursday night meeting.

APAC, Kansas, Inc, Hays, was the low bidder in the amount of $2,067,710.

Outgoing commissioner Kent Steward went against staff recommendation and moved to do the project with all five alternates, at an additional cost of $402,075.

“In improving 13th Street–which is one of the main access points to downtown–that will last for 50, 60, 70 years, that is not at all extravagant to do it well so that we continue to enhance the character of our downtown,” Steward said. The motion failed 1-4.

Selecting any of the alternates required additional funding from the City Commission Reserve Fund.

The other outgoing commissioner Ron Mellick didn’t like that, adding that “we have to live within our means.”

“We had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things the past 15 years to get to a ‘pay as you go’ policy–living within a budget.”

“I’d like to do this, and I  voted for having all of it engineered, but we know what the budget is. This money is going to affect things next year and in the following years. It’s going to affect the mill levy and everybody wants to keep the mill levy to a certain place. If we do this, we’re going to throw away everything we have done in the past 10 years,” Mellick said.

The approved project–Alternate A with Additional Alternate 2–includes removing and replacing the driving lanes, replacement of the parking lanes, curb and gutter, driveways, and sidewalk between the intersections, reconstructing the intersections, replacing storm sewer inlets, pipe and structures, all new water service, and installing brick-lined crosswalks at all intersections.

The additional alternates not selected were brick street pavers, decorative street lighting and a historical monument base.

Mellick suggested that “other groups might want to raise the capital for the alternates.”

A public informational meeting about the 13th Street reconstruction will be held Tuesday, March 10, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.

FHSU University Relations

Fort Hays State University volunteer teams prepared 7,000 letters to send to potential donors at the Stripes for St. Jude letter writing event held on campus Tuesday night.

Formerly known as Up Til Dawn, Stripes for St. Jude is a student organization that raises funds and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, contributing over $200,000 to the hospital in the group’s history. The organization’s faculty advisors are Marcella Marez, instructor of communication studies, and Brett Bruner, director of persistence and retention in Student Affairs.

President Mirta M. Martin formed a volunteer team with members of her office staff and welcomed participants. “Tonight, you will be given the chance to become a superhero by making a difference in the lives of children,” Martin said. She later recognized the organizers, saying, “Thank you for your leadership in arranging this tremendously successful event. I’m so very thankful for all you and your colleagues do.”

Three patient families were on hand to speak to volunteers and share information about their experiences with St. Jude.

Pre-printed letters were supplied by one of St. Jude Hospital’s regional offices. Volunteers registered ahead of time and were asked to arrive with 50 or more addresses of potential donors. Envelopes were addressed by hand or with pre-printed labels, then stuffed and sealed. Stripes for St. Jude will return all completed materials to the regional office for postage and mailing.

Nearly 160 participants wrote an average of 50 letters per person, which earned each letter writer a T-shirt commemorating the event. Stripes for St. Jude provided refreshments as well as opportunities to win prizes donated by local businesses. Other activities included inflatable jousting, Minute to Win It games and card making for the children of St. Jude.

Michaela Sasse, Gaylord senior, served as the event and logistics coordinator of the event. “It was very rewarding and refreshing to see so many people show up for the letter writing event,” said Sasse. “We really appreciate that people took time out of their hectic schedules. Some volunteers stayed for the entire 5-hour event. It showed that they are committed to our cause.”

Donations obtained through Stripes for St. Jude letters will be credited to the FHSU event through an event ID number present on each letter. Total funds raised will be announced two to three months following the mailing.

For more information on Stripes for St. Jude, visit www.facebook.com/stripesforstjude or email Michaela Sasse at [email protected].

FHSU University Relations

Four Fort Hays State University Music and Theatre faculty have been selected to present their research at the International College Music Society conference in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2015.

Pianist Dr. Irena Ravitskaya, associate professor, composer Dr. Timothy Rolls, assistant professor, tenor Dr. Joseph Perniciaro, associate professor, and cellist Benjamin Cline, associate professor and chair of the department, were independently selected by a juried panel of peers to present their research.

All four will present work in their respective areas of specialization as part of a symposium on Scandinavian music.

Ravitskaya’s research focuses on the piano sonatas of a Russian composer of German and Scandinavian descent, Nikolai Medtner, whose musical imagery and language are influenced by Nordic culture and its mythology.

Perniciaro will present a lecture recital on Swedish composer Hilding Rosenberg and his “Fourteen Chinese Poems” for voice and piano drawn on the verses of poems from the Tang dynasty translated into Swedish.

Rolls’ recent composition “Sonata for Cello and Electronics,” will be performed at the conference by Cline. Cline premiered this work in 2014 by Cline in a series of recitals in Colorado, New Hampshire and Kansas. Cline and Rolls will also present a lecture-recital on Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s “Pres” for cello and electronics, focusing on her innovative use of electronic processing to extend and transform acoustic music as part of the compositional school known as “post-spectral.”

The College Music Society is a consortium of college, conservatory, university and independent musicians and scholars interested in all disciplines of music. It promotes music teaching and learning, musical creativity and expression, research and dialogue, and diversity and interdisciplinary interaction.

Rolls and Cline will also perform at different venues during the spring 2015 semester. The first recital will be in late February at the Great Plains College Music Society Regional Conference at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

In March, Rolls and Cline will present a session at the National American String Teacher Association National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The presentation will be a demonstration and performance for string teachers, focusing on the incorporation of live electronics in music performance.

Today Mostly cloudy, with a high near 22. Wind chill values as low as -5. Southeast wind 7 to 11 mph.
Tonight A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly after 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 12. Wind chill values as low as zero. South wind 9 to 11 mph.
Saturday Snow likely, mainly after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 27. Wind chill values as low as -3. South southeast wind 10 to 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Saturday Night Snow likely, mainly before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 20. East wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Sunday A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly before 9am. Cloudy, with a high near 31. East wind 7 to 10 mph becoming north northeast in the morning.
Sunday Night A 20 percent chance of snow after 8pm. Cloudy, with a low around 20.
Monday A slight chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Monday Night A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31.
Tuesday A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The city of Hays will change the CID portion of its Economic Development Policy and now require applicants to financially participate in the project in an amount that is at least 25 percent of the total project cost.

City commissioners Thursday night voted 4-1 to revise the Community Improvement Development policy.

The revision was prompted by the commission’s passage in November of a 1-cent sales tax hike on purchases at the Hays Mall. The developer, DP Management, will not provide any capital for the renovation project besides the revenue from the CID, an estimated $3 million.

“I still believe that any new development that comes to us must have an investment in it,” said Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller, “and the taxpayer–whether it’s the shopper or the taxpayer at large–is not paying 100 percent of the development.

“They’re (the developers) making money. They don’t need to make money twice.”

“Properly so, there is some concern with allowing people to tax their customers to paint their building and to replace the light bulbs. It’s not common practice in business to ask your customers to pay above and beyond what they’re paying in rent and the price of their goods for maintenance of the building 40 years after it’s built,” Schwaller said.

Vice-Mayor Eber Phelps said he thinks there is some misunderstanding among residents about CIDs.

“The CID is not something the city of Hays came up with,” he explained. “It’s enabling legislation by the state of Kansas that is being used as a (economic development) tool to come before the cities which can add any caveats they want.”

Outgoing commissioner Kent Steward maintained his ongoing opposition to the CID program and voted against the change.

“I think there is good motivation for what you’re proposing but I think we should do away with them. It’s like ‘putting lipstick on a pig.’ They don’t accomplish what people delude themselves to think they accomplish,” Steward said.

CIDs in Hays can be used for expenses greater than $250,000 in order to promote economic development or tourism within the city.