By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Outgoing Hays City Commissioner Lance Jones wasn’t expecting to make a speech at Monday night’s meeting, but he did.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the city commission,” Jones said. “It’s kind of bittersweet. I hate to leave but it also opens up the next chapter of my life. I’m going back to school, broadening myself, and concentrating on my civilian job for awhile.”

He thanked his fellow commissioners for their support of him as a new commissioner. “You’ve taught me more than you can ever imagine,” Jones said to longtime commissioner Henry Schwaller.

In turn, Schwaller praised Jones. “You never took ‘no’ for an answer. Sunday sales of alcohol (for example). That failed once. You moved ahead. That persistence and your engagement, those are the keys to success in life.”

“I do think all the commissioners up here think of community first,” Jones added.

Jones also thanked city staff and employees. “This is such a well-run city. As commissioners we don’t get the emails and phone calls you’d think we would. I attribute that to the city being so well-run. Part of what I ran on was being a ‘money man’ and being able to dig deep into the budgets. We as commissioners can critique the budget, but city staff has already done that. They’ve cut excess expenses. When you’re paying cash for a $4 million street project, that’s a tribute to what the staff and departments do.”

Jones was given a commemorate plaque with a key to the city, thanking him for serving from April 2015 to January 2018, nearly three years on the Hays city commission.

Shaun Musil was also presented a commemorative gavel for serving as mayor. James Meier, previously the vice-mayor, was chosen to serve as mayor while Henry Schwaller was selected as vice-mayor.

Chris Dinkel, who won the seat vacated by Jones, was sworn into office along with Musil and Sandy Jacobs.