For more information contact:

Douglas Storie, VSR
Kansas Commission on Veterans’ Affairs
Veteran Service Representative
205 E. 7th Suite 107
Hays, KS 67601
Phone: 785-259-0364
FAX: 785-650-0392
E-mail: [email protected]

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post 

The city of Hays plans to offer an admission discount at the Hays Aquatic Park (HAP) to Ellis residents after the Ellis swimming pool was unexpectedly closed Wednesday morning.

Henry Schwaller, Hays mayor, made the suggestion during Thursday’s city commission work session.

The Ellis municipal pool was losing almost 30,000 gallons of water every 2 to 3 days according to Mayor Dave McDaniel and city officials decided to shut it down ahead of the season closing date.

Ellis is planning to build a new swimming pool and has received $1.3 million in grant funding towards the $1.8 million dollar project.

In the meantime, Hays city commissioners want to show their support of the neighboring town.

RELATED: Permanent closure of the Ellis city pool a surprise, but not unexpected

“They’ve been very supportive of us in our pursuit of water (from the R-9 Ranch in Edwards County),” Schwaller noted. “They also have water needs and they pump from the Big Creek Aquifer as Hays does.

“Their decision to shut the pool and not waste water, not only benefits them, it benefits us.”

Schwaller, who was participating in the meeting via phone, suggested offering a 50% discount to HAP for Ellis residents showing proof of residence. The expense would come from the city commission contingency fund.

Toby Dougherty, city manager, said he would tell Jeff Boyle, Director of Parks, to contact the Hays Recreation Commission (HRC) and offer the half-price admission to Ellis residents and the people with them. HRC manages the two Hays swimming pools.

Although the commission cannot take action during a work session, Dougherty explained that “with the consensus of all five commissioners, under my spending authority I can approve this.”

Dougherty said the agreement would be on the agenda for next week’s regular meeting “for formal action to authorize it  just to cover the bases.”

The Hays Aquatic Park will close for the season Aug. 11.

City of Hays

Beginning Tuesday, seal coating will begin on various street throughout the city. Door-to-door notification will be made the day prior to street closure.

Seal coat is spray applied in two coats with a dry time of two to three hours per pass, so the streets being sealed will be temporarily closed during this time. On the date scheduled for treatment, all cars need to be moved from the street by 8 a.m. Streets being sealed will be closed from approximately 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Access can be achieved in cases of emergency.

Parking on adjacent streets is recommended during the daytime. Parking in driveways is okay if you do not plan on moving the vehicle between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The seal coat treatment should not be driven on until it has dried. It will stain surfaces such as concrete, carpet or flooring if tracked from construction areas.

All lawn watering devices should be turned off the evening before the scheduled date to help keep the streets clean and dry for a smooth and lasting project. Traffic control will be set in areas of work being completed and picked up by the end of the work day. The project is scheduled to be completed within two weeks, pending weather conditions.

The City of Hays regrets any inconvenience this may cause to the public. If there are any questions, please call the Office of Project Management at 628-7350 or the contractor, Circle C Paving at (316) 570-4652.

Timeline for new pool construction likely to be moved up a year

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

ELLIS — The city of Ellis announced the permanent closure of its municipal pool about two weeks before the end of the season Wednesday after water loss at the facility became unacceptably high, but with the announcement comes a little light at the end of the tunnel; the city council is likely to move forward with the new pool construction a year ahead of schedule.

“The council will take action to move this forward quickly so we don’t lose a year’s worth of the pool,” Ellis Mayor David McDaniel said Wednesday.

The surprising ending of the existing pool caught many off guard in the community, but throughout the season staff at the pool had been fighting a losing battle against water loss that was also likely causing algae growth at one end of the pool.

RELATED: Hays to offer discounted admission to swimming pool for Ellis residents

Joe Kreutzer, a Kansas certified pool operator, gave the city council a report on the pool at its meeting on July 15, but at that time was hopeful the pool would be able to remain open through the current season and be repaired for one more year’s worth of use.

During the meeting, he reported algae growing on the pool liner was able to be contained by shocking the pool with chlorine, but several cracks had appeared during the season as well as a 3-foot depression in the bottom of the pool, where water was likely seeping through the liner and allowing algae to enter.

At that time, Kreutzer did not believe the pool was a health risk and was closely monitoring chlorine levels along with water loss and algae growth.

But even then, Kreutzer said he was getting frequent questions from the public about the constant filling of the pool and told the council the city had pumped almost 840,000 gallons of water into the pool including the initial 385,000 gallons for the initial fill.

It was estimated the pool was losing 30,000 gallons of water every two to three days.

“It’s gotten steadily worse since then,” McDaniel said. “There is water apparently leaking under the liner that is creating an issue with algae. They have been able to shock it and contain it up until the last week — now it is out of control.”

That led to the recommendation from Kreutzer to close the pool.

“We are just trying to cope with what we have to work with here, but we cannot tolerate that much water loss,” McDaniel said.

He did not have total water loss numbers available Wednesday, but said the more recent water loss was “massive.”

While McDaniel also said there was no chance the old pool would reopen, they were planning to remove the liner and try to determine what was causing the water loss.

Even with the possibility of moving the new pool construction ahead by one year, at the city council’s meeting on July 1, Amy Burton, speaking on behalf of the pool improvement committee, said through grants the cost of the new pool was almost covered. She was confident the remaining funds could be raised through other grants and direct fundraising efforts.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.85 million with the city council agreeing to fund $500,000 of the project.

Ellis received a Community Development Block Grant in June for $1 million and accepted another grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation at the city council’s meeting on July 1 that will cover another $300,000.

“We have now been awarded a total of $1.3 million to put toward the swimming pool improvement project,” Burton told the council at the meeting, noting that is over 70 percent of the funding needed for the project.

“Right now, we only lack $50,500 of the $500,000 benchmark that the council talked about in April,” she said.

The committee was working at that time to develop ideas for community involvement that would raise the remaining funds, including some area sports tournaments and a Splash Bash that would be held at the pool.

While the Bash will be impacted by the pool closing, organizers said on Wednesday the event would go on in some other form on Aug. 17.

“I think it is safe to say the pool committee is very eager to make this happen,” Burton said.

At that meeting, Burton also shared with the council some of the problems the pool had been facing this season.

Most notably, the liner in the baby pool had come off the bottom pool, causing it to close for two days in June.

“Essentially, we had a patch fail,” Burton said.

The facility also had to close sporadically during the season as chlorine levels were too high after treatment for the algae.

Burton told the council it was not a matter of if the pool will become unrepairable, but rather a matter of when.

“We know that this pool is on its last leg. We are 30 years over life expectancy,” she said.

Following her report, the council voted unanimously to approve fundraising efforts not to exceed $1,000 that would be used for materials to assist in the fundraising, such as food, raffle prizes and supplies for the Splash Bash.

While the fundraising will continue if the committee comes up short, McDaniel said Wednesday the city would cover the difference to make sure the city has a pool next summer

“Whatever is left, we will make up some way,” he said.

THOMAS COUNTY — Authorities in Thomas County are investigating after a skunk  tested positive for rabies, according to the Thomas County Health Department.

This is the fourth animal that has tested positive for rabies in Thomas County for 2019. Two skunks and a cow tested positive for rabies previously.

Thirty-five cases of animal rabies have been reported in Kansas in 2019, according to the health department. The rabid animals included 22 skunks, five bats, three cats, one cow, one dog, one horse, one raccoon, and one sheep.

According to the health department release, the risk for human exposure to rabies is real, but preventable. Animal rabies is common in Kansas and skunks are the animals most likely to have the disease. However, skunks can pass the virus to other animals and those animals can then pass the virus to people. People may not realize that bats can have rabies too. Prevention of human rabies depends on maintaining an adequate buffer zone of vaccinated domestic animals, eliminating human exposures to stray and wild animals, and providing exposed persons with prompt post-exposure rabies treatment.”

The Thomas County Health Department reminded the public to make sure their animals are vaccinated against rabies by their veterinarian. Vaccines are available for dogs, cats, ferrets, horses, cattle, and sheep. Vaccinated animals need to have periodic boosters of vaccine to maintain proper protection.

They also offers these tips to prevent rabies.
• Have your veterinarian vaccinate all dogs, cats, ferrets, horses and valuable breeding stock (cattle and sheep) against rabies.
• If bitten by an animal, seek medical attention and report the bite to your local health department or animal control department immediately.
• If your animal is bitten, contact your veterinarian for advice.
• If you wake up in a room with a bat present, regardless if there is evidence of a bite or scratch, seek medical attention. If at all possible, trap the bat for testing. Do not release the bat.
• Do not handle or feed wild animals. Never adopt wild animals or bring them into your home.
• Do not try to nurse sick wild animals to health. Call animal control or an animal rescue agency for assistance.
• Teach children never to handle unfamiliar animals, wild or domestic, even if they appear friendly.

UPDATE 11:40 a.m. Friday: Body found at Lake Wilson

As of Thursday evening, the Russell County Sheriff’s Office was still actively searching for Engel Rosario at Lake Wilson.

“I would like to thank all volunteers and emergency personnel for their continued hard work, the sheriff’s office said in a social media update. “The constant wind has been a complication this week, but today it dropped off enough to allow the use of two drones provided by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. I would also like two thank the Red Cross and the Russell Rotary club for taking very good care of all the responders and volunteers.”

Rosario, 26, was reported missing late Tuesday afternoon.