By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
Hays city commissioners will discuss prohibiting the open carry of firearms within city buildings at their work session Thursday. During the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers gave concealed carry licensees the right to carry a concealed weapon within municipal building if the buildings did not have “adequate security measures” in place.
In June 2013, the city received a six-month exemption from the statue, but last December, the Hays City Commission voted not to pursue a four-year exemption from the law, effectively allowing the open carry of concealed weapons in every city building.
During the last legislative session, the state of Kansas adopted House Bill 2578, which states a city can prohibit the open carry of firearms within a building as long as it is properly marked. City staff is recommending the commission follow this statute and ban open concealed carrying in 12 city-owned buildings including city hall, the airport and the water treatment facility. Commissioners need to pass a specific resolution for each individual building. The memo to commissioners said working with an issue this prominent is “tough and frustrating,” due to political ideologies involved.
“We have a Legislature in Topeka that loves to tout the virtues of less government and self control, yet they have no problem passing legislation that directly affects us and our ability to govern as a city,” City Manager Toby Dougherty said. “I personally feel that the state government has enough on their plate in Topeka that they can busy themselves with a lot of the issues for many years to come concerning state issues, and they should probably leave local government control to local government.”
Commissioners also will discuss adding a $4.50 passenger facilitation charge to all orginating tickets from the Hays Regional Airport. The PFC is monitored by the FAA and is “an effective way to gather funds for specific airport improvement projects.” Currently, there are no other funding sources besides property taxes that can provide this type of money for projects at the airport. Garden City, Topeka, Wichita, and Manhattan have all implemented PFCs to pay for projects at their respective locations in years past. City staff is recommending commissioners give staff the OK to apply for the fees.
Commissioners will also discuss:
• Modifications to the city’s shipping container ordinance that would allow them to be placed on a more permanent basis. The planning commission agreed to all of the suggestions that commissioners made at earlier work session except the modification that would allow residents to stack them.
• Awarding a $1.12 million storm sewer lining bid to Meyer Specialty Services of Goddard. The award totals 9,776 feet of “existing corrugated sewer pipe” within the city of Hays. Construction is set to begin around Sept. 1 and will be completed by the end of July 2015. In a separate agenda item, commissioners will also discuss using city idle funds to pay for the project with a debt servicing plan from the storm water management fund at an interest rate of 0.73 percent paid over five years. This plan would save the city approximately $51,000 as opposed to bonding the project.
A full agenda for Thursday’s work session can be found here.