After withdrawing their proposal for consideration one day prior to the Aug. 6 Hays city commission work session, NWK Investments is back on the agenda tonight with a revised information packet for economic development assistance to build a travel plaza just northwest of town.
The written plan was criticized by Commissioners James Meier and Lance Jones for being riddled with errors. Meier also said the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development was “not doing its job” in bringing forth the proposal to the commission.
Aaron White, ECCED executive director, who was not present at the Aug. 6 session, will be in attendance tonight, alongside James Millensifer representing Chance Management and NWK Investments. They will present the revised proposal and request for feedback and direction.
According to a memo to the commission from Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty, the proposal has been rewritten to clarify what the applicant is requesting.
There are three modifications to the existing proposal. The first modification is that the developer is asking the city to issue Tax Increment Financing (TIF) bonds to finance the TIF eligible costs. This is a deviation from what was originally proposed when the developer claimed to have financing in place and proposed to finance, construct and install all necessary infrastructure. In the second change, the developer is now asking the city to authorize the issuance of Industrial Revenue Bonds. According to Dougherty, the developer is asking for this as a way to avoid paying sales taxes on any construction materials. The third change is a revised CID petition that covers only the property being developed. The previous petition was for several lots that will comprise the proposed TIF district.
Other items on tonight’s agenda for discussion include a proposal from Mayer Specialty Services for sanitary heavy sewer cleaning; a bid for improvements to King’s Gate Addition Phase 2 and placement of an entrance sign to the subdivision; and a rezoning request for a portion of 1601 E. 27th Frontage Road from single-family residential district (R-1) to multi-family dwelling district (R-4).
“Uniting Our Community” is the theme for the United Way of Ellis County 2015 campaign which formally kicked off last Friday and is already well on the way to reaching its $490,000 goal.
The event was part of the monthly member luncheon of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, to which representatives of the 15 UWEC member agencies were invited.
“The 15 United Way agencies provided more than 17,000 services last year. That’s a huge, huge number. I was flabbergasted and of course, I got goose bumps thinking about that,” Dryden said. “But we still had some people we had to turn away. There were 2,300 individuals we could not provide services for due to funding shortages.”
She had much better news to share.
“As of 10 a.m. Friday, Aug.28, we are at 23 percent towards our goal, thanks to our local Pacesetter companies, and not all of the Pacesetters have turned in their donations. Last year at this time, I understand, we were at 17 percent of the goal,” Dryden announced to a round of applause.
UWEC is slowing starting to migrate from a partnership model to a community model, Dryden explained. “We’re all working together. It’s not United Way and member agencies; we’re all working together. We’re also agencies that are working together for each other.”
She gave the example of the ACCESS van’s recent campaign for school supplies donations in lieu of paying for a ride. The supplies were donated to Backpacks for Kids at First Call for Help . First Call for Help is a UWEC member agency; the ACCESS van is operated by Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, also a member agency.
Nearly all of the money raised by UWEC stays in Ellis County–99 percent–of which 16 percent is used for administrative costs. The remaining one percent goes to United Way Worldwide.
“Now more than ever, individuals need assistance. We as a united community need to do all we can to give. Even if it is just a small amount, it all adds up,” Dryden said.
Eagle Communications is a UWEC Pacesetter Company. In 1953, the company founder, Bob Schmidt, organized what was then the United Way of Hays.
Disclosure: Becky Kiser, an Eagle Communications employee/owner, is the 2015 UWEC Campaign Chair.
Even though it’s 100 degrees outside now, it’s time to get ready for the winter heating season, according to the Hays Fire Department.
“It’s a little early, but now is a good time to get the jump on getting your furnace checked and serviced by a qualified technician,” said Firefighter Keith Mermis.
Mermis also urges residents to have their water heaters checked.
“It may prevent a carbon monoxide leak, a fire or a furnace or water heater malfunction.
“Also, chimneys and vents should be cleaned and inspected at least once a year by a qualified chimney cleaning contractor,” Mermis added.
HFD also recommends testing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms every month and changing the batteries every six months.
“We usually suggest changing the batteries when the time changes–Daylight Saving Time in the fall and in the spring,” Mermis said.
“Once again, the Hays Fire Department is offering free smoke and carbon monoxide alarms for low-income residents or those on fixed incomes. Just contact the fire department or me, and we’ll be glad to come out and put those in. We’ll also come to the homes of people with limited mobility to install alarms and to change alarm batteries, and do a general checkup on your house if you need it,” said Mermis.
For more information, contact Mermis at the Hays Fire Department at (785) 628-7330 or email [email protected].
Tuesday Trivia winners receive Hays CVB promotional items and $25 in Chamber Checks from the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce.
September is filled with back-to-school related events in Hays and fall produce at the downtown Hays market on Saturday mornings.
Rick Rekoske, Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau director, has highlights of the many activities happening in Hays during September, as well as the Tuesday Trivia question.
For an updated list of events in Hays, click on the Hays CVB website, www.haysusa.net.
Chad Law and his dogs Sadie and Brenna enjoy the Hays Dog Park. It’s located in the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex directly north of the FHSU soccer field.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The third and final phase at the Hays Dog Park will begin soon.
Hays City Commissioners Thursday night approved moving $18,840.75 from the Friends of the Hays Dog Park fund to the city’s Park Development fund, which will pay for installation of two shade shelters.
The entire dog park project has been funded by donations and grants to the Friends group. A Dane G. Hansen Community Grant through the Heartland Community Foundation was awarded specifically for Phase 3.
According to Hays Parks Director Jeff Boyle, the shelter in the small dog area will be 16’ x 16’ with a larger 20’ x 20’ shelter in the large dog area. Both structures, totaling $15,000, come from Quality Structures Incorporated (QSI) which installed a similar shelter in Ekey Park.
The remaining $3,840.75 will be used for concrete and supplies to install sidewalks and pads underneath the shelters.
“It’s one of the first things that I seen as a commission brought forward to us (in 2011),” commented Vice-Mayor Shaun Musil. “It wasn’t a priority for the city commission and I had my doubts. We passed it…and they didn’t give it up and they got it done.”
“An extraordinary effort,” agreed Mayor Eber Phelps.
At Boyle’s suggestion, commissioners agreed to donate city labor for laying the concrete sidewalks and pads.
The Hays Dog Park is located on city land at the Bickle Schmidt Sports Complex.
The City of Hays and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 48 have reached a tentative agreement for the years 2016 through 2018. The current agreement is set to expire at the end of 2015.
City representatives during the meet and confer process included Toby Dougherty, City Manager; Paul Briseno, former Assistant City Manager; Don Scheibler, Chief of Police; Carolyn McCollum-Scantlin, Director of Communications; and Erin Giebler, Director of Human Resources. Jeff Ridgway and Wade Park represented the FOP.
One change, according to City Manager Toby Dougherty, is reducing short term disability payments from 100 percent to 70 percent and it’s being done with all city employees.
“The practice has been…short-term disability actually pays 70 percent; the city has made up the 30 percent difference. We have found that provides a disincentive for some employees to come back to work,” Dougherty explained, “and the reason short-term disability pays 70 percent is to provide an incentive to come back to work.”
The three-year agreement with the FOP also includes a $2,050 pay raise in 2016, which is being extended to all Hays city employees.
“This will bring the bottom of the (FOP) range up by $1,500, giving the current personnel a good raise. It will also bring the bottom end of ranges up a lot higher, making us more competitive with the (job) market,” Dougherty said.
The $2,050 pay adjustment will be counterbalanced with projected increased sales tax revenues.
City commissioners Thursday night also approved an agreement with the International Association of Firefighters Local 2119.
The current IAFF Memorandum of Agreement is set to terminate at the end of 2015. City representatives during the meet and confer process included Dougherty; Briseno; Gary Brown, Fire Chief; Ryan Hagans, Deputy Fire Chief; and Giebler. Brandon Woods, Tim Detrixhe, Greg May and Justin Choitz represented the IAFF.
“It’s essentially the same as the police department, but the fire department does not have language in its contract calling for 100% short-term disability payments,” Dougherty told commissioners.
The area between the Fort Hays State University campus and downtown Hays will be filled with pedestrians Thursday evening.
Students and faculty from FHSU, NCKTech and the Hays Academy of Hair Design will join in the third annual Core 2 Campus celebration Thursday, organized by the Downtown Hays Development Corporation.
“The presidents of each school will also be joining us as we walk from the FHSU quad, starting at 5:30 p.m., along 8th Street to Fort Street and to 10th Street, ending up in the C2C staging area at 10th and Main,” said DHDC Executive Director Sara Bloom.
“The universities are so important to Hays, as well as downtown, and we really want to bring those two important entities together,” she said.
“We show the students that you don’t have to drive to Vine Street or Wal-Mart every time. You can just walk downtown from campus and we have all these great products and all these great services right in your back yard.”
More than 30 downtown Hays businesses will be participating and stay open until 8 p.m. Raffle tickets can be picked up at each location with prizes to be given away that include $500 cash and gift cards to the businesses, according to Bloom. Drawing will take place at 7:45 p.m. and you must be present to win.
Representatives from several Hays city departments will also be on hand, including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Hays Regional Airport, Public Works Department and the Hays Police Department.
“It’ll be a chance for students to meet some of our city employees,” Bloom said.
A live band will be playing in the staging area and free Taco Shop dinners will be provided to the first 500 people courtesy of FHSU, DHDC, Hays CVB, and Eagle Communications.
Hays city commissioners will also join the walkers, and then start their Thursday work session an hour later, at 7:30 p.m. in city hall.
Friends of the Hays Dog Park is embarking on its third and final phase, installation of two shelters. (Photo simulation by Hays Parks Department)
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The third and final phase of creating the Hays Dog Park involves installation of two shade shelters.
“We’re proud to announce the first two phases are done,” Hays Parks Director Jeff Boyle told Hays city commissioners last week.
“Friends of the Hays Dog Park worked diligently to get that done. Some evenings there are 25 people out there with their dogs and it’s ‘standing room only.'”
The Friends of the Hays Dog Park group approached the Hays City Commission in 2011 requesting permission to build a dog park in Hays in three phases. The city provided space at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
Kim Perez, FHDP president, at last week’s city commission work session.
The entire project has been funded by donations and grants to FHDP.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 are completed and include fencing, a parking lot, staging area, dog water stations, waste stations and signage at a total cost of $53,342.65.
FHDP is now requesting approval to transfer $18,840.75 from the Friends of the Hays Dog Park fund to the city of Hays Park Development Fund for installation of a 16 foot x 16 foot shelter in the small dog area and a 20 foot by 20 foot shelter in the large dog area.
“They like the shelter that we have in Ekey Park (19th and Holmes Road.) It’s a very good shelter and economical to put it in,” Boyle said. “So they contacted the company that installed it, Quality Structures Incorporated, which actually agreed to donate part of the project to Friends of the Hays Dog Park.”
Both shelters would be installed for $15,000. Another $3,840.75 would pay for concrete pads and sidewalks. Boyle suggested the city donate the labor costs for laying the concrete after the shelters are installed.
The money transfer and permission to proceed with the shelter project is on the Hays City Commission agenda for Thursday, Aug. 27.
The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m., an hour later than usual. City commissioners will be participating in the Core2Campus event in downtown Hays which starts at 5:30 p.m.
Hays city crews responded to two water main breaks in two days the week of August 9.
“I was awakened the other night at 11 o’clock, went outside, and the city crews were out there busy with a water line break at the end of the street,” said Mayor Eber Phelps during the Aug. 20 city commission work session.
He commended the employees, saying “They did a heck of a job…I was amazed at how fast they got that under control….it was pretty muddy, but under control when I walked down there again about 4:30 a.m.”
“They have it down to an art,” said Utilities Director Bernie Kitten.
Broken water mains are a major inconvenience and recently have been happening more often than usual, Kitten noted.
“Maybe five a month,” he estimated. “We’ve been doing about two a month, and then we had two that week (August 9), so it just varies. I think on average, it’s four per month year-round.
“The Public Works Department does help us. They’re on the call list. Also, the Waste Water Department guys come help us now, too. They’re trained in main break repair,” Kitten told commissioners.
Officials say primary reasons of water main breaks are drought conditions, persistent hot or cold temperatures and aging water infrastructure. Drought causes the ground to shift and increases the risk that mains will break.
The 13th Street reconstruction between Main and Milner streets is about a month behind schedule. The project is being done in phases. Currently, 13th Street is completely closed from Pine to Milner.
“Because of utility conflicts, weather and other issues, the contractor, APAC, has updated the construction schedule,” said John Braun, assistant director of public works.
APAC is liable for fines for not meeting the construction deadlines, according to Braun.
“The contract language does include $600 per day in liquidated damages, which at this point we are intending to enforce, so the contractor definitely has an incentive to complete the project sooner than later,” Braun said.
APAC is now finishing work in the 13th and Milner intersection and then will proceed west.
The entire project is scheduled for be complete the first week in December.
Both the construction schedule and map are available on the city of Hays website under Alerts and Announcements.
Chuck Taylor, owner of Chuck’s Bar at 507 W. 7th, suggests angle parking on three blocks of 7th Street.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Three Hays city commissioners at Thursday’s work session declined to move forward with the proposal from the fourth commissioner, Lance Jones, to remove the one-way traffic designation for 6th and 7th Streets. Commissioner James Meier was absent.
All four however, agreed to explore the possibility of angle parking on Seventh Street as proposed by local bar owners Chuck Taylor and Tony Taylor during audience comments. Chuck owns Chuck’s Bar; Tony owns On the Rocks Bar and Grill, and both are located at 507 W. Seventh–just east of the Fort Hays State University campus.
“It’s very tough to find parking during the day down there because the (FHSU) kids use it all up,” Chuck Taylor told commissioners. “I’d be more in favor of looking into turning the north lane to angle parking which would help out the businesses down there quite a bit and you would still have one lane for (westbound only) traffic and (eastbound only) traffic on 6th Street,” he suggested.
“If you go back to Ash Street where the (First United Methodist) church is—they’re already started with angle parking–so you might consider turning all three of those blocks into angle parking. Anytime you go down there on those three (blocks) during the day, there’s just no parking anywhere,” Taylor said.
Chuck Taylor and Tony Taylor measured 7th Street in front of their establishments earlier Thursday.
Tony Taylor, owner of On the Rocks Bar and Grill, asks if the city is interested in putting parking meters in front of his business.
“We kinda did some math,” Tony Taylor told the commission. “…The street is 35 feet wide….currently there’s 9 parallel parking spots along that first block places there. If you did angle parking on just that block alone, you’d double that to 18 parking spots,” he said. “It would also slow traffic down.”
“The college kids are going to use up the parking if they can,” Taylor conceded. He suggested the city might want to “put in parking meters or one-hour parking signs in front of our businesses–something to prevent that. I run lunch and have no lanes for carryouts. I have to live and die by the college for my lunch crowd.”
Commissioner Henry Schwaller shook his head and then said “No” to Taylor’s question about the parking meters.
Dave VanDoren, owner of the Hadley Center, 205 E. 7th, spoke out in support of removing the one-way designation on 7th Street, sharing his reasons why it should be two-way traffic between Main and Vine.
Dave VanDoren, owner of the Hadley Center at 205 E. 7th, favors changing 7th Street to two-way traffic between Main and Vine.
He estimated there are about 400 vehicles from the Hadley Center and High Plains Mental Health Center, 208 E. 7th, which make round trips to those locations each day. According to VanDoren, the drivers are going an “extra four blocks to get to Main Street” each time. “The result is roughly an extra 1,000 blocks of extra driving each day. That’s a lot of extra fuel and wear and tear on streets and vehicles,” he said.
Commissioner Jones thanked the three men for their input. “I feel that the traffic goes too fast down 7th Street..it’s almost like a race track at times, with people passing you on the left and the right,” he said. That’s one of the reasons Jones proposed the change. He also looked at economic studies concerning one-way streets. “They’re not economically friendly to businesses…It’s a fact that people won’t want to drive around the block to go see your business,” he said and pointed to Chuck’s Bar and On the Rocks as examples.
City Commissioner Lance Jones explains his support of two-way traffic on 7th Street.
Regarding 6th Street which is narrower than 7th Street, Jones said he had wanted to look at both studies done previously at the same time. “If we’re going to lose parking, I don’t think 6th should be two-way. Parking is bad and housing is very dense in that area.”
Assistant Public Works Director John Braun said he believes there has been “some previous consideration” of angle parking on 7th Street. “I think one of the concerns that may have been brought up in the past was the ‘hump’ in the middle of the road and backing out onto it. It just may be uncomfortable…I’m not sure it’s a detriment.”
“I’ll bet if they could find a parking spot, they’d be pretty happy,” said Vice Mayor Shaun Musil.
“I’ll update it. We’ll go out and take a look at it and bring it back,” Braun replied.
Commissioners agreed to move the idea on to a future commission meeting.
It was definitely blanket weather overnight Wednesday in Hays.
According to official records from the K-State Agriculture Research Center, the low for Aug. 19 dipped down to 48 degrees. That temperature tied the record low for Aug. 19 in Hays, set just three years ago, in 2012.
Wednesday’s high in Hays was 79 degrees; one year ago the high on Aug. 19 was considerably warmer–98 degrees.
