The first requests by outside agencies for funding from the city of Hays next year will be presented Thursday night during the city commission work session.
Seven groups from three areas–Social Services, Economic Development and Quality of Life–will make their appeals for a total of $468,755.
The Fort Hays State University Scholarship Program is asking for a $25,000 increase from last year’s award for a total $125,000.
Also requesting increased funds in 2016 are the Ellis County Historical Society, up $379 to a total $12,000, and the Hays Arts Council, up $818 to $12,000.
Funding requests from the four other groups remain the same as they received in 2015:
Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development–$87,550
Downtown Hays Development Corporation (DHDC)–$53,655
Wild West Festival (WWF)–$9,500
Hays Sister Cities Advisory Board–$5,050
A $60,000 budget request was also submitted for Alcohol Tax funds by the United Way of Ellis County CARE Council.
City staff actually begins working on the annual budget process in March, according to Assistant Hays City Manager Paul Briseno.
“The outside agency requests are actually the beginning of the budget process for the public,” he explained. “From June through August there are a number of opportunities for residents to participate and comment or just listen to the process regarding our city budget.”
“City staff started working on the 2016 budget in March. It’s a six-month project and shortly after approval (by the city commissioners) in August, we start all over again.”
See the June 4, 2016, Hays City Commission work session agenda here.
The final phase of Bike Hays is underway and is expected to be completed by mid-August.
More than 18 miles of bike lanes and shared routes crisscrossing Hays are being installed this summer.
Installation of pavement markings began Monday by Road Safe, a subcontractor for APAC-Kansas, Inc.
The work starts in the northwest part of town and will proceed to the southeast area of Hays.
“The bike lane paintings, the sharrows paintings–the symbols on the street–the wayfinding signs, the markers, will all be implemented in June. So before the end of summer we’ll have roughly 21 miles of bike system for our community,” said Assistant Hays City Manager Paul Briseno.
Concrete paths make up a little more than 2.75 miles of the system along with 18 miles of on-street segments. The routes and paths can be found online at www.bikehays.com.
To celebrate the beginning of the Bike Hays system, a “groundpainting” ceremony will be held Thursday, June 4, at 5:30 p.m. at 11th and Main. The public is encouraged to ride their bikes to the event.
It’s being held in conjunction with a downtown block party hosted by Kandango, a backroads tour bike group, which will kick off their four-day event with the Ellis 1/2 Pint, a 14.2 mile jaunt to Ellis from Hays.
Rick Rekoske, director of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Rick Rekoske, the new director of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, is looking forward to “building relationships in and around Hays.”
Rekoske introduced himself to Hays City Commissioners at their meeting last Thursday. After just two days on the job, he knew the “atmosphere is very much conducive for growth opportunities in all sectors of the community,” Rekoske told the commission.
The CVB office is housed in the Hays Welcome Center, 2700 Vine Street, along with offices for the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Hays Development Corporation, the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development and the Heartland Community Foundation.
“Strong partnerships are vital to the success of strong and growing communities,” Rekoske said about the CVB’s relationship with the other local economic development offices.
“I envision our city doing many great things including continuing and strengthening our relationship with Fort Hays State University and local businesses, and keeping our community growing.”
“Hays has a ton of assets that makes my job of marketing the community a very special one,” he added.
Rekoske previously was the community development director for the city of Bel Aire since 2013. Prior to his employment with Bel Aire, Rekoske served as finance and marketing manager for the city of Wichita’s Transit Department, and as the community development coordinator for Wichita’s Old Cowtown Museum.
Rekoske replaces the previous director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jana Jordan, who retired Sept. 19, 2014, after 26 years with the city of Hays.
Following some pointed discussion and questions from one audience member, Hays City Commissioners voted Thursday night to extend the contract for sewer cleaning and videoing with Mayer Specialty Services, LLC.
The Goddard company has had the contract since 2013, when the city started a progressive program to pinpoint sewer lines that need to be repaired or replaced.
One third of the town, or 36 miles, is cleaned and inspected each year. According to Assistant Utilities Director Johnny O’Connor, city employees are only able to get to half of that.
“The past two years of cleaning have identified over 140 points of repair in our system. This year the oldest part of our system will be cleaned and inspected. The Utilities Department has existing staff that does emergency call-outs for sewer backups. We also have a semi-annual cleaning route and maintain troubled areas in our system. We don’t have enough employees to clean one-third of the town (sewers) every year. That’s why we contract out for half of the one-third,” O’Connor explained to commissioners.
The 2015 contract of $1.23 a foot with Mayer Specialty Services is not to exceed $120,000 and will be funded from Wastewater Other Contractual Services.
Mayer was the low bidder in 2013 at $1.19 per linear foot. Their contract continued the
with a 1.5% increase to $1.21 per foot for 2014. The 2015 contract is a 2% increase to $1.23 per foot.
“That’s still lower than the second lowest bidder we had in 2013,” Utilities Director Bernie Kitten pointed out.
“They have a special recording camera and GPS which has been integrated into our software system. We had quite a bit of trouble with it the first year; they got it figured out and we’re getting our data (about areas needing repair),” he said.
Contract negotiation teams for USD 489 and the Hays NEA
By Becky Kiser Hays Post
By the end of a two-hour meeting Tuesday night, USD 489 Superintendent Dean Katt had a list of items the school board negotiating team and the Hays NEA union team had discussed and will continue refining.
“We’ve talked about maintenance of standards, fair dismissal, grievance, leave and a little bit about concurrent credit,” Katt said.
He told both groups he will find “language for a progressive discipline plan for teachers” for further discussion at the next negotiations meeting.
In a proposal from the school board about corrective actions for board policy violations, the words “inadvertently” and “repeatedly” regarding violations have been removed.
Hays NEA co-chairpersons Kathy Wagoner and Kim Schneweis
“This means a teacher could be fired immediately for making one mistake,” countered H-NEA co-chairperson Kim Schneweis.
“What is the purpose of that?” she asked. “So you can fire people more easily?”
“No, it’s just to simplify the contract language,” answered school board member Greg Schwartz. “USD 489 is a multi-faceted corporation; we should be professional.”
The leave policy continues to be debated. The board supports switching to Paid Time Off while teachers’ representatives want separate funeral and serious illness leave.
“If you only have one block of leave, it’s easier accounting,” Schwartz said.
Toward the end of the meeting, Schwartz suggested something new.
“What about a board policy review committee?”
“Any time we have a board policy, it’s got to go to the ‘teachers board policy review committee’ and they get to have a report that’s provided to the board members who read it…we did that with a lot of the agenda items–what are the staff implications and what happens?”
“They used to have the ‘Superintendent’s Council,” interjected H-NEA co-chairperson Kathy Wagoner.
“Teachers would meet with the superintendent in a morning meeting. I think a lot of those issues were discussed in that.”
USD 489 board attorney Bill Jeter said “it might be a good idea but should be a non-binding agreement.”
The negotiating teams are scheduled to meet again Tuesday, June 9, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Rockwell Administration Center Toepfer Board Room, 323 W. 11th.
The meeting will be aired live by Hays High School on Eagle Cable TV Channel 13.
A short agenda faces Hays City Commissioners tonight.
Other than mayoral appointments to the Airport Advisory Committee, Hays Area Board of Zoning Appeals and Hays Public Library Board, and a cereal malt beverage license request for the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, there is just one item of new business.
The commission will vote whether to extend the 2013 contract for sewer cleaning and videoing to 2015 by Mayer Specialty Services, LLC. Cost is $1.23 per linear foot, not to exceed $120,000. It would be funded from Wastewater Other Contractual Services.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday, May 28, in Hays City Hall.
Wet weather conditions forced the postponement of the Hays Recreation Commission’s 2nd Annual Opening Day celebration.
According to HRC Youth Sports Director Keith Smith, the event has been rescheduled to Sunday, May 31, at 5:30 p.m. at the Bickle Schmidt Sports Complex.
An abbreviated ceremony for the Mike F. Schippers Coach of the Year awards was held Wednesday night. Winners this year were Ron Fields for baseball and Keith Dreiling for softball.
Sunday’s schedule will remain the same.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. as ball games and a hot dog feed get underway. Cost of a hot dog meal is $4 and includes chips and a water.
There will also be a home run derby, baserunning challenge, throwing contest, bouncy houses and kids’ games.
Teams and their coaches will line up for introductions starting at 6:45 p.m. The games will break during introductions. The team lineup includes T-ball, coach pitch, machine pitch, player pitch and finally, K-18.
Introductions of the teams starts at 7 p.m.
Players and coaches will recite the sportsmanship pledge, followed by singing of the national anthem.
Then, it’s the first pitch of the 2015 summer season. Lacy Droegemeier has been chosen to throw out the first pitch of the season to Ethan Waddell.
Games will end and the gates will close at 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Roger Marshall, R-Great Bend, made a stop in Hays Wednesday as part of his campaign announcement tour for the 1st Congressional District race.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
“I think Kansas can be better. I think our country can be better.”
That’s the reason Great Bend OB-GYN Dr. Roger Marshall told a Hays audience Wednesday evening he is running for Congress.
Marshall, who said he and his wife Laina, have been thinking about his candidacy the past two years, is taking on incumbent Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, for the Big First District.
Marshall, 54, is in the midst of a 17-community tour over four days to make his announcement bid.
He is also a board member of Farmer’s Bank and Trust community bank, and a former Governor of Rotary International’s western Kansas district.
Marshall said he is a “pro-life, conservative Republican” concerned first about the national debt as well as “disappearing economic freedoms.”
“You and I can’t be the entrepreneurs that we want to be.
“Whether it’s in banking and the Dodd-Frank Act, or the ‘Not So Affordable Care Act’ known as Obamacare, my life has drastically changed the past four to six years. I’ve seen my hospital and the bank have parallel paths of increasing governmental intrusion upon our lives, but what I don’t see is how it makes any better health care or how it makes us a better bank oftentimes,” Marshall said.
Marshall, who served seven years in the Army Reserve, is also a Commissioner of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. He was raised on a farm and is involved in a cattle-feeder operation.
Marshall shakes hands with Hays resident Dr. Gary Hulett
“I think it goes without saying we need a voice on the (U.S. House) Ag Committee,” Marshall said in answer to a question from the audience.
“As I’ve traveled the state, I’ve set down with the feedlot people, the dairy people, the packing plant people, and the constant theme is the overreach of government.”
Rep. Huelskamp, a third-term Congressman, has become an outspoken Tea Party Republican and an opponent of House Speaker John Boehner.
Boehner removed Huelskamp from the House Agriculture Committee in 2013, the first time a representative from western Kansas has not served on the panel in a century.
More information about Marshall and his candidacy for the the 2016 election is available on his webpage.
New city commissioners James Meiers and Lance Jones recently toured city departments and facilities.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
New Hays City Commissioners Lance Jones and James Meier agreed, “it was very informative” to tour all the departments in the city recently.
“As a person who tends to be very cheap–although I’ll use the word ‘frugal’ because it makes me sound better–one of the things that struck me is what good stewards the various departments are with the public funds they’ve been given,” Meier said.
He gave the example of a situation at the wastewater treatment plant built in the early 1950s. It will soon undergo a $26-$28 million EPA-mandated update which must be in place by 2018.
“I saw things held together with duct tape,” Meier reported after their tour.
“Roger Moerke–the wastewater superintendent–I was really impressed with him voluntarily saying ‘We don’t know if this is going to make it the next 2 or 3 years or whatever timeframe we need for the new plant but if that happens, I’m sure we can rig something together so we don’t have to go buy a new one.’
“They really truly are, for the most part, looking out for the public good. They do realize that it’s taxpayer money and they’re trying to do good by the citizens of Hays,” Meiers said.
“People sometimes think there’s a lot of waste in city government. I’m not saying the city can’t improve–I think there’s always room for improvement,” Meier said.
“But it’s a good reflection on the departments, on the city manager, and on the city of Hays,” he added.
Duane Goossen, Kansas Center for Economic Growth Senior Fellow
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
“The state of Kansas is in some deep financial trouble and is now experiencing a budget that is badly out of balance.”
That’s the message from Duane Goossen, former Kansas Secretary of Administration and former Director of the Kansas Division of the Budget, now the Senior Fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Development. Goossen is also a former 7-term state representative and most recently worked as the Vice President for Fiscal and Health Policy at the Kansas Health Institute, from which he retired in July 2014.
KCEG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts research and analysis to promote responsible balanced budget and tax policies in Kansas. Goossen, who also contributes to HaysPost.com as part of the Insight Kansas series, spoke recently at a meeting of the Hays Rotary Club.
The state general fund, at $6.3 billion, is the biggest portion of the Kansas FY 2015 budget of $15.3 billion. Most state tax dollars go into it; it’s also the fund for which legislators have the most discretion.
Most revenue for the state, 84.5%, comes from sales taxes and individual income taxes–which are nearly equally divided.
The individual income tax used to bring in about half of state general fund revenue; now it’s fallen to 42.2% and continues to fall.
Half of the state budget is spent on K-12 education funding; 12.6% goes to post-secondary education, including Fort Hays State University. Another 20% is for the state’s share for Medicaid, and another 6.7% for other human services. The result is 90% of the state’s general fund spending is for education and human services.
Those expenses are going up.
“We’ve got a situation in Kansas where the revenue to the state general fund, because of tax policy, has plummeted,” Goossen said, “and it’s staying down at a low level. At the same time, we have expenses, such as Medicaid, which are growing and will continue to grow.
“So far in FY 2014 and the current FY 2015, Kansas has bridged the gap by cleaning out the savings account and by transferring money from the Highway Fund (Kansas Department of Transportation) which has resulted in a cutback of road maintenance projects.
“For next year (FY 2016, which starts July 1), the legislature is struggling to put a budget together where the gap between expenses and revenues has grown to about $800 million. There’s no savings or reserves left to bridge the gap. It’s possible to still transfer some money from the Highway Fund but it doesn’t come close to closing the gap,” Goossen explained.
“The legislature is faced with little alternative but to try and raise taxes back up or in some way to find revenue to meet expenses, and they’re having a hard time doing that,” he added.
Goossen and KCEG Executive Director Annie McKay were invited to speak at a recent Hays Rotary Club meeting as the guest of former 36th District state senator Janis Lee, who served nearly 22 years, and is now retired as Chief Hearing Officer for the Kansas Court of Tax Appeals.
Former state senator Janis Lee
“I had the honor of serving with Duane for quite a number of years while I was in the legislature. Duane became the Budget Policy Director for 12 years for (governors) Republican Bill Graves and then Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson.
“One of the things I always appreciated working with Duane was whether or not you liked the message Duane brought from the governor, you knew it was the truth, and that’s very, very important when you’re dealing with government policy,” Lee said in her introduction of Goossen.
In 2012 and 2013, Kansas passed the largest tax cuts of any state in the nation.
Hays city commissioners discuss the CID portion of the city’s economic development policy.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The Community Improvement District will remain in the city of Hays’ economic development policy.
City commissioners Thursday night discussed the possible removal of the CID section at the request of Commissioner Henry Schwaller.
After input from city manager Toby Dougherty and city attorney John Bird, the commission ultimately agreed no changes will be made.
Schwaller, who is the city’s representative to the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development, suggested “more shared information” between the two bodies. He also wants to implement a “check list” to make it absolutely clear to developers what is required to be in place in their application before asking for a CID.
Mayor Eber Phelps noted the city is a “pass-through agency. We are not ‘giving money’ to anybody.”
A CID is “enabling legislation” by the state of Kansas used as an economic development tool for developers to come before the cities, “which can add any caveats they want,” Phelps pointed out. “It’s a tool. Let’s keep it in the tool box.
“We don’t know. We might have somebody come in with something we haven’t even thought about — some sort of development — and they might say ‘We’re going to pay 50 percent of it,’ ” he added. “This (CID) can be tweaked, readdressed, whatever the case may be.”
In November, the city approved a CID of a 1-cent sales tax hike on purchases at the Hays Mall. The increase was effective May 1 and property improvements are underway.
The developer, DP Management, did not provide any capital for the renovation project besides the revenue from the CID, an estimated $3 million.
In February, the city changed the CID to require applicants to financially participate in the project in an amount that is at least 25 percent of the total project cost.
There are “at least two CIDs in the wings now and maybe another,” according to Schwaller.
Commissioners directed Dougherty to “carry on and report back” about the developers’ applications.
Conditions are wet enough to permit consumer fireworks for the 2015 Fourth of July holiday, agreed Hays city commissioners during their Thursday night work session
“We’ve had adequate rain and the (city’s) Smoky Hill water wells are in good shape,” said commissioner Henry Schwaller.
The sale and use of fireworks is permitted by city ordinance in Hays on July 2, 3 and 4 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.
The ordinance also requires the city commission to make a determination whether to suspend the sale and use of fireworks–if weather conditions are dry and there is a fire threat–at the second regular meeting in May.
The burn ban enacted in March for rural areas of Ellis County was lifted May 4 because of the recent rains.
Vice-mayor Shaun Musil still suggested reducing the number of days allowed to discharge fireworks
“I brought this up last year and it went nowhere…there’s no doubt a lot of people don’t like fireworks. We found that out loud and clear last year,” he said.
“They don’t like the noise and they don’t like the mess.”
Roy Herman, co-owner of Taz Fireworks
Roy Herman, co-owner of Taz Fireworks which works with non-profit groups and their fundraisers, spoke in favor of keeping the three days, as did Commissioner Lance Jones.
“I’m a fireworks shooter myself,” Jones said. “I think part of the good reason for having more than one day is if it rains or there’s bad weather, you have other days to go off and shoot them.”
Jones suggested a “hefty fine–a $1,000 fine,” doubling the current fine of $500, if someone shoots fireworks during banned hours or does not pick up their debris.
“It’s truly a difficult ordinance to enforce,” Police Chief Don Scheibler told commissioners.
“As you drive by you see the fireworks go off two blocks away. By the time you get there, nobody’s there. Or , there’s a 4-generation family sitting in the front yard…do we haul grandma off to jail?”
Most people do abide by the rules.
In 2014, HPD responded to 49 calls about fireworks complaints, according to Scheibler.
“Twenty of those were between 11 p.m. and midnight July 4th. So after going to the big fireworks display (at the Wild West Fest), people go home with their family and they’ve got to finish shooting off their fireworks,” he said.
“There’s not much of a problem between the 27th and the 5th,” Scheibler added.
State law allows the sale of fireworks from June 27 until July 5.
