Video courtesy USD 489 News

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

At the most recent bond issue town hall meeting Thursday, a crowd of around 30 asked questions and discussed the need for the $94 million bond issue that would allow the district to repair and expand facilitates through the district. During the meeting, the crowd engaged positively with Superintendent Dean Katt, who led the presentation, asking a variety of questions throughout the meeting.

The positive interaction was likely a relief to the embattled administration and Hays USD 489 Board of Education members, as several high profile disagreements have plagued the groups in recent weeks and community support for the bond remains low.

Most recently an ongoing informal poll on Hays Post found support for the measure well under 40 percent. While that might seem low, many of the promotional aspects of the bond have yet to begin.

“We really haven’t started the bond campaigning,” Katt said. “We are in the infant stages of this campaign.”

The district cannot advocate for the bond, only share information.

And so a committee – called Fund Our Future First – will spearhead the campaign supporting the bond issue.

During this early parts of the bond issue campaign, the district, along with the FOFF committee, has worked to collect signatures in order to allow for the possibility of a sales tax question being put on the election ballot.

Signatures will be collected until Monday.

“We should know next week if the sales tax is even an option,” Katt said. “We’re working on that right now.”

The district would need 10 percent of eligible voters within Hays city limits in order to put the question on the ballot. That number is estimated to be around 1,200.

The sales tax, if approved, would begin after a current Ellis County sales tax would sunset, effectively leaving sales tax rates the same.

During the meeting, it was reported at least 838 signatures had been collected and many more had been reported, but not yet counted.

Volunteers will continue working through the weekend to collect signatures.

During the informational session, the topic of a planned “Art Court” at Hays High School was addressed.

Katt said while it might seem extraneous, in reality it is due to a concrete needing replaced. The concrete in place currently slopes toward the building, allowing water to collect on a classroom floor.

The art court in essence is replacing that concrete slab and adding a little bit of landscaping, Katt said.

The space would be used by art students working on projects suited for an outdoor setting.

The necessity of passing the full $94 million bond now, rather than piecing it out, was also discussed.

For every year the bond is not completed, the architects project a 6 percent cost increase, Katt said. With a $94 million project, a 6 percent increase would increase the project cost over $5.6 million every year.

And, as an audience member pointed out, the needs that would be addressed by the bond will only continue to compile as years pass, so a lower bond amount would require another bond in the near future, at a significantly higher cost to taxpayers.

The next town hall meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hays Middle School, 201 W. 29th.

                                             Video by Cooper Slough

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Dog grooming might not be a service everyone needs, but for those who do, it is a necessity. Now one of the top groomers in Hays has completed its move to 700 E. Eighth, allowing for more space for the popular business.

“We’re really happy here,” owner Bunnie Bowen said. “We’re on the corner of Eight and Riley.”

During the weeks following the move, Bowen and her small staff have already taken advantage of the much larger space.

“They can’t believe how spacious it is,” Bowen said. “In the space that we were in before, which is about a quarter of this size. Sometimes there was four of us working there all at one time.

“That got a little bit crazy.”

The new larger space will help the staff be more comfortable as they provide services to dog owners throughout northwest Kansas.

While the business works with dogs, for Bowen, it’s all about keeping clients happy – dogs and their humans alike.

“It’s a little bit different than other industries where you are just working with humans,” she said. “The dog has to be happy, and the human has to be happy as well.”

Good service is something Bowen is extremely familiar with. Before her ownership of Fur is Flying, Bowen worked in retail, working with well-known business like Macy’s and Dillard’s after completing a business degree at Rockhurst University in Kansas City.

“I always like to say that I always had clients that barked at me and now I have a few that bite as well,” she said.

While working with dogs all day might seem easy, Bowen said it is a serious business working to keep dogs looking good and being healthy.

“Although people think we play with dogs all day, we’re earning a living here,” she said.

That seriousness, however, does not stop the staff from having a little fun at work.

“It is a fun job. We say there is not a day we don’t laugh,” Bowen said. “There is not a day where something happens that we’ve never seen before.”

That is likely due to the numbers of new customers the business sees daily.

“The majority of the clients that we get are referrals,” adding she sees one to two new clients each day.

Tools of the trade

One of the most surprising aspects of the business might be the tools used – something Fur is Flying takes pride in.

“None of it is really required,” Bowen said, but said having good equipment means providing a better service. “When I was opening my business, it was very important to me to have all state-of-the-art equipment.”

That equipment includes an electric lift table, several types of blades and clippers, and a custom-built grooming tub, which also made the move from the old location.

“It’s just like any other job. You have to have the best tools in order to do the best work,” Bowen said.

Products used on the animals and by hand drying also factor into the way Fur is Flying does business.

The products used are professional grade and can’t be found at Hays retailers, Bowen said.

Tips for new dog owners

As a professional dog groomer, Bowen also has insight for new dog owners and the best ways to keep them looking their best.

“Often the biggest mistake that they make is that they don’t brush their dog often enough,” Bowen said. “That makes our job a whole lot easier.”

Working with a dog’s paws early on also helps keep a dog looking sharp.

“A lot of dogs are a little bit shy about having their nails or their paws done, but if owners start from the very beginning working with their paws when they’re a puppy, that makes it a lot easier to do,” Bowen said.

Through the business, Bowen also helps customers with guidance on best practices for dog grooming.

“We’re always here to rectify a bad situation and to work with them and educate them as to how their dog should be taken care of,” Bowen said.

For more information about the business or for information on how to schedule an appointment, visit the Fur is Flying webpage by clicking here.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

The final portion of phase one of the Big Creek Crossing redevelopment will be completed soon, with the installation of a new sign in front of the shopping center.

With the phase one completion, developers will move to phase, which includes installation of a new facade and landscaping to be completed this summer.

Phase one was new tile throughout the mall, new LED lighting, a repaved parking lot and new LED lighting outside said Josh Vickery, DP Management development investment specialist.

The capstone for phase one is new signage for BCC and its tenants.

The old sign came down last week, with a replacement scheduled to be installed by the end of March.

Originally, the new name for the shopping center was to be accompanied with the new sign, but development delays forced BCC to push the naming ahead of the signage.

The mall unveiled its new name in October.

“We probably jumped ahead on unveiling a name, but wanted to give them something,” said Katie Dorzweiler, BCC property manager. “We’re going through all this rebranding, and we didn’t want to not have a name to brand. So we did that piece hoping that the sign would come down sooner, but it just didn’t.”

She noted the process of getting the new sign involved bidding the project out and working with tenants to finalize the individual parts of the sign.

“There was a ton of behind-the-scenes with the anchor (stores),” Dorzweiler said. “Before we could even send the sign to production, between owner and corporations, they had to nail out the specifics on leasing.”

With the sign going up soon, the focus will now shift to phase two of the overall project.

“We’re working on architecture for the phase 2 for the EIFS (exterior insulation and finishing system), which is the frontage of the mall, which will span from Stage all the way through the end of the building,” Vickery said. “There will be some stone, brick, awnings and the whole front will have a new look to it.”

The property will also get new landscaping with islands placed throughout the parking lot.

New entrances will also be a part of the project.

“They’ll look a lot nicer and up to date,” Vickery said.

BCC also hopes to be able to repave the east parking lot during phase two.

“There wasn’t enough funding in the CID to do the back parking lot. We’re going to be doing that through capital reserves,” Vickery said. “They’re in the process of building that fund.”

While there will not be any noticeable differences at BCC until this summer, the process is well underway to begin the exterior revamp.

“The architect has begun the architectural and structural engineering for the facade of the mall, and we will be bidding that out in 30 days,” Vickery said.

Construction is expected to begin in May or early June with a completion of late summer or early fall.

“That will complete everything that we promised to the city and to future tenants that we are working with now,” Vickery said.

After the redevelopment, BCC is working on bringing in new tenants for the property, but Vickery said that is not a quick process, but the upgrades are helping in discussions.

“In development, tenants typically start looking at different locations probably 18 (months) to two years out,” Vickery said. “Then they prioritize their list on where they want to go. … So definitely the CID and the upgrade of the mall is helping us move up on priority list for some of the tenants that we’re working with.”

Vickery said he expects in the next three to six months the community will see three tenants that were high on the community want list announce their move to the area, but nothing is assured.

“It gets tricky and cumbersome, but we have a lot of momentum with our leasing activity right now. We’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “The mall is getting upgraded. We think Hays is a great place to do business and so do a lot of our tenants that we are talking to,”

                                                  Video by Cooper Slough

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

A flourish in music is an embellishment, something a little extra that brings life to a piece of music. The same might be said about Allison Lint, a nationally recognized violist, who recently set up a studio in Hays.

“I had been here a few times for various visits, and there was something about this town that really stuck with me,” Lint said. “I think the people are wonderful, friendly, welcoming and inviting, and they’re excited to have me here, which says a lot.”

Part of the appeal of Hays for Lint, is the size of the town.

”Everyone calls it a small town, but I find it to be very comfortable. It’s a good size. It has everything we need,” she said.

A thriving art community was also a draw to the area.

“As far as the arts are concerned the arts community here is so wonderful, it is incredibly culturally oriented,” she said.

“The combination of music, theater and dance that is in this town – that I have seen only in the few weeks of being here – has been astounding. That’s something that I want to be a part of, and that’s something I’ve found people are willing to let me be a part of.”

Prior to her arrival in Hays, Lint has made music an almost lifelong pursuit and was especially drawn to the violin.

“I’ve essentially been a musician my whole life,” she said. “I started playing violin when I was 7, I picked up piano at 8 and a little bit later also started on viola and cello, so I consider myself pretty proficient at those four instruments and that’s also what I teach.”

Lint graduated from the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree and continued her education at the University of Akron earning a master’s degree in music. But even before school, Lint was surrounded by music through a family of musicians.

“I’ve had a lot of music in my family,” she said. “My father is a guitarist and his mother was a church organist, so we have a lot of music generations back.”

With the musical family and the fondness for string instruments, the scene was set for a young Lint to become enamored with the violin. After seeing a violin performance, Lint’s direction in life was forever changed.

“When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my dad took me to see a woman to see a women named Leila Josefowicz, who to this day remains my favorite virtuoso performer,” Lint said “She is wonderful. I try to emulate her in my playing.

“She’s the one who made me realize that’s what I want to do. I saw her on stage, and I loved everything about her.”

After college, Lint focused on freelance performing, but a unique opportunity changed the young musician’s path.

She auditioned for the Akron Symphony and won a seat in the second violin section. This year marks her third with the group.

“Through the symphony came a lot of other avenues,” Lint said, but the symphony “has been the bedrock of my performance over the last few years.”

On top of performing and teaching, Lint is an advocate for a little-known disease, one that she has worked to overcome herself.

“When I’m not performing or teaching, the other thing I do is run a nonprofit called Violin for Vasculitis, through that I’m traveling to every state in the country, to raise awareness of vasculitis, which is a rare autoimmune disease,” she said. “That as also really boosted my performance career, traveling nationwide to bring music to lots of different places and lots of different audiences.”

Not only did her advocacy boost her performance opportunities, she garnered national attention when CNN made her the subject of a piece in 2014. That piece can be viewed by clicking here.

ON MAKING IT IN HAYS

“I know that Hays already has a lot to offer, in the area of music and arts, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I chose this place out of anywhere in the country I could have gone. If I can come in and establish myself and become a part of what’s already happening, that would be wonderful,” Lint said. “There’s something about the community that’s more important to me.”

While a successful studio is important, she said, “it’s more important that I take root here, then reach out and make connections with parts of the community — the arts, dance, theater and certainly the college.”

“That’s another really neat thing I found about Hays, is that everybody I’ve talked to about Hays, loves it and is excited to be here. That creates this kind of energy in the town,” she said. “Everybody likes where they are. Everybody likes being a part of it. Everybody likes what they do and they want to do more. They want to continue to build what’s already happening in Hays. That’s what I wanted to be a part of.”

Lint offers flexible lessons Monday through Wednesday in her studio in the Hadley Center, 205 E. Seventh, Ste. 124. For more information, visit allisonlint.com or on Facebook at allisonlintmusic.

 

Video courtesy USD 489 News – Watch the full Feb. 15 meeting here.

By James Bell
Hays Post

A brief discussion about commissioning a survey to judge the public’s interest in a $94 million bond issue turned sour at the Hays USD 489 Board of Education meeting Monday as the Board discussed the possibility with Gary Brinker, director the Docking Institute at Fort Hays State University.

“I’ve been working with the Board since early last year when they started talking about a bond,” Brinker said in an interview after the meeting.

“Even though the Docking Institute did a free strategic planning session for the Board completely pro-bono, I don’t understand why they have omitted us from the bond planning procedures.”

Brinker began talking during the meeting about unpopular aspects of bond elections and was interrupted by Board Member Sarah Rankin.

“This is why I worry about your bond and why I feel you definitely need to do one of these,” Brinker said. “You have a strong potential that those gyms that you have in your bond are going to cause it to fail.”

“With all due respect, sir, I don’t think we need a lecture on what we should or should not do, if we could just limit this to the presentation itself,” Rankin admonished Brinker.

After a few questions from Board members, tensions further escalated when Brinker suggested resources could be saved if the survey happened to show a sales tax petition had virtually no chance of passing.

“I don’t think it’s wasting resources when you’re trying hard to accomplish something that you feel strongly about. I don’t like the term wasting resources. That is definitely not what this Board is up here attempting to do,” interjected Josh Waddell, board member.

After informing the Board he is offering a tool that would allow them to judge bond support, Brinker abruptly left the meeting.

“If you’re not interested in doing that, I’ve lost interest in doing it, frankly,” Brinker said.

Board members then heckled Brinker as he left.

“Nice attitude,” Waddell said. “Real impressive.”

Brinker expressed his concern with the Board on Tuesday.

“They expressed no interest in doing this bond survey,” he said. “The whole purpose of the presentation was to show how the bond survey could help them pass that bond.”

Without specific knowledge of support by USD 489 voters, Brinker said, the Board has no expectation it will pass.

“They’re willing to gamble the tax payers’ money to float a bond they have absolutely no assurance will pass,” he said.

“That is the crux of my frustration.”

He also said the survey would help tailor specific marketing for areas that are less popular.

“Bonds frequently fail and I think, for a lot of them, it’s for this reason,” Brinker said. “I’m very concerned that this bond is not going to pass.

“It troubles me that they are going to spend many times what the survey would cost to run this bond election, that, in my opinion, has a less than a 50/50 percent chance of passing as is.”

Brinker also had concerns the Board wanted to use a survey as a part of a promotional tool.

“I was getting the impression that they wanted to morph (a survey) into some sort of promotional thing, which I’m adamantly against,” he said. “I don’t want it to be a tool to promote a particular bond, I want it to be a tool to measure support.”

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Watch the full meeting here.

After nearly a year in negotiations with Hays USD 489 teachers, the Board of Education voted Monday to file impasse papers after teachers again voted against the contract negotiated by the HNEA bargaining committee. Contract negotiations will now go to mediation.

“We put the proposal before the teachers, and they voted it down,” said Kim Schneweis, HNEA bargaining committee co-chairwoman.

While fewer teachers voted in the second vote, the majority still voted against accepting the contract, but a higher percent voted yes than last time, something Schneweis called “encouraging.”

Similar to the previous vote, vertical pay movement was a primary factor in the outcome.

“The biggest concern seemed to be vertical movement on the pay scale,” Schneweis said.

This is the eighth year no vertical movement has been offered.

“That just acknowledges with increased education and increased experience the teachers have increased value,” Schneweis said.

Board members said the desire is there — but the money is not.

A step in the vertical scale would cost the district $115,764.

Teacher salaries are determined by two scales: vertical, which corresponds with years with the district, and horizontal, which correlates with training.

The HNEA argues attrition savings should cover at least one vertical step this year, even while school funding is being cut across Kansas.

“By nature, teachers are college-educated people, and they are very tuned into what is going on in Topeka. … However, they also understand attrition and understand as our people retire that those younger people should be moving up those steps,” Schneweis said. “The money it would take to move a step of vertical movement is far less money than the attrition money created by the retirements.”

The district disagrees.

“We heard about the attrition savings from the teachers who’ve retired and hired newer teachers that are lower on the salary schedule,” said Tracy Kaiser, executive director of finance and support services.

“The money just isn’t there,” said Lance Bickle, board president.

“All of our new teachers that are coming on, a lot of them are younger, they have families, so we’re paying for family health insurance versus our older workforce, who usually pays just for themselves or their spouse,” Kaiser said in an earlier interview. “That’s a significant cost.”

Out of the $374,745 general fund savings created by attrition, $78,801 funds an increase in sick leave payout, $78,081 funds an increase in retiree health insurance, $119,563 funds an increase in health insurance for new staff, $7,200 funds an increase in 403(b), $20,000 funds professional development, and $15,000 funds mentoring costs.

Added together, Kaiser said the district only saves $56,100 in attrition, far short of the $115,764 needed to fund the vertical movement. The district also faces an additional increase of $85,152 in health insurance costs next year.

For the teachers, that is a hard pill to swallow.

“The input we’re getting from the ballot and just from conversations is vertical movement is an issue for two reasons. First of all, we have teachers that have been here over 10 years and they are still getting paid way down at the bottom of the pay scale. Secondly, when we recruit new teachers from out of town that have the equal experience as our existing teachers, they’re being hired and given credit for their years of experience and placed higher on the salary schedule higher than the people that have been here. Those two things together are something we hear about frequently,” Schneweis said.

And the board and administration agree, but without changes, money to give raises is not available, something cuts to benefits – especially for retirees – would help free up, but that money would not be even to cover the movement this year.

“The vertical move would cost $115,000, so we need to come up with $115,000 savings now, to be able to make that,” Kaiser said. “Most of the changes that we would be making would still be a couple years down the road. … I think that was the board’s goal was to try to get some immediate savings as soon as possible, so that they would be able to give those raises.”

But the cut to retiree benefits has not gone over well with teachers, and now the are asking for a slower phase-out of benefits and the vertical movement increase.

“We acknowledge that had ballooned and became very expensive,” Schneweis said. “Four years ago, we agreed to phase it out. A lot of teachers have told us they just want them to honor our agreement.”

Despite efforts to fund raises by balancing salary and benefits, the financial reality makes that impossible, at least this year, according to board members.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math,” Bickle said.

“We have to balance it,” said Josh Waddell, board member, noting his belief that benefits have ballooned to the point salary raises are impossible. “If something does not change, this is where we will be for a very, very long time.”

Board members also voiced frustration after a tentative contract was voted down twice, saying HNEA negotiators chose not to fully investigate the district’s financial situation.

Bickle said they had the opportunity and had been invited several times to go through the financials with administration.

“Unfortunately, they did not find it important enough,” he said.

The fiscal story

According to the administration, there are no current options to offer the vertical movement at this time.

That is partly because Kansas sets the state aid per pupil — set by a block grant this year – and funding cuts are feared to occur at a similar rate to last year.

“A general fund is established through that formula and now the block grant. That is all the spending authority we have in general fund,” Kaiser said. “So we can’t take any money and put it in general fund. That is our maximum that we can spend.”

The district reserve, which was cut in the past, is also not fully funded.

“We do have $300,000 in contingency reserve, but that’s only like 7 percent, and our auditors always recommend we have 10 to 15 percent in reserve in case we would get cut by the state,” Kiser said. “Once that money is depleted, we don’t have anything extra, that’s the only extra we have. When it’s gone, it’s gone, and then we’re in the situation that we have to lay off teachers again.”

Now that impasse papers have been signed, the matter will before a mediator chosen by state officials.

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Watch the full meeting here.

At Monday night’s meeting, the Hays USD 489 Board of Education decided to push forward with the bond election and now will work to pin down specifics in a timeline for an election that is currently slated for June.

“Any time you select has pro and cons,” said Zach Snethen, project manager at HTK Architects, but recommended keeping a June election goal.

The sales tax would help offset a proposed $94 million bond issues for building upgrades, reducing the amount of the total costs put on property tax bills.

The district moved back its initial timelines of April and May elections after the Hays city commissioners declined to put a sales tax question on a special election ballot. Since then, the district has worked to collect a required 10 percent of registered voters to sign a petition that would allow for the question to be presented to voters.

The goal set by the district to collect those signatures was Feb. 19, but Superintendent Dean Katt said that deadline could be stretched for a few days.

The board shared the belief that the focus on the sales tax question had taken away from the original message of the bond.

“The real issue is the bond issue,” said Paul Adams, board member. “It’s the bond issue we care about.”

Board Member Sarah Rankin agreed the sales tax question was a complication and may be taking away from the important message of the bond.

Other actions taken by the Board:

The Board approved the HRC lease agreement, an action that is simply a pass-through for the district and has no effect on USD 489.

The Board approved a $50 reduction for driver education fee, an adjustment that was made due to lower gas prices.

The Board approved bidding process policy revisions.

The Board approved a change to Physical Education requirement for Hays High students. Only one credit will be required for graduation, the same as Kansas requirements.

The Board approved board term change due to a change in the Kansas election schedule.

The Board approved a financing bid for the HVAC financing from Commerce Bank.

The Board approved the payment to the architects for the HVAC system.

The Board approved the contract for Mark Hauptman, assistant superintendent for special services.