Street closing on Friday

Pratt, Kan. — On Friday, Oct. 4th, Bryant and Bryant Construction will close the 100 block of N. Main in order to start replacing the middle 24 feet of brick with concrete. The project is scheduled to take 40 working days. Please plan your travel accordingly.

Donation facilitates city land purchase

Donation facilitates city land purchase.
Pratt Tribune Article   2/19/2013

Pratt's Lemon Park will be bigger by 2.6 acres with the purchase of a property that runs along the north edge of the park. The parcel includes several small buildings, and was most recently used as a lot for horses. Owner Karen Konkel placed a stone marker in memory of her late father, Frank Konkel, which much remain on the property in perpetuity.

Blake Himmelwright and his cousin, Mary Jo McCoy, have donated $18,000 towards the purchase price of $22,000. The city will be responsible for $4,000, plus closing costs, which City Attorney Ken Van Blaricum estimated to be less than $1,000.

"I think it's a wonderful opportunity for the city," Mayor Bill Hlavachick said at a meeting of the City Commission Monday evening.

Konkel has 60 days from closing to remove anything she wants from the property.

Himmelwright was not present at the meeting, but stated in a letter, "I am excited about the purchase and look forward to discussing future plans for this parcel."

In other business, the Commission:

• Gave approval for the Pratt Area Humane Society to hold a 5K Color Run on June 1, starting and ending in Lemon Park. Participants will be sprinkled with colored cornstarch at five stations. Most of the color is easily removed by wind and water, Jackie Hogan told commissioners.

• Approved the use of Sixth Street Park for the City Fire Department's third annual car show on May 24 and 25.

• Approved the purchase of a new sanitation truck from Midwest Truck Equipment, Inc., Wichita, for $138,353. The bid is not the highest, nor the lowest, Russ Rambat, public works superintendent said, but he believes it will last longer than "entry level" equipment, and is available in Wichita, while other bidders were out of state.

In the open agenda portion of the meeting, Nelson Burrell objected to what he termed an "attack" on Commissioner Karen Detwiler from another commissioner at the last meeting regarding city contacts with businesses to explain a proposed beautification project. As a result, Burrell conducted a small survey of of his own, and recommended that each commissioner "needs to get out there" to listen to public opinion.


Tue 19-Feb-2013

SANDY CREEK ADDITION - City considers options to improve the view

Pratt Tribune Article
By Gale Rose
reporter@pratttribune.com

With development potential on the horizon for the Sandy Creek addition by the Maple Street extension, the city is considering some type of visual barrier between the property and the Southwest Truck Parts storage lot.

“We’re looking at options of trees or barricades along the property line,” said Pratt City Manager Dave Howard.

While a metal or wooden barricade could be erected without concerns for water, trees are a different matter.

If the city plants trees, they will need irrigation especially with the current drought situation. If they had planted trees earlier, the trees would probably have died, Howard said.

So right now the city is considering different options including metal, concrete and other options materials.

Providing a visual barrier between the two properties is not always an issue. Lots of neighborhoods boarder commercial property and the homeowners don’t complain.

“It doesn’t necessarily bother everyone,” Howard said.

In neighborhoods like Sandy Creek, the homes, trees and other elements of the neighborhood will eventually create a visual barrier.

Howard said he has had many people express interest in building on the site and none of them have mentioned anything about a visual barrier.

Any barrier will be the responsibility of the city. The Southwest Truck Parts lot is actually located on county property, not city, so the city has to handle the issue.

“The city would bear the cost of doing that,” Howard said.

Currently, no funding has been set aside to cover the cost of putting up a barricade.

The city plans on putting out exploratory bids for utilities in the addition and that estimated cost would help determine what will be done about a barrier.

If the city decides to use trees as a barrier they would consult with experts, like the Mark Eckhoff, Pratt Parks Superintendent, to determine what type of tree would be best, how much water would they need, how far apart the trees should be planted and other factors.

While many have expressed interest to Howard on building in the addition, those people need to attend a city commission meeting and let the commissioners know they are interested in building in the area.

The more people that express interest, the faster the commissioners will act to get development underway in Sandy Creek.

Whatever happens at the site, the city commissioners have to approve all projects on the property so parties interested in the site need to address the commissioners.

Wed 05-Dec-2012

City approves funds for streetscape project

Pratt Tribune Article  11/20/2012

A plan for the Main Street Streetscape Project took a step towards reality Monday night when the Pratt City Commissioners approved $7,500 for the development of concept plans, transportation enhancement application and proposed engineer services contract with EBH and Associates.

The action took place during the regular city commission meeting Monday.

With the passage of the proposal, EBH will start the process of developing the downtown plan that includes talking with all downtown businesses to get their input, public meetings to hear concerns about the project and then developing a plan that will grow from those meetings, said Paul Stoner, EBH office manager.

Options of a two-part plan that starts with three blocks then two more or a one-part plan that covers five blocks will be considered.

Bruce Pinkall, city recreation director who is contacting businesses directly about the project, said he had already been in touch with several businesses and they should have received information packets about the project.

To help meet the potential cost of the project, a Kansas Department of Transportation grant will be pursed. Competition for the KDOT grant will be very competitive.

Approximately 130 people from different Kansas' communities attended a workshop about applying for the grant. Total grant money available is $15 million.

Pratt will try to keep their grant bid between $700,000 to $800,000, Pinkall said.

Part of EBH's responsibilities will be writing the grant application. Deadline for the application is Feb. 15.

With the holidays approaching, that leaves little time so the commissioners voted to have EBH develop the plans.

Estimated cost for three blocks is $1.1 million for three blocks and $1.9 million for five blocks. The city would have a minimum 20 percent participation requirement plus engineering.

These are very preliminary numbers since the concept plans have yet to be developed. If approved the project would not start until 2014. This would give the city a chance to get ample feedback on what the downtown businesses would like to do, Pinkall said.

Feedback on the project is vital. Commissioner Karen Detwiler said she had talked to downtown retailers that had told her they had taken a very big financial hit during the main street project in 2011 and that they could not take another hit like that again ever and survive.

Stoner said when they do a project they do it block by with no parking on one side and a temporary access to every business would be in place.

Along with approving the development of downtown Streetscape plans, the commissioners agreed to provide DeWayne Bryan with a letter of agreement to support efforts to get a grant to help form a committee to develop plans to enhance and support healthy activities within the city.

In other action:

• The commissioners approved increasing the electrical deposit fee to $200. The action would also the city clerk to waive the fee if a new person could produce a letter of credit from a previous Kansas municipality that showed a satisfactory payment of municipal utility bills.

• The commissioners approved an increase from two percent to five percent in the late payment charge for delinquent electric bills.

• The Commissioners approved $27,757 for purchase of new playground equipment, landing material and edge holders from Children's Specialties for the Loren Minnis Park on South Main.

• The commissioners approved $18,591 (without tax) from the electrical production capital outlays equipment fund for three voltage transformers for relay protection. Instrument Transformer Equipment Corporation got the bid. Stanion Wholesale Electric also submitted a bid but it was higher.

• The city also recognized several employees for years of service including Mary Hammond for 35 years with the power plant, and Edwin Gould for 40 years in the street maintenance department.

City ready to move forward on Sandy Creek development

Pratt Tribune Article  11/17/2012
Pratt, Kan. --

The City of Pratt wants to take the next step soon in developing the Sandy Creek addition on the Maple Street extension.

A vital element in getting the development started is interest in building on the addition. The addition also hasn't progressed because money and manpower have been used for other projects like the downtown paving project completed in summer 2011.

When the city commissioners give approval to proceed, the city will put out exploratory bids for utilities for the first phase of the addition that includes 16 lots.
The entire addition has 47 lots available and the average lot size is 13,300 feet, said Brad Blankenship, city inspector.

The bids will help the city determine what kind of monetary investment the city will have to make to get the utilities in place. Since these are exploratory bids, the city doesn't have to accept the bids.

"We're testing the waters to see where we are right now," Blankenship said. "The city has the right to reject any or all bids."

The city has a big investment in the Sandy Creek Addition. By sending out exploratory bids, it gives the city a better grasp of project costs.

"Utilities are expensive. They have to be done right the first time. You can't afford to make a mistake," Blankenship said.

Putting out bids is just one element of getting housing started in Sandy Creek. The city commission needs to know that people are interested in building in the area before they commit substantial sums of money for development.

The city gets phone calls weekly from people interested in building in the addition. They are told they need to come to the city commission meetings and share those desires with the commissioners.

So far, potential homebuilders and potential contractors interested in building speculative houses have not come to the commission meetings and shared their interest in building on the site.

"They (homebuilders and contractors) have to show interest," Blankenship said.

In the meantime, while the exploratory bids may be rejected, if they come back with favorable amounts, the city commissioners might decide to proceed with project development.

If the commissioners decide to proceed, formal bids for utility work will be put out and if accepted, the project can begin.

Two utility elements, electric and water, can be done immediately when bids are approved. Depending on the bids for electric and water, the city can do those utilities themselves. The electrical lines for the project will be run underground.


However, the sewer system is more complicated. The system has to be approved though the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

If they are busy with other projects, it might take some time for KDHE to get to the Sandy Creek project, Blankenship said.

Whoever is hired to do the sewer have to have a KDHE license to install the sewer system.

The Sandy Creek area is already platted. The engineering for the project is though EBH engineering and they will be responsible for getting the plat information to KDHE.

Whatever happens at Sandy Creek, the city commission has to approve all elements before anything can proceed.

f the bids for the first phase are favorable and the addition is opened to builders, the first construction could start as early as summer 2013.

If that phase sells out quickly, the city may decide to combine phases two and three into one phase and go with developing the entire addition.

Fees go up but by less than requested amount

Pratt Tribune Article 10/20/2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com

Late penalties and security deposits for City of Pratt electric service will increase before the year is over — but the adjustments will be smaller than the amounts sought by city staff.

Trying to combat a trend that seems to have begun with the economic downturn of 2008, staff asked the City Commission two meetings ago to increase the late penalty on utility bills from 2 percent to 10 percent and the deposit on electric service from $100 to $250. They also asked for an increase in the water service deposit from $30 to $50.

The Commission only approved the water deposit increase, which will take effect Nov. 1. The commissioners tabled the other two fee hikes over concerns that the requested amounts were too steep. On Monday, the group decided their first instincts had been correct. Late penalties were increased only to 5 percent instead of 10 percent, and the electric deposit will increase to $200 instead of $250.

City Attorney Ken Van Blaricum was asked to draw up an ordinance reflecting the changes and to add measures that would allow the city to demand more than $200 from customers who have previously left the city with unpaid bills. Conversely, new customers who can provide letters of credit may be treated more favorably. The new penalties and deposits may seem unfair to some, City Manager Dave Howard noted, but the only other way for the city to recover its losses is to increase electric rates for everyone.

In other business, the Commssion took the first steps toward a much-expanded upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant. The original plan would have cost the city just under $1 million after $656,800 in loan forgiveness from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It focused on an incremental change that would have addressed only the most urgent of the plant’s problems. The new plan will cost the city an estimated $2.65 million, but it will address several issues cited by KDHE in its last assessment of the facility.

The upgrade will make the plant more efficient reducing the amount of an expected rate increase and the city has setting aside funding for the project for some time.

Monday 22-Oct-2012

Survey may help provide grants

Pratt Tribune Article  5/29/2012

The City of Pratt may be able to fund a number of projects and equipment purchases with federal grants if it can prove that more than 51 percent of the city’s residents are in the state’s low-to-moderate income bracket. The key to presenting regulators with such proof will be a survey that the city will distribute with the help of Great Plains Development of Dodge City. If too few Prattans return the survey, the statistical sample will not be valid.

“We’ll have to make a promotional effort to let people know the survey is coming,” City Manager Dave Howard told the City Commission. “They have to know it’s important.”

If the survey proves successful, the city will be able to use it for a number of years to help fund a variety of projects through Community Development Block Grants.

Individual surveys will be kept confidential.