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.

‘City Park’ gets red bricks, green light

Apr. 18, 2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com

Pratt’s Leadership 2000 Plus class finally won approval Monday night for a downtown City Park at Fourth and Main — along with an initial package of assistance from the City Commission worth about $14,000.

At least one commissioner, however, thinks the civic group may have “a tiger by the tail.”

Gary Skaggs and his fellow commissioners seemed chiefly concerned by the group’s ability to raise the necessary funds for the project — even though it will rely on bricks leftover from the Main Street project to resurface the gravel lot and donated water and electrical lines from the city for utilities.

The group has only $1,500 in its coffers, but many potential donors have been waiting for the Commission to approve the project and accept the deed for the land from The Peoples Bank, said Tracey Beverlin, who presented the Leadership class proposal to the Commission. In addition to beautifying the empty corner lot, the Leadership class hopes to re-establish a farmers market that will be both better regulated than its predecessor at the Presbyterian Church parking lot and more exclusive.

The commissioners also expressed concern about the farmers market and its potential to attract vendors who often sell their wares directly from their vehicles. To reduce expense and to maintain its “park” atmosphere, vehicles will not be allowed on the brick surface.

Mayor Bill Hlavachick encouraged Beverlin to ask Peoples Bank representatives for permission to use the gravel parking lot next to the Parrish Hotel on market days. Vendors with vehicles could set up shop there, he said.

In other business, the Commission:

*Welcomed newly elected Commissioner Luke Kumberg who defeated incumbent Vic Graf in the April election.

* Chose Bill Hlavachick to replace Jeff Taylor as mayor. Both men have held the position several times.

* Watched a presentation by Recreation Director Bruce Pinkall about the city’s efforts to promote itself over the next decade.

* City Clerk Lou Kramer recites the oath of office for new City Commissioner Lucus Kumberg at Monday night’s regular meeting. Kumberg defeated incumbent Vic Graf in the April election. The Commission also chose Commissioner Bill Hlavachick to be the new mayor.

Exploration boom fuels plans for new industrial park

Pratt Tribune Article 2/7/2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com

The Pratt City Commission is expected to approve an annexation agreement in two weeks that will pave the way for local businessman Dale Withers to develop an industrial park opposite Walmart on U.S. 54.

The recent boom in oil and natural gas exploration in the region is driving the development, City Manager Dave Howard told the Commission Monday night.

Withers’ 50-acre industrial park will be anchored initially by Weatherford International, one of the largest oil and natural gas service companies. A building only slightly smaller than the new BTI location north of Pratt is expected to be home base for 40 and 60 Weatherford employees, Howard said.

The industrial park will be located to the east and south of the recently announced Hibbetts Sporting Goods location. The highway frontage portion of the property will continue to be zoned for highway service, but the majority of the land will be zoned heavy industrial.

City workers will begin work soon on a $16,556 sewer extension to the industrial park. An estimated $18,000 water line will follow. Withers has not asked other incentives.

“It’s good that we have a local person who’s investing in the future of the community,” Howard said.

An outside developer considering a similar project had sought several concessions from the community in preliminary negotiations, he added.

In other business, the Commission: Tabled until its next meeting a decision on a used pumper engine for the Fire Department so that Commissioner Gary Skaggs could take part in the discussion. Skaggs was unable to attend Monday’s meeting. Approved new backup data servers for the Police Department for use onsite and at a remote site. A lightning strike in August took out two of the department’s three servers and demonstrated the need for a secure off-site backup. Drug forfeiture funds will be used for the $25,000 project. Discussed the requirements for installing electric lines in Sixth Street Park to expand Lemon Park Lights holiday displays into a new area.

CITY COMMISSION - City defers to airport board

Pratt Tribune Article 1/17/2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com

The City Commission was evenly divided Monday night on whether to allow the cremated remains of veterans to be placed at the B-29 All Veterans Memorial at the Pratt Regional Airport.

With Commissioner Bill Hlavachick absent, the five-member commission found itself unable to offer a recommendation to the Pratt Airport Authority, which would also have to give its permission for the project to go ahead.

By a loose consensus the Commission opted to leave the matter in the hands of the Airport Authority and amend city ordinances based upon the Authority’s decision.

The B-29 All Veterans Memorial Committee, a private non-profit organization, proposed the project after the family of a veteran who served at the former Pratt Army Air Field asked permission to scatter the ashes of the veteran and his wife at the airport.

When the committee offered to have the cremains inurned at the B-29 Memorial in a columbarium designed just for that purpose, the family enthusiastically agreed, said committee member Jack Mc-Cawley.

The committee’s proposal would create 40 spaces with stone markers flush with the surrounding concrete at the south side of the present memorial flanked by benches. Columbariums are often raised edifices above ground level, but the committee believes the inground inurnment will reduce maintenance and discourage vandalism.

McCawley said the project has been pre-funded with local donations.

Commissioners Vic Graf and Karen Detwiler both said a columbarium would be better suited for Greenlawn Cemetery.

Commissioner Gary Skaggs disagreed. Columbariums are becoming more popular, he said, even among members of his extended family.

Mayor Jeff Taylor supported the B-29 Committee’s proposal. In other business, the Commission: Re-appointed Rita Hitt and Tom Jones to new three-year terms on the Cemetery Board.

Refuted a rumor that the city has leased any public land for oil exploration. Developers have made inquiries, City Manager Dave Howard said, but the Commission would have to vote publicly before any such leases could be signed. The Commission is not actively considering the inquiries.

Named Gary Myers as chief of police, removing the term “acting” from his title, which has been in place for more than a year since former chief Steve Holmes resigned the position.