White Auditorium will get a major facelift with electronic equipment and floors following a vote by city commissioners during Wednesday evening’s meeting.
Commissioners approved an expenditure of $156,500 for electronic equipment and refinishing of the floors in White Auditorium. Equipment includes a 10 mm large video screen, a four-sided scoreboard and related accessories and software. Emporia will be the first in the area to use the 10 mm screen, which is the best technology currently available. All the scoreboards will be electronic as a result of this improvement. The floors will be refinished by Acme Floors.
“The reason for doing this is economic development,” Commissioner Jim Kessler said.
Kessler said the upgrades to White Auditorium prove to a lot of different groups the city is willing to keep the building up and wants large events in Emporia.
In other items:
• Commissioners awarded the bid of parking enforcement in the downtown area to Strawder Security in the amount of $19,500 for the first year; $19,600 for the second and third years; $19,700 for the fourth year and $19,800 for the fifth year. Strawder came in under Solis & Solis, which bid $21,759.37 for the first year of the contract. Solis & Solis has held the contract since July 1996.
• The city’s broadcast on the Channel 8 in Emporia, the government access channel, will move to Channel 18. This resulted after Emporia State University and USD 253 reached an agreement with Cable One on a division of programming time between the two entities on Channel 8. ESU asked the city to consider moving to Channel 18 to allow for ESU’s desire to have expanded programming. This move also will give the city a dedicated government channel and will allow the city to expand programming in the future.
• The commission passed an amendment to the fuel surcharge rates with Hamm Quarry for the transportation and disposal of solid waste. The contract started in 2000 at a base price of $22 per ton for disposal of municipal solid waste and it now is $27.55 per ton. Hamm was seeking an increase in the fuel surcharge based upon rising diesel prices. The surcharge amendment was capped at $6 a gallon. Lyon County commissioners are expected to support the motion as well.
• Commissioners passed a proclamation declaring July 26 as “Kansas All-Star Football Shrine Bowl Day” and recognized Emporia High football player Edd Noonan.
• Commissioners passed a proclamation designating the first Sunday in May each year as “Peter Pan Park Builders Day” for the community to get together annually to have a picnic.
• Commissioners appointed seven members to the Accessibility Advisory Committee. Carrie Boettcher, Shanti Ramcharan and Basil Kessler were appointed for three-year terms. Shawn Honea and John Gatlin were appointed for two-year terms. Kayla Oney and Lennie Armstrong were appointed for one-year terms.
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
gee, and i thought the city had money problems?? i agree it needed a facelift, but why not get sponsorship from all of those businesses hanging banners all over the place in there?? mr longbine...might as well start with you and your car dealership. i remember your banner displayed quite prominantly
July 17, 2008 at 7:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
native_emporia (anonymous) says...
dhcc66: I think this is one you have to look at the bigger picture. The auditorium is a money maker for the city and this work is overdue, in order to keep it a desirable location for use. By the way Longbines give more money then you or I know to the sports programs that go on in that auditorium, so I think an attack on them in this situation is uncalled for.
July 17, 2008 at 8:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justthefacts (anonymous) says...
It is my understanding from watching the meeting on TV that ESU and other entities are contributing a big part of the cost of this project.
July 17, 2008 at 9:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eatasheep69 (anonymous) says...
THIS IS AWESOME! Kudos to all those involved in this project. This will be a great improvement for all sporting events held at an already great venue. Hopefully this will bring even more regional events here, and more outside revenue with them. I can hardly wait to see it!
Thank you commissioners and all contributors.
On a slightly related note, it would be nice if some of the nearby closed restaurants could be reopened or replaced.
If nothing is going to be done with the old Bruff's property, why can't it be paved for additional parking? More space is definitely needed near the auditorium.
July 18, 2008 at 6:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
native, i know this is necessary, but at what price? my point was that the city needs to do a little more creative work on it's sponsorships.
trust me, i've been in the place and heard the complaints, but they are mostly about the uncomfortable seating, the horrible parking, and the temperatures being totally uncontrollable during some months. don't forget the huge debate last year on the concessions too.
lastly, if esu and other entities are contributing, why didn't the paper say so? i know esu normally doesn't shirk their part. the part about the longbines had all to do with what the city has done for the major advertisers and the big businesses of this community. my point was merely that in other communities, the big business people help out with donations (which are tax write offs). take for example Koch Arena or Eck Stadium at WSU. to have longbine, modern air, sauder custom fab, or some of the others step up and say "i'm donating X dollars to the project, then ask for the others in the community to step up too.....maybe we should look into re-naming our "arena" (not the building) for a major sponsor??
As for me? I contribute as well by going to the games, buying the concessions, and paying the price of admissions.
July 18, 2008 at 6:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )