Mayor Kevin Nelson delivered the state of the city address during Wednesday’s city commission meeting.
“The city saw a number of initiatives during 2011,” Nelson said. “.... Three city commissioners were elected in April: Bobbi Mlynar, Rob Gilligan and Joel Phipps.”
The new comissioners “received a baptism under fire by starting on budget at their first meeting. They passed with flying colors with the budget being adopted on time,” he said.
“The 2012 budget meets the goals that the city commission set when it did its goal-setting in May.”
The budget includes about $4.2 million in capital projects.
“The city is committed to reinvesting in its infrastructure, which is the foundation of any community,” Nelson said. “I believe the residents of Emporia understood the importance of this when they approved the 1-cent county-wide sales tax in 2008.
“This tax will be expiring in 2014 and the city will be forced to drastically reduce its infrastructure program if this source of revenue is not renewed.”
Another goal established by the city commission is to improve partners in the community, he said. The city became a member of the Emporia Chamber of Commerce and the Emporia Arts Council in 2011.
“There are many worthwhile organizations in our community that all work hard to improve the quality of life and the city wants to partner with them and help coordinate efforts where possible,” Nelson said.
Some joint projects that the city is working on for 2012 include providing additional parking around the Emporia Humanitarian Center (former Lowther South building) and creating a partnership with Emporia Main Street, the Chamber and the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas on the Community Initiative Development Phase III visioning program.
“I believe that Emporia can best prosper by creating partnerships and sharing resources,” Nelson said.
The city is pleased to work with Michael Shonrock, the new president of Emporia State University, he said.
“The city and the university are continually looking for ways to work together to improve the university and increase on-campus enrollment,” he said.
The city is also looking to expand its housing enforcement program and eliminate poor housing around the university, Nelson said.
“Having safe and attractive housing is one of the biggest reasons for the students’ choice when selecting a college,” he said. “The city and ESU have identified this as one of the most important town-gown issues.”
“... The city started its first serious discussion in four years on the property enforcement. The city to-date has spent over 225 hours gathering data and preparing possible options for improving housing.”
“The city commission has discussed increasing the budget for demolition, eliminating blight through exterior repairs, eliminating overgrown and junk-strewed yards and trimming or removing of dead or overgrown trees,” Nelson said.
“The city commission will be meeting with interested parties in the first half of 2012 to seek input on what type of property enforcement program that the city should have,” he said. “I anticipate a program will start in 2012.”
The city adopted its fourth budget in a row without a mill rate increase despite the declining property values, and its second budget without a rate increase on the water bill, Nelson said.
The city commission approved, 4-1, the bids to purchase two 2012 Dodge Chargers rear-wheel sedans at $22,582 each from Emporia Motors and one 2013 Ford Interceptor all-wheel drive sedan at $23,914 from North Ford. The purchase had been budgeted to come from the multi-year fund; with revenues higher than projected, the commission will decide at a future meeting which fund will be used to pay the expense.
Commissioner Jim Kessler opposed the motion because the total bids are more than the amount of $68,200 that the 2012 budget recommended.
Commissioner Mlynar said public safety is important, and police officers need cars that are suitable and appropriate and keep the police rotation functional.
“We know we can do it this year and we may not be able to do it next year and it seems like a good opportunity to do it at an affordable price,” she said.
Police Chief Gary Smith said he recommended the city purchase three 2012 Dodge Chargers based on economic reasons for the Police Department even though the 2013 Ford Interceptors performed better than the Chargers.
The commission wanted the police officers to test out the Ford Interceptor to see if that can be a better fit to the Department than the current Chevrolet Impalas and the Dodge Chargers.
Commissioner Phipps said he did a ridealong with a police officer in one of the Impalas a while back and they are not very functional because he believes there is not much room for two officers if they are wearing their vests and equipment.
In other business Wednesday, the commission did the following:
The commission approved, 5-0, the consent agenda that involved the approving the minutes from the Jan. 18 meeting, ratifying the payroll ordinance for the period that began Jan. 8 and ended Jan. 21, approving the December budget and setting 2 p.m. Feb. 28 as the time and date to receive bids for Huntington Road and Morningside Drive sanitary sewer rehab project.
The commission approved, 5-0, for Nelson to sign the proclamation naming Feb. 20-26 as TRIO Week in Emporia.
TRIO is a federally funded program that assists economic, social or physical disadvantaged students attend and graduate college, said Yuliana Reyes, who works for TRIO at Emporia State University. First-generation students also fall under the guidelines for TRIO.
The commission approved, 5-0, for Nelson to sign the proclamation naming Feb. 14 as Emporia State University’s Founders’ Day in Emporia.
The commission approved, 5-0, for Nelson to sign an incentive compliance agreement with the city and Fanestil, in accordance with the motion at the Oct. 5 commission meeting.
The ICA agreement had been held, pending a contract with Rural Water District No. 2, which services the area where Fanestil’s new plant would be located. If the plant is built, the city will provide water to the plant property, which has been annexed into the city. The water contract provides that the city will supply Rural Water District No. 2’s needs for water for the next 20 years with a peak limit of 12 million gallons per month, which is the same amount as in the current contract, according to city documents. The city agrees to repay the Water District construction costs based on the prior agreement of $13,533.
The commission agreed, 4-0, to table for two weeks the bid for air conditioning in the Little Theater in the William Lindsay White Arena. Kessler abstained because his company, Modern Air Conditioning, placed a bid for the project.
Zimmerman said he needed the two weeks to look at historical grants for possible funding.
The commission approved, 5-0, to appoint Mary Halleran to the Community Corrections Board to finish board member Valerie Zimmerman’s term until Dec. 31. Halleran will be eligible after Dec. 31 to be reappointed for a two-year term, with no limits on the number of terms served.