City Commission

It is said one should not look a gift horse in the mouth, but City Commissioners were going against that sage advice at the commission meeting Tuesday night in Arkansas City. They had good reason, the gift horse in this case is federal stimulus money.
They gave approval to two grants and put off a decision on another.
Commissioner Mell Kuhn is skeptical of stimulus money because there are strings attached in the form of federal rules that must be followed. He also is concerned that costs go up because higher wages have to be paid.
He has bid on jobs that involve stimulus money in his construction business. He said there is a lot more red tape involved, and it raises his costs.
The grant the city decided to hold off on is one that would pay for some water lines at a cost of around $1.6 million. The state would forgive 20 percent of the loan. Kuhn wanted to know whether the additional costs would offset that 20 percent.
On the other side, some believe the stimulus money should be taken.
Dotty Smith said all taxpayers are paying for, or will be paying for, the stimulus packages. She added that if we do not use it here, someone else will use it, but local people will still be paying taxes to fund the projects.
There are two water line projects that the city was considering as part of the $1.6 million loan. One goes between Kansas Ave. and Bryant Road, and would help bring additional water to the north side of town. The other would be a water line to the new hospital.
A motion to apply for the loan was passed. The city may still turn down the funds even if it gets the loan.
Kuhn said the city “needs to keep its eyes wide open on this.”
Commissioner Patrick McDonald said “if we don’t look at it we won’t know if it is good or not.”
The city staff should have a report to the commission in late July.

The city also awarded a contract to Nowak Construction of Goddard, to replace or rehabilitate 2400 feet of 24-inch sewer main line. The “Fourth Street Interceptor” on the Walnut River was damaged in the floods of 2007.
The winning bid was $772,362. There were six bids. All of them were under the engineer’s estimate of $1.5 million.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for 75 percent of the project, and the state will pick up 12 percent, leaving the city to pay 13 percent of the total costs.
Clay Randel of the city’s environmental services dept., said he was a little concerned because the highest bidder – Middlecreek Corp, ($1,193,808) is the company that is most familiar with the area and the project. He said the lowest bidder is also experienced in the area.

The city approved acceptance of a grant that will help rehabilitate housing in the city which involves stimulus money.
The grant is for $1,650,000 and is to be divided between Arkansas City, Winfield and the county. The project will pay for demolition of dilapidated housing and for construction of new houses.
City Manager Steve Archer said the city hopes two or three houses can be built for that. The city hopes to work with Habitat for Humanity on the project.

Other items:
Proclaimed May 17 - May 23 as National Public Works Week in
Arkansas City.
Declared May 25 as Poppy Day in Arkansas City.
Presented Beautification Advisory Board’s Good Neighbor Award to Kiley Andes, Jaden
Moore, ACHS FFA and ACHS Work Ethics Department.
Approved rezoning 1004 N. 1st from R-1 to B-2 - Jim Graham.