New firefighters introduced

Great Bend Fire Chief Luke McCormick introduced two new firefighters to the City Council Monday night. Nelson Neuberger and Joel Mosqueda have been with the department for about three weeks and will finish their four-week training this Friday.

“They’ll be going on shifts with us right before Christmas,” McCormick said. 

Neuberger is from Harrington and is commuting for the time being. Mosquedo is from Great Bend and graduated from Great Bend High School last year.

“We’re proud to have them both aboard with the department and we look for some great things from them,” he said. With these hires, the GBFD is only short one firefighter of being fully staffed.

Public warned of cold weather and water meters

With the upcoming cold weather, Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis wants the public to be aware of  potential problems with frozen water meters.

“We have some concerns with possibility of frozen water meters,” he said. “I know last year we had a pretty good snap that we had several that froze up.”

In light of this, “we’re asking citizens that if they think that has occurred that they would contact us to look into it,” he said. “We’re trying to dissuade them from messing with their meters. Our team will address that.”

Those with concerns can call the city at 620-793-4111 during or after business hours. If after hours, the callers should leave their name and phone number, and city personnel will call back.

Amber Meadows housing incentive program advances

The Great Bend City Council Monday night approved a Rural Housing Incentive District resolution for Amber Meadows.

At the Nov. 7 work session, the council was presented with information regarding  RHIDs. Additionally, it was proposed that the undeveloped, city-owned property at Amber Meadows be designated an RHID to promote future housing development. 

The council gave consensus to move forward with seeking an RHID designation for that property. The first step is to pass a resolution requesting the Secretary of Commerce to approve the designation.

This designation does not commit the city to any future expenditures, but simply provides this incentive for developers, City Administrator Kendal Francis said.

“This is just the first step,” he said. “It just puts the incentive in place.

Although unlikely, there is a chance the Kansas Department of Commerce could deny the request.

This originated with a request from Ellinwood contractor Justin Joiner, who sought the city’s backing for the Kansas Department of Commerce program aimed at spurring housing development.

The area in the northwest corner of Great Bend can accommodate at least 60 lots. Joiner said he would like to build about 20 to 30 houses per year, but that depends on the interest rates.

What the RHID does is it captures the incremental increase in (property taxes) to pay off the infrastructure costs for up to 25 years.

In other words, the city won’t receive any property tax revenue from the new construction for 25 years, or until the infrastructure is paid for. 

With this, the city can pay off all public-owned infrastructure (streets, curbs, water and sewer) and, in turn, that cost isn’t turned over to the homeowner. All all taxing entities forego the taxes on the new homes under the same conditions.

GB Airport FBO named

Making it officials, the Great Bend City Council OKed Monday night a fixed-base operator lease assignment for the Great Bend Municipal Airport with Coulson Corporation.

Under the current FBO agreement (first established in July 2020), Marion, Iowa-based P&N Flight and Charter was named the FBO. But, it had appeared to assign the agreement to another entity (Coulson Corporation). Without city consent, this would be a violation of that contract, airport Manager Martin Miller said. 

“For two years, they (Coulson) have been doing the job,” Miller said. It just hasn’t been formalized.

In response to a letter sent by City Attorney Allen Glendenning, P&N requested the city’s approval to assign the agreement to Coulson, subject to the transfer of ownership of Coulson Corporation to Ryan and Ashley Coulson. 

This request has the unanimous support of the Airport Advisory Committee, Miller said. 

An FBO is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction and similar services.

Blizzard Energy gets new lease

Hoping to help the company get back on its feet, The Great Bend City Council approved a new lease for Blizzard Energy Inc.’s location at the Great Bend Municipal Airport. The current 10-year lease expires on Dec. 31.

Blizzard suspended operations during COVID because it couldn’t sustain a workforce and is attempting to restart. The deal calls for a one-year term, with four renewable one-year options. Initial rent is $1,779 per month. This amount will remain the same from their current agreement. Rent increases 5% with each renewal. Rent will increase to $2,850 per month upon return of the facility to full-time operations (eight hours per day, five days per week).  

Owners first brought the idea up before the Great Bend City Council a decade ago but it was another couple of years before it was up and running. 

Blizzard Energy of Santa Maria, Calif., takes old tires and shreds and melts them. The by-products of this process are gas (which can be used to heat the facility), oil (which can be refined to off-road diesel fuel), carbon black (which is used as filler in rubber products and many modern plastics), and the steel from the steel belts.

Council OKs actions for housing development

Paving the way for Housing Opportunities Inc.’s Brynwood Addition, the Great Bend City Council approved Monday night the rezoning and final plat development.

HOI has filed an application to rezone the land behind Sixth and Grant streets from agricultural to planned unit development within city limits. This first phase of development will be named Cambridge Park, said Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns.

HOI is proposing to develop the 24 acres of land it purchased just south of Walmart, known as the Brynwood Addition. This development will consist of three separate phases to incorporate different types of housing totaling 64 units.

The 28-unit low-income Cambridge Park will be Phase 1. It is a project combining supportive services provided by Sunflower Diversified Services to allow the project to cater to its clientele.

Burns said a public hearing was held on Nov. 28 before the Planning Commission. There were no surrounding property owners that attended the meeting and the commission has recommended approval of the rezoning.

The commission also recommended approval of the final plat.  

In a related matter, the council OKed a revised  city boundary resolution that expands the city limits to include the Brynwood Addition property recently annexed by the city.