Larned City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a brief look at what the Larned City Council did Monday evening:
• In the consent agenda, approved the date of a work session on housing as 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Santa Fe Trail Center.
• Approved Appropriations Ordinance No. 10 in the amount of $743,000 more or less, plus transfers.
• Recognized Ralph Streit, electrical distribution superintendent, for winning a Dedicated Commitment to Service Award at the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency conference on Oct. 23. The award, established in 2016, is presented annually by the KMEA to recognize an employee from a KMEA member city who has demonstrated outstanding performance and made significant local contributions to their municipal utility.
• As a late addition to the agenda introduced by Councilman Kim Barnes, discussed the price of natural gas looking ahead to the winter months. Barnes asked whether the council could make an advance purchase of fuel to avoid a natural gas fuel price spike this winter. An advantage to Larned’s generation capability is through its dual-fuel generators, which use diesel as well as natural gas. Streit said that while generation was weather-dependent, this winter should be more spike-resistant than in past years.
• In discussion of a sidewalk assessment waiver for the deteriorating property at 423 Broadway in Larned, the council approved directing City Manager Brad Eilts and City Attorney Mark Tremaine to meet with the prospective buyer of the building to work out an agreement effecting the building’s repair within a reasonable timeline.
• Adopted an ordinance regarding parallel generation and interconnection of electrical power in the community. In 2018, the city council established a net metering rate for distributed generation electric utility customers, which included a demand charge for peak monthly kilowatt usage and a significantly lower consumption rate. In 2020, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that investor-owned utilities may not discriminate between DG and non-DG customers. Following suit, representatives of Evergy, cooperatives and municipal utilities including Kansas Municipal Utilities developed consumer protection policy and legislation recommendations. This resulted in the ruling that investor-owned utilities must comply with net metering statutes while municipal utilities must develop parallel generation policy.
At a Sept. 16 work session, the council and Priority Power consultant Greg Wright developed an ordinance containing parallel generation rates, charges and requirements. The council approved interconnection standards that included: interconnection application, agreement, certificate of completion, permission to operate and renewable energy parallel generation application for service. An ordinance amendment providing for new rates, charges, and standards was also approved.
• After discussion, adopted 2021 the International Building Code for the city. The IBC is updated every three years, last updated in July 2021.
• Approved the submittal of required forms requested by the Kansas Department of Transportation in acceptance of a grant award of $850,400 for FY2026 Safe Routes to Schools program and project. As awarded, the grant is funded 100% by KDOT for preliminary engineering and design; construction and construction engineering and inspection. The city, however, would be responsible for right-of-way acquisition, utility locations, non-participating items and any amount exceeding the federal award of $14,700.
• Approved the outlined seven-member Dispatch/911 Advisory Board as presented to the council, with appointment of Councilman Josh Riedl as the city’s designated representative.
LARNED – A pending sale of a building in the 400 block of downtown Larned led to discussion of its current condition and city assessments on the property at Monday’s meeting of the Larned City Council.
At issue was a request by the realtor of the prospective buyer of the building at 423 Broadway to waive some $12,000 in assessments to allow the buyer to purchase, rehabilitate and place the building into productive use.
City Manager Brad Eilts, in providing recent background of the building, noted that in 2018 the council, upon request of the city’s ADA committee and the current owner Max and Donna Galliart, removed and replaced a portion of the sidewalk after three people had fallen at the location due to the sidewalk’s poor condition. The cost of the repair at $8,911.35 was assessed to the property and has accrued due to interest to approximately $12,000.
Eilts noted that the building is vacant after three businesses attempted to lease it over the past five years. Non-maintenance has resulted in failure of the building’s roof, and if allowed to continue down that path, the city would then be faced with razing the structure as unsafe.
Eilts also noted that the current value of the building is less than the sidewalk assessment, as well as three years of accrued back taxes.
Council debate centered on the past history of the building’s owners walking away from payments as well as maintenance on the building. In addition, the upper story was damaged by fire in January 2017, in which a tenant living in the second-story apartment received minor injuries.
The prospective buyer, who had previously asked not to be identified in the discussion, plans to rehabilitate the building upon gaining title, beginning with renovation of the first floor to a small commercial facing in the front with two small apartments in the rear. The second floor renovation would be accomplished at a later time, Eilts said.
If left alone, it could cost as much as $50,000-$60,000 for the city to eventually raze the structure.
“The question here is that this could be a positive story in that there is potential to acquire buildings and put them into productive use. That’s not a narrative that you would have heard about three years ago,” Eilts noted. “There are viable opportunities for people in that area and throughout the community.”
Council debate then shifted to what kind of agreement could be generated between the city and the prospective owner so that the purchase could come to pass. Eilts noted that recovery of the assessment costs is not anticipated, and the seller would not realize any profit from the sale, as proceeds would go to the unpaid taxes of about $4,500.
“The chicken and the egg situation here is that he can’t do anything until he owns the property, and we don’t want to waive the assessment until we can get an agreement from him that the building will be rehabilitated,” noted Councilman Jason Murray.
Council consensus was that there needed to be some kind of assurance that the roof, which was already leaking, would be repaired in a timely manner.
Councilman Murray then moved that the City Manager and City Attorney Mark Tremaine make contact with the prospective buyer to develop an agreement that the assessment would be waived if the roof is repaired, pending contractor participation, within a time frame of at least April, 2025.
Councilman Kim Barnes agreed, noting that “the city manager and city attorney could work with the individual so that we can keep everything we’ve got and then waive the assessment as we go along,” he said.
The motion passed 6-0 among members present.
