Great Bend City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a quick look at what the Great Bend City Council did Monday night:
• Appointed Rickee Maddox as the new Ward 4 council member, replacing Brock McPherson.
• Approved a rezoning request made by Mark Bittle.
Bittle is the owner of the property located at 18 Third St. and is looking to move in a modular home at the property. Bittle requested rezoning from C-2 (General Commercial) to R-4 (Manufactured Homes) to be able to move in a home on the property. This lot has previously been vacant and sits next to R-4 zoning, Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said. The Planning Commission recommended approval.
• Held a public hearing on an unsafe-dangerous structure at 301 Chestnut. After the hearing, the council approved a resolution giving the owner until Sept. 8 to finish cleanup and prove it is bug free.
• Approved the closure of a public parking lot for a vendor shopping event.
Amber McMurray of Dighton has had many successful events in Garden City and has an interest in hosting an identical event (to be dubbed Brews and Browse) in Great Bend in partnership with Dry Lake Brewing in the parking lot behind the brewery Saturday, Oct. 21.
She was requesting council permission to close the parking lot for the event. This event does not allow alcohol to be consumed in the parking lot; all the alcohol will stay in Dry Lake Brewing, but she will have hand-made craft vendors and a few food vendors, she said.
• Approved the 2023 employee handbook revision. It becomes effective Oct. 2.
This will officials time to get the new handbook out to staff and have them read and sign an acknowledgement prior to the effective date, Human Resources Director Randy Keasling said.
• Changed of date for the next regular council meeting from Monday, Sept. 4, to Tuesday, Sept. 5, because of the Labor Day holiday. The meeting will still start at 6:30 p.m.
• Approved door-to-door licenses and temporary cereal malt beverage licenses.
The Great Bend City Council once again had eight members seated in the council’s City Hall chamber Monday night after Rickee Maddox was appointed and sworn in as the newest councilman, replacing Brock McPherson in representing the Fourth Ward.
The council declared the seat vacant on Aug. 7 and he city started accepting applications for the opening Tuesday, Aug. 8. The goal was to fill the seat by the next council meeting, which was Monday night.
“(Council members) Natalie Towns, Davis Jimenez and Jolene Biggs, and myself interviewed two applicants last Thursday,” Mayor Cody Schmidt said. They agreed to recommend the council approve Maddox’s appointment.
After her approval, she was sworn in by City Clerk/Finance Director Shawna Schafer. She then took her seat at the council table.
“For the first time in a long time, we are going to be full up here in the council chambers and that’s exciting,” Schmidt said. “Thank you, Ricki. We’re glad to have you.”
The Fourth Ward has been at half representation for several months due to the failure of McPherson to take the oath or attend any meetings since the last election, Schmidt said. Pursuant to Ordinance 4409, when a council member fails to take the oath or is absent at four consecutive regular meetings they are deemed to have resigned and the position is vacant.
The reason for the ordinance approved in June by the council was the repeated lack of attendance by McPherson. Each of the city’s four wards has two council representatives, leaving Ward 4 with only one who attends meetings regularly, Natalie Towns.
Council members serve two-year terms and Towns is up for reelection Nov. 7. But, McPherson’s seat isn’t up for election until 2024.
The city is divided into four wards, each with two council members. The terms are staggered so one from each ward comes up during each election.
Prior to the ordinance, the city had no clear definition of what creates a vacancy or any procedure to address the situation where a person is elected to a position on the governing body but fails or refuses to accept the office, take the oath and/or attend meetings. This either left a portion of the citizenry not fully represented or left the city with only the cumbersome and expensive process governed by Kansas state statutes that require a recall election initiated by the residents of the ward in question.
