Here is a quick look at what the Great Bend City Council did Monday night:
• Recognized outgoing Ward 4 Councilman Junior Welsch for his years of service.
• Held a swearing-in ceremony for new Ward 4 Councilwoman Natalie Towns, and returning council members Alan Moeder, Cory Urban and Jolene Biggs.
• Re-elected Biggs as the council president.
• Set 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21, during the council meeting as the time and date for a public hearing for an unsafe and dangerous property at 205 Frey.
There are trash and refuse on the property including, but not limited, to mattresses, furniture, scrap metal and general refuse that needs to be
removed, Building Inspector Logan Burns reported. And, there are numerous vehicles on the property that have flat tires and are either not displaying current registration, and/or are not in operable condition.
• Held a work session on the property abatement process.
• Heard a report from City Administrator Kendal Francis.
• Heard a report from Great Bend Economic Development Inc. President Sara Hayden.
• Approved a door-to-door license for Magna Dry.
• Approved abatements for trash and refuse violations at: 418 Dogwood St., Ivan Galindo Coronel; 019 Holland St., Debra K. Naw; 301 Evergreen St., Gladys Chism; 216 Maple St., Juan Abarca; 5818 Hemlock Dr., Hernan Llanas-Bernal; 21 01 Hubbard St., lsabal Esmeralda-Flores; 211 Pine St., Jose Guadalupe Guerra; 201 Plum St., Leesa D. Maupin; 716 Hubbard St., Luz E. Campos; 6013 Broadway Ave., Gerald L. Wilburn; 422 Frey St., Jose M. Villalobos; and 309 3rd St., Ricardo Cervantes.
• Approved an abatement for a motor vehicle nuisance at: 1436 16th St., Jane E. Saindon.
The City of Great Bend governing body members officially re-took their seats Monday night after their election last November. They took their oaths of office in the City Council chambers at City Hall as the council reorganized during its first meeting of the year.
Sworn in were: Newly re-elected council members Alan Moeder in Ward 1, Jolene Biggs in Ward 2 and Cory Urban in Ward 3, and newly elected Ward 4 Councilwoman Natalie Towns, who won as a write-in candidate in last Nov. 2’s general election, replacing Junior Welsch who did not seek another term. Mayor Cody Schmidt, who was sworn in earlier in the day, handled the swearing-in duties.
The council also recognized outgoing Ward 4 Councilman Junior Welsch for his years of service. He is moving out of the area and didn’t re-file for another term.
But, there no filings for Welsch’s position in the general election. There were four write-ins – Towns, Randolph S. Myers, Larry Gene Parsons and Brock R. McPherson (who already holds the other Ward 4 seat).
The council consists of eight members, with two representing each of the four wards and each serving two-year terms. Every year, one seat in each ward is up for election.
Next, Biggs was re-elected as the council president. The council president is a serving council member elected by the members of the City Council to serve in the temporary absence of the mayor.
The Fourth Ward issue
On the recommendation of a mayoral select council committee, the full council on Feb. 4, 2020, appointed Welsch to fill the vacant Fourth Ward council seat with the term ending January 2022.
Welch served Ward 4 along with McPherson. In November 2019, McPherson ran an unsuccessful bid for mayor, but garnered the most write-in votes among the four write-in candidates for the second Ward 4 seat, an opening for which no one had filed.
McPherson decided to keep his current position and not take the new one. Should he have switched, he would have resigned his current seat and been sworn into the new seat he was elected for in November 2019 since a member can’t hold two concurrent seats, city officials said.
He was elected in November 2018 to the post that was up for reelection in 2020. The other second Ward 4 position was up for reelection 2021.
Because of McPherson’s choice, the council had to fill the vacant Ward 4 position and Welsch was selected.
