Building at 107 W. Lincoln could be condemned in the near future
by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The building at 107 W. Lincoln could be condemned in the near future, interim City Manager Shane Shields told the Wellington City Council at its meeting Tuesday.
Last week, the owner blocked off the building. Shields said the city has begun condemnation procedures and he said he understood it is a dangerous structure now. Spencer Furman, owner of Red Beard Barbershop, was forced to close and move elsewhere.
The owner of the building has not been available for comment.
Water issue
The city is still providing bottled water to six customers in the Mayfield area where it has wells that help supply the city with water. KDHE told the city it could not let people tap into untreated water, a practice that had been in place for several decades. Federal rules state a city cannot provide untreated water, and KDHE got involved for that reason.
The city has until the end of August to either agree, or disagree, to a consent order that KDHE is preparing. The city has been providing bottled water as ordered by the KDHE.
Two of the six customers in that area have drilled but have not reached water. The other four appear to be waiting to see what happens.
The people in the area have been letting the city get water under their land for decades with the understanding they could tap into the city’s water line and get water for free. That is no longer happening and the city is trying to figure out what to do.
Its options so far is to drill wells for them, build a water line to them, or walk away and do nothing The third option is not palatable to any of the council members, but they are still considering options.
The city will meet at 5:30 p.m. on August 8 to discuss the subject further.
Council member Kip Etter said a few years ago the city was struggling to get enough water when the lake was very low. Now it is not much of an issue, but it probably will be again at some point. He said he realizes it does not make economic sense to spend a lot of money for four customers, but he said he felt it was a reasonable thing considering what the city gets out of the land.
CDBG grant program
The Community Development Block Grant program to revitalize housing in Wellington continues to progress. A group recently took stock of all the housing in the city. At the meeting Tuesday the council decided to allow a subcommittee of that group carry out the rest of the process. The council will still have to approve whatever is recommended.
The city is considering a public hearing on the issue at the August 2 meeting.
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City Manager search
The council put off voting to approve a contract with the League of Municipalities to help them find a new city manager. It is a service the league offers for a few thousand dollars. Council members felt the contract was too one sided and want to ask more questions.
Council member Jan Korte said the contract appears to say if the city does not take who the league sends them, they will get nothing, and that did not seem right.
“It seems like we should be protected better in this,†she said.
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Mutual EMA aid
The city agreed to a mutual aid contract for EMS with Caldwell. They already have a mutual aid agreement for fire protection, but did not have one for EMS, fire chief Tim Hay said.
Council member Vince Wetta said he was all for it, but also said it looks like a lot of these mutual aid deals are kind of one sided with Wellington providing most of the aid.
He noted it seems like Wellington taxpayers are paying for services for parts of the county.
Hay agreed that Wellington provides more aid than it receives. He said the city does get some reimbursement at times, and when it does that goes into the general fund.
Hay said Wellington does not do mutual aid with Caldwell very often because of the distance, but they have an agreement if they need to.
The city also passed a resolution to renew its contract to provide fire protection in rural fire district six, which is next to the city. The city is paid for that service.
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In other matters…
•The council passed a resolution to hire Mies Construction of Wichita to replace a sewer line on Lincoln Street to C Street that connects to a line coming from Fourth Street.
•A work session is scheduled for August 26 to tackle various issues such as the budget, a new city manager and water in the Mayfield area.
