Correction — In a previous version of this story, it was incorrectly stated that the Wellington City Manager job search is coming to near completion. The new Wellington City Planner, not city manager, is about to be hired.

by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington City Council met on Tuesday with an announcement that the Wellington City Planner job search is nearing completion.

In his city council report, current Wellington City Manager Shane Shields hinted that the city is about to hire a city planner who will be overseeing the Planning and Zoning office and will replace former Building Inspector Richard Jack, who passed away last month. Shields said that the City has issued a conditional offer to the applicant and she has accepted.

If all things proceed well, Wellington should have an update on her name as early as the next City work session.

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The meeting started with a public City proclamation congratulating Anna Cullens on her first-place victories at the state track meet in the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

Anna Cullens.

Many consider celebrating Wellington high schoolers’ achievements as one of the most admiral things the Council does, and this was a welcome way to start the meeting.

You can read more about Cullens’ success as well as several other WHS track stars here.

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Following the proclamation, there were several community updates, starting with Jan Grace from Cowley College Sumner Campus. She highlighted the ongoing dorm construction, as well as noted the candidates for Cowley’s President would be visiting the campus on June 22 and 23 to meet the public.

Additionally, she told the Council about Cowley’s continued efforts to bring robotics training to Wellington. It’s been one of the most surprising successes of the campus in town and a local elementary school teacher wants to help extend the education to her students. So, Cowley will work with USD 353 and Kan-Okla to host computer classes for middle school students on June 20 and 24 as well as some robotics courses for elementary schoolers.

If you’re interested in signing up your kids for either course, check out Cowley’s website to register.

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After Ms. Grace’s updates, Jo Plumb, the Director of Wellington’s Public Library, delivered some key news about her institution’s need for help.

In addition to being one of our town’s key public services, The Wellington Public Library is a historical landmark as one of the 20 remaining “Carnegie Libraries.” That means it’s over 100 years old and has a tricky ownership model.

Plumb alerted the Council that the library is in need of some necessary repairs that it has the funds for, but would leave them at great risk should anything else come up. And Ms. Plumb expects something else to come up. The elevator is old and “shakes and stops several times as it ascends,” so much so that it isn’t even up to code.

The stairs out in the front of the building are also showing rebar and need to be reconstructed. But, the Library can’t sign its own grant proposals because the City technically owns the building, so Ms. Plumb came to the Council to ask for help writing some grants she signaled as useful.

The Council agreed that the Library is something the City desperately needs and offered to help in any way they can.

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The final community actions of the evening came in the form of four street closure requests:

1. On the Fourth of July, 19th St, Blaine St. to 19th Alley will be closed from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. for a party;
2. The same day, West 20th St from Plum St to High Dr. will close from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. for a block party;
3. July 8, the First Christian Church requested the south end of alley between 100 W. 9th St and 100 West 10th St. from 6 to 10 p.m. for the Kansas Wheatfest.
4. Finally, the Wellington Humane Society, requested July 9, Clark to Hillside through Worden Park back to Humane Society from 7:30 a.m.to 10 a.m. for their Run for the Paws 5K

All requests were approved unanimously.

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There weren’t any ordinances on the agenda that evening, but there were three resolutions passed on Tuesday.

•The first authorized the city to renew its contract with Mayfield to provide them with water. The two cities had a 40-year contract that recently expired, and this new agreement is largely the same with two key differences. It’s for 15 years, rather than 40, and slightly lowers rates for two rural districts.

•The second resolution approved the South-Central Solid Waste Authority’s 2022 revisions to their five-year plan. SCSWA is a coalition of Chautauqua, Cowley, and Sumner counties that work together to own and operate several solid waste disposal facilities like the landfill.

They recently revised their five-year plan to reflect a pair of updates from two members that the Council needed to approve. The first was the new transfer station to be built in Wellington and the second noted that Winfield ended their curbside mixed-recycling pickup.

You can read the full five-year plan on page 67 of the meeting agenda.

•The last resolution of the evening signed over ownership of the Horton building to Horton Inc. and the City has co-operated the building for years and recently, there have been cumbersome situations created by that setup.

The City decided to resolve those issues (mostly concerning repairs, insurance, and taxes) by signing over the building to Horton. In exchange for ownership, Horton Inc. will repair the north hangar doors.

All resolutions were passed unanimously.

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