Petition to contest bond issuance for automated trash service has been turned into county election office
Update: According to several sources the petition has been thrown out. We will have more information tomorrow.
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by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The final regular meeting for the current Wellington City Council could have been considered a pow-wow since no resolutions or ordinances were taken. The meeting lasted exactly 30 minutes. However, there were some timely updates.
Automated trash service petition
Wellington City Manager Shane Shields said a petition has been received by the Sumner County Clerk’s office to contest a bond issue that would issue general obligation bonds for the financing of an automated trash service that includes an automated truck and recycling home pick up. The petitions are currently being verified for valid signatures.
If the county clerk verifies that there are enough legitimate signatures then the new Wellington City Council, to be initiated on Jan. 8, can either:
1) Call for a special election;
2) Don’t do anything and allow the issue to die.
Shields said for a special election will cost $7,000 for a poll election and $10,000 for a mail-in election.
A timetable for this process has yet to be determined.
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CDBG grant
Shields said the mandatory bid tour for the contractors on the four houses that qualified for the Community Development Building Grant will be Tuesday, Jan. 9.
The bids will be for homes at 608 N. Washington, 301 E. 9th, 611 North B and 109 W. 11th.
Only sealed bids received at city hall prior to the bid opening will be accepted. Bid deadline is 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17. All sealed bids will then be opened and publicly read aloud at that time. A recommendation for the award will be made at that time.
Those four properties will receive up to $25,000 in rehabilitation cost to a property, provided they pay 25 percent of the total cost of the project. For example, if a home is need of $30,000 worth of repairs, the landlord could be required to commit 25 percent of that final price ($7,500) and the grant would assume 75 percent of the rehabilitation costs of $22,500.
The targeted area eligible for these grants were from A Street to G Street and from H Street to 15th Street.
The community received in $300,000 grant money in 2017.
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City positions
Wellington City Clerk Carol Mericle said there are currently three positions for the Planning Commission and one position for the Wellington Library board. Those eligible will be appointed in March.
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Next week
As expected the new council will be inducted on Monday, Jan. 8. Jan Korte, Vince Wetta and Bill Butts will be replaced by Jennifer Heersche, Joe Soria and Kevin Dodds. Shields informed the council that an appointment will need to be made for the Airport Authority Board in which Wetta was the city council representative. Also, Korte asked about the Wellington Healthcare Authority for Sumner Regional Medical Center for which she represented. Korte suggested Shields should attend those meetings.
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