Sumner Newscow report — Reminder, the Wellington City Council is having a special meeting at noon today to take up some matters it considers urgent, which is why such a meeting was called. The council will be discussing property acquisition though they did not name the property. They could have an executive session for contractual or business matters, but Mayor Shelly Hansel said she was not certain.

The council will also talk about the golf course irrigation system which has been discussed for some time. They will also appoint a person to the planning commission.

At its work session Thursday, the council went over various applications for the several boards the city has. Things like the Airport advisory board, the hospital board, library board and so forth were discussed. The council is expected to make some recommendations at the next meeting Tuesday, and some will not come until March.

The council had a big list of candidates and nearly everyone who applied got put on a board. Some applicants listed their first or second choice of boards.

The council had a lot of applicants for the auditorium board, and might consider adding to the total number of that board. All the boards have five members unless another amount is required by state or federal law as a result of city ordinances. The city could change that if it wanted to.

Council member Kelly Green said it is good to hear from more people, and the auditorium needs more promotion, so it might be a good idea to get more people involved.

The council also talked more about a Community Development Block Grant. There were a few meetings on this issue, and with it they could apply for grants to make improvements on housing stock and neighborhoods in the city.

Part of that is establishing a committee to do a study of the housing stock in the city. There will be 10 to 15 people on this committee and they will go throughout the city looking at houses, making notes and grading the entire city’s housing stock.

That will be a big part of the grant application, which could bring the city several hundred thousand dollars to refurbish, or even remove houses that are in bad shape.

There will be two members from the city itself, two from the council, two from the county, and the rest will be private citizens.

The city is still soliciting volunteers for that project.

If the city were to get a grant it would have to choose an area or neighborhood in the city to improve. A housing assessment done by volunteers will tell the city where the greatest need is.

Mayor Hansel said neighborhood blight is a big problem in Wellington, and this could be a progressive way to move forward.

“We don’t want to tell people what to do with their property, but we need to have some pride of ownership,” she said.

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