LINDSBORG, Kan. — Larry Lysell was appointed to the Lindsborg City Council Monday night. Lysell, a long time educator and former school superintendent, was recommended by Mayor Clark Shultz to fill the Ward 3 position to fill the remainder of the term of Andrew Smith, who resigned earlier this year after moving out of the ward. After being sworn in by City Clerk Roxie Sjogren, Lysell took his seat at the Council table.
During the meeting Lindsborg Old Mill and Swedish Heritage Museum executive director Aubrey Wheeler presented a 2026 budget request in which she asked for an increase in funding from the city from $30,000 to $50,000. Wheeler provided an overview of the recent activities at the Old Mill Complex including several recent projects.
The Lindsborg City Council deferred actions related to expenditure of remaining funds from a 2016 bond used to finance the Garfield Channel project on two other projects. This includes work on Green and Union Streets, which would be designated as main trafficways enabling use of these funds for that work, and for HVAC improvements at City Hall.
Council members have questions about whether it would be appropriate to designate those two streets, particularly whether it would obligate the city to make improvements to the part of Union that is gravel.
The Council also approved increasing the city’s cyber insurance coverage from $100,000 to $1 million. Finance director David Hay said in discussing this with other professionals in the field they suggested the higher coverage rate. Three quotes were obtained, and the Council approved the quote of Evolve for $5,178 a year, which is more than $4,200 more than they had been paying. The cost will be spread across the contractual line item of all city funds.
The Lindsborg City Council Monday approved a $65,976 payment to cover its share of damage to turbines at the Dogwood natural gas power plant near Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Lindsborg owns 3.27 percent of the plant, with four other Kansas cities also having interest in the plant, managed for those cities by the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency.
The cause of the damage to the two turbines at the plant is not known for certain, but it’s thought smoke from distant wildfires might have contributed to it. This cost will be paid for from a transmission conversion fund which derives funds from occasions where Dogwood is able to sell power to others at a higher rate at the same time Lindsborg can purchase lower cost power.
The Council will be holding a couple of special meetings related to interviews of City Administrator candidates, the first of which will be held Wednesday evening and another one next week.
