McPHERSON, Kan. — The 200 block of Earl Street, on the south side of Lincoln Elementary School, will become a one-way, west-bound street after action Tuesday by the McPherson City Commission. This is the side of the school where its Pre-K section is located, and Earl Street is the designated drop-off location, where parents are required to walk their students to the entrance.
Right now, they utilize the south side of Earl for parallel parking, only allowing one-way traffic between them and diagonal parking on the other side mostly used by staff. Cost of needed signage can be accommodated through the Street Department sign budget. The City and USD 418 will provide information about the change prior to it taking effect.
The Commission approved a federal funds exchange with the Kansas Department of Transportation. This allows the city to exchange federal funds it receives to KDOT at 90 cents on the dollar, which allows more flexibility on how that money is spent without having to deal with all the federal red tape. The exchange nets the city nearly $179,000, which will be used to reimburse part of what was spent on the Myers Street reconstruction. The funds received were more than had been budgeted.
Commissioners approved an additional $2,842.75 for erosion control maintenance and stormwater prevention on the Deerfield Estates South project, and renewal of the technical support agreement for the software used to control the Wastewater Treatment Plant, at a cost of $7,380.
An additional payment for purchase of annual seed and fertilizer for the Park Department was authorized. In late August the Commission approved up to $15,800 for the purchase of fescue blend seed that will be used in Hess Park and filling in bare spots of flooded areas and of a slow-release fertilizer used in the downtown area. When the final bill game in, the freight costs were a bit higher than expected, so an additional $156.64 was authorized to cover it. Commissioners also approved hiring of two temporary workers at Turkey Creek Golf Course for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Two contracts for insurance consulting were approved by the McPherson City Commission Tuesday, one contract is with Charlesworth Consulting LLC for risk management consulting on property and liability insurance, and the other is a five-year agreement with Iron Insurance Partners for consultation and brokerage services on those policies.
The combined cost of just over $33,000 is split equally between the city and the Board of Public Utilities. The cost of both will be increasing slightly for 2026, and the Iron Insurance Partners contract calls for a 2.5 percent annual increase for the life of that contract.
The Commission approved an event request for the Veterans Day parade Tuesday, Nov. 11. That parade begins at the American Legion, and goes north from there to Woodside, then west to Mulberry and north to the Park Department building where a program will be held at 11.
At the conclusion of the meeting an executive session was conducted to discuss real estate purchase with no action taken.
