Hutchinson City Council Meeting 6/3/25 Highlights
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council Tuesday night approved purchase and installation of new playground equipment at Shadduck Park,which adjoins the Boys and Girls Club which is partnering in the project.
Members of the club’s Teen Advisory Council did the equipment selection for the project, which will have a ninja warrior theme. Club member James Koontz said some of what’s there now is a safety hazard, citing issues with two pieces of equipment now there.
It’s being purchased through Greenfields Outdoor Fitness, which Director of Parks and Facilities Justin Combs said will provide a professional installer to assist in erection of the equipment by community volunteers.
The city has budgeted $75,000 for the $212,000 project, with the Boys and Girls Club having received a $40,000 grant and already raised the remainder of the funding.
This is the first phase of an overall plan that will eventually include upgrades to their back courts, development of soccer fields on land west of the park BGC recently acquired, and a walking trail and fishing area off Cow Creek.
The Council accepted a just over $1.1million bid from APAC Kansas for the 2025 mill and overlay projects. This year’s projects will include Lorraine Street from Avenue B to K-61 and north of 61 to 4th Avenue, Airport Road from 4th to west of 11th, Kisiwa Village Road from Plum Street west, the center lanes of East 3rd from Poplar to Plum, and the blocks of Avenue B either side of Main.
On the Avenue B project base and concrete repairs will be made and overlay done over the existing brick streets. This project also includes removal of the existing trolley tracks along Lorraine and resurfacing of the main and FAA parking lots at Hutchinson Regional Airport.
APAC’s bid, the lowest of two received, was under both the engineer’s estimate and budgeted funds.
The expressed a willingness to provide financial support for a proposed Emergency Operations Center at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. General Manager Bryan Schulz said the building would serve as an operational hub for the Kansas Highway Patrol, local first responders, the Kansas Army National Guard’s Civil Support Team during the Fair.
At other times of the year, the center would be available for use by the city as an emergency command center were the need to ever arise. It also would be a FEMA rated facility. The Highway Patrol would also relocate vehicle inspection services now housed during off fair times at the Administration Building.
Schulz told the Council the current set up, in addition to not having adequate space for KHP operations during the fair, poses some safety issues in general including a lack of parking around the Administration Building. The tight spaces, especially when VIN inspections are being done on semi trucks and other large vehicles, have led to a number of wrecks.
The project was brought to the Kansas Legislature this past session, and some legislators were reluctant to back the project unless there was some sort of local contribution to it. How much the city would be asked to contribute isn’t known at this time as the cost of the project has not been finalized, but the most recent estimates place the cost in the area of $4 million.
