By Lucky Kidd
LYONS, Kan. — The Lyons City Council Monday night agreed to proceed with a Fleet Management Services Agreement with Enterprise, which initially will be utilized to replace the city’s aging police fleet, with decisions other vehicles to be replaced in the first year to be determined.
The agreement will, over time, bring cost savings to the city along with enabling replacement of vehicles that in many cases are in very poor condition.
The Council had three options presented to it for review, The option City Administrator Eddy Truelove focused on would in the first year replace vehicles in the Cemetery, Public Works and Park Department along with five police vehicles.
Police Chief Justin Holliday noted the age of his fleet, which currently has just four vehicles operating, all with high mileage by police standards, adding no new vehicles have been purchased since he became chief in 2018. The Council moved forward with the agreement in order to start the process of obtaining police vehicles, in light of the short window of time those vehicles can be ordered.
Other vehicles slated to be replaced under this plan are trucks for the Cemetery, Parks and Public Works Departments along with a staff vehicle based at City Hall. Decisions on how many vehicles will be replaced in those departments will be made later.
The Council declined to change city codes to allow keeping of chickens in the city limits. This topic came up at the last meeting when some residents complained about recent enforcement activity that forced them to get rid of chickens.
A major factor in the Council’s decision was strong opposition to any changes in city codes by Cal-Maine Foods, whose egg facility near Chase recently had to destroy a large number of chickens due to highly pathogenic avian influenza, and fears it could be introduced into the facility by people being exposed to it in Lyons and coming into the facility.
The council voted to repeal a 1994 ordinance requiring licensing of coin-operated amusement machines and related portions of city code. This ordinance primarily involved such things as amusement games that have almost entirely disappeared from the city.
A change to the delivery charges for natural gas in the city of Lyons was approved. This sets that charge at 22 cents per 100 cubic feet over and above what the city pays for natural gas. This covers the costs involve related to transportation gas to the city’s border stations. The base monthly meter fees for natural gas will remain where they are now.
Changes to the city’s designated signers on accounts at the city’s official depositories was approved. This puts into place provisions of an ordinance providing some flexibility in who has signature authority, adding the City Administrator to the list of authorized signers.
Other authorized signers include the Mayor, City Council president and City Treasurer, with the City Clerk counter-signing all checks for all accounts except a petty cash account for which there are two authorized signatures. The resolution also added acting Council president Doug Higgins to the authorized signers of checks.
The Council heard a presentation from Sonya Tipp and Alicia Hommon on a Jesus Jam event planned for April 20 th . This event will include a number of bounce houses and a rock wall. Judah Generation, the organization behind the Bible Box project, is putting on this event, a location for which has not yet been firmed up due to the Lyons-Rice County Airport not being available due to FAA regulations.
The Council approved purchase of 100 tons of cold mix asphalt from APAC Kansas for a total cost of $11,311 including hauling, and purchase of a Grasshopper riding lawn mower for the Public Works Department from Hometown Outdoor Power of McPherson for $15,096 including freight and setup.
