The Lyons City Council voted Monday night to terminate the Interim City Administrator contract with Bailey Sayler, effective immediately. The action came after two executive sessions totaling 40 minutes to discuss non-elected personnel. City Attorney Remington Dalke was part of both executive sessions, and City Treasurer Rebecca Schechter was included in the first session.
Sayler has been serving as interim administrator in addition to her duties as City Clerk since December 2025, after the Council declined to renew the contract of then City Administrator Troy Houtman. In April the Council authorized Hommon, Council President Rick Miller and Dalke to negotiate a contract with Sayler to assume the position permanently.
Sayler and two Council members raised objections to provisions within a proposed contract that included a 12-month probationary period and matters related to hiring practices and disciplinary matters, and other provisions within the contract that differed from the organizational structures of most Kansas cities. At the June 26th Council meeting Dalke and Sayler were directed to meet and come up with a contract both could agree with.
It was not immediately known how the decision would affect the employment of Saylor as City Clerk.
Budget presentations were a major topic of discussion for the Council as it heard from Parks Superintendent Matt Detmer, Public Works Superintendent Jared Jones, and Lyons Public Library Director Becky McBeth.
Detmer submitted four separate budgets for what he oversees. The Park Department itself has proposed a just under 5% increase in spending for 2027, which would maintain current service levels, supports staff, funds maintenance activities and provides resources for future improvements.
The proposed budget for the Lyons Municipal Pool calls for a just under 50% increase in spending, which would cover repair of equipment at end of life that had been planned for 2025, along with equipment upgrades for a better customer experience.
On the other hand, the compost budget request reflects a 62% reduction in budgeted spending for 2027. This reflects a reduction in personnel costs connected to restructuring of the Cemetery and Park Departments.
While the proposed cemetery budget calls for about a 17% increase from 2026, much of which is related to replacement of two mowers and a mini backhoe along with increases in chemical and contractual service expenses, that was partly offset by reduced personnel costs after Detmer assumed responsibility for the cemetery following the retirement of its long-time sexton.
Detmer said for the backhoe the plan is to purchase one now used by Public Works that will be coming off lease soon. This would replace an existing backhoe that is in extremely poor condition.
Jones presented a proposed 2027 Street Department budget that would more than double spending from 2026, driven by significant increases for contractual services and commodities. Jones said they are actively working on a formal street plan that would take into consideration streets where utility lines would need to be replaced prior to street work, and the plan is to be able to mill and overlay about three thousand linear feet of streets each year.
McBeth presented her proposed 2027 budget which projected total revenue at just under $150,000. She also provided the Council an overview of library operations and history that included information on other revenue sources the library has and personnel.
The Council accepted the 2025 audit report presented by Neil Phillips with Jared, Gilmore and Philips of Chanute. The city received an unmodified, or clean opinion based on the regulatory basis of accounting used by nearly all local governments in Kansas, and an adverse option based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which includes a number of items that a regulatory audit does not, and is also more costly to do.
There was one budget violation found in the report, related to quarterly treasurer’s report cities are required to publish within 30 days of the end of the quarter. During 2025, only one of those reports was actually published. Phillips said there are no penalties related to this unless it is a repeated situation, in which case the Attorney General’s office would get involved.
The Council approved a change in the bid award for a CCLIP resurfacing project on South Grand. The Council at their June 15th meeting awarded the project to Venture Corporation of Great Bend, even though it was not the low bid. The Kansas Department of Transportation informed the city it by law has to accept the lowest bid for the project, which came from APAC-Kansas Shears Division of Hutchinson. This was accomplished by repealing the earlier approval and approval of the APAC bid.
During Citizen Comments, Deb Swenson addressed the Council on continuing issues with 117 West Washington, an apartment house that was damaged by fire some years ago and is now in a highly dilapidated condition, with significant weed issues and windows out leaving it open to the elements and wild animals getting into it.
This property has been subject to a condemnation proceeding in the past which was halted when the property was sold the day before action to order demolition was to have been acted upon. Based on the current condition, there was discussion about whether this property might meet the definition of imminent danger, which would enable the city to speed up the legal process related to demolition.
The Council approved the purchase of an infrared heater at a cost not to exceed $3,500 Jones said this unit would be used primarily for pothole patching, allowing crews to heat the area needing patch and also reuse material from the repair site, which would reduce the amount of cold mix asphalt they have to use on a particular repair. Jones
it tabled until their next meeting a request to upgrade five police patrol car radios. Interim Police Chief Cory Ryan said these radios are not compliant with upcoming encryption requirements for the state 800 MHz radio system also used by many law enforcement agencies and can’t be upgraded. The other two car radios and the handheld units are already compatible.
Working with Rice County Emergency Management Director Greg Klein, it was learned the county presently has radios used as base stations at county fire stations, and the plan is to exchange the existing police car radios for the ones at the fire stations, which do not require encryption capability.
It’s estimated the cost to make a needed software change to enable encryption on those units would cost at most $5,000. Council members indicated they wanted a more exact cost figure before proceeding.
The Council approved an invoice from OPI for replacement of a server at City Hall and purchase of up to $35,000 worth of brass fittings and repair clamps, to restock the Utility Department’s inventory.
Andrew Travener was appointed by the Council to serve as the Director 2, or alternate member, on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Municipal Gas Association.
Dur to the length of the meeting, the Council agreed to defer presentation of the community facilities portion of a revised comprehensive plan for the city to a future meeting.
Council member Mary Kendrick asked her fellow council members to consider changes in sewer rates. Kendrick said she felt business and residential customers should not be charged the same rates, and that charges should reflect what is being put into the sewers.
Member Debra Metzler informed her fellow Council members she had heard a lot of complaints about the schedule change for city offices, which are currently on a four-day week. During two recent holidays that were observed on Friday offices were closed Thursday, which was a sore spot for many. This change was implemented on a trial basis and as of now will be reviewed during the city’s annual review of personnel policies.
In addition to the executive sessions on personnel, the Council met behind closed doors to discuss attorney-client privilege matters with Dalke,
