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Larned City Council Tackles Property Sale, Approves New Initiatives

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By Lucky Kidd

 

LARNED, Kan. — On Monday, Larned City Council directed the City Manager and City Attorney to meet with a potential buyer of a property at 423 Broadway where the city in 2018 reconstructed a sidewalk on the north side of the building.

At the time, the just under $9,000 cost was assessed against the property which to this date remains unpaid. Over the past five years there have been three businesses there for short periods of time. There have also been structural and environmental issues including a roof failure, and if it continues on this path it may have to be razed as dangerous and unsafe.

City Manager Brad Elits said the property’s current value is less than the sidewalk assessment and other unpaid taxes. The Realtor involved in the proposed purchase asked the city to abate the sidewalk assessment and accumulated interest charges, noting that is an obstacle for the proposed buyer.

The current owner does not anticipate receiving any funds from the sale, proceeds to cover the unpaid taxes.

The Council approved a resolution establishing an Emergency Dispatch/911 Advisory Board with Pawnee County. This follows up on a discussion between the Council and Pawnee County Commissioners last month on dispatch issues. The Board will include the Emergency Communications Director, Larned Police Chief, Pawnee County Sheriff and EMS director, one member appointed by the City Council… designated Monday as Council member Josh Riedel… and a representative of the volunteer fire departments, to be selected annually by the department chiefs.

The Council approved new ordinances and related policies dealing with customer-owned generation and interconnection. In 2020 the Kansas Supreme Court ruled investor-owned utilities cannot discriminate in rates between distributed generation and non-distributed generation customers. That ruling does not apply to municipally owned utilities or rural electric cooperatives.

From that representatives of cooperative, municipal and investor-owned utilities have developed a plan that basically requires investor utilities to comply with net metering statutes and municipal utilities to develop parallel generation policies accepted by the Council.

The Council approved documents accepting a Safe Routes to Schools Grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation. This $850,400 grant will involve construction of pedestrian pathways connecting several public amenities north of US 156, from Fort Larned Elementary School south on Broadway to 16th where it will connect with an existing sidewalk south to 14th, and from 16th and Broadway west to an existing sidewalk leading to the Northwest Athletic Fields including ADA improvements and school crossings.

With this project, future extensions can be done that would connect Doerr-Vernon Park, Jordaan Park, and the Larned Community Center along with the golf course and driving range. A local match isn’t required for this project except the city will be responsible for any needed right of way acquisition, utility relocation and other non-participating items, which the city has $14,700 set aside for.

During the meeting the Council recognized Utility Department Ralph Streit for receiving the 2024 Dedicated Commitment to Service Award from the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency. The award recognizes an employee of a KMEA member City who has, over the years demonstrated outstanding performance and made significant local contributions Streit was presented the award during KMEA’s Annual Conference last month, with his family and Mayor William Nusser and his wife also present for the presentation, which the Larned City Council recognized during their meeting Monday.