By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON, Kan. — McPherson City Commissioners Tuesday agreed to provide $4,000 to McPherson County Crime Stoppers. Police Chief Mikel Golden told Commissioners at a study session last week that right now they have minimal funds available to pay rewards. Golden said McPherson County Sheriff Jerry Montagne has committed $2,000, and he plans to visit other departments around McPherson County for financial support.
Also being looked at is placing the financial oversight of Crime Stoppers with the McPherson County Community Foundation rather than being a standalone 501c3 organization as it is now. Crimestoppers is also seeking to re-energize their board with people who can fund-raise, raise awareness of their needs and sell the importance of the program.
In other police matters, Commissioners approved the 2024-25 memorandums of Understanding with USD 418 for crossing guards and the School Resource Officers at McPherson High School and McPherson Middle School and approved a payment for repair and refurbishing work for doors at the animal shelter.
Payments on two more property abatements were approved. One at 920 North Maple involved large amounts of grass and weeds along with junk, debris and trash around the property including the front porch. Green Thumb Lawn and Landscaping will do this cleanup for 450 dollars.
Green Thumb will also do a cleanup at 1024 North Grimes involving most of the same thing. In this case the property owner did some mowing after notice of violation was sent out but then stopped. This cleanup, costing $875, also will involve trimming of bushes and removal of dead trees.
The June reimbursement to the McPherson Housing Coalition from an Emergency Solutions Grant was approved. Most of this reimbursement covers emergency shelter services. The Commission approved a second amendment to a sale contract with McPherson College for a 57 acre site where Bulldog Park is located to include a release of an easement and revised review period timelines and access agreements.
Commissioners approved use of the Lakeside Park Bandshell for a revival event October 5th and 6th, and renewal of six certificates of deposit held with two local banks. This involves a total of five million dollars in idle funds including funds set aside for specific purposes that are held across four McPherson banks.
The Commission approved replacement of two iPads for the Engineering Department through Verizon at a cost of just under 1800 dollars. Commissioners also approved an additional payment for replacement of two taps on a sewer line in the 1200 block of Hulse after markings made by sewer maintenance were misread and an area dug up where there was no tap. This added not quite seven thousand dollars to the project cost. Also approved was replacement of a water softener at the Municipal Center through McPherson Quality Air for just over 1,600 dollars.
A change in job description for a division chief position in the McPherson Fire Department was approved. Fire Chief Chad Mayberry said the currently open position of Division Chief of Inspection and Maintenance will be changed to Division Chief of Community Risk Reduction. The major change in the description is removal of maintenance supervision responsibilities. The majority of job duties will remain the same, and there will be no change in the salary range for this position.
Other personnel items included a conditional offer of employment for a temporary animal shelter technician and three promotions of lifeguards to deck managers at the McPherson Water Park.
