Lyons City Council Meeting 8/5/24 Highlights
By Lucky Kidd
LYONS, Kan. — Prior to a discussion on timelines related to the search for a new City Administrator Monday night, three citizens addressed the Lyons City Council on the extremely high turnover of city staff in recent years, and inability to fill city positions, with one person suggesting a change in the city’s form of government.
That call came from former Community Development Director and mayoral candidate Alicia Hommon, who asked the Council to place on the November ballot a proposal to move away from a “strong mayor” form of government. According to a 2011 study that Hommon shared, the form of government is only used by about a third of local governments in the country.
Hommon suggested changing to a form of government, either a council as now or preferably to a city commission format with a City Manager who would have considerably more authority than a City Administrator. Hommon said such a change would give the governing body the means to be able to supervise a qualified professional.
Jason Beaver also addressed the council on overall turnover issues, noting significant turnover in city employment in recent years. Beaver said the Council needs to take a deep dive “behind the curtain” to find out why people do not want to come to work for the city, and when they do come how to keep them around for the long term.
Local business owner Pat Fulton asked the Council to include community input in the process of hiring a new administrator, including help in the interview process. He noted the considerable turnover in the City Administrator, Community Development Director, and City Inspector positions are hampering business growth.
Much of Monday’s meeting was spent in a work session on a 2025 budget. City Administrator Eddy Truelove said the city’s budget has been “messy” for several years, coming across a number of things that had no rhyme or reason. Truelove’s proposed budget would make major changes to the budget format, in particular relating to reducing the number of separate funds within the budget
In the current budget setup, there are a number of situations where fund transfers occur twice. In some cases, Truelove said it would be much easier to fund directly out of the general fund. Another thing that won’t be included in the budget is grant funds, which by state law and according to the city’s auditors do not have to be accounted for in the budget.
In preparing the budget, Truelove has developed a five-year capital budget plan for city departments, through which timelines can be established for future planning and budgetary purposes.
As of Monday, the budget is projected to have a mill levy of around 54 mills, an increase in the area of two mills from the 2024 levy, but considerably less than the 60 mill level the Council approved last month in submission of a notice to the Rice County Clerk to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate.
A hearing date for the budget and to exceed the Revenue Neutral rate will be set at the Council Meeting on Aug. 19. Related to the budget, the Council declined to take action on a budget engagement letter with Loyd Group, which has worked with the city on budget matters for the past few years.
The Council discussed the timelines to be followed searching for a new City Administrator to replace Truelove who is retiring next month. There was some discussion about delaying the search until after the November elections, when new council members are to be elected. Following an executive session, the Council voted to move forward expeditiously on the search, which is contracted with Austin Peters Group to assist in.
The Council agreed to waive the peddler’s permit requirements for farm-to-market producers selling product through Harvest Hub of Kansas for a Farmers Market (the first of which starts Friday, Aug. 9) and for all vendors at September’s Fair on the Square. Northern Rice County Goodfellows submitted a vendor fee waiver request which the council granted along with waiving the peddler application process.
A recently passed ordinance allows the Council to waive permitting and/or fees for festivals that the city or other governmental entities sponsor, or by recognized non-profit organizations. For the farmers market, the waiver will apply only to those who actually produce the product and not for those engaged in resale.
An ordinance was adopted that strengthens prohibitions on placing yard debris into the street. At a recent meeting, Council members discussed the need for stronger action to prevent property owners from blowing grass clippings and such into the street. City Counselor Patrick Hoffman drafted the ordinance to accomplish what the Council wanted.
An extension of the scope of an upcoming CCLIP project on K-14 was approved. Representatives of KDOT and the city’s engineering consultant Schwab-Eaton suggested the city consider extending the scope of the project along South Grand, or K-14, to add work between Blair and Taylor to the original project extending from Blair south to American Road.
By doing this, the city is expected to save upwards of $60,000 in mobilization and signage costs. Public Works Director Jared Jones said the city is also looking at curb and gutter repairs to be done prior to this project which is projected for the state’s 2026 fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025.
Council members tabled action on a Landlord’s Consent to Assignment requested by KCB Bank in conjunction with the lease agreement with A+ Aviation at Lyons-Rice County Airport. Council members and Hoffman had many questions about what this exactly involved.
Approval was given to an annual request from Brian Leiker for fireworks displays during home Lyons High School football games during the 2024-25 school year.
