GAS — Gas council members voted categorically to deny B&H Trucking access to land it owns Tuesday night, in response to a request made Oct. 11 that would have permitted the 70-year-old company to expand its presence there.
B&H has had a terminal at the south end of Main Street for 12 years.
J.D. Handley, representing H&W, pointed out on Oct. 11 the company leased a terminal and associated 2.4 acres, and had designs on purchasing the property. In order to expand, the company had its eye on an additional 2 acres owned by the city. The company is negotiating contracts to deliver freight and merchandise for national companies in southeast Kansas, in addition to contracts it already possesses.
Last month Handley told the Register it would likely quit Gas if negotiations failed.
“I’d say our chances of leaving are 95 percent,” he said then.
Gas council members, including Mayor Darrel Catron, expressed no interest in accommodating B&H.
“We don’t get a penny of income from them,” Catron said. “Their drivers don’t eat here, they eat on the road.”
As for the parcel B&H has its eye on, Gas purchased it several years ago with thoughts of one day building a city barn there, said Councilman Mark Henry, although such a project has not been mentioned even in passing in recent memory.
“I want to keep the property,” said Council member Larry Robertson.
“It’s worth more to us than having a truck barn there,” Henry added.
A month ago Handley said the company had looked at other cities, including Humboldt and Chanute. “We need more room for parking, and maybe to build a shop,” Handley said.
Currently B&H has four highway transports that deliver and pick up freight throughout southeast Kansas. Two line trucks carry freight to the company’s home terminal in Kansas City each day, and return with things to be distributed to destinations in southeast Kansas.
Gas says no to B&H truck barn
