HUMBOLDT — City Administrator Cole Herder was authorized to be proactive with the Kansas Department of Transportation as it formulates plans for highway work. IN HIS end-of-meeting report, Herder said:
Humboldt Chamber of Commerce President Chris Butts said at Monday night’s city council meeting he sat in on a forum with KDOT officials during which work on U.S. 169 in Allen and Neosho counties was discussed. He learned about 200 projects in Kansas were being considered for 2018 and that Allen-Neosho counties upgrades were thought to be in the top 20.
“We need to get on board,” said Herder, both in regard to highway improvements and what may occur with detoured traffic, some of which is likely to flow through Humboldt on old U.S. 169.
Plans at this point are preliminary, but the project may involve as much as 14.5 miles in Allen County, 11.6 in Neosho County. The highway was rebuilt about 35 years ago.
On Herder’s recommendation, council members set aside consideration of a request from Eagle Med to permit billing for what essentially is helicopter insurance to be collected through utility bills.
He pointed out city staff faced learning new software and that he also was reluctant “to do the billing for someone else.”
Eagle Med has a program that insures air ambulance service for a family for a premium of $65 a year.
Councilman Jerry Stephens closed discussion when he proposed if the city were to take on Eagle Med’s billing it would set a precedent that would make it difficult to refuse similar requests from others.
Herder discounted a suggestion that the city might purchase Eagle Med policies for employees by noting employee benefits already were nicely bundled.
— Collection of past-due utility bills was on schedule.
— A property insurance assessment recommended hard swing seats at Camp Hunter Park be replaced with flexible plastic ones; a fishing platform on the edge of the Neosho River would be safer with a fence; rust on a slide at the swimming pool should be repaired. He said all three recommendations would be dealt with.
— Reported bids to improve sidewalks near schools — the Safe Routes to School project — would be let in the spring, with construction during summer of 2015.
— Water storage tanks — two 200,000-gallon ones in the industrial park and an older 75,000-gallon tower in the city square — were inspected, with minimal, and fixable, failures found only on the one in the square. A 300,000-gallon tank behind City Hall was not inspected.
— The roof of the maintenance building in Mount Hope Cemetery was repaired after numerous leaks developed. “This should extend the life of the building for several years,” Herder said.
— All 280 street lights in town are shining brightly after Westar crews replaced 17 bulbs.
— Reported he would spend two days a month in 2015 attending a Certified Municipal Manager Program offered by the League of Kansas Municipalities and the University of Kansas. Cost will be $2,900; the program was a condition of his employment.
Humboldt will encourage improvements of U.S. 169
