Iola should have crosswalks at the intersection of U.S. 54 and Oak Street and at the old Allen County Hospital curve, the Kansas Department of Transportation recommended.
The crosswalks should handle the number of kids who cross the street each day walking to and from school.
A KDOT study of the highway from Oak to First streets — including the hospital curve — indicates traffic is busy enough that the area should also be designated as a school zone.
Carl Slaugh presented the study to the Iola City Council Monday. The study looked at traffic along the highway over a two-day period in mid-October.
The study comes as developers continue plans for a new grocery store and apartment complexes at the old Allen County Hospital site now that the old hospital has been demolished.
Council members said they were eager to see a crosswalk added at the intersection of U.S. 54 and Oak Street, while opting to take a closer look at a potential crossing at First Street.
With the recommendation that the area be designated a school zone comes added signage to have the speed limit reduced at the start and end of each school day.
The study stopped short of other potential changes, such as reducing the highay from four lanes to two, reducing the speed limit, or adding a roundabout at the curve.
Still, Slaugh said he was preparing other potential improvements for the city to consider as development proceeds, such as taking out a retaining wall on the south side of the curve, so the land could be lowered and sight lines around the curve improved. Slaugh said engineer’s recommendations should be in place by February.
G&W Foods officials hope to begin construction of a grocery store by April, with the store open by Thanksgiving.
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WITH Iola still struggling to keep its water and electric reserves in the black, City Council members will look once again at rate increases.
City Administrator Carl Slaugh said Monday he was prepared to request a series of increases over the next four years for both water and electricity.
“If we increased water rates 7 percent (a year) over four years, that’d get us the minimum necessary to have cash flow to prevent going into the red with our bond payments,” Slaugh said.
Water rates are sufficient to meet annual expenses, except for the city’s annual $670,000 bond payment for the water plant’s construction. Those payments will continue until 2025.
The electric fund, meanwhile, took some considerable hits in 2015 by funding EPA-mandated upgrades to the city’s natural gas- and diesel-fired generators, and other projects, such as upgrading electric service at the Gates Corporation plant.
Slaugh is recommending an increase in the city’s energy cost adjustment, an added line item to each customer’s electric bill above what the city pays for the energy.
Slaugh noted the city pared its transfers from both funds into Iola’s general fund at the end of 2015 because their respective balances were too low.
To make up for the lost revenue, the city enacted emergency-spending-only practices over November and December.
Council members said they preferred to wait two weeks before voting on either of Slaugh’s proposals.
BANNERS depicting photos of local veterans will soon be placed around Iola’s downtown business district.
Council members approved a request from the Iola PRIDE/CITF committee and Kiwanis to begin selling sponsorships for the banners.
The banners will be modeled after similar banners in Emporia, noted Mike Ford, a member of both committees.
For $150, a sponsor can submit a veteran’s name and photo. The banners, with a different veteran on each side, will be placed on light poles surrounding the square. Ford said the square had 45 light poles, with two banners placed on each pole. That means as many as 180 veterans can be recognized.
Sponsorships would be good for three years.
Ford noted the banners could be replaced on a seasonal basis. For example, banners for other events, such as the Charley Melvin Run, Farm-City Days or for holidays such as Christmas, could be sold as well.
The first $5,000 of the net proceeds will go to the Veterans Day Committee to fund repairs to the Veterans Wall on the south side of the square.
The rest of the money would go to PRIDE/CITF and Kiwanis.
IN OTHER business, the Council:
— Approved a cereal malt beverage license for Dudley’s Done Right BBQ, which is scheduled to open its doors this week at 2402 N. State St.
— Formally accepted a $59,000 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City to begin the planning process for a pedestrian bridge spanning Elm Creek from South Washington Avenue. Next up is to hire an engineer to develop plans for the bridge, before the city and Thrive Allen County would seek additional grants to pay for the bridge’s construction. Accepting the grant does not obligate the city to build a bridge, Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock said, in response to a question from Councilman Aaron Franklin. Schinstock estimated a foot bridge would cost between $200,000 and $300,000.
