The Ellsworth City Council once again discussed the Krizek Park detention basin at their meeting Monday night.

Contracts and other communications are being gathered by City Administrator Dustin Stambaugh, and the council will look over the information and a decision will be made at the next meeting.

“I believe there are only two directions we could go with, but maybe a third,” Ellsworth Mayor Dan Finnegan said.

The basin was intended to ease flooding during major rains, and it functions, however, its appearance has been criticized, especially when water levels are high. At times, a large amount of standing water is left with nowhere to go. The majority of the basin project was paid for by the Kansas Department of Transportation, and Kirkham Michael & Associates has also spent $20,000 of its own money to attempt to rectify the situation.

Petitions & delegations

Resident Karen Shriner requested that better reports be used with better follow-up on unfinished business that gets tabled or has no further action. In addition, she asked that council members be sure to use their microphones so everyone can hear them in the recordings.

Unfinished business

Over the past month, bids have been received for the city’s information technology. The city requested bids from new carriers, who were required to submit their bids for review no later than Nov. 7. Of the 766 IT vendors reached, 66 saw the request and nine submitted bids. In addition, a number of the companies presented information to the council during the Nov. 14 meeting.

A second round of interviews was conducted this week. Four companies were chosen for the next round of interviews. Those included Vyve, Nex-Tech Communications, Network Computer Solutions and Calian Corp. Vyve, Nex-Tech and NCS presented more information at the meeting. Calian Corp. was not present. Each company had five minutes and was given the opportunity do so without other companies in the room if they chose.

Vyve covers about 800 companies at a firewall level, as well as 35 for internal IT solutions.

Nex-Tech covers more than 300 companies at a firewall level and several hundred for internal IT.

NCS represents approximately 250 companies throughout the state with very few at the firewall level.

“We don’t want our employees blamed,” Finnegan said.

Council members will meet outside of meetings to discuss the situation and have an answer in coming weeks as the current provider’s contract ends Dec. 31.

The contract for solid waste removal between Slechta Enterprise, Inc. and the City of Ellsworth was brought to Slechta and accepted.

Some changes were made, as there have been a number of increases in the cost of operation over the years. In 2019, Slechta hauled about 18 tons of trash per week at a cost of $2,691 per month with a landfill cost of $34.50 per ton.

Fuel expenses at the time were $4,600 per month.

In 2022, those numbers have changed quite a bit with 31 tons of trash hauled per week at a cost of $5,642 per month, a landfill cost of $42 per ton and $8,900 per month in fuel expense.

The landfill administrator projects a cost increase of at least $2 per-ton annually for the next six years. The total monthly increase incurred by Slechta has been $7,251. The new contract increased by $3.25 per unit. The current rate will go from $14.10 per unit to $17.35, with an annual increase per unit of 25 cents for the period of the contract.

New business

The property at 1156 Kansas Hwy. 14, the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society, was not properly zoned when it was annexed. Council members approved the rezoning of this property from an R-3 multiplefamily dwelling district to an R-S residential suburban district.

Council members approved an increase to the annual Health and Recreation Center membership fee from $12 to $50. Currently, there are 81 key fob holders. The cost was kept relatively low due to not knowing what the availability of the rec center would be.

Recreation Director Ron Tenbrink doesn’t anticipate that all will renew with the increase, but he does expect 50 members to renew. Memberships will renew in January, and membership will run through December.

Memberships will not be prorated if people join later in the year.

“I agree that it is too low,” Councilman Wayne Scritchfield said. “We need to take care of wear and tear of the facility.”

The basketball coaches’ meeting was held for third through sixth graders, with practices starting Nov. 28. The first game will be held Jan. 7 in Claflin.

Instructional basketball began for first and second graders on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Pickleball is Monday nights and cornhole is Tuesday nights.

Royals Charities recently awarded the Recreation Department a $15,000 grant. Royal Charities supports children, education, youth baseball and softball and military organizations around Kansas.

The next city council meeting will be Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m.