The planned demolition of the old Ellsworth County Hospital building at 300 Kingsley Ave. has taken another step forward.

At Monday’s meeting of the Ellsworth City Council, approval was given to issue a request for proposal to solicit bids from qualified contractors for the demolition and disposal of the old building.

According to Rusty Varnado, city administrator, these proposals, at a minimum, will serve as a baseline estimate for costs associated with demolishing the building, which has been condemned by the council.

Varnado said notifications of the condemnation were delayed.

“We were supposed to have a condemnation hearing today,” he said. “And that’s not going to happen for another 30 days because we had a little snafu in the notifications. But I would like to send out this RFP sooner rather than later.”

Varnado said it will be up to the council to determine how much the city is willing to spend to demolish the structure.

Mayor Mark Kennedy said it was glad to see the RFP contains wording that the city has the right to refuse any and all bids and also a specific time and date in which the city must receive all bids by.

Varnado noted council president Wayne Scritchfield emphasized the need to specify early and late start dates for the demolition.

“So that will get added,” Varnado said.

In other business:

• A request was approved from Brad Barta, fifth and sixth grade boys basketball coach, to waive a $35 per person fee so his group can conduct a fundraiser.

During the fundraiser, which will pay for basketball tournaments, Barta and the 12-member team will go door-to-door in Ellsworth spray painting house numbers on street curbs as close to the front of the participating house as possible.

If the group has to pay the $420 fee for 12 people, that will be detrimental to the fundraising effort, Barta said. There is also a $25 per day fee.

“That ordinance is not set up for what he’s doing,” Varnado said. “It would be a shame to penalize him and the kids for doing that. This is more towards door-todoor sales.”

Barta said he has already received approval from Dale Bettenbrock, city street superintendent, and Ellsworth Police Chief Emil Halfhill.

• Ellsworth resident Karen Shriner thanked the city for repairing her street in the Canren Addition. She also thanked the Ellsworth Police Department for enlightening her on their daily routine.

• Josh Beckman of Kirkham Michael & Associates gave an update on the layout design for the planned multi-use path to the armory. This includes an extension up to west Douglas Ave.

Beckman said the council will need to consider cost estimates for the additional sidewalk and the two box extensions.

“It will be more than what we originally requested for funding from KDOT (the Kansas Department of Transportation),” he said. “We don’t have an exact number yet, but it could be like $120,000 to $150,000 more.”

Beckman said he will approach KDOT to see whether the project can receive additional funding and what the city’s share might be.

He said if KDOT is not favorable to the additional funding, then the council will have to decide if it wants to fund the total project on its own or phase in the path in some manner and fund it that way.

Varnado said it would save the city a significant amount of money if KDOT would allow the city to shorten the length of the path by utilizing the concrete path already available along that stretch of K-14 Highway.

• Approval was given to authorize $29,000 in the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to send four department heads through the Kansas Certified Public Manager program in 2022. They are: Joe Travnichek, Patrick Hammel, Delvin Bettenbrock and Ronnie Tenbrink.

• Approval was given to purchase a pickup truck for the Ellsworth Police Department through the General Service Agency in an amount not to exceed $34,000. The money will be taken from the municipal equipment fund from 2021.

• Approval was given to have Varnado sign an agreement with the Collection Bureau of Kansas for collection of delinquent revenue owed to the city.

• Council member Jessica Kootz said a location is still being determined for the planned community garden.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth City Council will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11, at city hall.