The Ellsworth City Council met for a regular session on Monday evening and a number of items were discussed.

The Kansas Department of Transportation sent a letter dated Oct. 10 stating that they were closing out the detention basin project at the Kansas Highways 14 and 140 intersection in its current condition. Cahoj Earthmoving from Atwood was the low bid at $396,000, with the original construction budget obligation at $565,450, of which $452,360 was from KDOT.

KDOT has suspended the project until a plan is approved for dewatering the south basin. Kirkham Michael submitted a revised grading plan for the south basin to KDOT on Sept. 30. It is believed that KDOT will solicit a cost proposal from the contractor to place soil per the revised grading plan.

Petitions and delegations

• During the petitions and delegations portion of the meeting, Debbie and Rick Garrett, who own rental properties in Ellsworth, requested some assistance with their water utility. At one property, a water line had a leak underground that wasn’t detected until it accumulated a bill of $554. In addition, another of their properties shares a water meter with a property next to it. The Garretts asked that the properties get separate meters.

A property on Evans Street (not owned by the Garretts) had a similar leak and the owners asked for assistance as well. The council advised they can make payment arrangements to the city so the sum won’t have to be paid all at once. Both property owners expressed that an arrangement was unnecessary and that they were requesting financial assistance. Historically, this has not been a solution to problems like these, however, putting in an additional meter at the joint property is possible.

“Hopefully, these issues will not happen with the new meters,” council member Wayne Scritchfield said.

• The Ellsworth County Economic Development and the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce briefed the city about a possible joining of forces. A listening session on the topic will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the JH Robbins Memorial Library.

“We want to involve the City of Ellsworth in this conversation,” President of the Board for the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce Colby Richard said. “We want to take advantage of this time when we are in transition.”

Unfinished business

• April Swartz from Varney & Associates, LLC briefed council members on the City of Ellsworth financial statement and audit report.

Everything came under budget for the year, including the general fund.

“The audit was very clean as usual,” Swartz said. “No adjustments were proposed.”

• The Ellsworth Senior Center requested that the city assist with funding each year. They’ve added a lot of activities, and this year they’ve had to replace their delivery van. While they did receive a grant for the vehicle, that doesn’t take care of the day-to-day operations.

The request was for $15,000. Stambaugh said this was not feasible in this year’s budget, but council members asked that the Ellsworth Senior Center Board of Directors repeat their request before the budget for 2024 is begun in June. “We’re not making any promises, but we’ll look into it,” Scritchfield said.

• City officials are struggling to find funding for equipment and a new fire truck for the Ellsworth Fire Department. City Administrator Dustin Stambaugh is looking into a grant that could pay up to 80 percent of the cost and could be used for more than just the truck and equipment.

• KDOT Spring 2021 Cost Share Project to improve multiple sidewalks is moving forward with three bids being received and Multicon coming in at $248,447.

The city council will need to decide if they are awarding the bid to the lowest bidder. They also need to confirm if Citizens State Bank & Trust Co. and Security First Title are willing to pay the bid amounts for their portions of the project, and that it has the funds for whatever portion remains.

• Kirkham Michael is working to complete field check plans in October for the KDOT City Connecting Link Improvement Program to resurface Kansas Highway 14. They have also been contracted to produce plans and specifications as well as an application to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to construct a sewer main extension to service the new Rolling Hills Electric facility. The field survey has been completed.

New business

• The city council approved a request to write a letter on behalf of the Ellsworth County Courthouse. The letter will be used when an application is submitted for a grant for repairs needing to be made on the building.

Ellsworth Masonic Lodge No. 146 donated $2,000 to the Recreation Department for the construction of new softball fields.

• Council members approved participation in the Housing Assessment Tool from the Department of Commerce. It is a free tool that Stambaugh discovered when someone requested it while seeking information for a grant.

“Housing is always a big question in town,” Scritchfield said.

The Housing Assessment Tool is a selfassessment guide for communities to gather and analyze data on housing.

• Slechta Enterprises, Inc. has been utilized for trash removal in town for a number of years. In 2019, Tony and Christa Lamia purchased the company. The contract between Slechta and the City of Ellsworth is up for renewal. Some changes are being proposed 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.

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In 2022, those numbers have changed quite a bit with 31 tons of trash 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 increase incurred by Slechta monthly has been $7,251. With this in mind, the new contract is proposed to have an increase of $3.25 per unit. The current rate will go from $14.10 per unit to $17.35 with an annual increase per unit of $0.25 for the period of the contract. A draft of the contract will be drawn up and brought to the council for approval.

• The council voted to waive the $50 fee for use of the Recreation Center Conference Room for an adult mental health first aid class in January. Other such requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

• Mayor Dan Finnegan made two proposals that were both approved by the council. City staff will now be given two additional floating holidays that will be approved by their supervisors and the Dec. 26 council meeting will be moved to Dec. 27.

“We’ve made some forward progress,” Finnegan said via phone. He was not present at the meeting, but listened and offered insight via conference call. “We’ve had a great year, and we’re nearing the end and looking to 2023.”