KANOPOLIS — Only one member of the Kanopolis City Council will not run in the fall election.

“Everybody but Michelle (Schwerdtfeger) has to sign up to be elected,” City Clerk Debbie Kralik said. “Drew (Miley) and Levi (Schneider) were appointed, so they have to run.”

Council members Jim Zvolanek’s and Rebekah Tripp’s terms expire this year. Zvolanek said he does not intend to seek reelection.

“I do not plan to rerun either,” Mayor Anthony Hopkins said. “If for some crazy reason I were to be written in, I may reconsider. I’ve done it long enough.

“Since COVID, I think people have gotten more negative. I don’t have the patience for that anymore.”

Kralik said interested residents of Kanopolis need to register by June 2.

Greg Heller, who works with Fort Harker, told the council the fort will host Living History Days May 2-3.

“We did it last year the same time period. We bring in school kids Friday, they get to visit with reenactors,” he said.

Those who present living history often travel extensively to attend, and provide their own costumes and materials.

“We’re wanting to pay some mileage, plus, we have to feed them,” Heller said. “It’s for the community, plus kids.

“Friday school kids come in. The public is welcome to come in. That evening, we have stories around the campfire.”

The city council granted the request by providing $1,000 for the event. It is also exploring the option of providing the community building for a military ball.

“Anything to bring people to town is a good deal,” Hopkins said.

In other business:

• Council discussed police coverage with Ellsworth County Sheriff Kenny Bernard.

“We’ll be coming through like we always do. My guys come through all the towns as much as they can while they’re on patrol,” he said.

Kanopolis currently does not have a police chief.

“We’ve had conversations if we go to a co-op,” Hopkins said.

Bernard said his officers work 12-hour shifts, and there wasn’t much interest in additional contract work.

“The thing we can look at later down the road is I could possibly try to tie in Kanopolis Lake contract where the person would work out of here and Kanopolis Lake,” Bernard said. “Right now, that officer works 30 hours for us. Once the lake kicks in, he spends all his time at the lake.”

He said Kanopolis will still have sheriff ’s officers patrol through town. The only item his officers won’t handle is code enforcement.

“The question for council to consider is do we want to try to hire a chief of police who does code enforcement, or do we want to expand Mike’s (city maintenance supervisor Bunch) role as a code enforcement officer?” Hopkins said.

The sheriff said code enforcement officers don’t have to be certified as law enforcement officers.

“I don’t see where it would be an issue,” Bunch said. “It don’t bother me at all. If you want to see if you can get somebody, if you can’t, I’m glad to do it.”

Council opted to try a few months with Bunch and see how it goes.

“If he takes responsibility on, it should come with a raise,” Hopkins said.

He suggested the council table discussion about any compensation and allow Bunch time to become familiar with the city’s code book, with the intention to discuss it at the April meeting.

• Hopkins reminded the council the city was approved for the water tower project.

• Lucas Barta from Copeland Insurance discussed the city’s insurance renewal.

He said the difference is less than $1,200, and the city opted to remain with EMC for its insurance.

• Delany Smith from Adams Brown presented the results of the annual audit.

“It’s the cleanest opinion you can receive on an audit,” she said. “City did not have any budget violations.”

• Council discussed street resurfacing.

The next Kanopolis City Council meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, at Kanopolis City Hall.

““I do not plan to rerun either. If for some crazy reason I were to be written in, I may reconsider. I’ve done it long enough.”

Anthony Hopkins Kanopolis Mayor