WILSON — At Monday’s meeting of the Wilson City Council, after giving a report on their efforts to refurbish the playground fort at Wilson’s Pride Spray Park, members of the Wilson Community Empowerment group were asked to continue their efforts and give an update at the May 19 council meeting.

“I am so proud of this community,” Linda Bristow said. “There are several who have been repairing the wooden structure there. I am so proud of the people in this community because they step to the plate and do what needs to be done.”

Scott Sargent, member of the Wilson Community Empowerment group, said a three-part plan has been developed for the Fort — repair it, replace all wood that is broken or in disarray and make it a safe environment for kids. WCE will pay for all associated costs.

Sargent noted the cost of tearing the fort down and building it new with mostly treated lumber as well as composite lumber for the decking and handrails is $16,131.

To completely demolish the fort and put up a newer type of playground could cost between $34,000 and $100,000 depending on the size.

“As Scott and Linda have both said, we kind of got our bearings together after the last meeting and started working on the fort,” WCE member David Criswell said.

He thanked the volunteers who worked on the fort — Brian Fisher, Brian Florian, Zander Florian, Sarah Florian, Riley Florian, Cody Briscoe, Carson Tyrell, Janet Marker, Kenny Briscoe, Carson Tyrell, Janet Marker, Kenny Beneda and Marcie Beneda.

Criswell also thanked Stop 2 Shop for allowing the group to put a petition up, as well as all the 66 people who signed the petition in favor of refurbishing the fort.

“I’m real happy with that,” Criswell said. “I appreciate that showing of support.”

Criswell said the group replaced two of the horizontal beams on the east and north sides of the fort. Parts, including the lower deck, have been jacked up and leveled and some beams replaced.

The staircase was removed and replaced with a new leveled staircase using most of the step boards the city crew installed as replacements because they were still in good shape.

“We’re at the point now where we’re putting up the handrails that go up and down on each side of the stairs,” Criswell said.

Criswell said the group wanted to address the structural needs first, so that has been their focus.

“We’re going to continue working on it,” he said. “Maybe by your next meeting we can have something that’s 99 or 100 percent done as far as addressing the health and safety issues.”

Taylor asked Criswell when the refurbishment of the fort is all done, will the “sway” in the fort still be a continuing issue.

Criswell said boards have been installed to support the flooring and measures will be taken to stiffen up the structure. Vertical boards will also be installed in the walls to stiffen up the structure even more.

“And if there is anything else we need to do, we will do it,” Criswell said.

City Superintendent Joe Soukup said the posts that were put in the ground to support the fort could be braced up enough to stop the sway.

Criswell said the group would like to replace the floorboards as soon as possible with composite lumber that would not need to be painted or stained and would last for a long time.

“But we’ve also talked about instead of staining it, to paint it,” he said.

Criswell said the safety issues at the fort should be taken care of by Memorial Day.

“Since Wilson Community Empowerment has volunteered to continue the maintenance of it (the fort), we’ve put together, basically, a plan to work on,” he said. “We will talk to you all before we do this, but we felt like it was best to try to work towards replacing all of those deck boards with composite lumber. We’ll probably apply for some grants and things like that to make that happen.”

• During two separate public hearings for inoperable vehicles conducted before the regular council meeting, the owner of the white and blue Ford F150 pickup truck at 3212 Ave. D was given until May 12 to remove it from the property.

In addition, a resolution was approved for the vehicle at 408 24th St., directing the owner to remove the vehicle from the property.

• During the public forum, Winslow Janda expressed concerns about the condition of the property at 2211 Ave. C.

“I would like to see something done about that if we could,” he said.

• Bills in the amount of $44,939.34 were approved as well as payroll in the amount of $12,549.16.

• Taylor said that as of April 23, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment approved completion of the city’s sewer lagoon ponds. As such, approval was given to pay the final loan disbursement request of $88,956.83, including $14,182.63 to Wilson and Company and $74,774.20 to Kansas Dirt Inc.

Taylor noted the total project amount was $460,000.

• Approval was given to a refuse service wavier for 2305 Ave. D.

• Soukup said the wishbones on the rear end of the fire truck the city purchased from Riley County were damaged during a fire run recently near Dorrance. He is working to get a good quote. However, a verbal quote was between $5,000 and $10,000 to repair the truck.

“We need this fire truck,” Taylor told the council.

After some further discussion, approval was given to a motion to spend an initial $5,000 to start repairs on the truck, with John Hlad doing the work.

• Soukup said he was told to have a company come in an send a camera down the street water drain at Avenue F to see what the damage is. Taylor said the council would consider it at a future meeting. In the meantime, Soukup will get a cost of the camera work.

• Approval was given to hire Jim Soukup, Joe Soukup’s father, at $15 per hour as a permanent part-time member of the city crew.

• Joe Soukup thanked the students of Sylvan High School who recently spent time in Wilson cleaning up several spots around town.

• Police Chief James Reagan said the four security cameras have been installed and are working.

Approval was given to pay up to a maximum of $1,200 to send Reagan to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson for an investigation training course in October. That will fulfill his training requirements for the year, other than marksmanship training. Use of the city credit card to pay the cost of the training was also approved.

• Approval was given to purchase up to $1,500 in baseball equipment for the youth baseball season.

• Approval was given to the following 2025 City of Wilson appointments: Wilson State Bank, official city bank; Theresa Staudinger of Peterson and Staudinger LLC, city attorney; Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter, official city newspaper; Jennifer O’Hare, municipal judge; Susan Kriley, city clerk, city treasurer and municipal court clerk; James Reagan, Wilson Police Chief; Dr. David Sells, chairperson of the city board of health volunteers, with members Cathy Smith and Anthony Demel; Aubrey Ptacek, Grow Ellsworth County representative; Mayor Dan Taylor; Marcie Beneda, president; Desiree Larsen, vice president; Allison Ford, secretary; Sadie Soukup, treasurer; Kayanne Meitler, Peggy Sells and Lorie Taylor, Lang Memorial Library Board of Directors.

• Council President Jeff Keith reported the City of Wilson is receiving a grant from the Smoky Hills Community Foundation to assist with an event called “The Field of Jeff Dreams” at Jellison Park baseball field.

“I’m working on prioritizing what we’re going to spend those funds on and what it’s going to go to, so there will be some changes coming at the ballparks,” he said.

The next meeting of the Wilson City Council will be at 6 p.m. Monday, May 19, at city hall.