BonnerSprings.com

The title of the Rolling Stones classic “Gimme Shelter” no longer applies to reserving Bonner Springs’ recreational facilities. The Bonner Springs City Council voted Monday night to require fees for reserving the shelters in three city parks.

Parks Director Skip Dobbs said the fees — $15 for each 4-hour period for residents, and $25 for each 4-hour period for nonresidents between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and $10 and $15, respectively, for the hours between 6 and 10 p.m. — will ensure those who reserve the facilities at Lions Park, Kelly Murphy Memorial Park and South Park will actually use them and help the city recoup its costs in cleaning the facilities.

Several factors drove the recommendation for the policy change, Dobbs said. Among them: Customers were using the shelters for only a portion of the time they had reserved; the parks department spends $18-25 in man-hours alone for the cleaning of a shelter after each use; and many reservations are made by nonresidents.

“We clean after each use,” Dobbs said. “We’re getting busier and busier.”

Dobbs said he looked at the policies of other nearby cities. Leavenworth charges $25 per day, Wyandotte County charges $30 a day, Johnson County charges $40 for half a day and $65 for a whole day, and Shawnee is in the process of setting a fee for its shelters, Dobbs said.

Council member Jerry Jarrett asked why Dobbs didn’t go ahead and require a use agreement along with the change in charging a fee, which would obligate shelter users to clean up after themselves.

Dobbs said such a requirement would make for a “lot of paperwork.”

Council member Bob Reeves said he didn’t like the idea of charging for use of parks shelters, but Council member Jeff Harrington pointed out the fees would only apply for reservations of shelters. When the shelters are otherwise available, people will still be able to use them for free.

The Council voted 6-2 in favor of the change, with Larry Berg and Wayne Gray dissenting.

“I’m opposed to the idea of charging for public parks,” Berg said when announcing his vote.

In other actions Monday night the Council:

• Approved during a workshop session before its regular meeting the elimination or reduction of mowing of rights of way along certain streets. See City OKs, Page 2A.

• Approved payment of warrants for $238,415.

• Approved payments of public-housing authority warrants for $11,392.

• Approved the reappointments of Ted Stolfus to the Library Board, and Karen Baxter, Doris-Elliot Watson, Robin Neal and Betty Rehm to the Bonner Beautiful Commission, and Malisa Wallace to the Human Relations Commission.

• Approved an agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation for resurfacing Kansas Highway 32 from Kansas Highway 7 to Cedar Street. The project is estimated to cost $411,000, of which KDOT will reimburse the city $200,000 as part of the department’s KLINK program. The cost will come from the city’s 2009 streets budget, and the project will be let for bids next year.

• Approved an ordinance adopting the new “Vision 2025” comprehensive plan prepared by Bucher, Willis & Ratliff in conjunction with city staff and city residents in public input meetings and discussions that began in May 2007.

The 115-page plan may be downloaded as a PDF form online at bonnersprings.org/pdf/comprehsive_plan.pdf

As Council member Larry Berg put it when voting, the plan is not law, but “a vision for the future, not cast in stone,” to help city officials and staff plan Bonner Springs’ growth.

• Approved a bid of $38,000 from Grizzly Fence Company for new fencing for Lions Park. The old fencing is 30 years old, Dobbs said, and rusty, with unsafe, sharp points curling up at the bottom. Parks staff tried to anchor the bottom, Dobbs said, but the fence is unfixable in most areas.

Grizzly was the only company of eight contacted that submitted a bid, and Dobbs negotiated with the company to reduce its original bid of $45,000 thanks in part to the time of year.

• Approved a supplemental engineering agreement with Wilson & Company for additional design services for the Kump Street improvements and Water Line Replacement Project, for an amount no to exceed $36,461.

The services in the agreement include the design of retaining walls along the K-32 Street Reconstruction Project’s western end and approximately 1,000 feet of 12-inch water line along 138th Street to connect to an existing 12-inch water main.

The cost will be paid out of the $473,860 available in a temporary note for the Kump Street project.

• Approved a change order of $10,241 and final payment of $14,473 to Quality Electric for an emergency generator for the Utility Department’s No. 4 well. Total cost of the generator’s installation came to $98,717, which was less than the project’s budgeted amount of $100,000.

• Approved the hiring of an additional fulltime Utility Maintenance Worker I operator to assist with Utility Department operations and preventive maintenance. The annual wages and benefits for the employee will be $32,400. Utilities director Rick Sailler said the change actually would save the city money by reducing the seasonal-employee budget and the need for hiring contractual labor.

The hiring brings the Utility Department’s staff of fulltime operators to 11, which includes plant operators for water and wastewater, plus field maintenance and meter reading. The utility maintenance staff now has four operators.

• Approved an ordinance increasing the salary for the Municipal Court judge from $1,500 to $1,545 per month. The increase had already been approved as part of the 2008 budget but had not been recognized in an ordinance.

Post a comment

BonnerSprings.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

Requires free BonnerSprings.com registration.