March 11 City meeting: commission approves agreements with Grant Township, Twin Valley

Mar. 13—The Abilene City Commission only voted on two items during their regular meeting March 11.

Public comments

James Price, chairman of the Abilene Municipal Airport Advisory Board, reported to the commission that the Kansas Department of Transportation awarded the airport $376,000. The grant will help the airport replace some equipment to build a new T-hanger.

Regular meeting

First the commission approved a road maintenance agreement with Grant Township. The agreement states the city will take over maintenance for North Vine Street and Grant Township will cover maintenance for 2400 Avenue from Kansas Highway-15 to Hawk Road. Grant Township approved the agreement during its Feb. 13 meeting.

The commission then approved the franchise fee agreement with Twin Valley Communications. The agreement allows Twin Valley to work within the city right-of-way. The agreement would beis for two years, renewable and non-exclusive. The city will garner $1.75 each month per access- line subscriber in the city.

City manager report

Concrete is being poured for the NW 14th Street project on the east end of the street. There will be a delay in construction on Buckeye Avenue because of a fire at a concrete pipe and boxes company.

The Union Pacific Railroad will replace the crossing at Elm Street at the end of April and beginning of May.

The time for the Abilene Court groundbreaking ceremony has been changed to 2 p.m. The groundbreaking is still set for April 9.

In Golden Belts Heights, a multi-family home lot in the west section was purchased. Construction for that housing has begun. Work on a retention pond has also started. Since Jan. 1, the city has sold three lots in the east section of Golden Belts Heights, bringing the total to 19. Nine of the houses are completed or close to completion and five are in the middle of construction.

Study session

Kyle Becker with Smart Insurance reported on the city's insurance renewals. Their total insurance costs increased by 3.1%.

"In the world I'm living in right now, that's a big win," Becker said.

The commission then heard from Jennie Hiatt speaking for the Abilene Tree Board. The board voted at its Nov. 28 meeting to create a fund to aid citizens in removing trees within the public right-of-way. The board would fill the fund with its remaining budget at the end of each fiscal year, and the board will transfer $3,000 to the fund this year to start it out. Since there is not a regulatory statute for this type of fund, it needs to be approved by the city commission.

The commission then considered an amendment to the community improvement district (CID) policy, which was first adopted in 2016. Marsh said staff decided the policy needed updating with the new developments going on around the city. Communtiy improvement districtsIDs allow the commission to levy additional taxes to fund improvements in an area, according to the city of Wichita's website.

Marsh then reported on staff's progress with the Grand Boulevard. During the commission's Feb. 12 meeting, Freddie Hottman approached the commission asking if the the city would take over care of Grand Boulevard, which is a private ownership drive. Marsh said, for the city to take over the gravel drive, at least 51% of the property owners would have to sign a petition. Marsh said the city would need to have an engineer survey done, paid by the property owners, to assess the cost of maintaining and upgrading the drive to city standards, amongst other needs. Witt suggested the owners could hire the city to maintain the road as it currently is. Marsh said he has never heard of such an arrangement in his experience and would have to look into that option.

The Abilene City Commission will next meet at 4 p.m. March 25 in the Abilene Public Library.