Concordia Fire Chief recognized by LKM
A Federal Funds Exchange agreement, and an addendum to the development agreement for the proposed car wash at 1909 Lincoln Street, were two of the action items at the regularly scheduled meeting of the city commission on Wednesday.
May 7-13 was Public Service Recognition Week, and the League of Kansas Municipalities (LKM) recognized Concordia Fire Chief Eric Voss. The citation noted Voss's “Notable recent accomplishments include securing nearly $1 million in grant funding for a replacement ladder truck just in time to positively impact local ISO ratings, and completion of a $310,000 Department of Justice (DOJ) grant application following an earmark award with Senator Jerry Moran's help to complete the Cloud County Emergency Communications Equipment Replacement project. Eric supports lifelong learning as evidenced through his encouragement of his staff to seek higher level credentialing and through his teaching of EMT courses, which also supports his efforts build the pool of reserves to better serve area patients in need."
In the action item portion of the meeting, the commissioners unanimously voted to approve Mayor Chuck Lambertz signing a request to exchange federal funds in the amount of $69,208.53, and apply for reimbursement of $62,287.68, and use the funds for street maintenance material.
The Federal Fund Exchange program allows the city to receive 90 percent of the funds to be
exchanged. Exchanging these funds allows the city to be more flexible in the way it uses the funds. If the city would not exchange the funds, then the city would have to follow the Federal Aid requirements.
In other action, the commission voted to reject all bids for new 800 MHZ radios. On May 22, 2023, bids were sent to local dealers as well as advertised in The Concordia Blade-Empire and posted on the city’s website. Sealed bids were opened on June 12, 2023, and one bid was received from Ka-Comm in the amount of $9,548.50. The price that came in on the bid letting was over the amount allotted for the DOJ grant.
Upon the recommendation of city manager Amy Lange, the commission voted to approve an addendum to the development agreement with 1909 Lincoln Street, LLC.
The city entered into a development agreement with 1909 Lincoln Street, LLC on November 28, 2022, for the development of a new pull-through car wash. As part of this agreement, the city committed to extending 20th Street east from Lincoln Street / U.S. Highway 81 by July 15, 2023, to adequately serve this development.
The development of the project has been delayed due to a variety of factors, but the
developer remains committed to the completion of this project. The delayed project directly impacts the cty’s commitment to extending 20th Street. To finalize the design of the 20th Street extension, the final elevations of the project site pavement must be determined, and this was not completed in time to allow for bidding and construction of this extension by July 15, 2023. Therefore, the deadline had to be revised, as do other deadlines related to the commitments made by the developer.
With no further business on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.