On Tuesday night the Manhattan city commission wound up for a longer night of tackling issues within the community.
Some good news came from the Flint Hills Discovery Center foundation as the commission approved an anonymous donation to the facility of $750,000. According to Bruce Snead the donation is the first of its kind, and he hopes it heralds others following in its wake. The donation will be given over a five year period, and Snead says it shows the added value the Flint Hills Discovery center brings to the community and the greater Flint Hills region.
A new proposal for a joint fund for Colbert Hills was debated, and led to the commission redirecting city staff to reduce the funding to within the city/university fund. Colbert Hills asked for a freeze on water usage bills at 2014 levels in lieu of the upcoming 5% hikes in the bill. Discussion on the topic ranged from fairness to other business ventures to historical payments by Colbert Hills for development of the Grand Mere area. Commissioners discussed the possible slippery slope it would introduce as other businesses would use the precedent to reduce their own operating costs. City staff will now work to come up with a new resolution to the problem. A short back and forth between the mayor and assistant city attorney Bryant Parker on proper use of “disproportionate” highlighted the delicate nature of the discussion. Parker later further defined his position on the topic by saying “I was only trying to confirm that the commission was talking about present equities in light of the history.”
A windfall in revenues from the quality of life tax was leveraged to maintaining current city parks and pools. The initiative to keep the excess funds for that purpose was supported during public comment by Richard Hill who said it was important to keep what we have in good repair, and not over reach in constructing new projects.
Finally, sparks flew as signage regulation was discussed during the final minutes of the commission meeting. Local business owners, concerned commissioners, and even an out of state lawyer commenting on constitutional rights, voiced their arguments concerning signs in the city. The session culminated in the commission moving towards removing a five year amortization process, and city staff is directed to provide the changes in a new document in an upcoming session.
