Manhattan City Commission approves Cemeteries Master Plan

The Manhattan City Commission unanimously approved the Parks and Recreation Department’s Cemeteries Master Plan Tuesday night.

The plan will see upgrades to infrastructure within Sunset and Sunrise Cemeteries, including an eventual new building for equipment at the latter and a joint maintenance facility to be shared between Sunset Zoo and Sunset Cemetery as well. Overall costs will be about $6 million for upgrades to Sunset Cemetery and over $3 million to Sunrise Cemetery. No projects are currently in the works, but Tuesday’s approval gives city officials some guidance on future funding mechanisms and strategies to achieve some of these projects.

Commissioner Susan Adamchak spoke about the plan being a bit expensive but ultimately supported the final plan.

Mayor Wynn Butler approved of the plan, despite some skepticism over the cost and the possible non-removal of the Sexton’s house.

The house currently sits vacant across from Sunset Cemetery.

City staff also presented a draft inter-local agreement update for the fire station headquarters at 2000 Denison Ave. City staff are revising that contract to extend the lease, which expires in 2034 out to 2075. The city and Kansas State University, which owns the property, would continue to work together.

The plan says K-State would continue to receive fire services to university property outside of city limits at no cost in exchange for Manhattan not having to pay rent for the fire station property. The city also intends to give the university back the north tract of land where its training facility sits. Last year, the city commission approved a new training facility to be eventually constructed near its fire station on Amherst Ave.

Commissioners also met in executive session to obtain legal advice, to begin the process of selecting its next city manager. Ron Fehr is retiring in April after 24 years on the job. No action was taken and commissioners did not comment on specifics following the meeting.