New City Clerk hired and new pickle ball courts to be built in Kiowa

Resident complains about 'cars flying down 8th Street' – wants more stop signs

At a special meeting July 3, the Kiowa City Council hired an accounting consultant and accepted the resignation of City Clerk Sheila Smith.

Stan Busby, who is now retired from Busby Ford Reimer LLC (BFR) accounting firm of Wichita, received the council's approval as an accounting consultant for the city of Kiowa. He was hired at an hourly rate of $90/hour.

Current City Clerk Sheila Smith submitted her resignation, which was accepted by the council and her last day was Friday. Smith took the clerk position Sept. 20, 2021.

Smith told the Newsgram she took a bookkeeping position with Bryan Chevrolet. She takes the place of Shirley Christensen who held the job many years before recently retiring.

All members attended the July 10 monthly meeting of Kiowa's City Council called to order by Mayor Bill Watson. He opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. Council members present were President Brian Hill, Jason Thayer, Tom Wells, Janet Robison and B.J. Duvall. Also sitting at the council table were City Administrator Sam Demel, City Attorney Brandon Ritcha and Clerk Smith for her last meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the council held a 10 minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel. Upon return to open session, they voted 4-1 to hire Cady Tucker as the new city clerk for a two-year term. Hill cast the single no vote. Mayor Watson officially appointed Tucker to the position.

Tucker previously served as Kiowa City Clerk starting in March of 2021. She is to start as city clerk July 31. Kiowa's longtime Utility Clerk Lynette Callison retired and her last day is July 31. Her replacement is Robin Kilmer whom Callison has been training and said is doing a great job.

With all the changes in the clerk positions the council needed to authorize the clerk's signature for bank account approval.

Pickle Ball Court Details and More City of Kiowa Business

Demel said they've sold one of the city properties. It's the former hospital property at 810 Drumm St. Trent and Abby Humphrey purchased the lot for $500. The couple is turning it into a pickle ball court and four square. They'll keep the 70x150 lot on the east side for their own shed.

Humphrey's proposal details they will have pickle ball court, a shade pavilion and landscaping on the western portion of the lot.

“We would eventually love to donate the courts and pavilion back to the city,” Abby said. Mid-to-late October is the contractor's date to begin. The contractor thinks it will take nine months. To be safe the Humphreys estimate it will be ready in October 2024.

The city continues ongoing acceptance of bids for the other city-owned lots they have for sale.

Under the public agenda, Jaime Steffen of 710 N. 8th St. spoke.

“Cars are flying down 8th Street,” she said. “It's all the time.” Steffen requested stop signs at all four corners of 8th and Chatham streets. “I have hours of footage of people flying by.” She's so concerned that Steffen offered to pay for the stop signs herself.

Demel confirmed that he's expecting a new invoice with reduced work from BG Consultants as they finish up the work on Kiowa's waterline replacement project.

The council approved their KMEA director appointment to be Demel, with Mayor Watson as alternate.

Regarding the possible solar panel project, Demel said “The next step is an agreement with landowners to allow us to assess the sight.” He said there are more grants for solar panels. No action is yet taken.

Pool Manager Kristina Duvall said with the sometimes unusually cool, rainy days this summer, they've had maybe 20 kids per day sometimes. She said they've had many requests for night swims every week.

Demel said there is a mower/tractor in an online sale if the council is interested. The bid was at $7,000 and he was keeping an eye on it.

The council made comments about inoperable vehicles parked in the street, front yards and empty lots.

 

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