BonnerSprings.com

Despite numerous complaints made during the last month at two Bonner Springs City Council meetings, the city and the Bonner Beautiful Commission have finally managed to get on a positive footing — at least for now.

Issues the commission had were vocalized during two June council meetings by council member Lloyd Mesmer, who serves as council representative to the commission. These issues included that the grass had been cut too low at Centennial Park, the sprinkler systems at the park weren’t functioning, and the flowerpots located throughout the city were not being watered properly.

To blame, he said, was the Parks and Recreation Department and the “lack of leadership” by Parks and Recreation Director Skip Dobbs.

As the supervisor of the Parks and Recreation Department, City Manager John “Jack” Helin said the city had done its best to rectify all the issues raised. He said the sprinklers had been checked and were working, and the grass had been cut too low because of a mistake made by a parks and recreation staff member. He said the staff member had mistakenly kept the deck of the mower, which determines how short the grass will be cut, too low. The grass is being allowed to grow and will in the future be mowed down to an appropriate length, he said.

As to the flowerpots, Helin said the city would take full responsibility. According to a contract drawn up between the city and Bonner Beautiful in 2008, it is the city’s responsibility to keep the flowerpots watered each week.

“We may very well not have got it for awhile,” Helin said. “… ever since (the complaint was made by Mesmer) we (water the pots) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Any plants that died we will, out of (the parks and recreation) budget, we’ll replace those for them.”

During an interview last week, Mesmer explained why he was frustrated with the lack of help from the city, especially when members of the Bonner Beautiful Commission were all unpaid volunteers.

“We expend our efforts in doing our part, and then those things which should be taken care of by paid city employees under this contract simply didn’t get done,” he said. “And that’s as gently as I can put it.”

At this time, however, he said he had no complaints with the city.

“Technically, we don’t have any issues right at this point of time,” Mesmer said. “We’re satisfied.”

But while Helin said the city “was there to support” the Bonner Beautiful Commission as much as possible, he said he had never been approached personally about these issues before they were raised at the city council meetings.

“We just kind of ask that they get us information if there’s an issue to let us know ahead of time or as early as possible, so we can get working on it,” Helin said, noting that it was difficult for him to address an ongoing concern when he was hearing about it for the first time at a city council meeting. “We’re hoping that they communicate with us the issues … and we’re certainly not perfect, we make mistakes … Hopefully all that better communication both ways will help (in making) sure everybody’s doing what they need to do.”

Comments