Parks lacking, says Bonner Beautiful

Archive for Thursday, June 17, 2010

June 17, 2010

A list of complaints compiled by members of the Bonner Beautiful Commission incited some debate among council members during Monday night’s Bonner Springs City Council meeting.

The list, which was read out loud by council member Lloyd Mesmer, outlined several problems the organization has with maintenance at Centennial Park, 126 Cedar St. Chief among the issues was that the grass had been cut too short and in some places, had been stripped almost bare. Also included in the letter was that the sprinkler system in the flower beds hadn’t been working and hadn’t been fixed since spring of last year.

The letter, and Mesmer himself, placed the blame for the state of the park at the feet of Parks and Recreation Director Skip Dobbs, saying he exhibited a “lack of leadership.”

“As far as I’m concerned, (the responsibility) falls right back on to the parks and recreation director,” Mesmer, who also serves as council representative to the Bonner Beautiful Commission said. “That’s his job to make sure that those things are done and done properly.”

Council member Jerry Jarrett echoed the letter’s sentiments and offered his own concerns regarding the state of Lions Park, 300 W. Morse Ave., where he said grass in one area of the park had been allowed to grow just shy of the city’s ordinance regarding grass length of 12 inches.

City manager John “Jack” Helin countered Jarrett’s claim by noting the reason for the excessive grass length in one area of the park had been because all of the focus had been placed on preparing the park’s two ball fields for the sporting season. Helin said there was only so much the staff could do in a day, especially with the economy the way it was.

“You only got so many people on so much time to do so many things. We had to prioritize …” Helin said.

The economy, however, is no excuse, Jarrett said.

“If we’re cutting back on some of the things we do in the city because of economics, it’s beginning to show, and it doesn’t look good,” he said. “If you do a job, do it right, and make it look nice.”

Bonner Beautiful chairperson Betty Rehm, who was contacted following the meeting, said the purpose of the list wasn’t to “walk on people’s toes,” but was simply to bring a matter to the city’s attention she felt hadn’t been properly addressed thus far. Rehm said the commission approached Dobbs numerous times about the lack of proper maintenance at the park.

“Parks and recreation are supposed to provide summer help to mow and maintain and weed and so forth, and evidently (the employees) are not being given the right kind of instructions on the proper way to do these things, and that’s why the parks are looking like they are,” Rehm said. “We just felt like it needed to be brought to the city’s attention … we’re just not getting the cooperation we need to make it happen.”

Dobbs, who wasn’t present at the meeting, chose not to comment aside from saying he hadn’t been privy to the written list of complaints prior to the council meeting.

As the supervisor of all city departments, Helin addressed the matter in an interview following the council meeting. He said the mowers would be raised so the grass wasn’t getting cut so short and added the sprinkler system was, in fact, operational but hadn’t been used as much due to the rain.

“I think Bonner Beautiful’s a great group of volunteers that do a lot of great things for the city,” Helin said. “We also have a great staff, hardworking, (who have) a lot of things on their plate.”

As for the city’s parks and recreation director, Helin said Dobbs had his full support.

“Skip Dobbs has my full faith and confidence as our parks and rec director, and I think he and his staff do an outstanding job working for the city,” he said.

In other action, the council:

• Had a workshop with representatives from the Kansas Department of Transportation regarding updates to the long-range Kansas Highway 7 and Interstate 70 interchange project, which will turn K-7 into a freeway. Among the topics discussed was what to do with the entranceway of Kerry Roberts Park, which is currently located off of northbound K-7.

Aaron Frits, road squad leader with KDOT, said for safety reasons, the entrance could no longer be off K-7 once it turned into a freeway. He gave the council a couple options for additional entranceways, including one that would come in from the back end of the park off of Nettleton. But he said KDOT was willing to work with the city on this matter in whatever direction it felt was best.

Though there is no funding yet for the long-range plan, Frits said it was KDOT’s expectation to have the design for the project approved and complete by 2012. It was also hoped, he said, funding would be made available for phase one of the project within the next 10 years.

Frits said KDOT would come back to the next city council meeting, scheduled for June 28, to discuss the matter further.

More information about the interchange project can be found at k7andi70interchange.org.

• Unanimously approved the minutes from the May 24 meeting.

• Unanimously approved supplemental claims for city operations totaling $113,973 and regular claims totaling $433,954.18.

• Unanimously approved Public Housing Authority claims totaling $2,423.28.

• Unanimously approved a change order in the amount of $20,768 for the Kump Avenue project. The change order includes some additional water line be added along Park Avenue to allow for better water quality and flow. The change order amount will be part of the 2011 water operating budget and will be paid when the project is closed by KDOT in 2011.