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It was an eventful year in Bonner Springs, Edwardsville and the county as a whole. A major road project was completed, musical debuts were made and workers faced the prospect of losing their jobs.

Here, The Chieftain looks back at 2011 and the year’s top 10 stories.

City manager’s job threatened

The Bonner Springs City Council had three new members elected in April, which created some split votes on a council that previously tended to be in agreement.

The biggest example of differing opinions came in August when George Cooper, Jack Knight, Racheal Haas and Eric Freeman voted not to renew the contract for city manager John “Jack” Helin, with council member Bob Reeves absent.

After two half-hour executive sessions, the Council eventually passed the renewal of Helin’s contract when Haas changed her vote, but it seemed the move was made with the intention of firing Helin. The council members reportedly were concerned with the way the city manager dealt with the public and employee grievances. As a result, the council continues to work on a new policy for employee grievances.

Front Street complete

A project in the works since 2005 was finally completed in 2011.

The city began planning to resurface Front Street years ago, receiving state funding for 2008 to get the project done. But then the city decided other improvements to the street should be completed first. A five-phased project began in October 2009 to install a new sanitary sewer main, storm drainage improvements and new curbs, gutters, sidewalks, landscaping, decorative street lights and signs, making the thoroughfare a perpetual construction zone for the next two years.

In June, the city awarded the bid to resurface the street, and work was complete a month later.

Bonner approves first CID

The year saw one of the biggest economic developments in the city take place thanks to the city’s new business incentive plans.

In January, the city created a Community Improvement District on the southwest corner of Kansas Avenue and Kansas Highway 7 to help fund $2.7 million in improvements to the strip mall, a future restaurant and the new Nuts and Bolts True Value Hardware store in the former Cummins Tool.

Work began immediately, and the Nuts and Bolts opened its doors in May to many thankful shoppers, and work continues to remodel the neighboring strip building.

Cities don’t count on casino funds

As work on the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway ramped up for an early 2012 opening, the cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville decided not to count their chickens before they hatched.

In their 2012 budgets, both cities decided not to count on any of the total 0.75 percent of revenues they are due to receive from the casino. Bonner Springs took the conservative approach from the start — Mayor Clausie Smith explained it would be “foolhardy” to make plans for money the city doesn’t yet have.

Edwardsville originally had planned to use the estimated $209,000 it should get in casino revenues in its 2012 budget, but council members put the kibosh on that in July. Both now plan to amend their 2012 budgets once they receive casino funds.

Earp Distributions opens its doors

In October, Earp Distribution opened its new $24 million, 184,000 square-foot facility in the Edwardsville Industrial Park.

The building was financed through the cooperation of the federal, state and local governments utilizing Federal Recovery Bonds. The Unified Government, with cooperation between Bonner Springs and Edwardsville, issued $889,000 in federal tax-exempt Recovery Zone Bonds. The city of Edwardsville then issued a $26 million industrial revenue bond.

Earp delivers frozen, refrigerated, dry and promotional products to 420 McDonald’s and 65 Chipotle restaurants within a six-state region.

Residents grieve loss of community leaders

The community was rocked by news of the deaths of Lewis Wood, longtime USD 204 Board of Education member, and Larry Berg, beloved Bonner Springs City Band director and former city council member.

Wood was 71 when he died in March of congestive heart failure. Prior to his death, he had been a member of the USD 204 Board of Education for more than 20 years, serving as its president several times. He was also a longtime, active member of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Edwardsville, and regularly donated to charities.

Berg died in June of a heart attack. He was 68 at the time.

His list of volunteer efforts throughout his more than 30 years living in Bonner Springs was a long one. Whether it was as director of the Bonner Springs City Band, a member of the Bonner Springs City Council or volunteering as a member of organizations like the Bonner Springs Rotary Club, Edwardsville Kiwanis Club or YouthFriends, Berg was known for bringing a high level of dedication and organization to everything he did.

Festivals make their KCK debut

Two major music festivals made their Kansas City, Kan., debut during the summer.

The inaugural Kanrocksas Music Festival, which combined music and theme park-style attractions with economy friendly perks such as free parking and camping, was staged in early August at Kansas Speedway. Organizers say the festival only drew about 60,000 people, which was less than anticipated. But Chris Fritz, one of the organizers, said the goal was to keep growing the festival into an event along the lines of large-scale and longstanding music and arts festivals like Coachella in Indio, Calif., and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.

Later that same month, Farm Aid made its debut Aug. 12 in the area, taking over Livestrong Sporting Park. The event also marked the first time Farm Aid, a music festival started by legendary musician Willie Nelson 26 years ago to aid small, family farms, was staged in the state of Kansas.

Headliners for the show included, as always, Dave Matthews, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Nelson — all of whom also serve as Farm Aid board members.

School custodians face losing jobs

It was a tough year for custodians in USD 204. In a cost-saving measure, the USD 204 Board of Education in April considered a new contract with PCI Building Services that would have the cleaning service taking charge of cleaning five of the district’s schools. The contract would have saved the district $200,000 but would have signaled pink slips for all 10 of the district’s custodians.

The issue drew a packed room during an Aug. 18 board meeting, during which district patrons and several of the custodians themselves spoke out, asking board members to save their jobs.

In the end, the custodians were safe. After an almost two-hour executive session, board members ended up in a tie vote over the motion to accept the new contract, with board members Ray Cox, Dave Pierce and Connie Hadley opposed. Without a seventh board member to cast the tie-breaking vote — member Lewis Wood had died the previous month — the motion failed.

Ag Hall moves forward

While still struggling financially, it’s safe to say the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame had a better year than 2009, when its doors almost shut for good.

One of the highest points of the year was the August induction of country music legend and Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson into the Ag Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place before the Farm Aid 2011 benefit concert staged Aug. 13 at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Another high point of the season came through Carl DiCapo, noted Kansas City, Mo.,-based fundraiser, who became a member of the Ag Hall board of governors in 2010. He is also the national president of the center’s board of trustees. Through DiCapo’s efforts, the center this year was able to secure a $100,000 challenge grant. The donor of the grant, who wishes to remain anonymous, will match any donations the Ag Hall receives up to $100,000. Though no tangible donations have yet been received toward that grant, Cathi Hahner, the center’s executive director, said the center had already received about $50,000 worth of pledges toward the grant.

Exhibits also were updated. And for the first time in a long time, the center didn’t lose any money on its events. Hahner said this was due to an influx this year of sponsorships that covered expenses for events like Tractor Daze and Trick or Treat on the Farm.

Still, she said, the Ag Hall has a long way to go.

“I mean, it’s easier,” Hahner said during a November interview with The Chieftain. “There’s a lot of momentum going, but we’re certainly not out of the woods yet.”

BSHS teacher takes to the road

Former industrial technology teacher Kris Munsch surprised many who knew him when he quit his job at the end of the 2010-11 school year, sold his house and hit the road in July with a goal of visiting all the lower 48 states within a year.

In preparation for his journey, he put everything in storage but what he would need for the trip: items such as a small suitcase filled with a week’s worth of clothes, a small cookstove and a sleeping bag. He took out all the seats but the driver’s in the new Honda Element he had purchased, planning to sleep in the back.

In a July interview with The Chieftain, Munsch, who is also the co-creator of “The Birdhouse Project,” said the goals of his trip were to come back having learned from past mistakes and having learned how to deal with losses in his life that included his son, Blake, who died in a 2005 car accident.

Munsch is still on the road and is chronicling his experiences, reflections and emotions as he journeys with almost daily blog postings at blog.thebirdhouseproject.com. Included in his plans is to teach “The Birdhouse Project” to one person in each state, the progress of which he has been marking by coloring in a bird on the map of the United States that is painted on the hood of his car. “The Birdhouse Project” is a series of books utilizing the analogy of building a birdhouse to demonstrate the ways in which difficult times can be overcome when tackled through a step-by-step process.

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