Dear Baldwinites,

The November 19th City Council meeting opened with a speech from a representative for one of the mobile home park owners. He asked the council members to reconsider approving the mobile home ordinance.  This ordinance has been in the works for a couple of years now, passing down through the Planning Commission and extensive research and discussion. City staff have become increasingly concerned about the safety of some of the mobile home parks in town, and the ordinance addresses those concerns in a practical and effective way.

City Council chose not to discuss this ordinance any further and passed the Manufactured & Mobile Home Ordinance unanimously. The final version of this ordinance will be posted to the city website soon.

Moving on, the Council approved Public Works’ proposed Water Conservation Plan. This is essentially a written plan for managing water consumption and conservation in case of an emergency, and is required by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The Council was in high gear Tuesday night, so they moved right on to a common consumption area discussion. 

In Resolution 2019-18, The Lodge requested a common consumption area to allow guests of Flatlanders’ Pizza and The Lodge guests to enjoy alcohol within a contained and defined area. This motion passed after some clarification of the area in question and whether guests could bring their own drinks into the consumption area (in case you’re wondering, the answer is no).

Architect Jay Zimmerscheid addressed the Chapel Street gymnasium roof bids received, and Council discussed their responsibility to care for the Chapel Street gymnasium that the City now owns. Midwest Coating was the low bidder for the roof project, and received the bid to replace the leaking roof.

Firetree Estate Phase 6A Subdivision Improvement Agreement was brought to council for a second reading, and the council approved it unanimously.

Baldwin City will be 150 years old on September 22nd, 2020. Evidently there is no cake planned as of yet, but celebrating a birthday like that seems like a good idea. Councilman Brian Cramer brought to the council some research and discussion by various community stakeholders regarding planning for a Sesquicentennial Celebration. The Destination Baldwin City group met the first week of November to brainstorm ideas and reminisce about the Centennial celebration. 

After some discussion, the Council agreed a committee should be appointed to handle planning for the Sesquicentennial Celebration from the City’s perspective.  Councilman Tony Brown mentioned that Baker University celebrated their sesquicentennial a few years ago. From his point of view, celebrating for the whole year wore people out and the final celebration ended up being a let down. He suggested incorporating festivals and events that already exist, since Baldwin City has several already, and celebrating the second half of the year primarily.  Councilman Cramer mentioned that the idea of incorporating existing events was “baked in” to the brainstorming session.

The Chamber of Commerce brought a funding request, as they have for the last several years. Tony Brown thanked Jeannette Blackmar for her service to Baldwin City, as she is stepping down from her role as Executive Director at the Chamber and moving to the Lumberyard Arts Center. 

The City Council voted to support a request for funding from the Chamber of Commerce in the  amount of $36,000. This is the same amount that the city has funded the Chamber for the past eight years.  

The City Council also decided to enter into a contract with the City of Lawrence to purchase raw water for the next four decades.  The alternative was to purchase raw water from the State of Kansas for a much higher price. As a point of interest, nearly all of the local Rural Water Districts will also be consolidating to Lawrence water.

After a very rare council meeting of nearly unanimous agreement the entire evening, council adjourned.

Thank you for your interest in the workings of City Hall and the Council. We welcome your attendance and input at meetings.

Glenn Rodden

City Administrator

Baldwin City, Kansas