Goessel mayor, council members reaffirmed for new terms office

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN CYNTHIA GOERZEN
Goessel City Clerk Anita Goertzen installed the mayor and five city council members at the April 26 Goessel City Council meeting.


Peggy Jay was reelected as mayor in the April 3 election. All five council members were also re-elected. They will remain in the same departmental positions: Larry Lindeman, streets; Lyle Christ, equipment; Duane Duerksen, park; Larry Schmidt, water and burnsite; and James Wiens, wastewater.


The council chose Schmidt as chairman.


Other appointments were formalized as follows: Rollin Schmidt, police chief and public officer for code enforcement; Anita Goertzen, city clerk/court clerk; Kevin Klassen, municipal judge; Jodi Unruh, treasurer; Bob Brookens, city attorney.


Pete Flaming and Linda Peters attended the meeting to request the city’s endorsement of Bethesda Home’s application for tax credits.


According to Flaming, letters in support of Bethesda Home are important in determining whether the application is accepted.


“The competition is stiff,” he said. “We as a community as a whole have benefited from this (tax credit) project,” he added.


The mayor supplied the requested letter.


Flaming said 81 donors had participated in the tax-credit program in 1998 and 1999 combined; 24 donors were businesses from outside the community and 57 were local. Sixty donors participated in fiscal year 2001 (22 out-of-town donors, 38 local).


Flaming said the tax-credit program had generated $1,012,643 in contributions to approved projects at Bethesda Home.


Of that amount, $505,925 has been received from businesses that contributed specifically because of the tax credit program.


Flaming described those donations as “a real relief to the burden of our donor base and a real boost to the stability and economic strength of our community.”


He added: “To say the least, the tax credit program has been a godsend to Bethesda and this community.”


Flaming said the first phase of the home’s strategic plan was to renovate the west annex. The second phase, room renovations, is an on-going project. Ten rooms are done, 11 partially done, and 20 more need renovations.


The special-care unit was established under the third phase. The fourth phase includes plans to build a covered main entrance with automatic door openers, construct a drive off Main Street, and replace the east annex (the former hospital) with assisted living rooms.


Dietary and laundry needs will be addressed later.


Linda Rath and her children, Chris and Emma, attended the meeting to discuss keeping goats at their residence in town as part of a 4-H project.


Chris said they would like to keep the goats for three months until county fair time.


“They make very little waste, and they don’t attract flies,” Linda Rath said.


The council granted permission to the keep the goats in town until the fair, but stressed their permission was not ongoing. The Raths were asked to come to the council again next year if they want to have goats in town again as a 4-H project.


In other business:


–?the council agreed to advertise for a part-time policeman since Mike Fisher resigned to take a full-time job with the county sheriff’s department;


–?the mayor opened the sealed applications that had been submitted for cleaning the city building; the council will offer the position to Sandi Thompson.


–?Public Works Director Arlen Goertzen said the county has granted him permission to maintain North State Street; he will get more sand for it.


–?the council discussed erecting a stop sign at the intersection of Wheat and Marion, as requested by a resident. However, the council decided the intersection is open enough.


Police chief Schmidt said, “We have a lot of traffic-control signs in this town.”


–?Goertzen said the soil sample was taken at the site of the future water tower, but results are not yet available.


–?Goertzen was granted permission to attend water classes in Hays and wastewater classes in Emporia in order to complete the 10 hours of training required to retain his certification.


–?It was reported that Anita Goertzen and Gayle Voth will organize the “community get-together.” The musical group Cactus Jack has been scheduled for Sunday evening, Aug. 5.


–?Mayor Jay signed a proclamation declaring the week of April 29 to May 5 as “Municipal Clerk’s Week.” She expressed her appreciation to Goertzen for her dedication to the community.


–?The council changed the date of the June council meeting to June 19. The date of the July meeting has also been changed to July 17.


–?The council approved the financial statements of $31,112.95.

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