ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Thanks to a quirk of the calendar, Hillsboro fireworks enthusiasts will have an extra day to shoot fireworks, the Hillsboro City Council decided at its June 15 meeting.
Because the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday this year and the official holiday is being observed the following day, the council decided to amend its fireworks ordinance to include July 5 as a day for residents to legally shoot their fireworks.
The ordinance, now in its second year, allows fireworks to be used from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., July 1 through July 4. The amendment for this year will extend the period by one more day.
In his report to the council, City Administrator Steven Garrett said a public hearing to receive input from residents about a request from the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church to close the 100 block of South Washington has been set for 7 p.m., Thursday, June 24, in city hall.
The hearing will be part of the monthly meeting of the Hillsboro Community Planning & Development Commission.
Garrett said leaders from the church presented him in late May with a tentative “footprint” of a 25,000-square-foot building. Because the church also owns property on the west side of Washington, leaders are exploring the possibility of closing the 100 block to provide better parking and accessibility to a new building by creating a unified campus.
The church representatives emphasized to Garrett that this is a preliminary inquiry. The congregation has not chosen a site on which to build a facility to replace the one it lost by fire March 7.
Garrett said the June 24 hearing is being called to gather input from the community before the issue is talked about at the July 6 meeting of the city council.
The council approved the reimbursement of $13,499 from the Public Building Commission to Hillsboro Community Medical Center to cover the purchase of a new hematology analyzer.
Michael Ryan, HCMC chief executive officer, said the “emergency” purchase was made when their 15-year-old analyzer finally quit working. Because immediate replacement was necessary, Ryan said he received initial approval from Mayor Delores Dalke to purchase the new analyzer.
Ryan also informed the council of the need to replace their old telemetry system with a new one. He said staff was in the middle of evaluating bids, so he was not asking the council to make a decision on the purchase at this meeting.
A telemetry system monitors and records medical information on patients. The parameters of that information have broadened in recent years and the old system is no longer adequate, Ryan said.
In other matters, the council:
— announced a special meeting for 4 p.m., June 22, to consider business related to the Windover at Hillsboro housing project.
— heard from Megan Kilgore, executive director of the Hillsboro Management Board, that Golden Heritage Foods Inc. was named the winner for industry in the southcentral region by the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing. Country Haven Inn of Hillsboro was a merit-award winner in the service category.
— heard from Garrett that city workers are laying a larger water line from Jefferson Street one block west to Lincoln Street along A Street. He said the larger line should help increase water pressure along Lincoln.
— noted that now that Phase 2 of the Main Street renovation project is under way, the city finds itself enduring a cycle of wet weather that is delaying progress-just like Phase 1 a year ago.
“It’s official-we’re jinxed,” Garrett joked.
— met in executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the acquisition of property. No decisions were made when the public session resumed.