Hillsboro wrapped up year-end business with a special meeting

The city of Hillsboro held a special city council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 28 in order to wrap up a few business items before the end of the year.

The meeting started with a 2021 Budget Amendment Hearing. No public attended. The council approved modifying the following funds:

  •  sewer fund from $801,325 to $1,016,795 in order to cover the projects related to the lagoons
  • the TIF fund from $29,230 to $31,230 to cover unexpected land carrying costs
  • the water fund from $1,955,639 to $2,137,544 to take into account expanded costs reallocating expenses related to blue-green algae.

Hillsboro City Administrator Matt Stiles explained that the Kansas legislature passed Resolution 2021-09 which authorizes litigating municipalities such as the city of Hillsboro to access opioid litigation settlement funds and become eligible for certain state grants by entering an agreement releasing the city’s opioid litigation claims to the Attorney General and assigning any future opioid litigation claims to the Attorney General.

“We just have to certify that we have had costs of $500 or more related to substance abuse,” said Stiles. “We do the DARE program so we spend money on that each year. We’ve also had numerous arrests and officer-involved time with people in the midst of a substance abuse crisis or who have addiction to opioids and are dealing with crime.”

Stiles said he wasn’t sure what the amount would be or where it would be used but there were many options for it to be used for education through the Hillsboro Community Hospital and other community organizations.

City Attorney Andrew Kovar said it was his understanding that the state would be setting it all up as a grant to be used for education.

The council approved the city of Hillsboro participating in the Kansas Opioid settlement.

In other business, the council:

n approved Cereal Malt Beverage licenses for Casey’s, CG&S Ampride, Dollar General, Hillsboro Municipal Golf Association, Pizza Hut and Pueblo Viejo

n thanked Councilmember Renee Gehring for her service on the council. Gehring stepped down from her position on the council on Jan. 1.

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