Great Bend City Councilman Gary Parr had questions and comments Monday during the City Council meeting. He questioned last month’s decision to spend $60,000 for an outside firm to paint lines on high-traffic intersections on 10th Street. Meanwhile, he said, the City opted not to match Barton County’s Facade Improvement Grant program that helps businesses pay for facade improvements.
Parr said he wanted to clarify that he thinks the intersections should be painted. However, he said the city needs to do more research to figure out why the paint the city uses isn’t sticking longer. At one high-traffic intersection, the paint lasted less than three weeks. The council voted to spend $60,000 on 11 intersections, with “no guarantees, no warranties whatsoever, that this paint is going to stick.”
“We’ve already been told that it (the paint) is not going to work, but we have a program in Great Bend that we won’t give 60 grand to – that we know absolutely 110% works, but we won’t give that program any money. I hate to beat this horse again, and I’m not going to call it a dead horse, because it’s not, because a lot of the businesses are very upset about this when they saw it happen.”
Councilwoman Jolene Biggs responded that the street project uses different paint than what was used in the past. “What we voted on was not a two- or three-week thing; we voted for a more permanent thing, and that was on 10th St., which is well driven, and a lot of trucks are going back and forth over the lines.”
City Administrator Logan Burns explained that the street painting approved will be done by Road Safe, which has access to different paint than what the City put down.
Mayor Cody Schmidt reminded Parr, “There is a segment in this agenda for anybody that would like to address the governing body. So then, people, that mic is wide open.”
“I’m addressing the governing body for the people,” Parr said. “They call me and they ask me these questions. I’m here on their behalf.”
Schmidt said money set aside for street work has to be used for that type of project, and can’t be rolled into something like the Facade Improvement Grants.
Biggs and Burns explained that what the council voted on is more permanent than the paint used by the city.
“That’s what Road Safe is for,” Burns said. Road Safe does work on state highways and major intersections, applying thermal paint and using different equipment than the city has.
Assistant City Engineer Sreehitha Kadiyala was called upon and said, “The paint we use is water-based, or oil-based, and Road Safe uses a thermal paint.” How long it will last depends on the amount of traffic and other conditions. It is a paint approved by the Kansas Department of Transportation for highways, and should work better than the paint the city used before.
Meeting at the glance
Here’s a quick look at Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting
• Kyle Walter, Great Bend, received an Exemplary Citizen Award from the City for his heroic actions when a mail carrier was being attacked by two vicious dogs on May 9.
• The council approved the 2024 Audit Report presented by Sean Gordon with Gordon CPA. “We’ve issued the highest and cleanest opinion we can issue,” he said.
• A resolution was approved to adopt the 2025 Kansas Region E Hazard Mitigation Plan.
• The council approved a bid of $49,120 from Mayer Specialty Services to repair 14 manholes and boxes in the sanitary sewer system.
• The council approved a work order amendment for $65,000 with Garver for work at the Great Bend Municipal Airport. The amendment will complete the federal grant offer process. The City will then receive the grant offer of $469,538 toward rehabilitation of the primary runway.
