Press release from the Great Bend Police Department…

During the past week, the Great Bend Police Department has been dispatched to Wal-Mart, 3503 10th, Great Bend in reference to unattended purses or wallets being stolen out of shopping carts.

We would like to remind everyone to be cautious while shopping at local businesses and not leave valuables unattended.

These cases remain under investigation and anyone with any information is asked to call the Great Bend Police Department at 620-793-4120 or Crime Stoppers at 620-792-1300.

In case the idea of installing turf was not on the minds of city officials and councilmembers, several baseball- and softball-minded individuals showed up at Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting to encourage the placement of turf on ballfields.

Mike Minton, president of the Great Bend Bombers Baseball organization, presented before the Council on the advantages of placing turf on the baseball and softball fields at the Great Bend Sports Complex.

Mike Minton Audio

Minton outlined the amount of visitors the Sports Complex brings into the city each spring and summer with youth tournaments and turning that traffic into dollars spent in the community.

When the Complex opened in 2012, there were no plans to place turf on the fields, but Minton stressed the importance of staying ahead of the game. Minton has been in Great Bend for over 25 years and came to town originally as a teacher and coach. He noted once great city facilities are no longer in great shape, and does not want to see that happen to the Complex.

Mike Minton Audio

Along with the economic impact of attracting and retaining tournaments at the Complex, the value turf would bring is less games cancelled or postponed because of rainouts. Great Bend High School coach Randy Beck mentioned that three of the five Western Athletic Conference schools have turf fields and those schools do not have to worry about practicing indoors when rain strikes.

Randy Beck Audio

The City has been considering the turf option and recently transferred $1.3 million into a fund in the 2019 budget for such improvements if the Council approves the project. Great Bend Mayor Joe Andrasek noted the City is discussing with other parties to get confirmation on their financial aid to the project.

The master plan for the Sports Complex was to add football and soccer fields to the west. The Council must decide how monies will be spent at the Complex, whether that be turf or new features.

City Administrator Kendal Francis stated there is a meeting with City, USD 428, and Great Bend Recreation Commission staffs scheduled for August 29 to discuss the turf.

After sending the 8^th Street pavement project back out for bids on August 6, the Great Bend City Council voted 3-2 Monday night to have Venture Corporation handle the job. Venture was among three other bidders for the pavement project on 8^th Street between Grant and McKinley.

The original bid request called for bidders to show written proof of being pre-qualified by the Kansas Department of Transportation, as a way of quality assurance. Venture was the only one that provided the proof, but they submitted the only asphalt bid and it was the second lowest. Thinking that concrete was the better route, the Council elected to redo the bid process and strike the KDOT prequalification since it was a City project.

Great Bend’s on-call engineer Josh Golka said Monday night he and city administration reexamined all the bids.

Josh Golka Audio

Vogts-Parga Construction, L&M Contractors, and Suchy Construction all submitted concrete bids, with Suchy coming in with the lowest bid, originally at $462,951. Venture’s asphalt bid originally was quoted at $468,876.

At the August 6^th meeting, Golka estimated an asphalt road would last 25-30 years while concrete streets would have a life expectancy of 40-50 years. Golka noted the asphalt project will be thicker to make it equivalent to the concrete.

Josh Golka Audio

After the rebidding process, Venture shaved off more than $42,000 on their bid lowering it to $426,343 and Suchy went down to $451,951. Golka and Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis recommended the overall low bid from Venture. The City Council voted in favor of accepting the bid from Venture to handle the project.

Because Suchy, Vogts-Parga, and L&M Contractors did not provide written proof of being KDOT prequalified, their bids should not have even been read the first time. As Golka noted at the August 6^th meeting, by the “letter of the law,” Venture should have appeared as the only option. The Council was under the influence that concrete might be a better choicce and Suchy had the low bid at the time so they chose to rebid the project.

Other news from the Great Bend City Council meeting on August 20, 2018…

– The Council voted to approve the 2019 budget prior the meeting.

– Community members with baseball and softball affiliations made encouraging requests for the City to install artificial turf at the ballfields at the Great Bend Sports Complex. The Council asked several questions and were told City Administrator Kendal Francis has a meeting scheduled with USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton and the Great Bend Recreation Commission on August 29 to discuss the possibility of turfing the fields.

– Community Coordinator Christina Hayes gave a recap of Party in the Park on August 11, the City’s new website coming August 27, and the installation process of carpet at the Great Bend Events Center

– The Council chose to move the next regular meeting to Tuesday, September 4 to avoid Labor Day.

While the hour Tuesday, August 21 will but scratch the surface of the topic, the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce hopes you will engage in an important conversation about mental health in the workplace.

From your employees’ safety and well being to their satisfaction and productivity, mental health awareness and response training is vital to the workplace.

Julie Kramp is the Executive Director at The Center for Counseling & Consultation in Great Bend.

Julie Kramp Audio

A group of panel members from The Center will be leading the Employer Roundtable hosted by the Great Bend Chamber. The discussion on mental health in the workplace will be from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Page Banquet Room, 2920 10^th Street.

Kramp says there will be many topics and tips on mental health revealed during the presentation.

Julie Kramp Audio

The roundtable discussion will include resources and hotlines for business owners, information on how business owners can assist in promoting mental health to their employees, and potential indicators of depression.

Tonight, the Great Bend City Council will go through round two of choosing a company to handle the pavement project on 8th Street between Grant and McKinley. The Council sent the project back to bids after several of the companies failed to follow the bid specifications. Read the entire story here.

Venture Corporation was the only asphalt bid submitted. At the August 6th meeting, Venture’s bid was $468,876.95. The bid tabulation chart shows Venture lowered their bid to $426,343.50 for tonight’s discussion and possible decision.

Suchy Construction was one of three bidders that submitted a bid to use concrete. Suchy had the lowest bid on August 6 at $462,951.61 and lowered their bid the second time around to $451.951.21.

Vogts-Parga Construction and L&M Contractors kept their bids for concrete the same.

Great Bend’s on-call engineer Josh Golka will report at tonight’s meeting and make a recommendation to the Council.

The City Council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 1209 Williams.