Osage County Herald-Chronicle

Osage City Council
Westar tree replacement plan axed by city

DeAun Michael
Special to the Herald-Chronicle

The Osage City Council heard and discussed concerns about this year’s Osage City county fair, during last week’s council meeting.

At the Aug. 12 meeting, Ken Foth, representing the Osage County Fair Board, expressed the board’s appreciation for the city’s support and cooperation with the fair. At the same time, he expressed concerns about the fair that were echoed among several council members.

Fair board members were to meet Wednesday this week, but wanted to share their concerns with the city council. Among other issues, Foth reported, they were disappointed in the carnival and will be looking at other options, including the possibility of holding a fair without a carnival in the future.

“The carnival gives us 15 percent of their gross proceeds after sales tax and insurance is deducted,” Foth said in his presentation.

It was reported that even with the carnival down from previous years, the proceeds still totaled 10 percent of the fair’s annual income. Any decisions to eliminate a carnival would have to be weighed heavily against the benefits the carnival brings to the fair, Foth said.

He said the fair board is considering several options over the next few months including moving the dates of the fair.

Council member Becky Brewer asked if the board would consider moving the fair back to early August dates.

Foth replied that the board has a lot to consider when changing dates. “July is the busiest month for fairs in the state of Kansas,” he said. “Three-fourths of the fairs in the state are held in July.”

A weekend fair is another option being considered by the board. One of the primary concerns regarding date changes is consideration of the dates a carnival is available – if the decision is made to keep a carnival.

Foth also informed the council the fair board’s application to the Jones Fund for a building project was turned down. This leaves the board short $75,000 for this project, and looking at other options for the building project.

Also on the agenda for the council’s consideration was a Westar Energy letter of agreement for a tree removal and replacement program.

At a previous meeting when this proposal was presented, Brewer asked for additional time to consider the agreement and discuss the subject with citizens who would be affected by the tree removal.

Brewer said she had discussed the issue with several homeowners.

“For some of them, this would cut down all of their trees on the west side of their house,” she said. “This would cause them to lose a lot of shade from their house.”

Councilman Jason Croucher said he had been contacted by one person who requested the council not go through with the proposal.

Discussion was held regarding why Westar wants the agreement, which would allow homeowners the option of replacing their tall growth trees with short growth trees supplied free of charge by Westar.

“It is going to allow Westar not to have to come back as often, or never again to trim the trees. The trees that are there and have been heavily pruned, are weakened by the pruning,” Croucher said.

The council considered the option of not accepting the agreement – Westar would not be allowed to cut down trees on the city easements and would continue with any pruning deemed necessary.

“We don’t control their trimming,” Croucher said. “They will continue to come back and trim those trees forever. They had to have our permission to get on to our easements and cut the trees down. That’s why they came to us.”

Utilities supervisor Mike Gilliland said the last time trees were trimmed by Westar, property owners were contacted and the company received written permission to remove trees. Homeowners who lost trees were aware they were going to lose trees.

After additional discussion, a motion by Brewer to decline Westar’s letter of agreement, seconded by Croucher, was approved unanimously.

In other business, the council:

• was presented street chip and seal bids. A bid was accepted from Vance Bros. Inc., of Kansas City, at $1.80 a yard. The bid was lower than anticipated which will allow additional streets to be added to the project.

• approved the 2009 proposed budget.

• heard from Greg Wright, Emergency Management Group, who presented electrical use and costs statistics to consider when making decisions regarding possible rate increases in the future. Wright will be presenting rate increase proposals in September.

• held a 15-minute executive session to discuss attorney client matters.