by Keeley Moree
On Tuesday, December 10th the Liberal City Commission addressed the following items during their regularly scheduled meeting:
The meeting opened with special employee recognition awards for years of service. This year, the following individuals received recognition for their employment milestones:
10 Years of Service
• Jaime Sanchez – Parks/Sports Turf Department
• Adrian Ward – Solid Waste Department
• Karla Hannold – Communications Department
• Valerie Timmer – Communications Department
• Aaron Luman — Fire Department
15 Years of Service
• Brandt Helsel – Police Department
• Argelia Aragon – Police Department
• Jesus Aguilar – Water Department
• Paul Holman – Cemetery Department
• Esperanza Martinez – Communications Department
• Erika Villa – Building Department
20 Years of Service
• Chris Head – Police Department
• Alicia Hidalgo – Administration
25 Years of Service
• Guillermo Corona – Water Department
• Brian Fornwalt – Airport
The Commission voted to approve Ordinance No. 4624 rezoning four properties from R-1 (single family dwelling district) to R-3 (multiple family dwelling district) near McCray Park along Pine Street. Rezoning will assist a potential developer with construction of multi-family housing.
Ordinance No. 4625 was also approved to rezone property at 503 Luck Road from agricultural land to I-2 heavy industrial use property. In addition, Commissioners approved Ordinance No. 4626 allowing a special use permit for establishment of a concrete plant business at this property address. Following approval of the ordinance, additional FAA approval will need to be obtained for the plant to operate at this site location.
Commissioners also reviewed and approved Resolution No. 2426 which set forth the 2025 structure of fees across multiple departments providing services to the public.
The Commission voted to approve the purchase of report writing and video review software funded by seizure funding. The software will assist the Liberal Police Department with transcribing video from body worn cameras and provide an analysis of interactions to assist with identifying additional training needs for officers during interactions with the public.
Commissioners voted to approve the 2025 Employee Policy Manual to become effective January 1, 2025. The Commission also voted to adopt the 2025 Southwest Kansas Coalition Legislative Agenda, which identifies the legislative advocacy priorities for the Cities of Dodge City, Garden City, Hays, and Liberal.
The next regularly scheduled Liberal City Commission meeting will take place December 24th at 1:00 p.m.