HUTCHINSON, Kan. — An Enid, Oklahoma, company with ties to the area will go before the Hutchinson Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals for a public hearing on a proposed hazardous materials manufacturing and storage facility.

GEO Chemicals, LLC, wants to establish the facility in the lone building left over from the Consolidated Manufacturing property at 1600 N. Halstead. The company is also requesting a setback variance on the property. The public hearing is set for July 23.

But the proposed location may only be temporary. According to GEO Board Chair Jason West, future plans are to build a new facility in the Kansas Enterprise Industrial Park with a possible number of 50 to 100 employees. GEO Chemicals was once the owner of the Jacam Company in Sterling before selling it in 2013. West says this is an opportunity to expand the business footprint beyond central and western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle.

GEO Chemicals produces chemicals used in oil and gas production with expertise in drilling.

The company was founded by Dr. Gene Zaid, who was also behind Genzada Pharmaceuticals. That company is currently renovating the old Northgate Dillons for its new office complex.

The July 23 public hearing is set for 5:30 p.m. in the Hutchinson city offices.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Fire Department rescued three citizens from the Arkansas River on Sunday after they were displaced from their tubes shortly after entry.

The three entered at the 4th Street river bridge. There were four people in the group. Two of them became hung up close to the east bank. The other two tubers got farther down the river before one was able to access the bank. The other person became stranded as well.

Initial contact was made by the Reno County Sheriff’s Department, however, deputies were unable to free the three from the river.

Of the three, no life jackets were present.

The Hutchinson Fire Department deployed a boat under the 96 Highway river bridge and was able to quickly access all three upstream, place them into the boat and into life jackets, then return them to shore.

All three were checked by Reno County EMS following the rescue with no injuries reported.

The fire department reminds citizens entering bodies of water to wear life jackets as this incident had the potential for a negative outcome.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Flooding this year exaggerated the closing of two often traveled areas in the county that are unusable during high water events. Prolonged flooding has made this year even worse.

The county wants a study to find whether it is financially feasible to get these areas above the floodplain.

The areas up for study include 85th and 82nd avenues from Buhler to K-61 and Buhler Road going south of the community. The second area is 56th Avenue around Cow Creek involving a three-mile stretch of road to K-14 Highway.

The goal of the study is to provide enough information for the county to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with a design project to help keep the roads open. WSP engineering will do the study at a cost of $53,418.

The matter comes up for discussion and possible action during Tuesday’s County Commission meeting.

NICKERSON, Kan. — The Nickerson USD 309 School Board will try again to find an interim superintendent for the district during a special meeting Friday morning.

The district has been trying for several weeks to find a superintendent for the next school year to step in for Dr. Dawn Johnson. Johnson will be attending the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The training will take 11 months, meaning she will miss the 2019-2020 school year. Johnson is a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

The board will go into executive session and may name the interim at that time.

The meeting is set for 8 a.m. at the USD 309 district offices on West 4th Avenue, just west of Fun Valley.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After more than 2 ½ hours of discussion, the Hutchinson City Council could not come to an agreement to change South Main Street from Avenue C to Carey Park from four lanes to two.

The matter was placed on the agenda after Councilman Steve Dechant brought it up during the comments section of the last meeting. Both Dechant and Mayor Dave Inskeep wanted to pass the change during the previous meeting, but the other three council members refused to pass the change without hearing from owners along the corridor first.

The proposal brought a flurry of emails and other messages from businesses along the corridor who were — for the most part — against any change. Still, Dechant and Inskeep refused to adhere to the wishes of business owners and pushed to get some type of reduction in lanes passed. Dechant, who said the proposal was about having access to Carey Park for cyclists two weeks ago, backed off that statement during Tuesday’s meeting stating that he now wanted to do away with the bike lanes. His new proposal was to reduce South Main to two lanes, add a center turn lane and keep angle parking.

“It’s not so much that I was invested in a bike lane necessarily other than talking about aesthetics and walkability and making it a place for walkers, for people in cars and people on bicycles,” Dechant said.

Inskeep insisted that the road needed to be narrowed to two lanes as the most complaints about losing parking spaces under the change were unfounded. “We’ve heard from at least a handful that suggested that parking was the main factor, so I go back again the question has changed,” Inskeep said. “I think its .67 of a mile of asphalt that will not disrupt any of the parking. It won’t change, it’ll be exactly as it was.” The mayor added it would also slow down traffic, which would be a benefit to some businesses.

Councilman John Daveline said that Inskeep’s and Dechant’s refusal to approve the current configuration was a case of not listening to business owners. “I’m still very adamant about listening to businesses via email, telephones and this morning and nothing has modified or changed my plans,” Daveline said.

Daveline was backed by Councilwoman Jade Piros de Carvalho, who is a strong proponent of bike lanes and the Complete Streets concept, but stated, like Daveline, that the area was not a good fit. “I’m not against going against the status quo when it makes sense,” Piros de Carvalho said. “I feel like this isn’t maybe the most appropriate to have a pilot project.” Her comments came after Dechant said the reconfiguration should be tried and if it doesn’t work they can always change it back. Many business owners, like Tyson and Midwest Iron and Metal, were against the change because of the large amount of truck traffic that can tie up lanes. Others expressed concerns over traffic congestion and long lines due to waiting on trains in the area.

After all of the discussion, Daveline motioned to keep the street configuration as is. With Councilwoman Nancy Soldner absent, the vote was 2-2 with Inskeep and Dechant voting no. Soldner would have sided with Daveline’s motion had she been present.

Inskeep then made a motion to go with Dechant’s revised plan. That vote was also 2-2 with Daveline and Piros de Carvalho voting no. After another 30 minutes of discussion, it was determined that neither side would budge and an impasse was declared. With that, City Attorney Paul Brown stated that the contract for the project, which was approved by the council, would go on as planned. “You have a binding contract, you have no further action from the council as you could not achieve a three-person majority,” Brown said. “There’s a contract in effect . . . there’s no agreement to change it so we have a binding contract.” With that, the road configuration will stay the same.

The resurfacing and striping of the project is expected to be done in two to three weeks.

SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A South Hutchinson liquor store owner has started the process to put Sunday liquor sales up to a public vote.

Greg Dovel will begin collecting signatures of South Hutchinson residents that could put the proposal up to a vote in the November election.

Dovel tried unsuccessfully to get the City Council to pass a resolution allowing the sales just as he opened a new business selling alcohol and tobacco products.

Now Dovel has taken a petition before the County Elections Clerk. It was reviewed and approved. The petition also has the approval of County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan.

The petition has to gather 5% of those residents that voted in the 2016 presidential election. That means it needs 50 signatures.

The petition will need to be turned in and approved by the elections office by Aug. 16 in order to make the November general election.

SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The South Hutchinson Police Department took time during Monday’s City Council meeting to recognize a local restaurant for its generosity during the officer-involved shooting in Rice County in April.

The two separate shootings wounded Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans and Undersheriff Chad Murphy and resulted in a long standoff with the suspect near Sterling. That’s when Gambino’s stepped in, according to South Hutchinson Police Chief Dean Harcrow. “I contacted Gambino’s and told them the situation,” Harcrow said. “They did not hesitate whatsoever. They got in their car and went to Sterling, Kansas, and it was probably about 8:30 or 9 in the evening. They fixed 50 pizzas for the officers.”

Because of their service to the law enforcement officers on site, Harcrow presented the restaurant with a plaque that read: “With our greatest appreciation presented to Gambino’s Pizza for providing a meaningful service to the law enforcement officers responding to an emergency in Rice County in their time of need. The generosity and care that you showed was truly remarkable. Always remember that you made a difference.”

Not only did Gambino’s provide the pizzas for the officers, they did it free of charge.

CHENEY, Kan. — Both of the popular lakes for area residents will be open this Fourth of July holiday, but with very limited use. Kanopolis State Park announced Friday it will be open starting Tuesday.

All utility campgrounds will be open with limited primitive camping in some areas. Buzzard Bay and Horsethief boat ramps are closed, and upper Horsethief road is still closed, along with the Sandy Shore and Sandplum primitive campgrounds. The park also announced it will not have courtesy docks accessible and no trail access.

At Cheney State Park, the lake is still about five feet above normal. Most of the east side of the lake is still closed off to camping, although some areas are open. The park says most available sites have already been reserved. There is some very limited boat ramp access, but it is at your own risk.

The marina is open but access is limited to the area. Because of the continued flooding in Oklahoma, the Army Corps of Engineers is keeping any release from Cheney down to a minimum.

BUHLER, Kan. — The Buhler School District is looking over its options for dealing with the closing of the 43rd Avenue bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad. The small wooden span was condemned after significant damage was found during an inspection. The bridge will remain closed until it can be replaced.

USD 313 Superintendent Mike Berblinger commented on the potential traffic headaches caused by the closing. “We’re glad that we’ve got a little heads up time. I just visited briefly with my Transportation Director,” he said. “ Of course we haven’t been using it for bus traffic over this past school year because of the weight limit, but we’re going to look for ways that we can really reduce that traffic a little bit.”

Berblinger says some options for dealing with the traffic could include staggered dismissal times and altering traffic patterns. “We’ll get a plan together and I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, whether we stagger some departures or what,” Berblinger said. “We’ll start to work on that right now since we got that news.”

Berblinger says residents in the area will likely see increased traffic around their neighborhoods as motorist look for a way back to 30th Avenue without traveling south down Lucille Drive.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Starting Monday, the sales tax rate for Reno County will fall by one-half percent.

The rate will fall in Hutchinson from 9.1% to 8.6%. The rate is falling because of the sunset to the sales tax used to fund the new county correctional facility. The county was able to pay off the bonds on the jail three years early. It means some nice savings on big-ticket purchases. It also means an average of an extra $450,000 in disposable income going into shopper’s pockets each month.

“If you’re going to buy a car, half a percent on $20,000 is a hundred bucks that stays in your pocket,” Dan Naccarato, Business Management and Entrepreneurship Professor at Hutchinson Community College, said. “It also helps families in grocery shopping. Over the course of a year, a family of four . . . that’ll probably save them $40 or $50 in sales tax at the grocery store.”

Naccarato says this is an opportunity for the city to highlight what it has to offer. “There’s every reason for people to buy local. We have tremendous merchants, we’ve got great service businesses. The sales tax is becoming a non-factor,” Naccarato stated.

Naccarato’s statements are echoed by business owner Bill Long of Long’s Clothing who has weathered just about everything when it comes to the Hutchinson business climate. Long says this is an opportunity for business owners who sell big-ticket items to promote what they have to offer. “Yes, absolutely they should. They’re in that higher dollar amount where it does make more of a significant difference,” Long said.

He hinted that, with the lower sales tax, local merchants may need to step up and provide more goods and services than they already do. “I think retailers have done that to a degree,” Long said. “I know we tried to do that. We’ve expanded some areas we felt there was a bigger need in and we’ve picked up some additional business. I think you’ve gotta take advantage of those possibilities when it happens and anybody that isn’t doing anything but exactly what they did before really doesn’t have anybody to blame but themselves if they’re not doing any better than they did before.”

Once the sales tax goes into effect July 1, Hutchinson will have the 6th lowest sales tax of the 30 most popular cities in Kansas. Eleven cities will have a lower tax rate. This compares with the current rate that ranks Hutchinson at No. 11 with 21 cities having a sales tax rate the same or lower.