Council hears proposal for Community Garden

During the Public Forum at the El  Dorado Springs City Council meeting, July 17, Jeana Oschner addressed the council about a proposed Community Garden. Oschner presented the council members with a 26 page booklet, prepared by her mother, Sharon West Lansing, about Community Gardens which included a program Lansing had presented at the Twilight Gardeners meeting in January of this year.   Lansing wrote, “Community Gardens improve users’ health through increased fresh vegetable  consumption and providing a venue for exercise. The gardens also combat two forms of alienation that plague modern life, by bringing gardeners closer in touch with the source of their food and by breaking down isolation by creating a social community. Community Gardens provide other social benefits such as the sharing of food production, knowledge with the wider community and safer living spaces. Active communities experience less crime and vandalism.”

The booklet listed committees for communication, community outreach, funding/sponsorship, garden plans, construction and volunteer recruiting/scheduling. The definition of a Community Garden is any piece of land gardened by a group of people, utilizing either individual or shared plots on private or public land.

Oschner said the project would probably use raised beds and include flowers, native plants and herbs as well as vegetables. She said much of produce would go to the senior center and food pantry. They would like the school to participate by starting plants in their greenhouse.

The information identified two possible locations: one in the 100 block of Fields Blvd. where the old water tower stood and the other at Carman Road and South Main. Oschner said the project would start at the site in the Spring of next year.

The council thanked her and said they would consider her proposal.

All councilmen were present: Mayor Brad True, Jim Luster, Nick Bland, Randy Bland and Jerry Baldwin. City Manager Bruce Rogers was also present.

During his City Manager Report, Rogers told the council that last week, the motor in the load tap changer on the transformer at Substation 2 failed. The equipment manufacturer recommended de-energizing the transformer because the tap changer was stuck between taps when the motor failed. Rogers called other utilities to see if a portable substation could be brought in to provide continuous power while the load tap changer was repaired. Kansas City Power and Light brought in a portable substation and made repairs for an estimated price of $15,000 – $20,000. The alternative was to have the equipment manufacturer come out and make repairs for $9,200, but there would have been and outage of one to two hours.  Rogers said he felt more comfortable with the portable substation because it prevented an extended outage and help the city build a relationship with KCP&L that would benefit El Dorado Springs in the long run.

Rogers mentioned that the brief outage on Monday was the result of the switch from the city’s transformer to the portable sub.

The council awarded the city’s banking services to Community Bank which offered a 1.31% compounded daily interest that would be fixed for the year.

The council awarded the bid for painting the water tower to Central Tank Coatings, Inc out of Elgin IA.  They had the low bid of $178,3000.

Roger told the council that the water tank for the fire truck will be installed this week. This is an upgrade from 1,600 to 2,500 gallons.