Emporia City Commissioners have chosen to reopen the application window for the historic Carnegie building.
The application window will be open for 30 days and comes after miscommunication from a potential bidder according to City Manager Trey Cocking.
Cocking says this is the only bid to buy the property the city has received. The city has received four proposals for the potential use of the facility from the Emporia Public Library which is hoping to use the building to facilitate a future expansion.
Cocking says the city is legally prohibited from accepting any late bids and because of this the window had to be reopened. He tells KVOE News the city typically would not take this action, however, with this being the only bid on the property it was warranted.
Proposals and bids can be submitted to the Emporia City Manager’s office until noon Sept. 8.
In other business, commissioners have chosen to place a “shot clock” on the city’s new zoning regulations which have been in the revision stage now for three years. According to Cocking, the main question to the regulations was whether or not they were in line with state statutes.
Legal consultant Jim Kaup has stated they were not and has been revising the document for nearly the last three years. Given the time it has taken, and the fact that county commissioners have passed their regulations, Mayor Becky Smith feels it is time to get a second opinion.
Kaup’s work will be paused to allow for a second opinion. Cocking says if the documents are found to be in compliance with state statute the city will likely move forward with implementation. If they are not in compliance, Kaup will resume his revision work.
Separately, commissioners had their latest discussion on the 2023 budget. There are no major changes aside from an increase in health insurance to 10 percent across all funds with salaries.
Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the budget on Sept. 7.
During their action meeting, commissioners appointed Nadia Qureshi to the Natural Resources Advisory Board and approved a $717,953 bid from Killough Construction for the annual KDOT CCLIP project.
Commissioners will next convene on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 11 am inside the Municipal Courtroom at White Auditorium.
