City of Emporia leadership has high expectations for the city in the new year as was laid out by Mayor Erren Harter in the annual State of the City address during the Emporia City Commission’s first meeting of 2025 Wednesday.
In his address, Harter noted the city will have four main areas of focus over the next 12 months, continued responsible stewardship of resources:
Community growth and quality of life:
And engaging and informing citizens, an area Harter feels the city already excels in.
That said, Harter noted that in the coming year, the city would like to see more productive engagement and dialogues with citizens ahead of major business items or decisions and less reactive dialogues or discussions following said decisions.
With several notable developments occurring over the last month, including closure announcements of Tyson Foods and Holiday Resort, the ongoing saga between Newman Regional Health and the city’s recent request to reorganize the Regional Development Association Board KVOE News asked Harter if he feels any of these matters, namely the Newman/Stormont and RDA matters, would be considered roadblocks or disruptions to the city’s plans over the next 12 months, Harter stated he expects there may be discord but he does not foresee them as being major complications.
As Harter delivered the speech in English, it was translated and read aloud in Spanish by Emporia Police Officer Martin Orozco.
In other action business Wednesday, commissioners unanimously approved the establishment of a Public Building Commission (PBC), a state-authorized alternative funding mechanism for local municipalities. According to Deputy City Manager Mark Detter, the PBC will allow the city to issue bonds for major projects, such as the new Emporia Fire headquarters or the proposed Emporia Recreation Center, that will not count against the city’s bonding authority.
Detter says the city commission will make up the PBC membership, however, it will operate as a separate entity. That said, he explains the process for bonding authority will be relatively identical to the process the city follows for the issuance of general obligation bonds and other debt-related expenditures.
Given the city’s bond authority maxes out at around $75 million and with several millions of dollars planned for the new EFD headquarters and updates to Fire Station 2, Detter believes not having the PBC in place could have meant putting other projects on the back burner namely non-facility related endeavors such as road and street improvements. The Public Building Commission will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, January 21.
In other business Wednesday, commissioners:
*Appointed members to the Natural Resources Advisory Board
*Held a public hearing and authorized granting tax abatement status for Capital Holdings LLC.
*Approved an ordinance for filling governing body vacancies
*Established procedure for filling governing body vacancies
*Approved a supplemental agreement with KDOT for an upcoming project
*Approved the purchase of two animal control pickup trucks and authorization of a lease-purchase agreement.
During their study session commissioners
*Discussed the city’s legislative policy statement
*Appointed commissioners to various community boards
*Discussed meetings in Topeka
*Discussed an upcoming Q&A Session
The Emporia City Commission will reconvene for its next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 21 at 1:30 pm inside of the Emporia Municipal Court Room.
