Emporia City Commissioners have taken the latest step towards seeking Community Development Block Grant funding to assist with a major upgrade to Emporia’s Debauge Family Sports Complex.
Commissioners held a brief public hearing on the matter at the top of their regular action meeting Wednesday morning. The purpose of the hearing was not to approve the CDBG application, which will come next month, but rather to provide an opportunity to further detail exactly what the scope of the project will look like, Deputy City Manager Mark Detter, who spoke with KVOE News Wednesday.
As KVOE News has reported in recent weeks, the city is seeking $1.5 million in CDBG funding through the Kansas Department of Commerce to cover only a portion of the estimated $4.5 million project. The additional cost for the project will be funded through a $1 million allocation from the Emporia Recreation Commission, which was approved last month, contingent on the city receiving the aforementioned CDBG funding as well as dollars through an anonymous donor, which the city has yet to name.
Commissioners are set to consider the CDBG application’s submission during their next regular meeting August 6th. The scope of work detailed by Detter Wednesday will be just the first of two phases of planned work, with the second expected to focus heavily on the existing grass soccer fields.
In other business, commissioners set a public hearing date of September 17 to consider the city’s revenue-neutral rate for the 2026 fiscal year.
Commissioners also appointed Angela Acosta-Cruz, Jacob Stutzman, Rachel Thurman, Madey Serig, Chelsea Hunter Hays, Julie Helms and Donna Hinrichs to the Emporia Human Relations Commission. Trista Ervin and Misty Norton were also appointed to the Homelessness Advisory Board.
Following a 30-minute executive session, commissioners convened their regular study meeting, the majority of which was spent across the street at the new Emporia Fire Department headquarters space, which has been progressing quickly over the last several months and is on track to meet its January completion date, according to an update from City Manager Trey Cocking.
With the work on Station 1 progressing well, KVOE News asked for an update on planned renovations to Fire Station 2 at 1427 Industrial Road. According to Cocking, design work is currently underway on the better than $10 million project with plans to begin physical work shortly after the new fire headquarters is complete.
Cocking says that the actual price tag on the headquarters project came in $1 million lower than originally estimated and those savings will be a major benefit for the station two work.
As for plans for using the original Station 1 space inside White Auditorium, Cocking says there is still nothing set in stone as of yet; however, there are a lot of ideas being floated at this time.
In separate study matters Wednesday, commissioners also held the latest round of discussions on a proposed. Cocking will have more on this topic and other city matters when he joins us for the monthly Q&A With Trey segment Tuesday on KVOE’s Talk of Emporia.
The Emporia City Commission will next convene on Wednesday, August 6th at 11 am inside the Municipal Courtroom at White Auditorium.
