LYONS, Kan. — John Mehl was selected by his fellow Lyons City Council members Tuesday to serve as Council president for 2025. The Council president presides over meetings in the absence of the Mayor, and if the mayor’s position becomes vacant that person becomes mayor. Mehl received votes from four of the six members present including the other two people nominated, Debra Metzger and Sheila Spielman.
The three banks with offices in Lyons – First Bank, Lyons Federal Bank and Peoples Bank and Trust – were designated as official city depositories for 2025, with First Bank utilized as the city’s primary bank. The resolution making the designation also updates the authorized signatures on the accounts to reflect changes in persons who are authorized signers on the accounts, which require three signatures except for a petty cash account which requires just one signature.
The Lyons City Council Monday approved a recommendation to open a dedicated reserve account for health spending connected with the city’s partially self-funded health insurance program administered by Freedom Claims of Great Bend. Freedom Claims’ Julie Yarmer said a number of entities the firm administers benefits for have taken this move, which in the case of Lyons would enable it to better track savings from their health plan.
Through it the city will also be able to build reserves that in the future could be used to provide additional benefits or offset premium expenses. The account will be established through a Great Bend bank that is currently used by a number of other entities Freedom Claims administers benefits for.
City Administrator Troy Houtman told the Council he has been informed by Dr. Scott Randolph Lyons Veterinary Clinic will no longer provide dog pound services after June, in order to allow expansion of other services at the clinic. Dr. Randolph also has expressed interest in purchasing an incinerator owned by the city and housed at the clinic.
Two council members brought up handicap accessibility issues during the meeting. Metzger said concerns were expressed to her about a pile of snow still on an ADA parking space on the south side of the parking lot east of City Hall, and Cecil Burdett asked about the doors leading into the lobby restrooms and difficulty in opening them by persons in wheelchairs. Burdette suggested either placing automatic openers on those doors or removal of the doors altogether, which he said would be the least expensive and quickest way to go.
Council member Joe Cedeno raised a concern about how snow was plowed along Main Street and Grand Avenue during the snowstorm earlier this month, and asked that, if possible, plows could get closer to the curbs of both streets so two trucks could go side by side on those two streets.
Assistant City Administrator Tanner Faust said he is still waiting to hear back from Rice County on a proposed lease of the Round Top hangar at Lyons-Rice County Airport, and informed the Council matters regarding the zoning of the former Lyons Town and Country Club clubhouse will be coming before it at their meeting Feb. 3.
