LYONS, Kan. — Changes to chicken rules in Lyons were discussed by the Lyons Council Monday. In reviewing the ordinance now in place, City Administrator Troy Houtman told the Lyons City Council Monday while the ordinance itself is solid there are some changes that should be looked at.
The current ordinance requires a 100-dollar annual fee along with pre and post licensing inspection. Only one permit was sold in 2024 and none to date for 2025. He suggested reducing the license from $100 to $20, eliminating pre inspections with those to only be on a complaint basis. Notification of surrounding property owners would be done by the applicant and not the city.
The Council was generally in support of the recommendations, though there is some thought about eliminating the notification requirement altogether. An ordinance to make the suggested changes will be brought to the Council at a future meeting.
The approved a memorandum of understanding with Rice County Child Advocacy Center connected with grant funding awarded the city through the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative Grant. This agreement sets out procedures to be followed in connection with grant distribution. Director Braeley Hammeke provided an update on the center, which will enable forensic investigations in abuse cases to be done locally rather than having to go to Hays as had been the case.
A contract with BG Consultants for engineering services on Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements was approved. The contract for not to exceed $1.05 million, will cover both design for which a lump sum fee is charged, and construction inspection costs which will be billed on a per-hour basis.
The project includes a new extended Aeration Basin, headworks screening, an affluent lift station, construction of a new MCC/Grit classifier building, replacement of the plant’s sludge belt press, modification of an existing oxidation ditch to serve as a peak stormwater flow basin, upgraded electrical service and plant controls and other associated work for these projects.
A community meeting on the project and issues the plant has dealt with over the past several years will take place Thursday evening at 6 at Lyons High School.
The Council approved payments on two homes rehabilitated through a Community Development Block Grant. Payments on 116 and 118 North Douglass were made to DH Home Improvement of Hutchinson for the work amounting to a combined $77,800, and to South Central Kansas Economic Development District for inspection services. Landlords of the two houses contributed a combined $12,600 toward the project cost. With this payment, there remains just over $21,000 from the original $300,000 grant.
City Treasurer Rebecca Schechter presented a financial update to the Council, as part of which she noted the city’s transition last year to a new financial software system. With the change to the new system, processing of data has been simplified making it easier to generate reports with fewer steps. This also enabled changes to the type of data that can be provided to the Council on a regular basis including year to date expenditure data for each fund of the city.
During the meeting the Council also recognized Amy Leiker, an accounts payable clerk in the city office and municipal court clerk, as employee of the month.
