ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

It may be a year away, but planning is already under way for the next Liberal AirFair, and those plans took another step forward Tuesday evening.

Up first for the Liberal City Commission at its most recent meeting was a request for the approval of plans for the 2027 AirFair.

“There are several things we have experienced over the years that have been requested or needed as a result of hosting the air show. That includes parking lot usage at the Mid-America Air Museum and safety fences, although we did something more permanent at the last air show, which will carry over into this next show,” City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. We also provide security staffing and support which leads to come overtime. We lend golf carts from the golf course for transportation, and we assist sometimes with gate admittance and attendance counts. Those are all things we would just like for the commission to be aware of and pledge support toward so we can continue their planning because it takes quite a bit of time and energy to do this. Bill [Lyddon] and I have lunch every couple of months and he's very passionate about the aviation industry and the historical significance of that for Liberal. I think they have big plans again for 2027. It's hard to believe it's time already to be doing that.”

“We've already had several meetings already and as everyone is aware, it takes a pretty good effort to put this on,” Lyddon said. “The way it works, the ICAS has a big meeting in December and that's where all the acts get booked. In order not to spend that money, we have to get our acts booked ahead of time. That's what we've been working on right now. We've got five acts booked and one that's going to call us next week, so we're close. There’s going to be a daytime and an evening show, and all the guys who perform during the day will also perform in the evening show, which we’re thinking will be a little longer. We've got the parachute guys are coming back and hopefully we'll have helicopter rides. The 2027 event will be about like last time, which turned out great event, but there will be some minor differences, and we’re really excited.”

Up next for the commission was discussion of Resolution No. 2469 concerning the waiver of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

“After several conversation with accountants and consultants over the past few years, we continue to feel that KMAAG is in the best interest of the city,” Chief Finance Officer Brian Mannel said. “This is how we handled the 2023, 2024 and 2025 audits, and we feel it went far smoother with all deadlines met. KMAAG streamlines our audit process and expedites the financial statement preparations due to the elimination of asset and liability reporting. We have continued to track assets and liabilities with the finance department, but no longer have to go through the lengthy process of reporting these items. The financial statement will be an extended version of a treasures report with starting cash receipts, dispersements, and unencumbered cash, ending cash. Around 90 percent of Kansas municipalities have moved to KMAAG. Most of that remaining 10 percent is your metro markets that are still doing a GAAP statement. There's also considerable cost savings involved in this decision.”

“KMAAG is the Kansas Municipal Audit and Accounting Guide, and we've used that the last several years. We have it is much easier to prepare for everyone to read and comprehend,” Diseker added. “It's basically a glorified treasures report. It's just very straightforward and not as cumbersome on the back side. One of the biggest pieces I like about it is we still track capital assets, but we don't have to balance them to the extent where depreciation is concerned, and that can get extremely time-consuming. But we are allowed to waive the GAAP requirement. Some entities are not. I believe community colleges have to do GAAP, but we are allowed to do this and it has worked very well and I highly recommend we continue.”

Also up for discussion was the Arkalon Park Grasslands CRP Contract.

“The US Department of Agriculture has grasslands conservation reservation program in which the city would receive payments in exchange for adhering to pasture management practices and guidelines. Arkalon Park would be covered with three parcel contracts offered through the program,” Mannel said. “The total acres are 2,496.9 with a payment of $13 per acre, which would result in income to the city of $32,459.70 annually over a 10-year period contract. Roads, campgrounds, marshes, and some river areas with tree cover are excluded. The pasture practices and guidelines to be followed are within historical practices such as noxious weed control and invasive weed control. Notable addition to the management of the property is the placement of a small cattle pen or hog enclosure, if you will, enclosure that provides a monitoring space for grazing and to make sure that the grazing is not excessive. This request allows USDA staff to monitor the pasture for that plant growth. And if there is a piece of property within that acreage, such as a 40-acre track we want to do something with in the future, we have the ability to exit that contract, though we would have to pay back the $13 an acre over the five-year period and USDA has the ability to assess up to a 25 percent penalty. On a 40-acre property, you're going to have that $13 an acre, which is $520 a year on that 40 acres on a five-year deal, so it's not going to be cost prohibitive if somebody wants to develop on a corner of the grasslands.”

“I’ve got two questions. One, how much additional time is staff going to have to put in on this? Also, what kind of additional weed control that we're not doing now are we going to need to do to comply with this?

“There is a state statute that states you're supposed to control noxious weeds, so this would help pay for that cost,” Mannel said. “Another piece is ... you have to set up – and it's something fairly simple – where you can put out either some hog panels, or cattle panels and you just have to move that over 10 yards every year and stake it down. And the tenant on the property has to file an annual report of how many cattle there are and how many days they grazed on it, and that’s pretty simple.”

After some more discussion, the contract was ultimately approved.

The meeting also saw the commission approve the replacement of an HVAC unit at the Mid-America Air Museum and an IRB tax abatement for the National Beef wastewater treatment plant. To conclude the meeting, the commission approved a design-build change order with Hutton for the water park project.