ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal City Commission will be keeping busy at its next meeting this evening starting at 5:30. This evening’s meeting will be in the commission chambers at the Liberal Recreation Center at 950 S. Grant Ave.
After hearing a presentation from Enterprise Fleet Management, the commission will then be discussing a Special Use Permit.
“The new owner of the building located at 302 S. Clay Ave. has applied for a Special Use Permit to place commercial businesses and residential units within the building,” the agenda information noted. “The property is zoned I-1 Light Industrial. The Planning and Zoning Board hosted a public hearing on the matter June 11 and voted to allow the special use for commercial and residential occupancies within the building, on the condition that building codes were followed in the change in use. No comments have been received by city staff, either for or against the special use permit. Staff recommends the commission approve Ordinance No. 4654, allowing the special uses of commercial and residential at 302 S. Clay Ave.”
Up next for discussion will be discussion of Ordinance No. 4655 concerning the annexation of Oxy property into city limits.
“Ordinance No. 4655 would annex the property owned by Oxy into the city limits. Following the previous ordinances that voluntarily annexed properties owned by the City of Liberal and the Zamora family into the city limits for the cemetery expansion project, the Oxy property is now surrounded on all four sides by the city limits,” the agenda information noted. “Under K.S.A. 12-519 and subsequent statutes, the Oxy property can be annexed into the city without its consent.”
Up next for the commission’s consideration will be Resolution No. 2459 concerning the Notice of Intent to Exceed Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR).
“Resolution No. 2459 would serve as official notice to the Seward County Clerk of our intention to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate,” the agenda information noted. “This resolution provides an estimated mill rate, and the final mill rate will be determined when we host our RNR Hearing Aug. 25. City staff requests consideration for the approval of Resolution No. 2459.”
The commission will also hear about security awareness training.
“For more than a decade, the City of Liberal has utilized specialized training tools to educate employees on the importance of security awareness,” the agenda information noted. “These tools trained employees on what threats and tools criminals used to potentially gain access to corporate systems in the workplace. Security Awareness is the ability of employees and users to recognize security risks, understand how their actions affect the organization’s safety, and make safer day-to-day decisions with technology. Staff received one bid for this program from Knowbe4 in the amount of $30,167.50. This amount represents a three-year contract term. The city’s yearly responsibility will be $10,055. Staff recommends moving forward with the three-year contract from KnowBe4 in the amount of $30,165, with the first annual payment being $10,055 and $10,055 yearly thereafter until the contract has been satisfied. If staff chooses to renew the contract, that will happen at that time. Funding will be provided from the Crime Prevention portion of the 1-cent Sales Tax.”
To conclude the meeting, the commission will be discussing the purchase of school zone flashers.
“Traffic Control is requesting to replace four old and outdated school zone flashers with new, updated equipment,” the agenda information noted. “One source vendor was solicited, because the needed equipment is compatible with existing equipment we are currently using. The equipment we will be replacing is currently being used around Sunflower Elementary School and the Bright Start Early Learning Center on Pine Street. This purchase was a 2026 budgeted item.”
