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Saints!

Friday
March 29th, 2024

city commission lpd officersLiberal Mayor Taylor Harden shakes the hands of LPD Officer Jacob Hampton and LPD Sgt. Israel Nieves at the beginning of Tuesday’s Liberal City Commission meeting. The officers received Lifesaver Awards for their role in saving a 1-year-old from a house fire earlier this month. L&T photo/Elly GrimmELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

Local emergency personnel had to respond to a local structure fire earlier this month and Tuesday evening, two police officers who were on scene during that incident were commended by the Liberal City Commission. 

Liberal Police Chief William Cutshall began by describing the incident. 

“To give some background, on the evening Feb. 3, Officer Jacob Hampton and Sgt. Israel Nieves arrived on the scene of a house fire and came in contact with the owners of that house,” Cutshall said. “After talking with them, it was discovered there was still a 1-year-old child in the house, which was already full of smoke and very bad. Officer Hampton went inside the house and then Sgt. Nieves arrived on the scene to help assist in searching for the baby. During their search, they heard the baby crying and were able to find it and get to safety. Both of them then got out of the house and gave the baby to Seward County EMS, and the baby was then taken to Southwest Medical Center for treatment. These officers are to be commended since their courage and quick thinking saved that child’s life. For their work with that, we’d like to present them with Livesaver Awards.”

Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk later praised the duo’s work during the City Staff comments near the end of the meeting. 

billys delivery article

“I’ve been at this for a while and when we got to that scene, I was actually hoping we would get some extra help,” Kirk said. “I was coming up the sidewalk just as the officers were coming out of the door with the baby, and both of them were pretty overcome with smoke and they were both coughing badly, so I also became really concerned for their welfare. We’re all emergency responders and our entire job is about risk vs. benefit – we risk everything to save other lives and we risk a lot to save property if we can. Those officers knew there was a life to be saved, and did what they had to do to save that baby. It never ceases to amaze me with an incident like that when we’re working up the report or press release for later on and it turns out the time spent at an incident from arriving on scene to getting everything under control was less than, say 20 minutes – it always feels hours go by with incidents like that. All in all, I commend those officers for what they did to save that child.”To begin the meeting’s regular business, the commission approved three CDBG-CV Grant applications. Ultimately, $30,000 was approved for the Fairfield Inn, $32,000 was approved for the Hampton Inn, and $15,515 was approved for the Ranch Motel.

The commission then moved on to discussion of a bid award for bus cameras. This work was originally awarded to Safety Vision in January, and was revisited as part of the original bid package did not include some things. 

“What happened the first time we bid was Safety Vision was the only bid we’d received, and they’d bid one camera per bus, and did not include supporting cameras, as was requested in the bid packet. Rather than do a change order, the project was rebid, and the two bids from Safety Vision and Safety Fleet are what we ended up with,” Grant Director Karen LaFreniere said. “The second bid from Safety Vision was received after the cutoff time. The Safe Fleet bid was hand delivered early, and Safe Fleet had also overnighted its bid, and it was not received prior to bid opening. There was a notification from the delivery company of delivery being delayed because of weather. The bids are from Safe Fleet in the amount of $33,198, and from Safety Vision in the amount of $29,156.63. We’ll defer to you all regarding whether or not to allow the Safety Vision bid to be accepted.”

Ultimately, the commission voted to award the bus camera bid to Safety Vision in the amount of $29,156.53. 

The commission also approved continuing the Tree Cost Share Program for residents of Liberal for the coming spring. The trees available will be Autumn Flame Maple, Oklahoma Whitebud, Rockford Planetree, Lacebark Elm, Burgundy Belle Maple, and Shumard Oak. Those wanting trees will have to go to the Recreation Center and can purchase up to four trees at a cost of $25 each. There will be 90 trees available, and the program is first come, first served.

The commission also accepted a donation of $50,000 from National Beef and then approved the purchase of two simulators from Sports Entertainment Specialists for $42,150, which will provide several simulated sports activities at the Recreation Center.

“We’re trying to add new activities at the Recreation Center, and we’d love to fill it up with all sorts of activities for people,” Recreation Director Matt Quint said. “The golf simulator has been a mission of ours for a long time, and so has the shooting simulators. The golf simulator will have more than 12 professional golf courses with TruTrack availabilities, so once you hit the ball into the screen, it tracks the ball, the ball’s speed and other factors, it’s really amazing. This will also have rally basketball, slap shot hockey, breakaway soccer, and foot golf. With the shooting simulator, that’s been another goal of ours since the range is down for right now, and with this simulator, there will be target practices, six timed outdoor events, Zombie Hunt, Wild West Hunt, and many more scenarios. This can also be used for police training and similar trainings for people, and it’s a chance for people to keep up their skills while being indoors and in a safe environment.”

To conclude the evening’s new business, the commission approved a bid from  Brown’s Furniture for flooring at the Blue Bonnet Park Community Building (the former Recreation Center), the Liberal Animal Shelter, and the new commission chambers in the new Recreation Center in the amount of $36,900. The commission also approved the purchase of two new garage doors and openers for the Liberal Fire Department from Southwest Glass for $8,800.