City commission approve new Recycling Center hours and discuss special election

Ed Boice, Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, Kan.
·3 min read

Nov. 29—The Abilene City Commission met for 16 minutes yesterday for a regular meeting. The meeting had one agenda item.

To start the meeting, Douglas Joyce made public comments. Joyce asked if the city could have any influence in making parking available in front of Patterson Pharmacy for senior citizens. He will need to visit Patterson Pharmacy starting in January, as his healthcare provider, Wellcare, unlisted AuBurn Pharmacy where Joyce used to go for his mother's medicine. Dee Marshall, said city staff will consider Joyce's comments.

For the first item, the commission approved the amended contract for the OCCK, Inc., and City of Abilene Recycling Center Labor and the Abilene Recycling Center's change of hours of operation. The new hours of the recycling center is Tuesday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. OCCK, who runs the recycling center, reached out to the city to request the change of their hours of operation and an update the labor contract, according to the agenda document.

For hours of operation, the center was open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. OCCK had two reasons for changing the hours, according to the agenda document. First, they want the center laborers to have the option to use OCCK's public transportation system in Abilene, which ends their operations at 5:30 p.m. Second, most community members utilize the center between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesdays to Fridays. They count between 25 to 30 people come to the center between those hours. Usually only one person comes between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. For Saturdays, 20 to 25 people use the center between 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and around three to four people use the center between 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Lon Schrader, director of the Public Works Department, said the annual cost of the center will not change.

OCCK does not require the approval to change their hours, but Ron Marsh, city manager, said he wanted the commission's vote since the annual cost of the center is in the contract.

Marshall then told the commission and staff that they had received a thank you letter from the Abilene Senior Center staff for the new flooring.

Marsh then gave a city manager's report. The Fire Department received a $24,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Dickinson County to purchase new thermal imaging cameras. Marsh said Firefighter Jacob Minson write and applied the grant himself, and Marsh appreciates the work he has done. Marsh then asked the commission what action they wanted taken in reaction to the street maintenance sales tax not being renewed during the general election. After discussion, the commission will discuss in a future study session creating a special election to pose the ballot question again.

The Abilene City Commission will next meet Dec. 5 at 4 p.m.