Company interested in Marion
Marion City Commissioners learned Monday that a company has expressed an interest in locating in Marion.
City Administrator Dave Mayfield told commissioners the company had expressed an interest in coming to Marion to warehouse their products.
"They serve central and western Kansas and have no warehouse in that area now," Mayfield said. "This is all in the very beginning stages."
Mayfield said he hoped to have more information for the commission at a later date.
In an unrelated matter, Mayfield said he and Mayor Eloise Mueller had met with a representative from the Kansas Department of Commerce who informed them the department could help Marion promote its business and industrial parks.
"They have space to advertise our business and industrial parks on their website. Buildings for rent or whatever," Mayfield said. "The more (information) we can get out about the city, the better it'll be."
Mayfield said a KDOC representative would be coming to Marion to teach him how to access the site.
Website update
Mayfield said he and Police Chief Michel Soyez, the city's computer tech representative, had met with Laura Blossom from Infinitec this past week regarding the City of Marion website.
"We were satisfied with the website becoming a beta site. It's strictly a software situation for the beta site where they (Infinitec) try out software," Mayfield explained. "So, the $795 cost for the module is waived."
The module includes domain setup, name, and maintenance, 150 MB of hard drive space, built in security and daily backup, five hours of phone support during the first year with unlimited phone support during the first 60 days.
"That's the time when we'll need it most," Mayfield explained.
The contract includes all product cost, installation, and training for the main website module.
The city will pay Infinitec $600 per year to host and maintain the website. That includes any software updates.
Mayfield said the city will begin gathering information for the site this week. After all the information is gathered, the site should be up and running within 60 days. He also noted that Soyez would be serving as the city's main contact with Infinitec.
Some of the information which could be included might contain emergency information.
"For instance, we might let people know about the tornado siren. How long a blast and about the all clear," he said.
"This is information new people in town might not know," chief Soyez added. "And maybe even people who have been here 20 years might not know."
In other matters, the commission:
— heard from Becky Makovec, utility billing clerk, that the October report "looked good." The commission approved the report 2-0. Commissioner Larry McClain was not at the meeting.
— approved the auditor's contract from 2003 through 2005. The contract will not exceed $11,400 unless the city qualifies for more than $300,000 in grant money. That would require a single audit be done, Mayfield said.
— approved warrants amounting to $89,905.82. Of that amount, $63,849.59 is for the city's bill to Westar Energy; while $3,814 is payment to Vic Buckner Construction and $2,677.50 is payment to Makovec Construction for the Kellison Street project and part of the Country Club Heights project, Mayfield said.
— heard from Harvey Sanders, public utility director, that the Tanglewood blacktop had been completed. Kellison Street work would be finished this week, and crews had finished "crack sealing" streets.
City Commissioner Jim Crofoot questioned if there was any way to make the green light more intense at the city's stoplight located at Main and Freeborn streets.
Crofoot noted the green light was sometimes "hard to see" especially when motorists are heading west. Sanders said a reflector would help the situation and he needed to find a place to order one.
Marion City Commission made short work of its agenda Monday finishing the meeting within 20 minutes.
