Iola Mayor Steve French will reach out to Allen County officials to talk about recycling.
There, members of the Allen County Recycling group will present a proposed joint city-county recycling project.
The Allen County Recycling volunteers were set to give the proposal to the city Monday, but instead decided to wait until they could visit with representatives from both governing bodies simultaneously.
Even without a proposal in front of the Council, “It doesn’t stop us from moving forward and asking for a joint meeting,” French said.
French said he’d direct City Administrator Matt Rehder and others in the Council to be a part of Iola’s contingent.
“I’ll reach out to the county to see who wants to attend,” French said.
Dan Davis, one of the volunteers with Allen County Recycling, spoke about his family’s history with recycling, describing it as a “quality of life” issue, that would benefit both Iola and the county by extending the life of the landfill.
THE CITY is rolling back its purchasing policy, which says the city may give special consideration to local vendors when items are put up for bid.
The old policy said Council members could favor local bidders, provided their offer was within 7% of the lowest comparable bid. That discrepancy has been pared to 3%.
The reduction was approved after an effort to remove the clause entirely failed with a split vote. Council members Jon Wells, Joel Wicoff and Joelle Shallah favored eliminating the policy altogether, while Josiah D’Albini, Ben Middleton, Nich Lohman and Kim Peterson were opposed, and Max Grundy was absent.
Councilman Jon Wells, a frequent critic of the old policy, then proposed rolling back the policy to the 3% threshold. That vote passed, 6-1, with Middleton opposed.
COUNCIL members approved $76,000 worth of transient guest tax funds to various groups for 2025.
Recipients are: $45,000 to the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce; $12,000 to the Allen County Fair Board; $3,000 to the Veterans Day Committee; $5,000 for the Southwind Rail trail; $2,000 for the Junior Elk Fest; $3,000 to Iola Rotary for its annual barbecue contest; $5,000 to the Farm-City Days celebration; and $1,000 to the Allen County Farmers Market.
The proceeds come from funds generated through a 10% tax for hotel, motel and Airbnb revenues.
THE COUNCIL also:
— Accepted a bid from Environmental and Process Systems, Inc., of Lenexa to replace a wastewater lift station at Riverside Park at a cost of $105,000, the lowest of three bids received.
