City gives Airstream Guy
a reprieve on lease

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A company that signed a five-year lease purchase agreement with the City of Marion in 2012 will get more time to pay off.

When Mark Evans made an agreement with the city to purchase land at 1003 Batt St. for Airstream Guy, the original amount was $72,500. Now a balloon payment of $54,000 is due and the business cannot make the payment at this time.

City economic development director Randy Collett asked city council members at Monday’s meeting to extend the lease purchase agreement under the circumstances.

Evans has been on time with every payment and employs five people, Collett said. He plans to double the payment amount to accelerate paying it off, Collett said.

Council members voted to extend the length of the lease.

“I think it’s a small price to pay to keep those jobs out there,” council member Chris Costello said.

New bids will be taken for a proposed downtown streetscape project for Main St. from 1st to 5th Sts. after the lowest bid came in higher than anticipated.

Darin Neufeld, EBH Associates, told council members the lowest bid on the project was $1.2 million, higher than engineering or Kansas Department of Transportation estimates.

KDOT is a partner in the project, with a grant to pay up to 74 percent of the anticipated $973,880 cost of the project.

The city’s portion for the project was originally estimated at $257,976.

Neufeld said accepting the lowest bid would mean the city would pay $531,000 as its local match. The other option is to amend the specifications for the project and re-bid the work, he said.

Neufeld said the engineering firm would remove some items from the plan before new bids are sought.

City council members voted to replat property in the 400 and 500 blocks of N. Coble St. so it could later be used for housing.

Collett said he estimates as many as 10 houses could be built on the city-owned parcel of property. No buyer has expressed interest at this time and the city doesn’t plan to develop housing there, he said.

In other matters, council members:

• Approved an exemption for liquor to be served on a complimentary basis or by caterers at the Historic Elgin Hotel;
• Approved publishing a notice of public hearing for amendments to the 2017 budget; and
• Heard a report from Roger Holter that under state law, the city can no longer post signs prohibiting concealed guns on premises.