GAS — A tract of 12 lots at the south edge of Gas, near the intersection of Second and Humphrey streets, eventually will be the site of a public storm shelter and part of it may be developed for community gardens.
City councilmen approved the $10,000 purchase of the square block from the Sproul family estate Tuesday evening.
“It’s a good buy for the city,” said Mayor Darrell Catron, noting that water was available and a sewer line ran through the property.
Councilmen forgave part of a water bill that totaled $477.12 for a property owned by Evelyn Wade, who lives in Iola.
Wade said through City Clerk Rhonda Hill that she had left utilities on in her former home, in southeast Gas, and when the furnace went off a water line under the dwelling froze. That led to a leak that pushed last month’s water bill to $477.12, an amount that would be difficult for her to pay from Social Security proceeds, Wade said.
Hill figured cost to Gas for the water, purchased from Iola, was $275.96, which councilmen voted unanimously would be sufficient payment to settle the debt.
The second and final payment from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on a grant for Fees Park, at the west edge of Gas, should arrive soon, Hill said.
All told, public cost of developing the park was $53,244.87, Hill said, with KDHE and the city each putting up $21,544 in cash and the city providing another $10,000 worth of in-kind financing through labor and equipment.
The park first was considered in 2002 and has grown into an attraction for Gas that often finds people from Iola and other area communities using it, as well as local residents, Hill told councilmen.
A relative of Mary Poffenbarger, who hadn’t lived in Gas for 30 years or more, according to Mayor Catron, asked the city to refund a utility deposit of $10, with interest, that Poffenbarger made Sept. 21, 1964. On advice of their attorney, Ross Albertini, they denied the claim.
Gas may develop community garden
