HUMBOLDT — Humboldt council members unanimously agreed Monday evening to sell the old city hall for $27,500 to Larry Steward, owner of CDL Electric.
“I had been working on the sale for a while,” said City Administrator Cole Herder, but negotiations had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Steward was not specific as to how the building will be used, Herder said, “but I know CDL has outgrown its building here.”
Based in Pittsburg, CDL has about 200 employees spread across five locations. Two years ago the company opened a location on the north edge of Humboldt.
Completion of the deal depends on when Humboldt’s new ambulance station opens, probably in a month or less.
“Some of the subcontractors have shut down their businesses, because of Covid-19 and others are working short-handed (mainly just owners),” Herder noted.
The agreement includes a $5,500 down payment with the remaining paid over the next 11 months.
Herder and council members have been eager to sell the building, which devours between $6,000 and $8,000 a year in utilities and taxes. The end of its life as a city building triggered property tax assessments.
Herder also reviewed how efforts to suppress the spread of Covid-19 have affected the town’s culture.
“City employees are continuing to provide services, but they take their temperature when they come to work and they avoid being in large groups,” he observed. Police officers have been rough with any groups of people, but are keen to urge any of 10 or more to break up. Continued warnings and encouragements are expected to supersede arrests.
The Owl Creek jamboree scheduled for Camp Hunter Park has been postponed and may be in the fall. The Farmers Market will return to a blocked-off portion of Eighth Street, but steps will be taken to ensure social distancing and sales will be limited to produce. “There’s need for fresh produce here,” Herder said.
The swimming pool won’t open until the coronavirus measures end, and if that occurs too late in the summer the pool may remain closed.
Storm shelters — the basement in City Hall and smaller ones at Cannon Park, near the water plant and next to the swimming pool — will be opened if extreme weather threatens. “Public safety has to come first,” Mayor Nobby Davis said. Also, masks and hand sanitizer may be made available at each shelter, with instructions for use.
Covid-19 is likely to shorten Humboldt’s income, with sales taxes expected to flag some. “Statewide, we’ve been told by the League (of Kansas Municipalities) sales taxes may be down by 25 to 40 percent,” Herder said. Fuel tax collections also are expected to suffer from the stay-at-home orders.
Work at the new grocery store, Our Market, remains stagnant.
“We’re still working on financing, but it’s still a go,” Herder said.
