In the first city council meeting since a January 13 town hall meeting regarding Frazier Park, City Administrator Luke Grimes, Mayor Tim McCauley, and council members revisited some of the points at their January 22 regular council meeting. The item was not on the agenda, but two individuals brought it up during public comment.
“When I got to the town hall meeting last week I was shocked to hear there was a clubhouse that was almost pretty much a done deal and there’s a band shell that is,” said Keric Sullivan, specifically addressing mayor Tim McCauley. “Am I mistaken with that?”
McCauley said the city has money set aside for the band shell, and Sullivan asked if it had been voted on, was it in the meeting minutes, and if there is a specific amount of money.
“Because I feel like I’m totally in the dark,” Sullivan added.
McCauley said it was decided during “The Covid years,” there was money set aside and the council voted on it.
Sullivan asked what was the need for a band shell and McCauley said it was “Just a thought of having something like that down at Frazier Park.”
“It was brought up with the previous city administrator,” McCauley added. “We kind of went through the process of looking at who all could use it, what it could be used for and we just thought it was a decent idea for an addition at Frazier Park, to enhance it.”
Sullivan also asked about the clubhouse, saying he spoke to one city council member who said it was not set in stone, yet.
“Would it be a good idea to take this before the voters?” Sullivan asked.
“Probably so,” McCauley responded, adding it’s not set in stone. “It’s been talked about for some time. Right now the clubhouse - a lot of people perceive as a golf house, period. What we had talked about was utilizing a new building to sell some fishing stuff, disc golf stuff, maybe sell a few discs like that in there. The big part was to put some sort of a storm shelter in it; it probably wouldn’t be - at one time we thought basement the next time we were like maybe it would just be one of them concrete structures inside the building.
“I know you’re not going to build one big enough for everyone down there, but we were concerned about the campers and the people that were there to have somewhere safe to go.”
McCauley said the idea of a cafe had been discussed.
“It’s not set in stone, period,” McCauley said. “It never has been.”
Sullivan said it might be a good idea to put such ideas on the city’s social media, adding it’s difficult to find meeting agendas.
“My thrust is keep us better informed,” Sullivan said, adding he does not read the local newspaper or listen to the local radio station. He was unclear if there was a certain amount the city could spend before it had to go to the community. “You guys are talking about a lot of money down there at Frazier Park.”
Stacy Gee also spoke at the council meeting regarding the January 13 town hall, and admitted she wasn’t up to speed on the plans, either.
“Probably the majority of us are not until something kind of pokes the bear a little bit,” Gee said. “And Frazier Park obviously poked my bear.”
Gee said Grimes alluded to a Main Street revitalization idea, which had been discussed by the city council last October, asking Grimes for more information about it. Grimes said the project is in its extreme infancy.
“What I began doing this fall was meeting with an organization called Main Street Kansas, - a wing of the Department of Commerce,” Grimes said. “They were kind enough to send a representative out and do a walk-through with (Economic Development Director) Bob Dale and I to just sort of assess our downtown to see where it’s at.”
He said the next step is to receive recommendations from Main Street Kansas, but said he has tried and failed multiple times to get a hold of representatives from the organization.
“Another piece of that is sort of building a relationship with the downtown businesses,” Grimes said. “Some of the things that are going to be required to make a project like that a success, first and foremost, is going to be centering it around the needs of those businesses (something that) is going to be really important, and making downtown a great place to be is a difficult and complicated process. So having their buy-in is something that’s going to be really important.
“So I’m definitely in the very, very early stages of getting the right people in that conversation.”
Grimes said one of his longterm plans is making downtown a competitive downtown.
Gee, former principal at Kepley Middle School, was appreciative of Grimes’s efforts, adding when she had a teaching or administrator candidate she would never drive them down Main Street, it was always Frazier Park, Grant County Recreation, the civic center, and Bear Creek Coffee.
Gee also asked about getting agendas Online before each meeting, which Grimes said he would delegate to get that done.
“Facebook will be the place, that’s the most convenient and cost-effective way for us to disseminate information,” Grimes said.
Grimes provided some information to the city council regarding Frazier Park, and plans to have it on the next council agenda.
The council talked about the town hall meeting at the end of the meeting during staff comments, and said they were impressed with the turnout.
“I think every great business or city needs to have a longterm plan, not just a city park, but different aspects (like) Main Street,” said councilman Caleb Woods, who added the town hall meeting and the council making a plan is a good first step. “I think we heard a lot of positive stuff. It’s a part of our town that everyone, the majority likes.”
Ken Warner also thought the town hall was a good thing with a lot of ideas. He said the city is just in the planning stages and is taking those ideas and will need to figure out what will fit and what won’t.
“We’re not going to see anything down there right away but we are planning, the same with Main Street,” Warner said. “We want input like we did the town hall because it gave us not just our ideas sitting up here, it generated a lot of ideas we wouldn’t have generated.”
Sullivan said he was impressed with the town hall meeting and thanked the council for putting it on, adding there are aspects of Frazier Park he’s passionate about. Gee also gave kudos to Grimes and the council for the town hall meeting.
“We would be probably your biggest advocate for anything that was going to revitalize Ulysses because we all kind of come from an era where we know what it used to be,” Gee added. “Not that it will ever go back to that, but at some point in time I would like to see it be able to grow Ulysses somehow. And I think it’s not just placed on the shoulders of the city of Ulysses; I believe the school district has a part in that, and the county commissioners and Grant County Recreation, so I hope the four entities can work together to provide something fantastic for the city of Ulysses.”
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