Council Renews Administrator Luke Grimes' Contract Three More Years

By Shawn Yorks

news1@ulyssesnews.com

Ulysses city administrator Luke Grimes will be doing his best for the city for at least three more years after the city council approved his new contract at the Dec. 11 council meeting. The council mainly discussed a change to the severance package should Grimes be terminated.

“There was a 90-day notice that we changed regarding termination because the severance package is 90 days,” said city attorney Lynn Koehn. “So, in the event the city decides to terminate the contract by giving him written notice, he would be entitled to 90 days additional employment at a minimum which would basically equal out the severance package. If you were to terminate him without notice on the spot without no real good basis - which obviously I would advise you not to do - but if that was the majority agreement of the commission, there there would be, as this is worded, a 90-day severance package built in.”

The new contract adopts a lot of the language of the previous contract and includes the city’s agreement to pay for a portion of Grimes’s continuing education, where Grimes is required to work for the city for an additional two years upon achieving his degree.

“He’s probably on the hook to stay with you guys longer than what the three years is on (the contract),” Koehn said. “Unless he wants to make those payments back to the city (council).”

Other terms of the contract were not publicly announced in the open meeting.

In other action:

•The council tabled the “Miller Skies” Housing Agreement until a future meeting to allow developers Jesus Estrella and Weston Groth to form a jointly-owned LLC. The council, last month, approved the Miller Skies Housing project, which is what the city is now calling the plot of land at South Main and East Miller where Estrella and Groth plan to build a 10-unit apartment complex.

The city will apply for a Moderate Income Housing Grant for the project, and in November approved a Resolution required for the grant. On Nov. 13 when the council approved the project, council president Ken Warner said if the grant was approved, the city could move forward with the project.

The developers have reported that they felt confident the project would begin construction next spring with the first phase completed by the end of 2025.

Grimes said it would be easier for the city to wait until the LLC is formed.

“It makes more sense, if they’re going to form a LLC, to wait until it’s formed,” Koehn added.

•Natalie Anguiano with the city’s code enforcement said a property on South Joyce, which the city has been trying to have cleared for several years, was projected to be cleared by Dec. 13. City attorney Lynn Koehn said there would eventually be a tax sale through the county, or somebody who has a lien on it will foreclose. He said there are multiple liens on the property.

“If nothing else it’s just probably going to sit there for a while until somebody decides to do something like that,” Koehn said.

•The council approved Cereal Malt Beverage Licenses by individual separate votes for the following: Bentwood Golf Course, Casey’s East, Casey’s West, Family Dollar, J J Oil Company, Panaderia Nuevo Leon, Pizza Hut, and U Pump It.

•Grimes also set a town hall meeting for Jan. 13 to gather public input for Frazier Park plans. The time and location was not determined. There is also a USD 214 Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. the same night.

•The council renewed its contract with gWorks, which is a software company used by municipal governments for utility billing and accounting, among other applications, for 2025. The council expressed regret at a sudden and unexpected increase in pricing and showed an interest in switching to another company in 2026.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation (and) I don’t think there’s a lot we can do right now except pay it, but I’m going to be pretty actively pursuing a change come 2026,” Grimes said. “I don’t know anything about this company (and) their software, to be honest, is not that great, really, just dated.”

Grimes said the company has a monopoly, with 80% of the towns in Kansas using it, “And it shows in the way they act,” Grimes added, saying that the company doubled the price for their service in November after the 2025 budget had been set.

Grimes added that gWorks is owned by a larger corporation who likely told them to raise their rates to meet profit and revenue targets, so they had no choice.

“I understand that, I’m just saying it’s not a good business practice to tell us to do this and have no real justification,” Warner said. “If they’re going to double our expense, why?”

•The next city council meeting has been moved to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23.