By Shawn Yorks
news1@ulyssesnews.com
Ulysses High School Athletic Director Travis McAtee has been making the rounds lately. McAtee just oversaw the refurbishing of the basketball court at UHS, had the track resurfaced at the football stadium last Octo-ber, and jumped straight into gathering interest in resurfacing the UHS tennis courts, which have been severely neglected over the years.
McAtee has presented a proposal to Ulysses City Council, Grant County Recreation Department Board, and updated the USD214 Board of Trustees - July 15 was the Grant County Commissioners turn.
“Our next priority, at least athletically, is the tennis courts,” McAtee explained, adding Ulysses High School has not played host to a tennis tournament since before he arrived at UHS four years ago. The courts need a new surface and netting.
“The reason I’m talking to other entities is because those tennis courts stretch way beyond just our high school teams, they are the only tennis courts in town,” McAtee said. “We have patrons using them outside of school time, so I decided to visit other entities about maybe getting help with the project to make it more of a community thing, instead of just the school.”
Ulysses City Administrator Luke Grimes told McAtee he was all-in and asked when it could get started, but when McAtee spoke with the company who would do the project, the earliest they could do it is this fall.
The benefit to the high school would be the ability to host meets again and bring in some revenue, McAtee added, saying a new court might bring in more students to the school’s program.
“We haven’t been able to collect money for tennis for a number of years,” McAtee said. “Obviously it’s not all about money, we just would like to be able to host for our kids, and we haven’t been able to do that.
“We know the reach of these courts does go beyond the high school, so we want to work with the Rec., we want to work with the city, we want to work with the county - hopefully to make the project happen. Because they are the only courts in town and they are used quite often by community members.”
Commissioner John Martin said such a project goes hand-in-hand with the city-county-school coalition that has been formed.
“These are the kind of projects we’re all looking, basically, to improve quality of life,” Martin said. “I like the idea; I like the idea of all of us working together to find a solution to it.”
In other business:
•The commission denied a bid from a company in Nebraska to construct a fence around the airport to prevent cattle from straying onto the runway. The county received a grant from Kansas Department of Transportation last year for a little more than $300,000 for the project, but the only bid received was for twice that amount.
•The commission approved a bid from ImagineIT for the computer system at Grant County Health Department. The set-up fee is $13,575 with a monthly cost of $946.00.
•The commission approved $650 for a full-page advertisement in The Ulysses News’ FYI Magazine.
•The commission approved a recommendation for Jesus Estrella to replace Kelly Wilson on the Grant County Fair Board when Wilson’s term expires after the fair ends this weekend.
•The commission approved a bid from L&L Floor Covering of Garden City to replace carpeting in the Register of Deeds' office, the commissioner’s meeting room, the mail room, break room, and County Treasurer’s office at a total cost of $15,451.01, which was slightly less overall than the $15,530 bid from J&M Paints.
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