By Quinn O’Hara

On Monday, March 4, the Wakefield City Council held their regular monthly meeting with Mayor Leza Chryssovergis and Council Members Jared Renyer, Rhiannon Garcia, Patrick Simon, and Betsy Liebau in attendance. Topics discussed include updates and repairs to City infrastructure, updates to the City’s rezoning efforts, updates to the ongoing lagoon expansion project, and more.

City Superintendent Kyle Murphy reported on several infrastructure updates to the city. Murphy discussed several large water leaks in the City’s Industrial Park and said the ongoing repairs will save the city an estimated $10,000. He said the recent snowfall and Wakefield’s repair plan has brought to light several more problems with City roads and he believes that large scale repairs will soon be needed.

Murphy also reported that the Wakefield Volunteer Fire Department is planning to perform more controlled burns in and around the Kansas Landscape Arboretum. It was reported that the Arboretum was last burned 2 years ago, and the surrounding areas had not been burned in 25 years.

The Council voted to table decisions on summer events around the 4th of July until their April meeting. The Council voted to update their water meter reading software. The Council voted to host a single City Cleanup event during Fall of this year and will not host a spring cleanup.

Council Member Simon reported on his progress on updating Wakefield’s zoning map. The Council noted that if they do vote to adjust any lines, the Council will have a 14-day public hearing period to make comments before any changes are made official.

The Council voted on several updates to the ongoing lagoon projects in accordance with the KDHE, which Mayor Chryssovergis signed into place. Mayor Chyssovergis noted that there will continue to be many similar document signings regarding the lagoon project in future Council Meetings. Mayor Chryssovergis reported that all loans and grants for the project have been signed and secured.