I’d like to take this opportunity to remind the community of who makes up the city council and staff. Our Mayor is Derek Olson. Derek was raised in Jetmore and has come back with his wife and three children. Derek was elected Mayor in 2015 after serving two years as a councilman. Larry Steinbring is our veteran councilman! Larry has served since May 2005. Mike Hendrickson has been a councilman since May 2013. Jess Pitts and Orval “Pete” Shewry were elected in 2015 and Scott Smith was appointed in May 2015 to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Olson. These six people have chosen public service and the chance to serve the citizens. Get to know these men and share any concerns you have. But more importantly, thank them for their time and service! Let them know that they are appreciated!

Our staff consists of six full time employees and up to six part time and seasonal employees. In the office we have Michael Ort, City Administrator; Deb McKivergan, City Clerk; and Carol Herrmann, Billing Clerk /Assistant City Clerk. Craig Crosswhite is the City Attorney and Brenda Ringle is the City Treasurer. Linda Hubin keeps the King Center, Clubhouse and City Office clean for us! The outside crew is made up of Brian Beil, Foreman, Larry Fagen and Chad Burns, Maintenance; and Russ Hunt, Golf Course Supervisor. These men do it all! They take care of the electric, water and sewer utilities; street maintenance; lake; airport and golf course. Nick Goebel and Dan Shuler provide seasonal support in keeping the golf course in tip-top shape. Again, I would encourage you to get to know these people and let them know you appreciate their service.

The Middle School and High School both have home football and volleyball games this week. A perfect opportunity to support your favorite athlete!

The Main Street project is nearly complete; both lanes of traffic are open! The only thing left to finalize is painting the center lines and parking spaces. That will be done in early September. A ribbon cutting was held on August 28^th with Secretary of Transportation Mike King, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Jerry Younger and representatives from Lochner Engineering, JAG Construction; KDOT and the City of Jetmore. We appreciate the teamwork that it took to get this project completed!

Our new Administrator, Michael Ort, has hit the ground running and is familiarizing himself with his City responsibilities and the community. He and his family are enjoying Jetmore and appreciate the welcome they are receiving. He welcomes anyone who wants to stop in and meet him and will listen to any concerns you have for our town.

The regular September council meeting will be held on Thursday, September 3^rd. All meetings are open and the public is welcome to attend.

We’re still a few weeks from the official start of fall, however Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer. Enjoy your weekend and have a safe and fun Labor Day!

Please stop in and welcome our new Administrator! Michael Ort comes to us by way of Missouri and is excited to make Jetmore his home. You’ll be hearing more about him and from him as he gets better integrated into his routine. But for now, he is anxious to start learning about the City of Jetmore and our citizens!

The day/night tournament scheduled for August 29^th has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. The next club tournament will be held on September 20^th and will be a two person scramble

Electric usage has been unusually high the last couple of months. High humidity causes our air conditioners to work overtime to draw the moisture out of the air before cooling it. High humidity also makes it feel warmer, therefore we prefer a lower temperature to be comfortable. Overnight temperatures are beginning to drop, but until recently our air conditioners didn’t get a break during the night. Fall is around the corner and our usages should drop over this next month! Another thing to remember is that our meters are read in the middle of the month (11^th – 15^th) then billed and mailed out the beginning of the following month. When you receive your bill in the mail, some of the electricity was used almost six weeks earlier. Our electric rates are $.0133 per KWH, regardless of your usage.   There is also a monthly customer charge of $13.00 per meter. Thanks to a wetter than normal summer, our water usage hasn’t been extraordinarily high. Our water rates are $4.00 per 1000 gallons, with a monthly customer fee of $8.50. These rates have been in effect since January of 2014.

School will be starting May 27^th, so please watch out for the students and extra traffic when school takes up and lets out. The school calendar is full of events, so check it out and do what you can to support the youth in our community!

The City crew has been staying busy with their routine duties. Daily they check water wells and perform routine maintenance on them.   With all of our recent rains they have been busy mowing and working on alleys and roads in town and at the lake and airport. Mid-month they read meters. Monthly, safety trainings are held with Kansas Municipal Utilities providing the instruction. They also check draw down on water wells monthly. Quarterly they fill out a sewer report for KDHE.   Along with the routine duties, they have the random meter replacement, tree trimming, service line repairs, etc. Most of this week will be spent repairing the water main at the intersection of Eakin and Park, installing valves and a new piece of water main pipe.

Our council recently completed a workshop and training course with Don Osenbaugh, who is a former City Administrator and worked with the League of Kansas Municipalities.

We have had a lot of complaints about overgrown weeds and grass on properties. Any vegetation over 12 inches tall is presumed to be blighting and will be cited for code violation. Please check your property and be proactive in taking care of this.

The street project is moving quickly and is on target to be completed before the new school year begins.

The Cheyenne Hills Golf Course will be holding a Day/Night Tournament on August 29^th. There will be more information coming on this, either in the newspaper or in the next news article.

Have a great week; the last full week before school starts!