Fort Scott City Commission to meet Tuesday

During the Fort Scott City Commission meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Commission Room at City Hall, 1 E. Third St., commissioners will consider the following issues:

* A proposed requirement for city employees to live within 5 miles of the Fort Scott city limits. The commissioners have been provided with information collected by city staff on policies implemented in the Kansas towns of Altamont, Atwood, Augusta, Beloit, Chanute, Coffeyille, Coldwater, Concordia, Douglass, El Dorado, Ellis, Frontenac, Goessel, Great Bend, Hays, Independence, Johnson City, Junction City, Nevada, Mo., Ottawa, Parsons, Pittsburg, Plainville, Pleasanton, Pratt, Scott City, Ulysses, Westmoreland, and Winfield. Interim City Manager Robert Farmer has suggested that the commission conduct a work session on this matter.

* Vendor bids from Shepherd Team Auto Plaza ($25,909.50 per unit), Olathe Ford ($25,948 per unit), and Shawnee Mission Ford (425,988 per unit) for the purchase of three 2008 Ford Crown Victoria Interceptors to be used as police vehicles by the Fort Scott Police Department. Farmer recommends approval of the lowest bid.

* Recommendations from Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Transient Guest Tax Committee for distribution of transient guest tax funds for the 2008 year. Transient guest tax funds are collected from customers by hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts in the community. Total recommended allocations come to about $78,000. The committed recommends $61,850 for the Office of Tourism and Visitor Center for all expenses relating to convention and tourism promotion; $500 to the Fort Scott National Historic Site to partially underwite annual special events; $2,500 for "The Hop" Car Show for which the Office of Tourism has contracted; $1,500 for the Kansas Air Tour, an 80-year anniversary event that would showcase Fort Scott as one of the stops on the tour; $500 for the Fort Scott BBQ Contest to be held at the Good Ol' Days celebration in June; $325 for the annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Celebration of the West; $325 for the annual Pioneer Harvest Fiesta a fall festival of rural American culture; $500 for the Fort Scott Good Ol' Days Biker Blast; and $10,000 from the transient guest tax reserves for billboard repair and revitalization expenses. Farmer suggests approval.

* A dispatch service agreement with Mercy Health System of Kansas. In a memorandum to the board, Farmer said Mercy has already approved the agreement. He recommends that the city commission approve the agreement.