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Cleanup day to spruce up Tonganoxie for fair

By Elvyn Jones - | Jul 13, 2010

Junk will be treasure to competing teams vying for prizes during a July 31 citywide cleanup day.

Dennis Bixby first approached the Tonganoxie City Council in April about the possibility of organizing a cleanup day before Tonganoxie Days or the Leavenworth County Fair. The schedule proved too tight to pull off the event before Tonganoxie Days, but Bixby told the council Monday details for the Saturday, July 31, cleanup are coming together.

The plan is to have teams of youth and civic groups collect such things as used appliances, furniture, batteries, old electronics, chemicals and paint from residences in Tonganoxie while also policing public places like parks and school grounds, Bixby said. Tires would not be accepted, he said.

The trash collected will be brought to a city parking lot east of the firehouse on East Fourth Street, where residents can bring their own trash for disposal in three dumpsters Honey Creek Disposal will provide.

The teams would work prescribed areas from 8 a.m. to noon and then be free to go anywhere in Tonganoxie and add to their piles. At 4 p.m., he and other judges would determine which team had the largest pile, Bixby said.

The winning team would get its choice of the different prizes being offered, with the second-place team having the second choice and so forth, Bixby said. Prizes donated so far include a pizza party and the city’s offer of a pool party, he said.

The council approved the use lot for the cleanup day.

In other business, the council:

• Was presented with notification city public works director Butch Rodgers will retire at the end of the year.

• Rescinded a water rate increase passed last month and passed another, which raises rates to $7.38 for the first 1,000 gallons and $4.50 for each additional 1,000 gallons. The change will appear on August bills.

Assistant City Administrator Kathy Bard apologized for the error, saying she based the first increase of a past year’s rates.

• Approved City Administrator Mike Yanez’s appointments to the committee that will review applications for police chief and recommend two to five names for further consideration. Serving on the committee are Yanez, Rodgers, Leavenworth County Undersheriff Ron Cranor, Tonganoxie resident Don Hopkins and Robert Bieniecke, a Tonganoxie resident and captain with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. At the suggestion of Councilman Tom Putthoff, Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson was also named to the committee.