By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The recognition of Great Bend Police Department School Resource Officer Paul Millard by the Wichita Police Department during Monday's Great Bend City Council meeting turned into a springboard for a continued debate on what to do with approximately $135,000 in unallocated funds due to the vacant assistant city administrator position. Council Member Gary Parr expanded upon his Pay it Forward idea, presented for the first time at the last council meeting, to offer some of the money to city employees as a one-time Christmas bonus in 2025.
"I think it would raise morale," he told the council. "I think their appreciation would be overwhelming. If we've got something better to do with that $135,000, then let's throw it out there. This is just an idea. I'm not blindsiding anybody. This is just an idea. It was just an idea two weeks ago."
Several council members expressed frustration after the initial proposal about the lack of time to study the issue. Parr presented two options to the council Monday. Option 1A would give all city employees who are first responders a one-time $500 bonus, which would use approximately $30,000 of the $135,000. Option 1B would add another $10,000 to be distributed across the city's remaining 100 employees. Option 2 would give all 160 city employees a one-time Christmas bonus, for a total cost of $80,000.
No motions were made to bring the matter to a vote. Council Member Kevin Soupiset said the rest of the elected body needs information to review in advance before making big financial decisions.
"As as stated last meeting, I'm not necessarily opposed to this, but I'd like to study it deeper and digest it deeper," Soupiset said. "I'm not prepared to say yes or no on 10 minutes' notice on this. I appreciate your thinking outside of the box here. This may be a very worthy cause if it does go through."
Parr said he had intended to give the council his proposals earlier in the week, but an unplanned medical situation prevented that. Council Member Jolene Biggs said that puts the rest of the council in an unfair situation.
"I would suggest that maybe you go back and you look at the budget a little bit, and you talk with the departments and the needs that need to be met," she told Parr. "I'm a little dismayed that, now, you've put us in a position where all these employees could possibly get a bonus when maybe we should have been looking at the budget and talking inside to see where those monies go. Now, you've created this, and are we all going to look like bad guys because we want it to be used for something else? So I'm a little dismayed with it."
Current Mayor Cody Schmidt reiterated a point by Mayor-elect Alan Moeder last week, that any bonuses awarded to city employees should be the same across the board.
"I don't care if you're at the very bottom or the very top, you want to build morale, and you want to make everyone feel like they're part of a family, you treat every employee the same," Schmidt said.
The council then heard from Brad Shirer, a retired accountant, who expressed his frustration with the proposals as a taxpayer.
"Governments seem to think that if they budget something, they have to spend the money," he said. "It's not sitting there in a bank account. It's a budgeted item. It's something that would have been spent over a 12-month period. Now, you're going to take it all out of the treasury and spend it all on bonuses."
Parr said none of his proposals spent all the money, and that the end of the year is approaching. Schmidt and Biggs emphasized that the calendar year may be ending, but the city year is not ending. The $135,000 may be needed for future projects.