Commission rethinks order of upgrading park's cabins
- Charlene Sims, Journal staff
- 7 minutes ago
- 8 min read
By Charlene Sims, Journal staff
MOUND CITY – For more than a couple of years, the Linn County Commission has been looking at ways to increase revenue at Linn County Park. Former commissioner Danny McCullough pushed the idea of using Airbnb, the online reservation prorgram for renting everything from rooms to homes to cabins, as a way to increase income from the seven cabins at the park.
However one of the problems with using Airbnb is the cabins are not upscale accommodations, and cabin No. 7, the cabin that is on Airbnb, has received many more reservations by contacting the park directly than through Airbnb.
So following a 30 minute discussion with park manager Sheri Loveland and Public Works director Jesse Walton on Monday, Feb. 9, the Linn County Commission decided to reverse itself by agreeing to remodel cabin No. 6 instead of cabin No. 7.
Commissioner Jason Hightower said after looking at the data, the five-year history for the rental of the seven cabins at the park, would indicate a course that the commission initially wasn’t planning on.
“I guess what the data would tell me is that we should be looking at (remodeling) No. 6 instead of No. 7,” he said. “Does that do anything as far as our bids? I mean, they’re remodeling the cabin. They are the same size.”
Loveland pointed out that they were set up differently, No. 5 and No. 6 are different than No. 7.
“Would you agree that they all need to be updated?” asked Hamilton.
“I would agree that the older ones need to be done first, and then you could go back to No. 7,” said Loveland.
Hamilton agreed that it looked like No. 6 was the one that needed it the most.
The commissioners had previously told Walton to let bids for cabin No. 7 because of its Airbnb listing. Four bidders looked at No. 7, and two put in bids for the job. However, since there were no exact specifications and the bidders were told to use their own judgement in their bids on what they would do, it was hard to compare the bids.
Commissioner Jim Johnson said, “I think we should sit down and have exactly what we want done for the cabins so we so we know where we are at on the bid.
Walton said it was kind of tough to determine that when he put the bids out for No.7 because the commissioners didn’t come up with an exact list of what they wanted done. So that was why he left it wide open on the previous bids.
Walton also agreed that from the statistics that No. 6 needed to be worked on first. He said that the commission should probably make a decision to not go forward with the present bids on No. 7 and then do new bids.
The rental history for 2025 showed that cabin No. 6 was rented out 78 times and cabin No. 5 was rented 81 times. Cabin No. 7, the newest cabin, was rented a total of 181 times, 164 times through direct rental at the park office and only 17 times through Airbnb. The other cabins, which were all rented directly through the park, were rented over 100 times.
Loveland pointed out that No. 6, a 40-year-old cabin, had sewer odors during the busiest time of the year because it is the last cabin on the sewer before it goes to the lagoon. Several different fixes have been worked on but Loveland said that the kitchen cabinets need to be removed to further investigate the problem and this would make cabin No. 6 a good candidate for remodeling rather than No. 7.
It was decided that Walton will develop specifications for remodeling No. 6 and the county will work on correcting the sewer odor issue.
The commissioners, especially Hamilton, seemed to favor one construction company over the other.
“I really like the bid that was presented by Miller Construction,” she said. “Contemporary. It just looks like they had the vision of somewhat rustic but contemporary and I think it was really clean. I think that I would be okay with moving forward with that one and moving forward with pulling the cabinets out of six and figuring out (what is causing the smell).”
Hightower also commented saying he thought Miller’s bid looked nice.
Later in the meeting after talking about putting bids out, Hamilton said, “Are you guys okay with going with Miller Construction or do you want to reach out to them first, Jesse?”
When cabin No. 7 was out for bid, four construction companies toured the location with only two returning in bids. Miller Brothers Construction LLC from Pleasanton turned in a bid of $24,810 and Daren Shackelford's bid was $18,260, a difference of over $6,500.
I almost feel like we just ought to have them rebid No. 6. I don’t think its going to be a fair bid otherwise, said Walton.
Hamilton continued the discussion asking the other commissioners if they want to remodel all the cabins and then put them on Airbnb.
Hightower said, “I think we start with one.”
“Okay, and then do we have a goal of having them all on Airbnb or no?” asked Hamilton.
“I think it depends on where we are making our most money,” said Hightower. “I think if we could come in, do No. 6, put it on Airbnb like you’re saying, Ali, that would allow us to kind of evaluate again what we’ve got that way.”
Johnson said, “ I would think we need to rebid and kind of tell everybody. To me, personally , I think we have to tell everybody what we’re asking for because we’re not comparing apples to apples here.”
Walton said that what the commissioners needed to do was to go ahead and reject the bids that were given for cabin No. 7 and go out for bid for cabin No. 6.
Johnson repeated, “I think we ought to have a detail of what we want and ask them to supply what the bid is, because I don’t see how you can get anybody to bid and know what we are getting until we’re on the same playing field.”
Discussion was held on having the bidders put a timeline in their bid. Loveland said that it would be best if the cabins are remodeled in the winter, after the hunters are gone and between Nov. 15 and spring.
Walton will get the request for bids in the paper on Feb. 18 and they will be opened on March 9.
In other business, the commissioners:
Tabled old business of the handbook and vicious dog codes to Feb. 23 meeting. County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta is working with codes officer and sheriff’s department plans to have a draft ready for that date.
Tabled the old business of dismantling economic development board and E-Community Committee and airport lot sale split to March 9.
Discussed onboarding, off boarding and termination of employees briefly. This discussion will be brought up during the next handbook session.
Approved a purchase of $10,972 for an all-in-one HP Desk Design Jet T2600 Scanner/printer for the GIS/Mapping department at the recommendation of GIS/Mapping director Jason Parker. Other bids were Salina Blue at $12,495 and SumnerOne at $12,999.
Approved resolution 2026-02 to change land owned by Evergy from agricultural to light industrial. The rezoning was approved last week, but the commission needed to pass the resolution to make it official.
Went into executive session with County Attorney Justin Meeks, the three commissioners and the county counselor Jacklyn Paletta for seven minutes for the purpose of attorney-client privilege pending litigation. No action was taken.
Went into executive session with Meeks, Paletta, County Clerk Chasity Ware and the three commissioners for three minutes for non-elected personnel. No action was taken.
Went into executive session with Parker, the three commissioners, Ware and Paletta for 10 minutes for non-elected personnel, job duties. No action was taken.
Went into a 10 minute executive session for attorney client privilege for anticipation of litigation with Walton, Paletta and the three commissioners. No action was taken.
Learned from Walton that the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) will be replacing a box culvert on Highway 52 west of Mound City near the high school. He said the project was tentatively scheduled to start on Feb. 17 and go for about 65 working days. He said the road will be closed to commercial traffic but local traffic will be able to use county roads but no trucks, and school buses will OK. Walton told the commissioners that it will be up to the county to monitor the commercial traffic using that road. Walton informed the commissioners that he had two or three old box culverts on the detour route that will not take a lot of weight. He said that they were pretty old structures that he fears will not be able to take the commercial traffic.
Heard from Walton about a project starting at the end of this month, Feb. 23, the country is going to start replacing culverts on some paved roads. The first ones are at 500 and County Road 1077. The next three culverts to be replace are out on the road going to Bush City outside of Centerville. Of the three, the furthest west culvert is the one that will be replaced first. The plan for starting that one is Feb. 25. That one has no side roads that can be used for detours.
Approved going out for bids for six culverts at the north end of County Road 1095. Walton told the commissioners that these culverts need to be replaced. There are six culverts up there that are 7 feet tall and 11 feet wide and up to 84 feet long. Walton said that they are starting to wear out on the interior, rust and buckle. They are coming apart where they are banded together.
Learned from Walton that there had been a good turnout for the bid walk on the demolition of the old jail. Walton said that the question had been asked about asbestos and he had done an asbestos test on the jail and that came back negative.
Approved burial permit for Linn County Rural Water District No. 2 at 950 and Paine Road.
Approved a burial permit for Linn County RWD No. 3 at 1525 Road going west off of Kansas Highway 7.
Approved an invoice for Terracon for dealing with the perimeter berm and vertical expansion and field checks at the landfill for $7,130. This will be paid for with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
Heard from Walton that the new landfill trucks should be in the second week of March.
Approved hiring Grace Kellum as the full-time office manager for Public Works at $18.64 hour. Kellum has been the interim officer manager. They also approved a credit card with a $5,000 limit for Kellum.
Approved hiring Jason Sabine as the Solid Waste Coordinator at the pay rate of $23.15 per hour pending the pre-employment drug screening and fit test.
Approved paying KwiKom $58,000 for the final payment for installing fiber optic cable on the west side of the county. This will be paid for with ARPA funds.
Went into executive session for five minutes of attorney/client privilege for pending litigation with the three commissioners, Ware and Paletta. No action.
Went into executive session for five minutes for attorney/client privilege for pending litigation with the three commissioners, Ware and Paletta. No action.
Appointed Todd Schneider to the Sixth District Judicial Nominating Commission until March 5, 2030.
Signed a form for KPERS that was already approved in December designating Ware as Linn County’s agent but KPERS did not receive it.
Went into executive session for five minutes for non-elected personnel, job performance, with Ware, Paletta and the three commissioners. No action.