Veteran mechanic making a ground-up revival of Larned shop

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3 days ago

Jun. 4—Larned City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a brief look at what the Larned City Council did Monday evening:
—In the consent agenda, approved minutes of May's regular meeting and also minutes of the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals. Also approved was a single audit to be performed by Adams Brown, for review at the July council meeting.
—Approved Appropriations Ordinance No. 5 in the amount of $1,116,181.43.
—In old business, approved revisions to the city's newly-drafted Water Conservation Plan by Ranson Fianancial, after review by the Kansas Department of Heath and Environment. Key to the plan are plans for water use conservation and practices; education, management and regulation, with drought response goals, triggers, management and regulatory actions.
—In new business, approved a zoning change of the north 35 feet of 402 W. 13th St. from R-2 residential to C-1 commercial, to allow resident Jim Haynes to construct a fenced lot for business applications that include commercial vehicle parking and operation. The change was approved by the Zoning Commission at its May 14 meeting.
—Approved the city street department's 2025 chip and seal plan as presented by Street Superintendent Adam Perez, utilizing the $150,000 bid contract approved in May with Circle C Paving concerning approximately 44 blocks in Wards 1 and 2 as well as Second Street from Morris to Santa Fe Streets.
—Approved the purchase of a used 2018 Sullair air compressor from United Rentals in Hays at a cost of $13,000 for use by the city's street and parks departments.
—After discussion, failed a motion to approve amending a city ordinance allowing non-local state-licensed vendors intending to sell liquor at approved events in the community such as the annual Santa Fe Trail Days celebration.
—After discussion, approved the purchase of 10 concrete planters at a cost of approximately $560 each to be placed at strategic locations in the city, utilizing a $2,500 grant from Golden Belt Community Foundation with a 50/50 city match. The grant was intended to be utilized in tandem with the city's Broadway streetscape project.
—Discussed moving forward with a project to repaint the interior of the Larned Community Center along with other needed maintenance and repair issues. The building's sound system, lighting and HVAC were also discussed.
—Approved City Mechanic Joe Schartz's request to purchase a used 16,000-pound capacity Symmetric truck lift at a cost of $20,436 as a replacement to the City Shop's decades-old lift to improve service levels in city vehicle maintenance. Funding would be split between departments and general fund.
—Heard a staff presentation by City Mechanic Joe Schartz on the progress being made in reviving the city's vehicle and equipment maintenance department after a 12-year hiatus.
LARNED — Reviving a department after a 12-year layoff can be a daunting task for any city operation, but once in a while, things just fall into place.
Larned City Manager Brad Eilts noted that for some time, he and the city council had realized not having a department for regular repair and maintenance of city vehicles and equipment was a drawback.
Twelve years ago, City Mechanic Terry Taylor announced that after 32 years running the vehicle maintenance program for the City of Larned, he desired to take early retirement, but wasn't ready to retire, so he bought Don Hanken Motors and transformed it into his auto body shop. That left a hole in city operations that took a while for the city to realize, Eilts said.
"A few years ago, the council put it back in the budget," Eilts said. "We were trying to figure it out, but we'd hit a wall and shelved it again. We were trying to find the right man for the job."
This year, however, the right man appeared in the person of Joe Schartz, who was looking for a career change that would put his 40 years of automotive repair experience to use. For the past three months, he's been going over the building that the city shop shares with the street department on Santa Fe Street, taking stock of what the operation needs in terms of tools and equipment. Three months into the process, Schartz requested his first big ticket item from the Larned City Council, and the council agreed with the request — a 16,000-pound, 2 post Symmetric vehicle lift, to replace the worn-out and leaking lift that has been in place since the 1980s. Modern times, modern measures, as it were.
"My first day in the building, I wasn't sure exactly what I'd be up against," the veteran mechanic said. While he was impressed that the adjacent street department employees cleaned up his two bays and swept it top to bottom for his arrival, he cast a critical eye toward what he had to work with. "When I did my walkaround, things would go through my mind on what needs replaced, what needs updated, what needs fixed," he said. A lot of things — including the lift and its eight-foot pit in the concrete floor — were tagged for replacement or repair.
"It's been about 12 years since we've had a city mechanic," he told the council. "Twelve years is a long time when you're talking about equipment. Terry Taylor did a very good job when he was there, but with nothing being there for 12 years, we're starting from the ground up with everything. Even small tools, like battery chargers and jumper cables, air conditioning equipment. We've been purchasing every day a little bit at a time; it seems like every day I go into work, I need a tool, so we're gradually updating our equipment in that manner."
Getting a modern, safer, more efficient lift topped the list. "That's gonna be a big improvement," he said. "When I first started, the first two weeks was nothing but oil changes every day. We got caught up on that, so then the guys would bring something in and say that their window wasn't working or some other small thing. Now we're into the mower stuff, like transmission problems."
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Schartz has been busy lining up wholesale vendors for parts and supplies. "We are now buying oil in bulk in 55-gallon drums instead of a quart at a time and getting wholesale pricing on that," he said. "On things like oil filters, air filters, other suppliers and dealers are giving us 10% discounts. He noted that vendor Jasper Engine and Transmissions gave him a quote on an engine with a $1,000 discount. "We've already started to save a lot of money."
Heading into summer, he's been working on mower repair, as well as small item requests from various departments. "The parks department has a Yawnmar tractor from 1984 that Josh Kraisinger has been having troubles with for quite a while. I found a place we could get parts for it and I've got the alternator working on it now. There are a lot of older vehicles that are coming in but we'll be able to get parts for them to keep them running.
"Things like that the city has lost out on by not having a mechanic," he said. "Not everyone is mechanically inclined, so if they think they've got a bad engine, they'll just sideline it. But it usually doesn't take long to fix and then they're back in service.
"I knew it was going to be a challenge and it has been a challenge," he said. "The employees from the other departments are there anytime I need help. They have no issues coming over to help, whether it's holding a wrench or lifting something. That's impressive; to come into an organization with different departments and everybody wants to help."
Some of Schartz's immediate goals are keeping maintenance logs on every fleet vehicle. "When a new vehicle comes in, there's a file started on it. Some departments have their own maintenance records, but I've started files of my own," he noted.
"I will be making checklists going through every vehicle in the fleet and evaluating them; tires, brakes, hoses, engines and conditions of every vehicle so that we can get a handle on what kind of shape our equipment is really in. It will take a little while to do that, but that's one of the projects I've gotten started.
"I would like to invest in flush equipment in the shop, transmissions, coolant, power steering. I'd say probably 90% of our fleet needs a transmission flush. If we keep up on those kinds of things, the longevity of our vehicles is going to go up, too."
After securing his lift request, Schartz noted he was a little nervous about making his first staff report to the council. "I could do regular reports if that's what the city council wants me to do," he said. "I don't have a problem with that. With the shop being empty for 12 years, and starting from the ground up, a report every once in a while would be nice because the city and the community needs to know what the tax dollars are going for.
"They listened to me and I got what I wanted, so I must be doing something right so far."