Committees
The Overbrook initiative
A grass roots project for community action
Why do you live in Overbrook? Is it the quiet neighborhoods, the feeling of safety, neighborly people, family and friends? Is it the beautiful library or the lake, the Landon Nature Trails, community pride, local restaurants? If you love Overbrook, or even just like it, you must have a few things in mind that bug you about it - people speeding in a 20 mile/hour zones, industrial trucks parked across from your house, unsightly yards, neighborhood blight, neglect of pets. Or maybe there are no sidewalks, plugged up culverts, no grocery store, bad internet, brown water?
The mayor, city clerk, city council, and city workers do so much for this community. We need the citizens to help us out with their feedback and support! Here is where you come in! Committed, interested, or just plain annoyed citizens can help us tackle the problems that every small town has. And even more exciting is their ability to think big about our vision for the future of Overbrook
That is why we are developing four committees made up of citizens, city employees, mayor, and city council members. The committees will address the issues mentioned below and more:
Keep an eye out for upcoming committee events on our calendar and event page: Calendar of Events | City of Overbrook Kansas (overbrookks.com).
Are you ready to step up and join our efforts to make Overbrook the kind of town you are proud to live in? For more detailed information about why these committees are being formed and what they will work to accomplish, please contact Jim Koger or Becky Coltrane at Overbrook City Hall - (785) 665-7328, email: cityclerk@overbrookks.com, or stop by the office at 401 Maple Street.
Infrastructure Committee
Sidewalks, streets, use of buildings, broadband/fiber internet
Contact: Carol Baughman - cbaughman@overbrookks.com or Angela Mordecai amordecai@overbrookks.com
Next meeting: 10/4/2023 @ 6:00pm at Overbrook City Hall.
Growth Committee
How do we envision Overbrook thriving in the future - expand city limits; support and boost local economy, become a tree city, support a grocery store?
For more information about Growth Committee meetings see the meeting notes below.
Contact: Cheryl Miller - cmiller@overbrookks.com
Next meeting: 9/18/2023 @ 6:00pm at City Hall.
Public Safety Committee
We will be talking about prohibited yard parking ordinances, vacancy ordinances, crosswalks, speed bumps, and etc.
Contact: Caitlin Curtis - ccurtis@overbrookks.com or Angela Mordecai amordecai@overbrookks.com
Next meeting: 9/18/2023 @ 7:00pm at Overbrook Police Department.
Personnel
Made up of city employees and elected officials, this committee will address a wide variety of personnel issues including creating consistent standards, defining job titles, working with employees to accomplish their work goals.
Committee News and Notes:
Growth Committee - The committee has completed or advised on most of the projects requested from Overbrook City Council such as ECKAAA Nutrition Program, family fun nights, community hand out of events, ADA compliant parking downtown, dog park discussion and many others. Our new focus will be the identification and exploration of funding opportunities to produce and promote business growth in Overbrook. This includes sourcing grants, writing applications, and coordinating required business plans to applications. Current research includes funding for broadband internet, childcare acceleration, building rehabilitation, and sidewalk refurbishment. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 5 from 6-8pm but we regularly meet every other Monday at City Hall. The Growth Committee is chaired by Cheryl Miller and Katie Moon. If you have a business in Overbook with "shovel-ready" proposals, business plans, etc. and are looking for funding please contact Jim Koger at cityclerk@overbrookks.com and the Growth Committee will be happy to include your plans in funding research. Next Meeting is September 5, 6pm at City Hall.
Infrastructure Committee - Many of you may be aware that we have been working with engineers to improve the sewer performance concerns. A survey was conducted earlier this year to investigate connections to the sewer system other than sewage. To further investigate groundwater intrusion smoke testing has been conducted over the last few weeks. We will be evaluating the data and expect to have some recommendations for sewer improvements that will be needed to ensure reliable service. We are also working on grants to improve the sidewalks in our community. Next meeting is Wednesday September 6, 6 pm at City Hall.
Public Safety Committee – The Public Safety committee is working on painting the community crosswalks, the development of the Community Action team (CAT is a program designed to help our community by offering services such as walking children home from school and checking on elderly residents), and they have met with other police officers in small towns to discuss community concerns. Next meeting September 18th, 7pm at City Hall.