License requirements start in 2010

By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

Hillsboro City Council voted Dec. 16 to require certain contractors to have continuing education for licensing.

Ordinance 1172 requires electrical, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, plumbing, and general contractors have six hours of continuing education for city licenses. The requirements apply beginning in 2010, city administrator Larry Paine said.

Kansas recently passed a statute requiring 12 hours of continuing education every two years for those contractors. The city chose six hours per year to simplify the system.

The council first discussed the proposal at its Dec. 2 meeting. Mayor Delores Dalke wanted to know what Marion County and other cities in the county would do about the requirements. The council agreed, not wanting to create different requirements in the county.

The county and other cities did not have a plan in place, Paine said. The other entities liked Hillsboro’s proposal.

In other business:

• City employees will get a three percent cost-of-living adjustment to their earnings in 2009.
• The council approved cereal malt beverage license renewals for ALCO, Casey’s General Store, Cooperative Grain and Supply (owner of Ampride), Golf Association, and JTJ Inc. (owner of Vogt’s Hometown Market).
• A lease purchase agreement for a Bobcat skid loader was approved. The city will have the new equipment for one year for $4,650.
• The next council meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 23. The special meeting will include hearings on a proposed tax increment financing district and amending the 2008 budget.