Baldwin City Kwik Shop foregoes expansion to buy competitor; clinic adds dentists, hours
Leslie Herring, a recent graduate of the Kansas University master's program in public administration, started Monday as the new assistant to the city manager in Eudora.
Ann Richardson is a clerk at Santa Fe Market in Baldwin City. She is also a source.
Wednesday morning while ringing up a customer, Richardson shared what she knew about the futures of Santa Fe Market convenience store and Kwik Shop, which is diagonally across the Sixth Street/U.S. Highway 50 intersection.
Kwik Shop would be moving into Santa Fe Market, Richardson told the customer. She earlier confided she has been told she would be out of a job late this month or early in July.
Frank Foye, who opened Santa Fe Market in 2002, acknowledges the gist of Richardson’s comments but says he can’t add more. He promised Kwik Shop representatives not to say anything about the arrangement, at least to those carrying a reporter’s notebook, until the company issued a press release.
Martin Barnhart, who owns Moose’s Backwoods BBQ in the west part of the building with his wife, Angela, is under no such constraints. Kwik Shop officials have indicated their purchase of the building will not affect the restaurant, he said. They would remain open while Kwik Shop remodels the building, he said. The barbecue restaurant has another year and a half on its current lease and an option for two more, he said.
A phone call to Kwik Shop’s Hutchison headquarters was greeted with the comment that people there were not allowed to talk to the press. A phone message left with a Kwik Shop real estate specialist was not returned.
In October, the Baldwin City Council approved a development plan that would have allowed Kwik Shop to install four double-sided pumps in the vacant lot to the west of the store. City planning staff say the company never followed up on that approval. Santa Fe Market has five pumps in front of the store and a couple of specialty fuel pumps in the rear.
Eudora interim City Manager Barack Matite now has administrative help. Leslie Herring started Monday as the new assistant to the city manager, a job Matite held three years ago. The Overland Park resident and Matite also share the same educational background. Both are graduates of the Kansas University master’s program in public administration. Herring received her degree in May.
Herring said the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others attracted her to a career in public administration.
“I really like having meaningful work to do,” she said. “It really makes me feel good at the end of the day to feel like I’ve done something valuable.”
The responsibilities assigned her were still evolving, but she would be the city’s liaison to the Eudora Chamber of Commerce, Herring said.
Dr. Chris Leiszler has announced Dr. Meagan Heath, a 2008 Creighton University dental school graduate, has joined his practice at Baldwin City Dental, 414 Ames St. She previously practiced in Omaha, Neb., San Francisco, Dallas and Topeka as the medical training of her husband, Dr. Kevin Heath, took the around the country. The couple and their two children now live in Lawrence.
Leiszler said the clinic will expand hours to Friday with Heath’s joining the practice.
The Eudora Parks and Recreation Department will have the first of two family fun days starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Laws Field. There will be games, activities and vendor at the event and a movie at 9:30 p.m.
There will be a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Lumberyard Arts Center, 718 High St., for the nine artists whose work is part of the Taos East exhibit. Taos, N.M., inspired paintings, photograph and ceramics will be on display at the arts center gallery through July 16.
The city of Baldwin City is offering residents the opportunity to get rid of all those treasures overlooked in last Saturday’s citywide garage sale. The annual spring cleanup will be from 8 a.m. to 2 pm. Saturday at the city yard, 1100 Orange St.
Residents can get rid of tree limbs, yard waste, appliances, furniture, batteries and recyclable materials. The city will not accept tires, construction materials or hazardous materials such as paint, solvents, insecticides or motor oils.