Hennessey’s “Territorial Garden” made the town board’s agenda last week thanks to Trustee David Jones who noted it needed “mowing, trimming and upkeep.”

The garden is located on Main Street behind the south section of the public library.

Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman gave longtime Library Director Mary Haney credit for creating the garden.

Then she said, “It’s up to each department to take care of their facility. We take care of our Town Hall facility and the plants in front of our building.”

Her comments surprised some in the audience who thought the public works department would be in charge of the garden upkeep.

There were comments from others in the audience after the meeting that the garden should be turned into grass. That way it would match the rest of the property located between the library and south to the public tornado shelter and old school gym.

The KT&FP reporter did not contact the Library Director Steven Mitchell or Children’s Librarian Ruby Rodriguez to see if they’d want to take on the care of the garden.

Garden Park Started at Library in 2015

Newspaper and other records on the Hennessey Public Library site show how the garden came to life in about 2015 by then-Library Director Mary Haney.

Mrs. Haney was HPL director from 1996 until her retirement in 2018.

She, and others in the Hennessey area (Hobbs, Berard and Wymore) brought cuttings from their family rose bushes, yellow Knockout roses, other flow- ers, and a Mulberry “windbreak” and a River Birch tree to create a quiet outdoor reading space that was also used for picnics, and summer events for young readers.

See Hennessey Public Library site: The Flowers and Research for more information.

Other Hennessey Parks

In addition to the Territorial Garden at the library, Hennessey has these other park sites: Water park next to school’s sports complex; Memorial Park downtown next to the elevators; Bull Foot Park and Walking Trail on south U.S. Highway 81; Pat Hennessey Memorial Park on Iowa and Arapaho streets; Boy Scout Cabin Park at Second and Cheyenne streets; and Rodeo Arena at Oklahoma Avenue at Cemetery Road.

Police Fines Help Balance Budget General Fund: Trustees approved a $107,400 budget amendment for the just-finished 2023-24 fiscal year. That amount was from increased police funds, and helped increase appropriations for Town Clerk (personal services), $400; Fire (other services and charges), $24,000; General Government (other services and charges), $52,300; and Library (other services and charges), $11,500.

Restricted Sales Tax Fund: Increased Appropriations – Police, Capital Outlay, $1,000; Tourism, Other services and charges, $10,600, and Library, Capital outlay, $6,500.

Street & Alley Fund: Increased Appropriations – Streets, Other services and charges, $16,000.

Explanation for all amendments: “Supplemental amendment to adjust departmental needs related to unanticipated economical increases and maintenance costs.”

Bank Balances as of June 30

Community State Bank: Public Library, $20,769.02; Juvenile Funds, $4,148.91; Meter Deposits, $29,259.01; Municipal Court, $24,307.47.

InterBank: Pooled Cash (checking), $435,970.99; General Fund (Money Market), $2,751,327.08; CDBG Grant (checking), $313,095.21 (Total in accounts: $ 3,500,393.28.) Utilities Authority – Meter Deposit Fund, $768,779.97.

Tours of HPD & HFD

At the end of the meeting, Trustee David Jones asked Tillman to tell Police Chief Aaron Pitts and Fire Chief Brandon Scott that he’d like to arrange a time with them to tour the police and fire departments.