City of Winfield

The City of Winfield is an Equal Opportunity Employer and strives to enhance its diverse workforce. Any qualified persons with a quality service attitude are encouraged to apply for advertised positions.  The City does not discriminate on the basis race, color, sex, national origin, religion, marital status, handicap or disability, or age in employment or the provision of services.  This nondiscrimination policy involves every aspect of the City's functions including one's access to, participation, employment, or treatment in its programs or activities. Anyone requiring reasonable accommodation as provided for in the ADA, use our Staff Directory to contact the Human Resources Department; Fax 620-221-5593; Toll Free 800-700-1928; TDD 1-800-231-6103.

City of Winfield

Benefit Data 2014

Family/Single Health and Dental Insurance

City Contribution 88% month for Family  

City Contribution 97% month for Single

Family & Single Dental Insurance paid 100% by City

Kansas Public Employees Retirement System

 Optional Group Life Insurance

Flex Spending Account (after 6 months employment)

ING Deferred Compensation Plan

Tuition Reimbursement Program/Educational Assistance

Computer Purchasing Program (Jan-Feb)

Fitness Center Membership – corporate rates

10  Paid Holidays

1 Paid Personal Day

12 Vacation Days (1-9 years)

18 Vacation Days (After 10 years)

12 Sick Days Per Year / 90 day maximum

Annual Sick Leave Bonus Program

Reserve - Retirement Sick Leave Bonus Program

Training Workshops and Seminars

Short-Term Disability Benefit Plan (STDBP)

HISTORY

According to legendary history, Coronado traveled as far north as Kansas in 1542 in search of the fabled cities of Cibola.  Probably one of the first Europeans to travel this territory, Coronado camped for a few days in what is now a western section of Winfield as evidenced by weapons and utensils excavated over the years.

In 1868, the first white settler built a log cabin on the then Indian country of Cowley County.  With the demise of Indian hostility, farming settlers began to reclaim the area from the “Great White Desert”.

The City of Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas was first named “Lagonda” (about 1869) after Mrs. “Lagonda” Wood who was the first white woman to settle south of Timber Creek.  Her husband had persuaded her to come to this isolated wilderness by promising her to name the new town, “Lagonda”.  Other stories say that Mr. Wood called the town Lagonda because it was the Indian word for “clear water”.  Information regarding population at the time seems to be conflicting, in that, a “number” of other settlers moved into the area in the autumn of 1869 to join “several” other settlers who came in the summer of 1869 followed by a party of fifteen men on Christmas Day, 1869.  At the first Christmas in 1870 the Winfield Town Company was organized with C.E. Manning, president; W.W. Andrews, vice-president; C.M. Wood, treasurer; and W.G. Graham, secretary.  At the suggestion of Mr. W.W. Andrews, the name of “Winfield” was adopted as Mr. Andrews had persuaded his wife to come to the new settlement with him following a promise from Rev. Winfield Scott, a Leavenworth Baptist preacher.  The minister said he would build them a house of worship if they would name the new town after him.  Rev. Scott did as promised and built a stone church.  The first city election is said to have been March 7, 2026, first council meeting, March 10, 2026, electing W.H. Maris as the first Mayor.

The economy depended entirely on agriculture until 1879 when the citizens of Cowley County authorized the issuance of bonds to help finance the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad.  In 1885, Southwestern College was founded, broadening the cultural and social aspects of the community.  In 1891, a second educational institution, St. John’s College, was founded.  It was closed in July of 1986, however the City purchased the campus and many buildings have been renovated for public and private use today.

Between 1910 and 1930, oil was discovered.  In 1940, Winfield and Arkansas City voted to jointly build Strother Field located halfway between the two cities.  During the war, the field was leased and developed by the Air Force with the provision that the cities could take over the airport as improved or could require the ground be returned to its original condition.  In 1946, the cities elected to take over the airport.  This provided the nucleus for the development of an industrial site with most of the facilities already provided.  This area, with its industries, provides the community with an asset that has broadened the industrial base of the city.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The City of Winfield (www.winfieldks.org) is governed by a city manager-commission form of government.  The City Commission is composed of three (3) members elected on an at-large, nonpartisan basis.  Two (2) commissioners are elected each odd numbered year; a four-year term is awarded the person receiving the most votes, and a two-year term is awarded the person receiving the next highest number of votes.  Regular commission meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of the month, 620-221-5525.

Winfield serves as the county seat for Cowley County.  The county government offices and sheriff’s department and jail are located in the County Court House, 311 East 9^th.  The governing body is composed of a three-member board of County Commissioners elected for four-year terms.  The dates and time of regular County Commission meetings may be obtained through the County Court House, 620-221-5400.

RECREATION FACILITIES

The Winfield City Lake, provides 1100 acres of water surface.  The lake offers excellent outdoor recreation for camping, boating, fishing and swimming in the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas.  A marina on the south side of the lake provides a number of services to visitors.  An abundance of game fish makes Winfield City Lake one of the best fishing spots in Kansas.  Black bass, walleye, northern pike, striped bass, channel and flathead catfish and white bass are a sample of the variety of fish available at the lake.  During the State waterfowl season, designated areas of the lake are open to hunting.  Hunting in the Winfield area is rated good to very good for deer, rabbit, squirrel, prairie chicken, turkey, quail, and duck.  Recreation permits are available at City Hall or at the City Lake office.

Island Park – (34.7 acres, North Main Street)  In a truly unique setting, the park offers picnic, playground, fishing, horseshoes, pavilions and restroom facilities.

Winfield Aquatic Center – (North Main Street)  Located next to Island Park, the aquatic center offers supervised swimming facilities and wading facilities for tots.  Daily or season rates available, 620-221-5639.

Winfield Fairgrounds – (141.24 acres, West 9^th Street)  In addition to shelters/buildings, livestock housing, and rodeo facilities, the fairgrounds offers picnic, camper and restroom facilities. 

Tunnel Mill Park – (17.27 acres, West 19^th Street)  Bounded on three sides by the Walnut River, the park offers picnic, and camper facilities in addition to the excellent fishing opportunities near the spillway.

Cochran Park – (.64 acre, 16^th and Manning Streets) This neighborhood park offers playground, picnic, racquetball and basketball facilities.

Memorial Park – (2.07 acres, 9^th and Fuller)  Dominated by a monument honoring America’s war dead, the park offers a tree shaded environment for pleasant relaxation.  Some evening church services are held in the park during the summer.

Vietnam War Memorial – Constructed as a replica of the Washington D.C. Vietnam War Memorial, this memorial is found in Memorial Park just east of the Court House on East 9^th.  The memorial is engraved with the names of 759 servicemen and nurses from the State of Kansas who were killed or missing in action during the Vietnam War.  This memorial was sponsored by the Winfield High School Class of 1963.

Lions Club Park – (.64 acre, 13^th and Bliss Streets)  This neighborhood park offers playground facilities.

Albright Park – (2.78 acres, 15^th and John Streets)  Available facilities include playground, baseball, and tennis courts.

Cherry Street Park – (13.15 acres, 15^th and Cherry Streets)  Baseball, basketball, playground, picnic, and restroom facilities are offered at this delightful facility.

Pecan Grove – (West 14^th Street)  Large pecan tree shaded area for picnicking or just relaxing.  

Jaycee Park – (1.5 acres, Simpson and Houston Streets)  Facilities include playground and basketball facilities.

Black Creek Park – (16 acres, 19^th and Wheat Road)  Facilities include a pavilion, skate park, two lighted softball diamonds and restrooms.

Tennis Courts – Courts are available at Southwestern College, Whittier School (15^th and Mound, lighted) and Albright Park. 

Broadway Recreation Complex – (Broadway and K-360)  43 acres providing 6 soccer fields, 1 fastball field, a baseball diamond, 4 youth/softball fields and batting cages.

Quail Ridge Golf Course, owned and operated by the City of Winfield, opened in July 1992.  This 18-hole course is not your typical municipal course.  Nestled in the beautiful rolling hills, it offers breathtaking scenery and a course designed to challenge golfers of all skill levels.  Golf Digest gives the course a 4 star rating and lists the course under “Places to Play”.  Winfield also has a beautiful 18-hole private course at the Winfield Country Club.

Winfield was one of the first cities in Kansas to develop a summer youth recreational program.  It is operated by the Winfield Recreation Commission which is governed by the Unified School District and the City.  City league activities are available to all ages in most team sports.  A summer recreation program is offered for youth ages 5 to 18 in a variety of areas.

Indoor recreation opportunities were expanded by the purchase of St. John’s College gymnasium in 1985.  The Fitness Center & Gymnasium offers basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, walking areas, a weight room with state of the art fitness equipment, shower facilities for both men and women, and an area for individual classes.  The most recent addition to the facility is a dance studio to include classes for children through adults.

INDUSTRY

Diversified manufacturing is a basic economic force of Winfield, which supplies some of the world’s finest products.  From Winfield comes such products as water coolers and other plastic products, tool and die, injection molding, burners and custom steel fabrication, custom welding, silencers, pulsators, dampeners, and stabilizers, printed circuit boards and assembly, cargo liners, and screen printing on plastic.

WINFIELD INDUSTRIAL PARK

An industrial development area has been completed through the concentrated efforts of the Winfield Chamber of Commerce and the City of Winfield.  This 75-acre site located one mile east of Winfield on US Hwy 160 has much to offer future industries.  The Industrial Park offers prospective industries not only the best in transportation facilities, including rail service, and direct access to the K-360 truck route, but municipally supplied utilities as well, which enables offering turnkey operations to new industry.

Agent to contact, Gary W. Mangus, Assistant to City Manager, City of Winfield, PO Box 646, Winfield, KS 67156, 620-221-5525.

The following is a list of industries and products they manufacture that are located in Winfield:  Calmar, Inc – injection molding; Fluid Kinetics – silencers, pulsators, dampeners and stabilizers; Galaxy Tool Corporation – tool and die; Norton Enterprises – screen printing on plastic products; S and Y Industries – printed circuit boards and assemblies; Webster Engineering & Manufacturing – burners and custom steel fabrication; BTR Robotics – design, develop and manufacture educational robotic equipment; Pray Stone Company – excavate and cut native stone for landscaping and building use, Prime Plastics – injection molding, GE Engine Services – aircraft engine maintenance, Newell Rubbermaid – plastic molded household products, Wire Plus – electronic assemblies and wiring harness for custom motorcycles.

STROTHER FIELD AIRPORT/INDUSTRIAL PARK

Located six miles south of Winfield on US Hwy 77, Strother Field Industrial Park is jointly owned by the municipalities of Winfield and Arkansas City.

Size – 1,600 acres with 1,000 acres being currently developed.  Choice sites remain available with rail and runway access.

Agent to contact:  Shawn McGrew, Manager, Strother Field, PO Box 747, Winfield, KS 67156, 620-221-9280; Fax 620-221-7782; [email protected].

Infrastructure and services at Strother Field Industrial Park include:

Air – General aviation airport, with two paved runways.  One runway is 5,500 feet in length, reconstruction completed in September 1999, and the other one is 3,100 feet.  Charter service, hangars, and aircraft maintenance are within minutes to the Wichita Continental Airport where transcontinental flights are available to all points.  Instrument landing system (ILS) is operational also GPS.  Self service AvGas and JetA fuel available.

Rail – Adjacent to the field is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, which extends from Galveston, TX to Chicago, IL.  Industrial switch tracks are open to reciprocal switching.

Highways – Adjacent to four-lane US Hwy 77, north-south artery extending from Canada to the Gulf, minutes to Kansas Turnpike, I-35, Hwy 160 & 166.

Complete utility services are available at Strother Field Airport/Industrial Park.  The City of Winfield provides electrical power and gas.  The park has its own water well system, its own sewage plant, paved roads, and full-time maintenance crew.  Fire protection is provided by the Cities of Winfield and Arkansas City and telephone by SBC.

The following is a list of industries located at Strother Field and the products they manufacture:  General Electric – jet engine overhaul; Greif Brothers Corp. – steel barrels and containers;  Morton Buildings – metal pole buildings for commercial and agricultural purposes; Elevator Solutions - commercial elevators; Western Industries (KSQ) – plastic products; Winfield Consumer Products – sport utility vehicle accessories; Central Plains Book Mfg.  A number of county-wide services are also located at the field.

EDUCATION

Winfield offers one of the best educational programs in the state.  From preschool through college, Winfield’s educational institutions have excelled in providing quality learning programs.  The following facilities comprise the Winfield Education system:

Unified School District (USD) 465 has a preschool Headstart program, four grade schools, an intermediate school (5^th and 6^th), a middle school (7^th and 8^th) and a high school.

USD 465 is fully accredited by the Kansas State Department of Education.  All schools are further accredited by the North Central Association.  Additional accreditation by the Kansas State High School Activities Association is held by the High School.

Winfield public schools provide the necessary resources to meet the ever-changing educational needs of its students.

The High School offers the best in educational facilities.  It includes a 658 seat auditorium, television studio, a computer lab, a 2,500 seat gymnasium, an ultra modern library and a cafeteria commons area.  A library consortium was installed in 1996 which allows the high school, Southwestern College and the Winfield Public Library to access shared information.

The school district also sponsors the Cowley County Special Services Cooperative, which serves five other school districts, and provides special services for those children requiring special education, whether gifted, mentally retarded, having learning disabilities, requiring personal social adjustment, or being hearing, physically, or visually impaired.

All students new to the school district must have a birth certificate, an immunization record and a general physical examination prior to enrollment.  To enter kindergarten, the child must be five (5) years of age on or before September 1.  To enroll in the first grade the child must be six (6) years of age on or before September 1.

The school year usually commences during the middle of August and terminates during the last part of May.

Private schools include Grace Episcopal Preschool, Holy Name Parochial School for grades K-6, and Trinity Lutheran School for preschool through grade 6.

Southwestern College has been a part of the Winfield community for more than 100 years.  Founded in 1885 by the Methodist Church, it is a private, four-year comprehensive college offering a wide range of undergraduate studies.  In addition to a main campus program in Winfield, it has professional studies locations in Wichita where working adults can complete their bachelor’s degrees.  SC also has students throughout the world participating in online degree completion programs.  Graduate degrees are available in education, special education, leadership, management, security, business, and specialized ministries.  The college has about 1,823 students, with approximately 629 enrolled at the residential campus.

The college offers bachelor’s degrees in over 50 majors.  The main campus has majors in the areas of computer science and communications, natural sciences and mathematics, business, education, nursing, performing arts, and social sciences.  Professional studies learners choose majors in nursing, criminal justice, and several business and industry-related areas.  SC Online offers degree completion in several majors also offered on-campus, as well as a degree in pastoral studies.  The college is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and individual programs are accredited by appropriate accrediting agencies.

Campus facilities have undergone major upgrading; more than $15 million in new building projects and improvements were made during the 90’s.  The Beech Science Center and Mabee Laboratory is considered one of the finest science education facilities in the Midwest.  A second campaign, which most notably included the renovation of the Mound and the 77 Steps, was completed in 2006.  At the present time, a $2.8 million performing arts initiative is underway which will renovate the auditorium and the Reuter pipe organ, and also construct a new technical theater center.  A stadium initiative has also begun as a joint project of SC and Winfield Public Schools, bring the community together in an effort to raise $4.2 million for a new football/soccer field and stadium. 

Southwestern has become a recognized leader in technology-assisted learning, and in-service learning programs.  It was the first in the area to introduce laptop learning to its students when, in 1999, it began issuing laptop computers to all incoming freshmen.  Today, all main campus students take advantage of technology through the wireless network in all public areas (added in 2002), the fiber optic network, and hard-wired network capabilities in every office and residence hall room.  Service learning programs have become a major emphasis with students participating in life-shaping experiences in leadership and discipleship.

Several programs exist to make attending Southwestern College attractive to local residents, with special tuition programs for senior citizens, high school students, Cowley County Community College students, continuing education students (any student 25 years old or older who has not been a full-time student during the previous two years), and SC graduates.  For more information on these programs, contact the college at 620-229-6000.

Professional studies and SC Online programs offer working adults the opportunity to complete bachelor’s degrees in as little as 18 months, attending classes during evening hours or online.  Curricula are designed to be practical and applicable to professional needs, and a flexible schedule allows students to tailor the program to their own lifestyles.

HOSPITALS & MEDICAL FACILITIES

William Newton Hospital has been providing health care to the people of south central Kansas for over three quarters of a century.  Although William Newton acquires the latest in technology to assist the physician in diagnostic and treatment efforts, our strength also lies in the personalized, compassionate patient care that is often not found in a large medical center.

Established in 1927, WNH is classified as a not-for-profit community general hospital licensed for 25 acute care and swing beds. Hospital acute-care admissions in 2008 totaled 1,388.  There were 619 major surgeries, 1,982 minor surgeries, 301 deliveries, 9,613 visits to the emergency room, 3,152 home health visits, 131 admissions to swing status, 35,743 total outpatient visits and 14,457 rural health clinic visits.  Our service population is approximately 40,000.  The hospital is certified by CMS and is self supporting, receiving no tax subsidies.  WNH is fortunate to have a diversified and excellent medical staff including 18 admitting staff and a growing number of consulting physicians and allied professionals currently in excess of 60.

Because of constant change in health care delivery, WNH has been pro-active in providing new services.  In addition to acute and critical care, the hospital operates an ambulatory surgery unit, home healthcare, audiology, cardiac rehabilitation, and many other diagnostic and therapeutic services.  The hospital has established four rural health clinics and an occupational health program for local business and industry as part of an outreach effort.  WNH has also developed cooperative arrangements with other providers for services including cancer treatment, renal dialysis, and behavioral health services.  In 1998 we completed a major expansion/renovation project creating a new emergency department, main entrance, lobby, ambulance facilities and renovated surgical suites.  During 2000 the hospital renovated a major portion of its obstetrics department, opened a new cancer radiation treatment center in 2001, and completed an MRI addition in 2002.  The Physicians Pavilion and Winfield Healthcare Center provide medical office space on the WNH campus for a number of active and consulting physicians.  In 2009, the hospital will complete a $5 million replacement of acute care patient rooms. 

WNH strongly advocates disease prevention and community education.  This is evidenced by the many public education offerings, a weekly column in the Winfield Daily Courier and Healthways, a department totally dedicated to providing health programs and education for the public.

Meeting the health needs of the people in the area remains our highest priority.  If you would like additional information, please contact administration at 620-221-2300, fax 620-221-3594 or email [email protected].

The H. L. Snyder Medical Foundation has been a part of Winfield since the early 1940’s.  Since its founding, in memory of a Winfield physician and surgeon, D.H.L. Snyder, the foundation has firmly established a national reputation in the support medical research.  Many scientific articles and abstracts regarding research carried on by the foundation have appeared in national and regional publications and at local and national scientific meetings since 1947.  In 2002, the H.L. Snyder Medical Foundation established a scholarship fund to assist Winfield student residents who are seeking education in the medical and biomedical fields.