City Council

City of Clearwater, Kansas Sedgwick County City Council Meeting - MINUTES June 10, Clearwater City Hall - Council Chambers 129 E. Ross Avenue Clearwater, KS 67026 1. Call to Order/ Invocation and Flag Salute Mayor Burt Ussery called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. followed the invocation and flag salute. 2. Roll Call The City Clerk called the roll to confirm the presence of a quorum. The following members were present: Mayor Burt Ussery, Councilmembers; Justin Shore, Crystal Walter, Samantha Warkins, Shirely Palmer-Witt and Tim Robben. The following staff members were present: City Administrator Zollinger, City Clerk Poe, Kirk Ives, Amber Ives, Jared Dinwiddie, and City Attorney, Jennifer Hill. 3. Approval of Agenda Mayor Ussery asked if there were any modifications to the agenda, there were none. Motion: Warkins moved; Palmer-Witt seconded to approve the agenda as submitted. Voted and passed unanimously. 4. Public Forum None. 5. Consent Agenda Mayor Ussery asked if there was any question on the consent agenda and if not asked for a motion to approve. Previous Council Meeting Minutes Claims and Warrants Mayoral Appointment Motion: Shore moved; Walter seconded to approve the consent agenda as submitted. Voted and passed unanimously. 6. Staff Reports: Administration Office - Courtney Zollinger - Council asked if the striping on 4th street should be double line, Zollinger stated that it was just brought to her attention that the striping was dashed rather than a double line, and she will follow up with the contractor responsible. The missing speed limit sign on North 4th Street was also discussed; staff will investigate the matter. Council asked about the progress on the road project, Zollinger stated the rain has caused delays, but they are about 3% of the way done with 1/2 of the streets completed. Zollinger mentioned that the estimated completion date is September 1st. An inquiry was made regarding the patio at Brew'd Awakening. Zollinger clarified that the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) oversees such matters and, since the patio is on private property, a sidewalk café permit from the City is not required. Council mentioned the sales tax revenue is higher than projected, Zollinger noted the $148,205.53 collected so far is for this calendar year. Fire Department - Jared Dinwiddie -Council asked how the fundraising event went, Dinwiddie shared that and estimated $900 was raised from the hot dog sales and the garage sale. . Police Department - Kirk Ives - None. Page 1 of 4  Public Works/Parks - Courtney Zollinger - Cole and Chadd are in Salina for training. Council inquired about the possibility of installing low water crossing signs on Wood Street, noting that recent heavy rainfall caused high water in certain locations, including an incident involving a floating vehicle. Zollinger mentioned Public Works did put out barricades at multiple intersections where there was high water and will look into the signs. Senior Center - Amber Ives -. 7. Business a. Chisholm Ridge Lot Offer At the previous meeting, the City reviewed an offer of $30,000 for all four City-owned Chisholm Ridge lots, which included a 7% brokerage fee. The Council countered with an offer of $50,000, no brokerage fee, a minimum requirement of two houses to be built, and owner occupancy within 365 days of closing. Klausmeyer Construction said they will commit to building 4 houses within one year and will offer $32,000 for the four lots. Council discussed the last lot sold at $17,500 and before then the lots were sold at $15,000 per lot. The total investment in these four lots is estimated at $47,510.45. It was asked where the funds go when a lot is sold, Zollinger answered that the funds go back into the general fund and was budgeted to receive $30,000 this year. It was also discussed that 16 years remain on the special assessments, totaling approximately $3,792.92 per year, which would transfer to the new owners upon sale. The City covered water and sewer improvements at large, while street improvements were assessed to the properties. Council discussed commission on selling the lots, Palmer-Witt mentioned it being about 3%. Shore is not in favor of selling the lots at this rate, Warkins, Palmer-Witt and Robben would like to see the debt off the City books. They questioned how to hold the potential buyer liable in the case that they do not build within the 365 days, Hill said that there could be a liquidated damages clause in the agreement that could account for the loss of estimated taxes that would have been received had houses built, but it could be speculative and the court costs could be more that estimation. Zollinger confirmed that if certificates of occupancy are issued by August 25th, the properties would appear on the December tax roll. The consensus from council was to sell the lots but to with closing costs and commissions included in the sale of the property. Motion: Palmer-Witt moved; Warkins seconded to authorize staff to draw up a contract with Klausmeyer Construction as stated. Voted and passed unanimously with Shore voting no. b. Water and Sanitary Sewer Study With the growth of the city and potential future growth it is recommended to have another comprehensive study done on the water and sanitary sewer system, so the governing body has a better understanding of the current infrastructure and how it can withstand potential growth. The last sanitary sewer study was 2002 and the last water study was 2009. Certified Engineering Design's (CED) fee to conduct the study is $15,000 to $20,000 for the two studies. Equipment reserve funds from water and sewer will be used to pay for the study. Warkins asked how they would conduct the water study, Zollinger stated that she understood they would use the water tower, pull from the wells, look at water rights, general consumption to determine if a second water tower or more rights are needed. She asked about the Fire hydrant testing, Zollinger stated that Public Works already does this regularly so there is data for that and CED would look at possible potential growths to include the various potential properties to be annexed in or developed in Clearwater. Warkins asked if they would look into a sewer treatment plant, Zollinger said it is possible if the current 4-cell system that we have can't support the future potential growth. Zollinger informed council that Meyer Specialties recently did an inventory of the city owned lines and will use that information in this study. Shore asked if there was no need for a competitive bid since CED is our City Engineer, Zollinger said that is correct. Motion: Walter moved; Robben seconded to approve Certified Engineering Design to conduct the water and wastewater study. Voted and passed unanimously. c. Senior Center Design-Bid-Build The past several years the governing body has recognized the increased need to expand the senior center to Page 2 of 4 accommodate more people and more activities as one time. Zollinger has been working with architect David Wells from SPT Architecture to evaluate the growth of the senior center plan for expansion. David Wells works with Professional Engineering Consultants (PEC) for engineering. He also designed the first Senior Center, just under a different firm. Wells reviewed the data of members and potential growth and proposed 2 additions to accommodate the growth. One was to the south where there is currently a lawn creating an additional 800 sq ft and the 2nd was to the west where the overhang drive through is adding 700 sq ft. The cost for a firm to create a design-bid-build on one section will be between $40,000 and $50,000. This will create a plan and bid documents for the city to carry out the expansion. The city currently has $162,500 in equipment reserve funds to go towards this project. There are also other funds that can be diverted to this project in equipment reserve such as the electronic sign and funds set aside for the Tracy and Ross empty lot that total an additional $96,692. The cost of building will continue to rise as time passes. The current estimated cost to expand is around $375 per square foot. If the council moves forward with a design -bid-build packet the city will be able to get a better estimated cost for the project and better determine the funds needed to carry out an addition. Zollinger mentioned a matching CDBG grant available for community facilities that will require a special study since Clearwater is 29% LMI and the grant requires 51%. When applying for grants, documents for the project are needed so the application process can't start until there is a drawing, this grant is from May 1st to Nov 14th. Wells suggested doing the south expansion due to it being lawn only currently, Zollinger mentioned that would cut back on irrigation and mowing. Council asked if the cost would double if they added both expansions to the design, Warkins replied probably. The expansion on the South is more due to the sewer lines currently there. Wells quoted $200/sq.ft, for the structure alone, Zollinger added the additional $175/sq.ft to account for the drainage that would have to be moved. Wells did mention possibly running this under residential rather than commercial to save some money since it is zoned residential. Warkins informed Council that the fee would include a master plan layout with the wants and needs for the potential growth and code compliance. The current building is 3,163 sq.ft. Mayor Ussery likes the expansion to the West; he believes food distribution could be done there and have the entrance on the East side. Discussion on removable walls, suspended panels or dropped ceilings to help with noise and furnishings was had. Council discussed the option of doing both expansions, Zollinger stated there would not be enough cash to pay to have both expansions built, but the option to bond is there for Council to decide. Warkins stated that the West side expansion could be put in as a bid alternate. The West side would affect the circle drive. The consensus from Council was to do a design-bid-build to include both options and approve a maximum of $85,000. Motion: Palmer-Witt moved; Walter seconded to approve of hiring PEC and David Wells to create a design- bid-build packet for both expansions at the senior center utilizing equipment reserve funds. Voted and passed unanimously with Warkins abstaining. 8. Governing Body Walter - None. Shore - None. Warkins - There will be a Fall Festival meeting on Monday where the Church of Nazarene and Cornerstone will be in attendance. Warkins is trying to spread and add more events for 2025. Palmer-Witt -Was supposed to have her first Recreation meeting tomorrow, but it was rescheduled for next Wednesday. Robben - None. Ussery - None. 9. Executive Session None. 10. Adjournment Motion: Palmer-Witt moved; Warkins seconded to adjourn the meeting. Voted and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM Page 3 of 4  CERTIFICATE State of Kansas County of Sedgwick } City of Clearwater I, Jaye Poe, City Clerk of the City of Clearwater, Sedgwick County, Kansas, hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the approved minutes of the June 10th, 2025, City Council meeting. Given under my hand and official seal of the . City of Clearwater, Kansas, this 24th day of June 2025. CITS Jayel Maye Poe, City Clerk CLEARWATER 1885 Page 4 of 4