City Council

Regular Council Meeting February 12, 2018 1. Council Member Amanda Milne called the meeting to order at 7:30. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present was City Superintendent JR Landenberger, Police Chief Darrell Thomas and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Mayor Scott Schultz, Council Member Roger Jensen and City Attorney Mike Day were absent. 2. Minutes from the January 29th meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve the following items on the Consent Agenda: Permission for Clerk to pay insurance at time of billing; Permission for Clerk to pay utilities at time of billing; Permission for Clerk to pay utility incentives before the 25th of the month; Permission for Clerk to pay theater bills when due; Permission for Clerk to pay Payment Service Network bills when due; Permission for Clerk to pay the following dues: Kansas Mayor’s Association - $50, City Attorneys Association of Kansas - $35, Highway 36 Association Membership - $100, Northwest Kansas Planning & Development - $4,860. Motion passed. 4. Visitors – None 5. Police Report – a) Chief Thomas let the Council know that the tires on the 2014 Charger need to be replaced. He received a quote from St. Francis Tire in the amount of $537.76. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the purchase. Motion passed. b) Chief Thomas notified the Council that he has hired Matt Hill for the Police Clerk/Municipal Court Clerk position. c) Darrell has received one bid to install the wall and door for the evidence room. He would like to obtain a couple of more bids before making a decision. d) Darrell requested 10 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the police report. Motion passed. 6. New Business: a. The Water Emergency Plan was distributed and reviewed by Council members. There were no updates or changes made to the plan. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the Water Emergency Plan. Motion passed. b. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve a Mobile Home Park License for Kathy Woodcox/Homesteader Motel. Motion passed. c. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the appointment of JR Landenberger as voting delegate and John Larson as an alternate voting delegate for the Kansas Rural Water Association. Motion passed. d. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Dara to approve the appointment of JR Landenberger as Director #2 and Kale Dankenbring as an Alternate Director to serve on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency. Motion passed. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – There were no new updates. b. Projects Pending – a) There was some discussion about the electrical hookups at the roadside park. The majority of the materials have been received. There has not been any work done yet but weather has been a factor. b) Kale is working on possible plans to utilize the old pool property. Amanda will provide a legal description for Kale in order to determine the actual dimensions of the property. c) Lila will touch base with Matt Grogan/Elevation Design on the status of the new website. d) Amanda asked if focus could be given to some of the other projects on the list in order to make progress on them. JR will look into creating an existing business electrical upgrade policy. The Council agreed that the Purchasing Policy should be worked on. Lila will share a copy of the Cheyenne County’s purchasing policy with the Council and department heads for their review and to use as a starting point for discussion at the next meeting. 8. Theater Report – Lila reported that there were not enough members present at the last meeting for quorum so no significant business was discussed. A new employee, Jaron Berig, has been hired for the part time concessionaire job. The theater is having a problem with the climate control system and Heartland has been working on it. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the theater report. Motion passed. 9. Building Permits - none 10. Superintendent Report – a) JR let the Council know that the Community Fisheries Assistance Program contract with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has been renewed and he explained what the program is about. b) The KDWP will be assisting with dredging Keller pond in order to help with the Eurasian milfoil problem. JR clarified for the Council what the problem is and talked about the process that will be used to get rid of the invasive plant. c) The radiator heater at the power plant has been installed and is up and running. d) There is a leak in the dual water pump in one of the 9 cylinder engines that will need to be repaired. It is a manageable leak and the engine is still in service. e) JR presented the current 5 year plan for equipment purchases and infrastructure improvements. The Council discussed proposed changes including the removal of some items and the addition of others to the equipment purchase plan. Previously the plan had included a purchase of a digger derrick in 2017 which was not done. The Council gave approval for JR to investigate the purchase of a different piece of equipment that would be better suited to the work that the City does as well as less expensive. There may be some travel involved for JR to look into this option which the Council also approved. For 2018, the Council approved adding a digger derrick at $70,000. They also approved replacing the ½ ton pickups with ¾ ton for the street and electric department at $30,000 and $25,000. Also in 2018 a grasshopper mower will be added at an estimated cost of $10,000. There was a police vehicle on the plan for 2018 but it was actually purchased in 2017 so it was removed. On the infrastructure improvements, $100,000 was spent in 2017 on the electrical infrastructure. In 2018 the amount designated for electrical infrastructure improvements is $200,000. The evidence room will be added to the plan as well as the water improvements. Pool completion may need to be added as well. Electrical infrastructure and street improvements will continue to be priority projects. Clerk Whitmore mentioned the library building may need updates and repairs that Roger had talked about last year. She also indicated that at some point in the next few years the computer equipment in City Hall will likely need updated. The useful life of computer equipment is generally considered to be 6 or 7 years. The current equipment was purchased in 2012. JR will bring an updated plan back to the next meeting in order to obtain input from Mayor Schultz and Council President Jensen. There was further discussion about street surfacing and intersection improvements as well. f) There was discussion regarding Verizon and AT&T and their use of the water tower for their equipment. The water tower was built in 1927 and JR has cautioned them on the useful life of the water tower. MacGuire Iron will be painting the water tower hopefully in the spring. g) JR requested 5 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss a wage adjustment. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Superintendent Report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – none 12. Clerk Report – a) Clerk Whitmore let the Council know that the City had once again received a Gold Status Recognition from Kansas Municipal Insurance Trust, our worker’s compensation insurance. This recognition is for our dedication to safety in the workplace. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to recognize the employees with a safety award of $25 per employee. Motion passed. As in the past, the safety committee will decide on an appropriate award gift for the employees. b) A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the Western State Bank band shell rental application for their annual Easter Egg Hunt on March 30 from 4-7pm and to waive the rental fee and the security deposit. Motion passed. c) It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the tree trim license for Second Chance Ranch. Motion passed. d) Candi Douthit had made a request to have information regarding the community food bank and also open job positions in the community be posted on our website. The Council approved the idea but we will need to work with Matt Grogan on how best to incorporate it into the new website. e) Lila shared information with the Council about the Governing Body Institute that will be held in Topeka on April 20-21. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: Kale – shared information regarding the Alumni Association and Celebrate St. Francis event that will be taking place on June 16. They are hoping to use the band shell for a live band and may have a beer garden as well. Lila will let Kale know what forms they will need to submit. Larry – the pool board will be discussing having the pool open extra hours during alumni. There was also brief discussion about pool admission for the upcoming season. The Council feels that admission should be charged. JR recommended seeing what surrounding communities charge for admission. Lila let the Council know that the pool report will be added back to the Council agenda in March. Dara – she and Roger attended the Cheyenne County Strategic Doing meeting on February 7 and she gave the Council a report on some of the different  committees that were established. Amanda – none. There was some discussion about getting tablets or iPad for the Council. This will be added to the projects pending list. 14. At 8:45 a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry for the Council, along with City Superintendent Landenberger, City Clerk Whitmore, and Police Chief Thomas, to recess into executive session for the non- elected personnel exception in order to discuss an employee wage adjustment, the open meeting to resume in the city council chamber at 8:50. Motion passed. At 8:50 it was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to come out of executive session. Motion passed. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to adjust the salary for Matt Hill’s part time recycling position to a wage that, at time and a half, will be equivalent to his current wage of $13 an hour. Motion passed. 15. At 8:52 a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry for the Council, along with City Superintendent Landenberger, City Clerk Whitmore, and Police Chief Thomas, to recess into executive session for the non- elected personnel exception in order to discuss wages for a new employee, the open meeting to resume in the city council chamber at 8:57. Motion passed. At 8:57 it was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to come out of executive session. Motion passed. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve a salary of $14 an hour for Matt Hill for the police clerks/municipal court clerk position. Motion passed. 16. All bills on ordinance #1011 were reviewed. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve the bills in the amount of $337,774.36. Motion passed. 17. Adjournment: A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk