City Council

Regular Council Meeting March 26, 2018 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:30. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Roger Jensen, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present were Police Chief Darrell Thomas and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Council member Amanda Milne, City Superintendent JR Landenberger and City Attorney Mike Day were absent. 2. Minutes from the March 12 meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Visitors – none 4. Police Report: a) Chief Thomas shared the statistics for February. There are several multi-jurisdictional investigations going on. b) The door and wall for the evidence room have been installed. c) Chief Thomas is still looking for training in order to meet the state requirements. Darrell requested 5 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss employee hours. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the police report. Motion passed. 5. New Business: a. Cheyenne County Cruisers – It was moved by Roger and seconded by Dara to approve the band shell rental for the Cheyenne County Cruisers Car Show and to waive the rental fee. Motion passed. There will be a Show N’ Shine on the evening of May 11 and the Car Show will be May 12 from 8am- 4pm. b. Chicken Permit – It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the chicken permit for Tyler and Trista Lauer. Motion passed. 6. Old Business: a. Third Police Officer – After considerable discussion a motion was made by Roger and seconded by Kale to approve the hiring of a third police officer. Motion passed. Chief Thomas indicated he has received a couple of applications for the position and he will contact them to arrange interviews. A special meeting to conduct the interviews will be held on April 5 at 7:30 pm. b. Property Cleanup - The Council agreed that the condition of the Empire Motel needs to be addressed. c. Projects Pending – a) No work has been done on the roadside park electrical hookups. Scott and Roger will talk with JR about this. b) JR will be looking to purchase a trolling motor to be used at Keller Pond. The Council approved up to $1,000 for this last year. c) A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the quote from Dependable Glass in the amount of $1,950 for the construction of a safety wall in City Hall. Motion passed. d) After much discussion, a motion was made by Roger and seconded by Kale that, without setting a precedent but because of extenuating circumstances, the City should pay for the cost of the curb and gutter repairs at 112 W. Spencer in the amount of $1,050. Motion passed. The Council talked more about possibly cost sharing with property owners for curb and gutter repairs and designating funds in the 5 year plan for this but no decisions were made. The Council also talked about a little about a snow removal ordinance but no decisions were made. 7. Pool Report – Larry gave the Council an update on the upcoming pool season. The pool board is in the process of interviewing and hiring lifeguards as well as deciding on hours of operation and admission fees. They plan to open the pool Memorial Day weekend. The Council discussed outstanding projects that need to be completed for the pool. Roger received the following bids: Tri State Construction/Brad Matthies – watering system, $8,400; Troy Porter – landscaping, $8,855; McAtee Construction – concrete work to finish the sidewalk and walkways, approximately $15,000. Two sets of handrails will need to be installed with an approximate cost of $500. Some of the curb and gutter will need replaced at a cost of $1,250. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Dara to approve up to $35,000 from the capital improvement fund to be used for the pool improvements. Motion passed. Roger will also check into grant funds that might be available for some of these improvements. It was moved by Roger and seconded by Kale to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 8. Building Permits - none 9. Superintendent Report – a) On behalf of JR, Mayor Schultz shared the Superintendent report. Brock McAtee will be providing an estimate for work on the intersection of College and North Street. Miller & Associates will be providing a design for sewer and water for the airport improvements. Prairieland will also be providing estimates for the project. St. Francis Supers had requested to add on to the East side of their building but JR determined that it would cause crowding of the street so the request was declined. The city crews are working on installing a hydrant at the assisted living facility as well as doing electrical work. The water valve study continues. 10. Attorney Report – none 11. Clerk Report – a) Clerk Whitmore shared details about the 2017 recycling. The County has reimbursed the City $21,600 for an employee. Since Bird City has its own recycling facility now we will need to pay 15% of this to Bird City, which is $3,240. The total tonnage that was recycled was 209.243 tons and we received $10 per ton, $2,092.43, from the County. Bird City’s share of the tonnage was 32.094 tons so we will need to pay $320.94 to Bird City for this. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to pay Bird City a total of $3,560.94. Motion passed. b) Lila attended the City Clerk’s conference last week. One of the classes she attended was on the importance of creating job descriptions and establishing hiring processes and procedures. She asked the Council to consider these topics for discussion in the future. It was moved by Roger and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Kale – none, Roger – A couple of the windows at the band shell have been broken out. Roger will be getting prices to replace them and also order extras to have on hand. The cost should be less than $500. Dara – none, Larry – none. 13. Mayor Comments – none 14. At 9:08 a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Roger for the Council along with all others present to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception in order to discuss an employee’s work hours, the open meeting to resume in the city council chambers at 9:13. Motion passed. At 9:13 the Mayor declared the open meeting back in session. No decisions were made. 15. Adjournment: A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk