City Council

Regular Council Meeting April 23, 2018 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:30. Present were Council members Amanda Milne, Roger Jensen, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present was City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Attorney Mike Day, Police Chief Darrell Thomas and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Council member Kale Dankenbring was absent. 2. Minutes from the April 9 meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Roger to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Roger and seconded by Dara to approve the following item on the Consent Agenda: Permission for Clerk to renew First National Bank CDs 18340, 18355, and 18382. Motion passed. 4. Visitors – None 5. Police Report – a) Chief Thomas shared the stats for March. b) New police officer Makayla Kennedy will begin work on April 25th and will be attending KLETC beginning on April 30th. Jonathan Butler will begin on April 30th. Peyton Beims interned with Chief Thomas last week. He is a student at Northwest-Tech. c) Darrell is in the process of setting up two workstations so both new officers will have their own area to work. The department may need to add another computer before year end. d) Uniforms for the new officers are backordered. Chief Thomas may need to make a trip to Denver to purchase uniforms for Makayla prior to KLETC. e) Darrell’s work anniversary is coming up in May and he currently has 88 hours of vacation that he has not been able to use. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Amanda to allow Darrell an extension until the end of June to use the current vacation time. Motion passed. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the police report. Motion passed. 6. New Business: a. Vicki Hubin with the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center gave the Council a summary of the work they have done in the past year and shared the statistics for Cheyenne County. The Council designated $1000 in the 2018 budget for the organization and these funds were disbursed in January. The Council acknowledged the tremendous work that WKCAC does and will consider increasing the allocated amount in the 2019 budget. b. Rodney Radcliffe spoke to the Council on behalf of the library to request the Council consider creating a non-budgeted fund for the library, similar to the capital improvement fund, so that funds at the end of the year could be transferred to the library. Attorney Day pointed out that there may not be statutory authority to do this but he will look into it. Clerk Whitmore will check with the auditors. Michelle Wolff, Library Director, will ask the Northwest Kansas Library System for their input. Another alternative for increasing revenue would be to increase the tax levy which would require a vote. c. A motion was made by Roger and seconded by Larry to approve the Mayor’s appointments to the Library Board: Pete Davis, Amy Grace, Linda Rogers, Janet Carman, Ramona Raile, Glorianne Milne, and Karen Neitzel. Motion passed. d. Clerk Whitmore shared the EMS Building fund reports from the County. In addition to the normal expenses of utilities and upkeep, there were some additional expenses including a network upgrade, replacement lights, a remote monitoring system for the generator, and refinishing of the floors. Attorney Day requested that in the future the Council be advised by the Commissioners of any out of the ordinary expenses that will be paid for out of this fund. Clerk Whitmore will touch base with County Clerk on this. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Roger to approve the renewal of the EMS Building Agreement with the County for another year. Motion passed. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – JR has been working with Jake Kling, the Attorney representing Ted McCoy. Mr. McCoy’s property at 417 E. Jackson has been given the ok. It is mostly cleaned up and the animals have been removed. The property at 534 E. Second has also been cleaned up with the exception of an old tractor in the front yard. Attorney Day will advise the current owner of the property to remove the tractor. Attorney Day updated the Council on the status of other properties  that have been served notice. The Council discussed two properties on South College Street that may need attention. JR will touch base with the owners. b. Projects Pending – a) Heartland should begin trenching at the Roadside Park this week. b) JR has received one bid from Wieck Electric for the electrical work in the Courthouse Park and has requested a bid from Terrence Lamb and Heartland. c) Clerk Whitmore let the Council know that the new website is up and running and Matt Grogan requested everyone take a look and provide feedback. d) There was more discussion regarding curb and gutters and street repairs. Clerk Whitmore had shared with the Council information from the state regarding potential revenue that could be generated if the City were to impose a sales tax. JR will formulate a plan with details and cost estimates for the curb and gutters and also for the streets for the Sunny Hill subdivision in order for the Council to move forward and make decisions regarding funding. JR and Lila will meet to discuss available funds in capital improvement and other sources. e) Dallas Staples has finished tree trimming at the Roadside Park but has not cleaned up many of the branches. The City crews will go ahead and take care of that. 8. Pool Report – There will be a meeting of the board on May 2 to finalize wages and revisit the hours of the pool. The pool board will also be discussing the hours that the pool will be open during Alumni weekend. Carrothers Construction will be here beginning May 7 to assist with getting the pool ready to open. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 9. Building Permits – It was moved by Dara and seconded by Amanda to approve the following building permits: Nick Raile – 504 E. Fourth, new construction single story home; Gary Rogers – 404 N. Benton, Driveway and sidewalk; and pending JR’s approval Lyle Cook – 121 W. Spencer, Remove and replace fence, install pavers; Gary Parker – 305 W. Fourth, remove concrete, pour new front porch, construct roof over front door. Motion passed. 10. Superintendent Report – a) JR and Larry met with Kelly Frewen and Roxie Neitzel to review the City’s insurance. b) JR has met with Prairieland regarding the airport improvements. There is no price yet, but once it is obtained JR will provide it to the airport commission. c) The water valve isolation on College Street between Webster and North Street is completed. The approximate cost to repair this section of the streets will likely be in the range of $150,000 - $160,000. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Amanda to approve hiring McCormick Excavation to do the College Street improvements. Motion passed. JR is still waiting on bids for the intersection work at College and North Street. This will be a shared cost with the County and is expected to be around $25,000 for the City’s share. d) JR let the Council know that the upkeep of the Scout Hut has been lacking. There are several groups that utilize the Scout Hut and fees have been waived for these groups. However the Scout Hut is being left in a mess with the floors not being vacuumed, trash not being emptied, and a general unkempt appearance. It is currently not in a condition where it could be rented. Letters will be sent to all entities who currently have access to the building. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – Attorney Day sent correspondence to the Council regarding the status of the Empire Motel, the properties on the Tax Sale list, and the Curb and Gutter process. There were no questions. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Roger to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 12. Clerk Report – a) The PBC has closed their bank account and transferred the remaining funds to the City. This amount of $2503.52 has been deposited into the Pool Building Fund. $2400 of these funds has been allocated to pay for installation of the sound system. b) At the January 29 meeting the Council approved the fire department purchase of a containment fill station and approved paying half of the cost which was $2,689.50. However the shipping was more than anticipated so the actual cost came to $2954.01. It was moved by Roger and seconded by Amanda to approve the additional amount of $264.51. Motion passed. c) It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to approve an out of cycle payment to Cowgirl Creations and Design in the amount of $700 for the Roadside Park banners. Motion passed. This project was funded by grants. d) Lila reminded the Council of the budget workshop in Colby on May 16. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: Amanda – none, Roger – Helen Dobbs let Roger know the State has approved the installation of a kiosk at the state line by Haigler and four new signs for the Arikaree Breaks along the Highway 27 Scenic Byway, Dara – A couple of citizens expressed concern about the denial of the grocery store expansion. Dara shared with them the reasons why the initial proposal was denied. JR indicated that  there is an alternate plan that the Owner will be submitting for approval. The citizens also expressed concern about stop signs and safety at the pool. The Council discussed putting a portable stop sign in the crosswalk during the pool season. There is a group of citizens wanting to make improvements to the basketball courts. Carla Lampe had indicated to Clerk Whitmore that this would be a County project. Larry – Larry had also been approached by citizens regarding the grocery store expansion denial. 14. Mayor Comments – none 15. Adjournment: A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk