City Council

Regular Council Meeting May 29, 2018 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:30. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Amanda Milne, Roger Jensen, and Dara Carmichael... Also present was City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Attorney Mike Day, Police Chief Darrell Thomas and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Council member Larry Finley was absent. 2. Minutes from the May 11 meeting were distributed and read. There were two corrections noted. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the following item on the Consent Agenda: Permission for Clerk to renew Western State Bank CDs 1447000224, 1447000225, and 1447000226. Motion passed. 4. Police Report – a) Chief Thomas shared the stats for April. b) Matt Hill and Jon Butler both attended training for the police software in Wichita. Matt will also be attending training for the KHP state reporting system on June 12-13. c) The contents of the police records closet and the VFW closet have been swapped around do Sam Miller and Pete Jensen will now have access to a closet that will contain the VFW belongings. d) Darrell acknowledged the help he has received from the Sheriff’s office with Jon’s on the job training. It was moved by Roger and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the police report. Motion passed. Darrel left the meeting 5. Visitors – Travis Milne was present to ask if he would be allowed to sell fireworks out of the garage in their home. Attorney Day advised him that this is against City Ordinance. Fireworks sales are allowed in commercial zoned areas only. 6. New Business: a. Michelle Wolff, Library Director, and Pete Davis, Library Board member, were present to ask the Council to consider raising the mill levy for the Library to 4.5 mills, with a cap of 5 mills. As was discussed at the last meeting, the tax lid does not apply to libraries. The current mill levy is 4. An increase would require creation and publication of a charter ordinance which would be subject to a protest vote. 1 mill would raise approximately $8000. The Council indicated they would give this thought and table a decision until the next meeting. Attorney Day will draft a charter ordinance for the Council to consider. Michelle also let the Council know that the Library had received a $5,000 grant from the Hansen Foundation to be used for non-fiction books and a $750 grant from the Cheyenne County Community Foundation to purchase large print books. b. Tammy Hunter addressed the Council to find out what she would need to do in order to be allowed to keep her 10 dogs at the home where she is living at 536 E. Third. City Ordinance limits the number of dogs at a residence to 3. Attorney Day indicated that a neighbor had complained about the number of dogs and also barking. Attorney Day pointed out that she is in violation of City Ordinances. Per City Code the only way she can keep that many dogs would be to obtain a kennel license. However, dog kennels are not allowed in residential areas per City Code and a zoning variance would need to be approved by the Council as well. The Council determined the property owners who would be impacted by a kennel would be: Jacqueline Cole, Bing Stinnette, Nathan Boyer, Sarah Yardley, Ivan Rodriguez, and Matt Moberly, the landlord. In addition the dogs are currently not licensed and tagged which is another violation of City Code. Attorney Day stated this must be taken care of before a variance request would be considered. The Council agreed that the first step is for Ms. Hunter to get all of the dogs properly licensed with the City. Ms. Hunter indicated she would come to City Hall by the end of next week to register the dogs. Clerk Whitmore will contact the Department of Agriculture to find out what the process is for obtaining a kennel license. c. Airport Improvements – Dave Yost. Dave was not present. JR indicated he has been in conversation with Dave and has let him know that there have been no decisions regarding the costs of the water and sewer projects. Miller & Associates have provided an estimate for the projects and have applied for potential state funding on behalf of the City. The funding may be in the form of grants or loans and we should know more in 30 days. JR feels the projects could benefit the Good Samaritan Village area with regards to fire protection. Roger indicated he had been asked how the improvements  would enhance the airport and benefit taxpayers. The Council will discuss this more at a future meeting. d. A motion was made by Roger and seconded by Amanda to approve Resolution 2018-1: RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ST. FRANCIS, KANSAS APPROVING A TEMPORARY PERMIT ALLOWING FOR THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR ON CITY STREETS. Kale – Abstained; Amanda – Yes, Roger – Yes, Dara – Yes. Motion passed. This resolution is for the Summerfest/Alumni celebration on June 16. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – JR and Attorney Day have narrowed the list down to 5 properties most in need of attention and notices will be sent to the property owners. Mike will send an email to Council members with addresses and photos of the properties. b. Projects Pending – a) The Roadside Park electrical hookups are installed and functioning but are currently turned off pending installation of signage and a payment box. The Council agreed that the fee should be set to be comparable to other RV places in town and with a camping limit of 3 days. Clerk Whitmore will look into ordering fee collection envelopes. b) The Roadside Park electrical hookups and City Hall safety will be removed from the projects pending list as both are near completion. 8. Pool Report – The pool opened on May 27. There is a swim meet on June 2. There is a minor pump problem on the large slide which is being worked on. The PBC met this afternoon to draft a letter of recommendation for Carrothers. 9. Building Permits – none 10. Superintendent Report – a) Kary Zweygardt asked JR if the Faith in Action group could paint the benches in Sawhill Park. The Council gave their approval. b) The Council gave approval for the City to provide the meters for the new assisted living facility. c) Prairie Land has not yet provided an estimate for the electrical work for the Airport Improvements. d) Three bids were received for the installation of 3 double electrical pedestals at the Courthouse Park: Terrence Lamb - $4847.26; Heartland - $4875.60; Wieck Electric - $7523.27. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Roger to accept the low bid from Terrence Lamb. Motion passed. e) JR let the Council know that the electrical outage yesterday was a Sunflower problem due to storms. It was resolved before it was necessary to generate. f) JR has talked to Dave Flemming with the County regarding the intersection at College and North Street. They are still trying to obtain 3 bids for the work. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – none 12. Clerk Report – none 13. Council Comments: Kale – none, Amanda – none, Roger – none, Dara – none 14. Mayor Comments – Asked Clerk Whitmore to prepare a thank you for Pat Yost for painting the flag at the park. He also read a thank you from Elevation Design Co. for supporting their company. 15. Adjournment: A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk