City Council

Regular Council Meeting June 25, 2018 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:30. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Amanda Milne, Roger Jensen, Dara Carmichael and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Attorney Mike Day, Police Chief Darrell Thomas and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. 2. Minutes from the June 11 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 reported that the 2014 Charger had been damaged by hail during the recent storm. He will be getting it repaired. b) New officer Mikayla Kennedy will be off from KLETC next week and will be working in town. Jon’s academy training may be pushed back to September. c) The Sig Sauer dealer that the department previously purchased equipment from is no longer in business. They are dealing directly with the company now. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to accept and file the police report. Motion passed. 5. New Business: a. Angela Ketterl, CPA with Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, presented the 2017 Audit Report. She reviewed the financial statements and reported there were no budget violations. She reviewed the auditor recommendations for process improvements. She also reported there are three funds that have had no recent activity and she recommended the funds be closed and the existing money in those funds used in whatever way the Council decides. The Council thanked her for the report. The Council then discussed the three funds Angela had recommended be closed. These are the Weinstein Recognition fund, the Digital Sign fund, and the Pool Building fund. All of these were established with donations intended for specific purposes. The Digital Sign fund was for the purchase of the LED sign. The remaining $64 can be moved to the general fund. Clerk Whitmore will contact Tom Smull regarding the $350 that is in the Weinstein Recognition fund. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to use the money that is remaining in the pool building fund to purchase equipment for the pool as determined by the pool board. Motion passed. Larry indicated there is a need for new chairs as some were damaged in the recent hail storm. Clerk Whitmore will let Larry know how much money is available in the fund. b. Dave Yost and Devin Conley, representing the Airport Commission, updated the Council on the airport improvements. There was discussion regarding the utilities that will need to be brought to the site. The Airport Commission is requesting the City help pay for the cost to bring the utilities to the new hangers. One hanger will be a business and the other an aircraft hangar. The Airport Commission has applied for and received a grant from the state in the amount of $36,000 which is for assistance with water, electricity and gas. There is a 10% match which the Airport Commission will be responsible for. Miller & Associates had previously provided an estimate for the sewer and water of approximately $200,000. JR indicated the cost for the City to do the electric would be approximately $15,000. The Council explained that infrastructure improvements are normally paid for by the developer. The property is owned by the County and is outside city limits. The Council requested JR assist the Airport Commission with obtaining estimates for the water. Mr. Yost will check with Dave Flemming regarding the right of way that will be necessary. JR will attend the next County Commissioners meeting to get their input. c. Lauren Reyelts with Milliken Law Office addressed the Council regarding the metal grate in front of their office on Washington Street. This grate is where a tree used to be and is currently filled with rocks. She would like to beautify the area by adding flowers or possibly a flower pot. The Council gave their approval. Lauren also expressed an interest in being on the Washington Street beautification committee. Amanda will follow up with her. 6. Old Business: a. Roadside Park Rules & Regulations – The Council discussed the current city ordinances that apply to all city parks including the Roadside Park. The Council agreed that the sign should indicate “City Ordinances Enforced” which will cover all existing regulations. The sign will also include the additional rules that were approved at the last meeting. There is also a need for signage to direct  traffic off the highway to the campground. Roger will get in touch with Hot Brush to create the signs. Clerk Whitmore also indicated the auditors are going to want a documented process for how the money will be collected and accounted for. She volunteered the City Clerk’s office, and primarily herself, to be responsible for collecting the payment envelopes. The Council agreed that would be fine. b. Property Cleanup – All of the properties previously identified have been served notice and JR will be checking for compliance. JR and Attorney Day, along with CCDC Director Helen Dobbs, met with Randy Hrabe with Pioneer Development to discuss cleaning up the Empire Motel property. There may be grant funding available to raze the building. Helen plans to follow up with Randy. c. Projects Pending – a) Roger spoke with Tom Keller regarding the Keller Pond. Tom indicated they are still trying to get the work completed at the River Walk. b) JR will be moving forward with purchasing materials for the next phase of the electrical infrastructure improvements based on the $200,000 that had previously been agreed upon by the Council for this year. The materials will be ordered from Solomon Electric and Stanion Electric and will include pad mount transformers. He is still waiting on an estimate from Prairie Land for the work to be done. c) The Council confirmed a special meeting for June 27th at 7:00pm with Larry Kleeman, a municipal financial advisor with Ranson Financial, to discuss funding options for streets and other infrastructure improvements. 7. Pool Report – Everything is going well. Weather conditions have caused the pool to be closed on a few occasions. Attendance is averaging around 100 per day and there have been a couple of days with over 200 people. There are many out of town people visiting the pool. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 8. Building Permits – none 9. Superintendent Report – a) McCormick Excavation should begin work on College street the second week of July. b) Three bids were received for the intersection work at College and North Street: Sporer Land Development - $53,249.50; Shaw Construction - $29,000; McAtee Construction - $23,902.50. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Roger to accept the low bid from McAtee Construction contingent upon the county agreeing to pay for half of the cost, $11,951.25. Motion passed. c) JR informed the Council that the City will no longer be receiving capacity credits from Sunflower. d) JR has not heard back from Wade Krien regarding the water line improvements. e) The plumbing contractor for the work at the Good Samaritan Village will be tapping into the 14” water main along Denison Street. JR will be supervising the work. f) Some City vehicles sustained hail damage in the recent storm and JR has turned these in to the insurance company. Some roofs may require repair as well. g) JR talked about the curb and gutter along Denison and Jackson Street at the Northwest corner of Sawhill park needing repair. He will get an estimate on the cost. h) JR requested 2 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss hiring. i) There were a couple of power outages yesterday today but Sunflower along with the City crews were unable to isolate the cause. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Roger to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 10. Attorney Report – Kale asked Attorney Day for clarification on the Neva Wahrman fence issue. Mike let him know that it is a property dispute and is therefore a civil matter. 11. Clerk Report – a) It was moved by Roger and seconded by Kale to approve the Fireworks Licenses for: Brunk Brats Fireworks at 709 S. Benton and Jennifer Milne at 215 N. Adams. Motion passed. b) Debbie Fiala would like to donate $1300 to the City from the Eric Fiala Memorial fund. The Council agreed that the decision on how to use the funds should be up to Debbie but suggested possibly a new park bench at Sawhill Park or the sign that will be put at the Roadside Park but indicated it should be up to Debbie. Lila will contact her. c) Clerk Whitmore pointed out that Resolution 2018-1 that was passed on May 29 should have been numbered 2018-2. This will be corrected on the Resolution. d) Clerk Whitmore indicated there is some confusion as to who is authorized to perform background checks for peddler’s license applicants. Our City code indicates it is supposed to be the Police Chief. Chief Thomas confirmed that he is able to do them and others in the police department can as well if authorized to do so by the Police Chief. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Kale – none, Amanda – none, Roger – talked about the condition of the access road and the Council discussed what can be done about it, Dara – none, Larry - none 13. Mayor Comments – received comments about how the mowing at the Empire Motel had improved how it looked. Attorney Day left the meeting. 14. At 9:48 a motion was made by Roger and seconded by Kale for the Council to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss hiring, the open meeting to resume at 9:50. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed at 9:52. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Dara to hire Foster Grant for the temporary recycling job position at a wage of $10 per hour. Motion passed. 15. Adjournment: A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk