City Council

Regular Council Meeting October 22, 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 and City Clerk Lila Whitmore. Police Chief Darrell Thomas was absent. 2. Minutes from the October 8 Meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Roger and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Visitors – Brenda Hays, Janelle Bowers and Keely Loyd were present to express concerns regarding the condition of a neighbor’s property located at 112 W. First. Written comments from Greg and Maribeth Lauer were also shared. The house is vacant and in disrepair, the yard has junk in it, and the property is overrun with mice and rats. After discussion the Council authorized JR to contact the owner of the property, Phyllis Bexley, to obtain permission to assess and inspect the property and arrange for extermination services since it is an immediate health hazard. 4. Police Report – none 5. New Business: a. Jim Laffond was on the agenda but was unable to attend the meeting. JR explained to the Council what his concerns were regarding his water meter. JR indicated it is not a hard fix and it will get done. 6. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – no updates b. Projects Pending – McAtee Construction should be installing the benches and signage this week at Keller Pond. Kale asked about the cleanup of the River Walk. The County and Tom Keller are still working on that. 7. Consent Agenda - It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the following item on the consent agenda: Permission for Clerk to renew First National Bank CD #18340 and #18355. Motion passed. 8. Building Permits - none 9. Superintendent Report – a) The work on College Street by McCormick Excavating has been completed. JR had them patch some other large areas in town while they were here. b) JR contacted KMEA regarding splitting the cost of the power allotment as discussed at the last meeting but has not yet received a response. c) The street sweeper is needing repair and will require a mechanic out of Wichita to look at it. In the mean time the small skidsteer sweeper will be used on some areas but large scale sweeping cannot currently be done. d) The water tower painting is still scheduled to be completed. A motion was made by Roger and seconded by Amanda to approve an additional $3,900 to do the catwalk, for a total cost of $28,770 for the work. Motion passed. The tank must be emptied before the work can be done. e) Johnson Service will be doing sewer maintenance starting this week. f) There was a leak at the firehouse on a line that supplies water to the museum and the roadside park. It will require new taps. g) JR discussed the power outage on October 16. The problem was difficult to isolate and turned out to be an arrester that had failed. The second outage on Saturday was likely an after affect of the first outage. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 10. Attorney Report – Attorney Day has been in communication with Pioneer Country Development and their Attorney regarding the Empire motel. Communication is ongoing. The Community Foundation meets this week and will discuss options. Mike Requested 2 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss a confidential legal matter. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 11. Clerk Report – a) Clerk Whitmore pointed out that the second Monday in November is Veteran’s Day, a Federal and City Holiday. The Council agreed that the next Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday November 13. b) Clerk Whitmore updated the Council on the CD investments. The $100,000 CD that was discussed at the last meeting has been invested at First National Bank. Bankwest is not currently bidding on public funds. First National Bank offers the public fund rates which is more than the rate offered by Western State Bank. With Council approval of the consent agenda tonight the current CD’s will be renewed with First National Bank as well. c) The Council discussed the Theater wanting to do a promotion to benefit the food pantry. The Council agreed that collecting donations of canned goods would be ok but prizes should not be given away in exchange for donations. d) Lila is still working on the grant for the shade structure. She is  waiting on the written grant from Brock McAtee Construction and a couple letters of support. e) The Council gave approval for Jen Blair to carry over up to 26 hours of vacation time. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Kale – would like the Council to quickly move forward with the bond issue with regards to fixing streets once JR provides cost estimates. Amanda – none Roger – none Dara – none Larry – Requested clarification on the following: water leak by the grade school – JR confirmed he is aware of the issue and it will be fixed; transformers on the poles by the hospital causing the poles to lean – Dan will be looking into this; citizen complaint regarding many expired tags on vehicles in town – Larry will touch base with Darrell; trees in the alleys getting in the way of power lines - It is the property owners responsibility, but the City will cut them once they grow into the power lines. 13. Mayor Comments – none . Superintendent Landenberger left the meeting. 14. At 8:18 a motion was made by Larry and seconded by Amanda for the Council, along with Attorney Day and Clerk Whitmore, to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss a confidential legal matter, the open meeting to resume at 8:22. The meeting resumed and no action was taken. 15. Adjournment: A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk