City Council

Regular Council Meeting February 10, 2020 1. Council President Amanda Milne called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring, Dara Carmichael and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, Sheriff Beeson, and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Mayor Scott Schultz was absent. 2. Minutes from the January 27 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Dara and seconded by David to approve the following items on the Consent Agenda: Permission for Clerk to pay insurance at time of billing; Permission for Clerk to pay utilities at time of billing; Permission for Clerk to pay utility incentives before the 25th of the month; Permission for Clerk to pay theater bills when due; Permission for Clerk to pay Payment Service Network bills when due; Permission for Clerk to pay the following dues: Kansas Mayor’s Association - $50. Motion passed. 4. Visitors – none 5. Sheriff Report - Sheriff Beeson shared the statistics for the previous month. All of the St. Francis ticket books have been distributed so everyone is able to issue tickets now within the city limits of St. Francis. A few cases have been taken to the City Attorney’s office. Clerk Whitmore let the Council know that the HP server purchased in 2018 for the police department had not been used for Interpol as previously thought and Cody agreed that it can be moved to City Hall. The computers in City Hall are scheduled to be upgraded this year and Lila believes this server will work for the City Hall software. This will save the City some money. Also, due to Interpol security issues, the hard drive in the Municipal Court PC will need to be removed and destroyed. A new drive will need to be installed and the Municipal Court software re- installed. Both Cody and Lila have spoken to Matt Wilson with Reach Solutions but have not yet received a quote for this work. Cody indicated that the County would share in the expense. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve an amount not to exceed $1000 for the work to be completed. Motion passed. Cody indicated that the County is interested in the Expedition to be used by all County emergency services as needed. Larry shared the Nada valuations. The rough trade-in value is $2062, the average trade-in is $2762 and the clean trade-in value is $3337. Clean retail is $5,187. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by David to offer it for sale to the Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Services for $2,500. Motion passed. David asked Cody about the emergency management coordinator position. Cody indicated David should speak with Ryan Murray. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Sheriff’s report. Motion passed. 6. New Business: a. Robert Grace, Theater Board President, presented the Theater financial report and shared statistics showing national trends on movie attendance and ticket prices for the last 10-15 years. He offered theories and possible explanations for the decline in movie attendance and revenue over the years. The Board may consider raising ticket prices but they do want to keep it affordable for families. Robert also spoke about the need for renovations of the Theater building. The Board will likely seek grant funding for this. The Council agreed that the Theater is an important service for the community. Sheriff Beeson left the meeting. Robert also spoke to the Council about a project called “Electrify America” which brings electric vehicle charging stations to communities at very little or no cost to the cities. The Council agreed that Robert and JR could research this further. b. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve the Peddler’s License application for the St. Francis Girl Scout Juliettes Troop and to waive the peddler’s license fee. Motion passed. c. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the mobile home park license renewal for Eldon Zimbelman. Motion passed.  d. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the Sawhill Park/Bandshell rental application for Western State Bank for the annual Easter egg hunt on April 10 from 4-7 pm and to waive the rental fee. Motion passed. e. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the liquor license renewal for B&W Partners/U-Save Liquor. Motion passed. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – no updates b. Projects Pending – a) The Council discussed special event permits and liability insurance along with the rental and use of Sawhill Park and the Bandshell, which is reservable for private events as well as public events. The Council agreed that not all events would necessarily require liability insurance and it should be based on risk factors. They also felt that there should be a two part application – one part to reserve the Bandshell/Sawhill Park and one for special events. Lila will check with other cities for examples of special event permit applications and will work with Attorney Reyelts to put something together for the Council to review at the next meeting. b) JR and Amanda have had further conversations with Jeff Stewart with KDOT regarding Highway 36, the crossovers and the access road. JR pointed out that it is really up to the State as to what should and will be done since it is their property. The proposals coming from the State keep changing. JR and Amanda recommended that the City’s input should be that we are interested in what the State is proposing but request clarification and specifics on what the City’s responsibility and/or cost would be. He and Amanda will continue to work with KDOT. c) JR spoke to Miller & Associates regarding the Empire Motel and based on their input determined that a feasibility study would not be worth the cost to do. He has also spoken to Helen Dobbs regarding the CCDC taking over the promotion of the property. d) Kale is still researching options for tablets for Council members. c. Streets Project – JR indicated that the removal of the trees is the immediate concern but an environmental study needs to be completed before anything more can be done. Justine with NWKP&DC is working on that. Lila updated the Council on the CDBG workshop February 5. Lila talked to Attorney Day regarding the bond issue and he will work with Gillmore & Bell once the official grant announcement is made on February 13. 8. Keller Pond Committee Report – Larry requested the Council consider finding another community member who might be interested in serving on the committee. He plans to talk to the Rec Commission about putting picnic tables at the pond. The Council also discussed a memorial plaque to be placed on the Van Allen shade structure. Larry will contact the Van Allen’s to see what they would like it to say. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Keller Pond Committee Report. Motion passed. 9. Building Permits - none 10. Superintendent Report – a) The boiler at the plant still has an issue that will need to be fixed. It is not a huge risk but should be taken care of. b) The flag pole at the library has been repaired. JR will wait until Mayor Schultz returns to address some of the other issues at the library. c) JR has not yet received cost estimates for the street improvements outside of the funded project. He is seeking bids from a local contractor on the street pans and alleys that are in poor condition but are not part of the street project. d) The Council discussed the Police Department 2015 Charger and agreed that it should be sold. The Sheriff’s office is not interested in it. JR will work with Cody for assistance in advertising it in appropriate places for law enforcement vehicles. It was moved by David and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – a) Attorney Reyelts spoke to Judge Keller, who had consulted with Judge Berens and it was determined that the previous concern that was discussed in executive session is a non-issue. b) Lauren met with Mike last Tuesday to discuss the transfer of current issues. Mike will be taking care of the bond issue and assisting with the street project. Lauren will be working on the ordinance to establish special project funds. Mike has turned over some of the ordinance violation cases. There is one open municipal court case and Lauren is working with Municipal Court Clerk Kodi Workman on that. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 12. Clerk Report – a) There is a new federal requirement that requires all CDL drivers be registered in a FMCSA Clearinghouse database for drug and alcohol testing. There are regulations which require an annual query be completed on each driver. A motion was made by David and seconded by Larry to sign the agreement with Compliance One with an addendum to the contract to ensure that the City stays in compliance with the new regulations. Motion passed. b) Lila spoke to Helen Dobbs regarding the CCDC board membership. Helen indicates there is nothing in the bylaws that would prohibit people who are related from serving on the board. Since all County residents are considered members of the CCDC, all board members are voting members. c) County Clerk Houtman has indicated that the question regarding the future payments from the City to the County for the 800 MHz radios has been tabled by the Commissioners. No decisions have been made. d) Lila let the Council know that the Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance is up for renewal April 1. The premiums have increased this year but they are still under budget. The Council approved renewing with BCBS. e) Lila read a thank you letter from Options Domestic Violence for the contribution the City made. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: David – none Kale – none Dara – none Larry - none 14. Council President Comments – Amanda noted that there are not many views of the Council Meeting recordings on the website. Lila will put a message on the City’s Facebook page to remind citizens that the recordings are there. There was also discussion regarding some information needing updating on the website. Lila will be working with Kodi Workman to get her trained on maintaining the website. Attorney Reyelts left the meeting. 15. All bills on Ordinance #1035 were reviewed. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve the bills in the amount of $432,702.52. Motion passed. 16. Adjournment: It was moved by Larry and seconded by David to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk