City Council

Regular Council Meeting March 23, 2020 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring, Amanda Milne, Dara Carmichael and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Sheriff Beeson was absent. 2. Minutes from the March 9 Council meeting were distributed and read. There was one addition to the minutes. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed. 3. Minutes from the March 17 Special Meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 4. Minutes from the March 19 Special Meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 5. 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 FNB CD #2066802. Motion passed. 6. Visitors – Brendan Finley 7. Sheriff Report - none 8. New Business: a. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry approve the RV Park License for Homesteader Motel and RV Park. Motion passed. b. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the Tree Trim License application for Second Chance Ranch/Todd Trzcinski. Motion passed. c. The Council reviewed the Bandshell Rental and Special Event Application for the St. Francis Alumni Association. Lila had spoken to Kale Yonkey who indicated they have not yet made a decision on whether or not to cancel the event. Attorney Reyelts pointed out that the special event application was incomplete and she advised the Council against approving it until a revised application has been submitted. Larry will contact the alumni association. 9. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – no updates b. Projects Pending – no updates c. Streets Project – There have been efforts to coordinate a conference call with Kevin Cowan with Miller & Associates to discuss the notification letters regarding the curb & gutters and trees that need to be sent out to residents. Attorney Day is assisting with this and JR, Lila and Lauren will continue to move forward in order to get the letters sent out in a timely fashion. 10. Building Permits – none 11. Superintendent Report – a) JR checked with Emergency Management Director Ryan Murray if there were any updates. The County has declared a County Emergency at a local level in order to receive resources if and when needed. None are required at this time. b) There are some CISD emergency sick leave mandates that have been issued regarding essential infrastructure employees. JR is following the guidelines. Lila shared a document from LKM regarding the emergency sick leave. c) JR spoke about the employees impacted by the temporary closure of the theater. Lila had found that the employees can apply for unemployment benefits. JR recommended the Council discuss this further at the next meeting. Attorney Reyelts cautioned that neither she nor the Council or City employees should offer advice to employees beyond the sharing of information that comes from the State. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 12. Attorney Report – a) Attorney Reyelts met with Amanda on Friday to discuss the highway right of way and access road issue. She recommends that effective immediately all future correspondence with KDOT regarding this matter be in writing and that she be CC’d on any correspondence. b) The Governor has issued an order prohibiting the gathering of more than 10 people, to go into effect at 10:00AM March 24. The Attorney General has issued guidelines to assist City’s in meeting the KOMA requirements. There was considerable discussion on various options that are available for holding a public meeting and being able  to meet both the KOMA requirements and the Governor’s order. KOMA doesn’t require a public comment period but citizens do need to be allowed to be put on the agenda and address the Council if requested. People without computer access must have a way to access the meetings as well, via phone conferencing for example. Lila has been researching options that would work best. JR and Lila will look into this further and will have something in place by the next regular Council meeting in April. b) Attorney Reyelts requested 15 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel and attorney client privilege. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 13. Clerk Report – a) Clerk Whitmore presented the quotes from CIC and Reach Solutions for the computer upgrades in City Hall. Lila recommended going with a combination of Reach Solutions providing the hardware and installation along with software migration, and CIC providing the proprietary software migration and the disaster recovery solution. This would be the most cost effective. The quote from Reach Solutions is $5,671 and the quote from CIC is $5,045 for a total of $10,716. Lila also requested permission to contact Reach Solutions to move the SonicWALL firewall from the PD to City Hall and enable remote access in the event that she or Jen would need to work from home during the current situation. She believes this would cost less than $500. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve up to $11,300 for the contract with Reach Solutions, the contract with CIC, and the installation of the SonicWALL firewall and remote access. Motion passed with Larry abstaining. b) Because of COVID-19 concerns, the installation of the timecard plus payroll software has been postponed. It is now tentatively scheduled for April 13. c) The County sent out updated health screening questions today. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David for the City to adopt and follow whatever screening processes the County implements. Motion passed. d) The press release regarding the closing of City Hall to the public along with information on how to pay utility bills during this time will be in the St. Francis Herald this week and we will also be sending it out with the April bills. The information is already on the City’s website and the Facebook page. e) Lila talked about Executive order 20-05 which prohibits utility disconnections due to non-payment. Shutoff day is typically the 25th of the month. Lila will reach out to customers and encourage them to pay as much as they can when they can so that they won’t get too far behind on their bills. The executive order does not address late fees. There was considerable discussion regarding waiving late fees. Kale made a motion to waive the late fees for all payments made in March and coming up in April and to give a credit to anyone who already paid the late fee in March. There was no second. Lauren pointed out that in Chapter 15 section 222 of the City Code it states that there is a penalty assessed for late payments so if we are changing an ordinance she will need to create a temporary ordinance or variance basically stating that the code is being modified from whatever date the Council decides until the termination of the Governor’s executive order. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to waive the late fees beginning in April and until the Governor’s order regarding disconnects is no longer in effect. Motion passed. Lauren will create the necessary variance or ordinance for approval of the Council at the next meeting. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 14. Council Comments: David – David asked if non-essential businesses should be closed. JR pointed out that this decision should come from the Health Department. Kale indicates that most businesses in town are already limiting access. Kale – none Amanda - none Dara – none Larry – none 15. Mayor Comments - none 16. At 8:07 a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry for the City Council and Mayor along with Attorney Reyelts to recess into executive session for 15 minutes for the non-elected personnel exception and subject to attorney-client privilege, the open meeting to resume at 8:22. Motion passed. At 8:22 the open meeting resumed. There was no decision made. 17. Adjournment: It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk