City Council

Regular Council Meeting April 13, 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 and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. City Clerk Lila Whitmore joined remotely via Zoom. Sheriff Beeson was absent. 2. Minutes from the March 23 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Larry 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. Motion passed. 4. Sheriff Report - none 5. New Business: a. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the Chicken Permit for Margaret Lister – 209 N. Scott. Motion passed. b. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve Resolution 2020-2: RESOLUTION FOR TEMPORARY WAIVER OF FEES FOR LATE PAYMENT OF UTILITY BILLS. Larry – yes, Kale – yes, David – yes, Amanda – yes, Dara - yes. Motion passed. 6. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – There is one current property that is still making progress. JR will identify other properties needing attention. b. Projects Pending – a) With the approval of the procurement policy at the March 9 meeting, the Council agreed that the purchasing policy can now be removed from the projects pending list. b) JR has provided information to CCDC director Helen Dobbs regarding the Empire Motel property. c) JR will touch base with Roger Jensen regarding the library improvements that need to be done. d) A bid was received from KB Body & Paint for $27,000 for the sandblasting of the bandshell seating area. This bid was considerably higher than anticipated. JR will seek another bid from McAtee Construction. c. Streets Project – Attorney Day and JR have created a follow-up letter to be sent to residents who are directly impacted by the street project. The letter was shared with Council members for their review. The previous letter to residents was sent last July. JR recommended approval of the letter and the Council agreed. Attorney Reyelts pointed out that there is a state statute that requires a special hearing to be held and the public to be given the right to protest. Notice of the special hearing needs to be published in the St. Francis Herald for one week prior to the hearing. The Council agreed to hold a special meeting on April 27 at 6:30. Attorney Reyelts will ensure the notice of special meeting is published in the St. Francis Herald and information regarding the meeting will be included in the letter being sent. JR will begin marking curb/gutters and trees after the letters have been sent. He will also be seeking bids for removal of the trees. Miller & Associates have indicated that their next step will be to obtain surveys on the existing streets. 7. Pool Report – There was discussion regarding the opening of the pool which at this point is undecided due to COVID-19. Larry reported that they have 9 or 10 applicants including 1 for pool manager. The primary concern is not having enough lifeguards hired to be able to keep the pool open. The pool board is discussing possible reduced hours. Larry will touch base with all of the applicants to talk about the situation. 8. Building Permits – A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the following building permits: Kurt Bucholtz – 610 S. Frances, storage shed; Kent Kechter – 411 E. Whittier, storage shed; Daniel Wilkens – 602 S. Denison, concrete floor and metal carport. Motion passed. 9. Superintendent Report – a) JR reported that Whittier street currently has no surface on it and chip sealing must be done. JR will be getting estimates for that. He has also received bids from McAtee  Construction for the alleys and intersections. McAtee Construction has previously completed intersection work for the City and in the past there have not been any other contractors interested in bidding on the work. Some of the work needs to be done very soon and McAtee construction is currently available to complete the work. The total cost for 16 alley approaches would be $13,000. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve this work be done. Motion passed. There are 8 intersections that need to be replaced at a total cost of $54,000. The priority intersection is Spencer and Benton due to drainage issues and the cost for this one intersection is $22,500. There is approximately $47,000 in the Special Highway Fund currently that can be utilized for these improvements. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve the work be done on Spencer and Benton. Motion passed. College Street will also need to have either fog sealing or chip sealing to protect the street. Fog sealing is less expensive but does not last as long but does buy time before the street would need to be chip sealed. JR will get prices for each. Potholes will continue to be filled as weather permits. b) A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve 21 hours of vacation carryover for Justin Gardner. Motion passed. c) JR requested the Council approve a 2 year contract with Fire Alarm Specialists for the testing, inspection and maintenance of the equipment at the power plant at a cost of $695 a year. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Amanda to approve the contract. Motion passed. d) A transformer needs to be installed for electrical service to the new construction in the Industrial Park. JR indicated that this is typically something the City provides for new construction. The cost should be approximately $2,500. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the purchase of the transformer. Motion passed. e) At the last meeting wages for the Theater employees was discussed. Because of the temporary closure of the Theater the employees are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. Lila indicated she does not know yet if any employee claims have been approved. f) JR is still working on obtaining bids from Stanion Electric for the materials for the electrical infrastructure improvements. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 10. Attorney Report – a) Attorney Reyelts is waiting to receive KDOT records for review from Attorney Day’s office. b) Concerns had been expressed to Council members regarding the City’s ordinances in Chapter 5 Article 1 as they are related to transient vendors and soliciting, in particular the taking of food orders online by an out of town business with delivery at a local public location, but also individuals in town who solicit orders online for food items and also peddling door to door of homemade foods. There was considerable discussion. Attorney Reyelts pointed out that the code requires licensing for anyone going “from place to place, from house to house, or from street to street”. There is nothing in City Code that restricts internet orders and delivery of product. There were questions regarding these businesses collecting the correct sales tax. Lila contacted the Department of Revenue Sales tax department with this question. The City’s responsibility would be only to report any businesses that are suspected to not be paying the appropriate sales tax and the DOR would investigate. The second concern is individuals taking orders online for the sale of food items prepared in a non-commercial kitchen but not going door to door. The State requires licensing if an individual sells their product more than 6 times a year. Lila will check on the Clerk link as to how other communities handle internet sales like this. The Council also discussed individuals selling home prepared food door to door. Per City Code a peddler’s license should be required for this. Lauren will touch base with Sheriff Beeson regarding enforcement of the City Code and will request he contact those individuals known to be selling food without a peddler’s license. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 11. Clerk Report – a) A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry for the Mayor to sign a letter of support for the Land and Sky Scenic Byway Committee’s application for designation as a National Scenic Byway. Motion passed. b) The Council clarified that the reopening of the Theater will depend on the Governor’s executive orders and as directed by the Cheyenne County Health Department. Attorney Reyelts indicated the Governor may be extending the stay at home order and the mass gathering order into May. c) Lila asked for direction on how to handle utility disconnects once Executive Order 20-05 has expired. Attorney Reyelts’ recommendation is that the bills would become due and subject to disconnect on the date the executive order expires and that we should follow our normal disconnect and payment extension policies with that date as the shutoff date. Payment extensions could be requested per City policy for up to 10 days past the shutoff date. d) At the last meeting the Council had approved renewing FNB CD 2066802. However on the renewal date the interest rate was 0%. Lila contacted Mayor Schultz  and the decision was made to not renew and to put the funds into the collections account for now. FNB CD 2066804 is coming up for renewal on April 19. The current rate is .15%. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to not renew this CD at this time and to put the funds in to the collection account and to reinvest when the rates are better. Motion passed. e) The computer upgrade is scheduled for April 23-24. f) The Audit is still scheduled for April 28 but everything will be done remotely. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Larry – none Kale – Asked if there is state or federal aid available to assist with utility payments for businesses forced to temporarily close due to COVID-19. Lauren explained the CARES act and that businesses can apply for SBA loans specifically to help for this situation. David – none Amanda - none Dara – none 13. Mayor Comments – none Attorney Reyelts left the meeting. 14. All bills on Ordinance #1037 were reviewed. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by David to approve the bills in the amount of $292,310.17. Motion passed. 15. Adjournment: It was moved by Dara and seconded by David to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk