City Council

Special and Regular Council Meeting April 27, 2020 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the special meeting to order at 6:35 pm. Present were Council members 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. The special meeting was called for “Valuation of Lots for Reconstruction Project of Curbs and Gutters”. There were no public attendees and no public comment. At 7:00 pm the Mayor adjourned the special meeting. 2. Mayor Scott Schultz called the regular meeting to order. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Larry Finley, David Butler, Amanda Milne, and Dara Carmichael. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. City Clerk Lila Whitmore joined remotely via zoom. 3. Minutes from the April 13 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 4. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the following items on the Consent Agenda: Permission for Clerk to renew US Highway 36 Association Membership - $100; Permission for Clerk to renew International Institute for Municipal Clerks Membership - $170; Permission for Clerk to renew Kansas Municipal Judge’s Association Membership - $25. Motion passed. Sheriff Beeson arrived at the meeting. 5. Sheriff Report – a) Sheriff Beeson shared the statistics for last month. There were 90 calls total for St. Francis. There has been a decrease in the number of calls since the stay at home order was put in place. There have not been any issues with regards to COVID-19 violations. The community is doing a good job following the regulations that are in place. b) A peddler’s license application has been served to the individual who has been peddling without a license. c) Cody shared the inventory of the items that he would like to move from the Police Department to the Sheriff’s Department. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the inventory. Motion passed. The evidence room still needs to be cleaned out. d) The Council discussed complaints regarding untagged golf carts and other recreational vehicles. There is a temporary process in place for renewal of recreational vehicle permits. Lila will post the process on the City’s Facebook page and website and will make sure something is published in the St. Francis Herald as well. Cody indicated that his department would start enforcing the permit requirement once VIN inspections are being done again. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the Sheriff report. Motion passed. Sheriff Beeson left the meeting. 6. New Business: a. Al Alfieri, Senior Account Manager, and Robert Wager, Director of Government Sales, with Granite Telecom joined the Council meeting via zoom. Granite is a wholesaler and consolidator of existing voice and data services. They presented information regarding the company’s cost savings program for local governments. Following the presentation a motion was made by Larry and seconded by Amanda to have Lila send Mr. Alfieri the City’s most recent phone bill from Nex-Tech in order for Granite to be able to provide a cost savings analysis. Motion passed. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – JR has made personal contact with the owners of three properties of interest. There has been some improvement on them, but letters will need to be sent to two of them. b. Projects Pending – a) Library Improvements - Scott has spoken to Kevin Finley with Finley Energy who will be looking at the repairs needed on the library in order to provide a quote. b) Sawhill Park Improvements - The order with the Conservation Office for trees for Sawhill Park has been canceled due to COVID-19. JR is waiting for a quote from McAtee Construction for the sandblasting of the bandshell seating area. c. Streets Project – a) JR has marked all of the curb and gutter and reiterated that he only marked the areas that met a certain criteria but for ease of construction there may be more curb and gutter replaced. This would be at no additional cost to the property owners. Trees have also been marked. An ad was placed in the St. Francis Herald for the tree removal and one person has  expressed interest. The ad will be rerun with a specified deadline date of noon of the next Council meeting. JR will seek competitive bids. b) JR has been working with Dave Flemming, County Road and Bridge, to get chip sealing put on Whittier Street. It is cost prohibitive this year to chip seal any other streets, but fog-sealing can be done on College Street. There was considerable discussion regarding the current cost of oil and the relation to the cost of street improvements. 8. Pool Report – Larry has spoken to the pool applicants. There may be a concern with training and getting everyone certified. Delayed opening and attendance restrictions may need to be considered. It is too early to tell at this point and the opening of the pool depends largely on what the Governor does next and what the recommendations are from the Local Health Department. It will take at least 2 weeks to de- winterize the pool once a decision to open is made. The Governor will be issuing additional guidance on Thursday regarding the reopening framework and what that will look like. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 9. Building Permits – A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the following building permit: Travis Jensen – 409 E. Webster, privacy fence. Motion passed. 10. Superintendent Report – a) A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve $3,960 for the purchase of the transformer for electrical service at the industrial park. Motion passed. b) An image was shared of the new River Walk sign that was installed by Brent Rueb. Brent donated his time to install the sign. A thank you letter will be sent. c) Melvin Confer is lined up to stain the Scout Hut and do some touch up painting. It should cost around $500 per coat for the staining. d) JR will have something put in the newspaper regarding no Styrofoam at the recycling center. It has become an issue again. e) The Council approved reopening the Power Plant and City Hall when it is allowed by the Governor’s guidelines as well as the Local Health Department recommendations. JR has also been discussing reopening the Theater with Theater Board President Robert Grace. There will be a plexiglass barrier installed in the register and concessions area for employee and patron safety. If restrictions are lifted by the Governor and the Local Health Department, the Council agreed that the Theater could reopen, taking into consideration the necessary precautions for social distancing. Guidelines would be followed to ensure public safety. f) The Council recognized John Larson for his 40 years of service to the City of St. Francis. He will receive a plaque and a $50 gift certificate to a local business of his choice. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – a) There was some discussion regarding the ongoing KDOT, crossovers, and access road issue. The title work has been completed. Lauren will continue working on this. b) The Council discussed the peddler’s license concern. No decisions were made. The Council will wait see if the individual returns the peddler’s license application. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 12. Clerk Report – a) Clerk Whitmore shared the annual Computer Information Concepts support agreement with the Council. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David to approve the agreement for $3,395. Motion passed. b) There are two more FNB Bank CDs coming up for renewal, #18340 on April 29 for $50,000, and #18355 on May 5 for $75,000. The current interest rate for a 6-month CD is .07%. The holding account where most of our funds are currently being held is earning .05%. A motion was made by Amanda and second by Kale to not renew these two CD’s at this time and to put the funds into the holding account. Motion passed. c) The new computers have been installed and the software migration completed. There were a few issues that Reach Solutions is still working on but for the most part everything is working well. The Audit is still planned to be completed remotely on April 28. It was moved by Larry and seconded by David to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: Dara – none Amanda – none David - none Larry – none Kale – asked the Council to again consider how the City might be able to help with utilities for local businesses who have been forced to close during the COVID-19 shutdown. After considerable discussion, the Council agreed that no changes will be made to the City’s existing utility payment policies but if individuals are struggling with paying their utility bills, they can contact City Hall and request to speak with the Council. 14. Mayor Comments - none 15. Adjournment: It was moved by Amanda and seconded by David to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk