City Council

Regular Council Meeting May 11, 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 April 27 Council meeting were distributed and read. There was one spelling correction. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Dara and seconded by Larry 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. Justine Benoit with Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission shared information with the Council regarding Community Development Block Grant funding being made available to cities and counties to address COVID-19 related issues. The CDBG-CV funds are targeting two areas: Economic Development to provide communities with funding to help local businesses retain jobs for low-to-moderate income people, and the Meals Program which is intended to provide Kansas cities and counties with funds to supplement various programs that provide access to nutritious foods during the COVID-19 crisis. Cities can apply for up to $300,000 for the Economic Development and $100,000 for the Meals Program. Justine shared details. The Council agreed that the City should apply for these grant funds with NWKP&DC providing the grant administration. The grants are on a first come first serve basis and Justine wil begin working on the application as soon as it becomes available tomorrow. b. Granite, Al Alfieri – This topic was tabled until the next meeting c. High Plains Public Radio will be celebrating their 40th anniversary on June 27, 2020 and are requesting that the Mayor of the City of St. Francis officially proclaim June 27, 2020 as High Plains Public Radio Day. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Amanda to approve the High Plains Public Radio Day Proclamation. Motion passed. d. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David to approve Resolution 2020-3: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE OFFERING FOR SALE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2020, OF THE CITY OF ST. FRANCIS, KANSAS. Motion passed with all in favor. e. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the Mayor signing the Certificate Regarding Preliminary Official Statement for the General Obligation Bonds. Motion passed. f. The Council reviewed the EMS Building Maintenance Agreement. There were no changes made. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to renew the agreement with the County. Motion passed. Lila will provide copies to the County Clerk for the County Commissioners to review/approve. g. Library Board Appointments – This topic was tabled until the next meeting 6. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – Some of the properties on the cleanup list have been on the list before. Attorney Reyelts’ office is in the process of locating the original letters that will be sent to the property owners along with new notices. b. Projects Pending – a) Finley Energy has not yet looked at the repairs that are needed at the Library. b) JR has been approached regarding the possibility of using the old pool property for the food pantry. It would require significant upgrades to make the building useable for that. JR will check the building to determine what would be needed. The Council discussed possibly allowing the food pantry to temporarily use space in the Police Department until they locate a permanent place. There was considerable discussion but no decisions made. The Meals Program portion of the CDBG-  CV grant could potentially be used to help the food pantry. Attorney Reyelts will follow up with Justine Benoit to ensure the City’s grant application is submitted as soon as possible. c. Streets Project – JR extended the deadline for the tree bids until the next meeting. Amanda indicated that she had seen surveyors looking at the streets last week. 7. Pool Report – Larry has been doing a lot of research regarding opening the pool. It all depends on the Governor’s orders and implementing social distancing directives, following sanitation guidelines, and observing mass gathering limits. The pool board is considering options. Currently Phase 2 of the Governor’s Reopening Plan, which would become effective no soonder than May 18, allows mass gatherings of up to 30 people and pools can be opened. Phase 3 would increase the mass gathering limit to 90 people and is set to begin no soonder than June 1. However, these dates are subject to change. JR indicated that 2 weeks are needed to get the pool ready. After considerable discussion the Council agreed that the pool could be opened at the first date of implementation of Phase 3, whatever date that ends up being. The pool board will meet on May 18 to review the current Governor’s orders and move forward with a decision. The Council also discussed admission prices and recommended that the pool board increase the adult admission fee to $2 for this year but leave the child admission at $1. Larry requested 2 minutes of executive session for non- elected personnel to discuss hiring for the pool. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 8. Building Permits – A motion was made by Dara and seconded by David to approve the following building permits: Zona Potter – 221 W. Webster, privacy fence; Chris Hingst – 516 S. Frances, fence. Motion passed. 9. Superintendent Report – a) JR has been unable to obtain a quote from Stanion Electric for the materials for the electrical infrastructure improvements. In order to move forward with the project, he asked the Council to approve the low bid from Resco if that bid is still good. This bid was from the original bid contract. The Council agreed. JR will confirm that the bid is still valid and will come back to the next meeting with details. b) Efficiency testing of the wells is scheduled for next week. c) The Theater is tentatively planning to open on May 21st keeping in mind the Governor’s orders of mass gathering limitation of 30 and social distancing. d) The street sweeper has been taken to Garden City for repairs. e) McAtee Construction has been working on the alley pan replacements. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 10. Attorney Report – A peddler’s license has been received from Leticia Maldonado but the application is missing pertinent information and is incomplete. Attorney Reyelts recommended the Council not approve the application until it has been filled out completely and resubmitted. She will send a letter of explanation to the applicant. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 11. Clerk Report – a) The Timecard Plus software installation and training is scheduled for this week. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to pay the final payment of $3,322.50 to Computer Information Concepts once the work is complete. Motion passed. b) The new Governor’s orders have extended the utility disconnects through May 31 which will make the shutoff date June 1. The Council confirmed that the bills will become due and subject to disconnect on the date the executive order expires. Per the City’s policy an extension of up to 10 days past the disconnect date can be requested. A letter will be sent along with the delinquent notices to ensure Customers are aware of the new Executive Order expiration date. c) The audit is completed and went smoothly. One recommendation the auditors made was that all contractors should complete a non-discrimination statement prior to doing work for the City. There will be a new form for contractors to complete. d) Due to the Memorial Day Holiday, the next Council meeting will be Tuesday May 26. It was moved by Dara and seconded by David to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Dara – none Amanda – none David – none Kale - none Larry – will not be at the next meeting. 13. Mayor Comments – concerns were expressed by a citizen that some businesses may not be collecting the new 1% local sales tax. Mayor Schultz has not observed this is happening but recommended the Council keep an eye on their receipts. Attorney Reyelts left the meeting. 14. All bills on Ordinance #1038 were reviewed. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the bills in the amount of $169,692.14. Motion passed. 15. At 8:50pm a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale for the Council, along with all those present, to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss hiring of a new employee, the open meeting to resume at 8:52. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed and no action was taken. 16. Adjournment: It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk