City Council

Regular Council Meeting May 26, 2020 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, David Butler, Amanda Milne, and Dara Carmichael. Also present were Sheriff Cody Beeson and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. City Clerk Lila Whitmore joined remotely via zoom. Council member Larry Finley and City Superintendent JR Landenberger were absent. 2. Minutes from the May 11 Council meeting were distributed and read. There was one spelling correction. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion passed. 3. Sheriff Report – a) Sheriff Beeson shared the statistics for last month. There were 119 calls in St. Francis. There has been an increase in stolen vehicles, stolen property, vandalism, and assault and battery cases. The department is being proactive with dogs running loose, which is one of the biggest complaints. Two new deputies will be attending academy soon. Once they are trained there will more coverage in St. Francis. Recreational Vehicle permits are being issued now, by appointment. Amanda indicated she had heard complaints about trailers with flat/no tires parked on the streets. She also asked if there was a way to get a more accurate report once more city code enforcement is being done. Cody stated that not all call types show up on the statistics report and as new types of cases are worked new categories and subcategories need to be added to the software. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Sheriff report. Motion passed. Sheriff Beeson left the meeting. 4. New Business: a. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the special events application for the Cheyenne County Cruisers Car Show on June 27 at the Roadside Park and to waive liability insurance requirements and vendor fees. Motion passed. b. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to approve the following Mayor Appointments to the Library Board: Pete Davis, Kelley Milliken, Lynnette Nolan, Sandy Bandel, Ramona Raile, Marilyn Hnizdil, Karen Neitzel. Motion passed. c. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve a Liquor License for Twisted L Liquor at 715 S. Frances Street. Motion passed. d. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David to approve the small business incentive for Twisted L Liquor/Gerald and Dawn Lauer for up to $100 a month for 12 months. Motion passed. 5. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – Attorney Reyelts has spoken to JR about the properties that will be receiving letters. JR will review the letters before Lauren sends them out. b. Projects Pending – no updates c. Streets Project – The mayor noted that there have been surveyors in town surveying the streets. 6. New Business (Continued) – Kelley Milliken updated the Council on the plans for the Farmer’s Market this year. Heidi Straub-Marquez has been hired as the coordinator. The market will be held on Saturdays from 9am - noon at the East side of the Courthouse Park beginning June 6. They will be offering online ordering and curbside service. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve the special events application for the Farmer’s Market and to waive liability insurance requirements and vendor fees. Motion passed. 7. Pool Report – The Mayor asked Ms. Milliken to speak about the pool. The pool board has met to discuss options related to the opening of the pool and the Governor’s guidelines. The pool board is recommending opening on June 8 as long as COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Governor and the local Health Department are followed. The Mayor has spoken to Kelley Frewen with Frewen Insurance and if all guidelines are being followed there should be no liability concerns. Lauren explained that all pool staff must comply with all guidelines including KDHE, federal, state and local. It would be up to the Council to determine the acceptable level of risk. After discussion a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Amanda to open the pool June 8 or as soon as possible. Motion passed. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to also open the theater as long as all guidelines are followed. Motion passed. 8. Building Permits – A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Dara to approve the following building permits: Ed Marin – 515 W. Spencer, garden shed; Janet Carman – 415 W. Spencer, concrete pad; Mercedes Schultz – 215 S. River – fence. Motion passed. 9. Superintendent Report – none 10. Attorney Report – a) Attorney Reyelts was approached by Judge Keller regarding moving the municipal court to the Council Chambers. She wanted the Council to be aware of the request. Judge Keller will likely come to a future Council meeting to discuss this further. Lauren talked about administrative orders from the supreme court and the district court regarding safeguard measures that need to be taken as it pertains to COVID-19 such as plexiglass barriers to protect clients and attorneys. b) Lauren requested 15 minutes of executive session for a personnel matter of non-elected personnel. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Attorney Report. Motion passed. 11. Clerk Report – a) Candi Douthit is working on a food distribution program for children and families this summer. This is not the same as the food pantry. She is requesting permission to use the Courthouse park as a distribution point for people to pick up food. The Council gave their approval. b) When City Hall was closed to the public during the early stages of COVID-19 the Mayor had authorized that the fees associated with making online payments would be paid for by the City. The Council agreed that now that City Hall is again open to the public it is business as usual and the fees paid by the customer will resume effective June 1. c) There are 4 more CDs coming up for renewal: a 6-month CD at FNB for $25,000 and a current rate of .11%, and 3 1-year CDs at Western State Bank in the amounts of $100,000, $10,000 and $7,000 with a current rate of .45%. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to renew all of these. Motion passed. d) A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David to purchase an advertisement in the Ultimate Guide to Northwest Kansas for $1,600. Motion passed. They would like to see the pictures changed up from previous ads. Lila will contact Helen Dobbs. e) The Governing Body Institute has been rescheduled for July 31 – August 1 in Manhattan. Lila will register any Council members interested in attending. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Clerk Report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Dara – none, Amanda – has received numerous trash complaints from residents. She will touch base with JR. David – will not be at the June 22 meeting. There was more discussion regarding the use of the old pool property for the food pantry. It was suggested that food pantry personnel look at the building to see if it would suit their needs. The Council also discussed the Empire Motel property and agreed that CCDC/Helen Dobbs should come to a Council meeting to talk about it. Kale – none 13. Mayor Comments – none 14. At 8:10 PM, a Motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale for the Council and Mayor along with Attorney Reyelts to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss personnel matters, the open meeting to resume at 8:25. At 8:25 the open meeting resumed. No decisions were made in executive session. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to accept all of the applicants for the pool who applied by the deadline and to reject those who did not and to approve the wage recommendations made by the pool board. Motion passed. 15. Adjournment: It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk