City Council

Regular Council Meeting December 14, 2020 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, Amanda Milne, and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Sheriff Cody Beeson and Council members David Butler and Dara Carmichael were absent. 2. Minutes from the November 23 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale 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; Permission for Clerk to pay LKM dues of $976.06. Motion passed. 4. Sheriff’s Report – Amanda noted that Sheriff Beeson had reported that people had been cleaning deer at the Roadside Park. A notice that this is not allowed will be posted on the campground sign. 5. Visitors - none 6. New Business: a. Justine Benoit with NWKP&DC updated the Council on the CDBV-CV grant. The Food Pantry has submitted receipts for reimbursement and a request for payment of CDBG funds needs to be made. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve draw down #2 for the 20-CV-116 project in the amount of $8,452.71. Kale – yes; Amanda – yes; Larry – yes. Motion passed. b. Tyler Hillmer with Miller & Associates. The drawings and specifications for the street project are completed and Mr. Hillmer requested approval from the Council to begin advertising for bids with a bid date of January 21 and an award date of the 2nd meeting in January. Due to COVID the bid process will be completed online and the bid opening will be via a zoom meeting. The project completion date is set for October 1, 2021. Project cost is still estimated to be between 1 and 1.2 million. Tyler and JR went over some details of the street repairs that will be completed. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the bid date of January 21. Motion passed. c. Fire Chief Dan Blair was present to request confirmation from the Council to spend up to $6,000 from the equipment reserve fund to purchase bunker gear. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Amanda to approve the purchase up to $6,000. Motion passed. d. Robert Grace, Theater Board President, and JR discussed with the Council the proposed Theater project. Robert pointed out that there are 3 options: 1) build a new theater, 2) renovate the existing building, and 3) do nothing. After discussing pros and cons of each, the Council agreed that renovating the existing Theater would be the best option. The first step in being able to apply for grant funding for the project from the Hansen Foundation, or other grant sources, is to have a detailed architectural engineering plan in place for the scope of the project. An estimate of $26,200 has been received from Miller & Associates to create a plan. Robert has been approached by a member of the Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation who has indicated that the City could apply for up to $10,000 in grant funds to help with the cost of the engineering plans. This, along with the $3,000 donation previously received from FNB Bank, would be almost half of the total cost. There was discussion, after which a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to commit $13,200 from the capital improvement fund as matching funds. Motion passed. Lila will get with Robert to draft an application for the GNWKCF grant. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – Progress is being made on the Larry Zweygardt property. Papers were served on the Poulson property but there has been no response and it remains in violation. However, the property is on the January 8 tax sale so further action will be suspended at this time. b. Projects Pending – a) A contractor from Fort Collins has been here to look at the bandshell seating but an estimate has not yet been received. b) Attorney Reyelts presented a draft of Ordinance 626 amending chapter 5 of the City Code regarding solicitors, canvassers, and peddlers. Lila had pointed out that several sections referred to the Chief of Police, which we no longer have. Background  checks are currently done by the City Clerk. Lauren will work on the modifications to the Ordinance for the next meeting. c) There was brief discussion regarding “Internet Hot Spots”. The project, which had been proposed by representatives of Eagle Communications, has stalled after Eagle Communications was purchased by VYVE. The topic will be removed from the projects pending list. d) Lauren has attempted to reach out to individuals who may be able to assist with the KDOT issue but due to COVID and year end she has tabled this until January for follow up. c. Streets Project – no additional updates 8. Building Permits – A motion was made Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the following building permits: Steve Lister – 209 N. Scott, ramp; Ilene Raile – 104 E. Third, ramp; Dan and Jannelle Bowers – 620 Parkway, add on to deck; Margyre Antholz – 502 W. Webster, fence; Kody Krien – 543 E. Spencer, storage building; Ben Smull – 505 S. Scott, back porch and deck. Motion passed. 9. Superintendent Report – a) As requested at the last meeting Barnes Tree Services has amended their bid for the tree removal at the Roadside Park to include that the work would be completed within 3 weeks of approval. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the bid in the amount of $3,306. Motion passed. b) Ed Marin with Heartland HVAC has completed most of the facility upgrades for the SPARKS direct aid from the County except for a few toilets. He will be providing invoices to the Clerk’s Office within the next day or two. Invoices must be submitted to the County as soon as possible to receive the funding and expenses must be paid by December 30. c) JR explained the benefits of having the ability for City crew to log in to the timeclock application via cell phones. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Amanda to approve $799 to purchase the mobile application for the timeclock plus software. Motion passed. d) JR talked about the placement of address numbers on city buildings. Vinyl numbers on windows will be used at City Hall, the Theater, the Motorcycle Museum and any other buildings where this would be practical. Larger decorative numbers from Colby Sign will be used on the pool building. There have been questions raised regarding house/building numbers that already exist that might not be the correct size. The Council agreed that if they can be seen and easily read from the street there is no need to replace them. If new numbers are installed, they will need to follow the ordinance. e) Scott had received complaints regarding the removal of snow from the City streets. JR explained that the standard is there must be 3” or more of snow for removal to take place. For anything else when it gets slick they put down salt and sand. f) There was discussion regarding the security light at the pool. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 10. Attorney Report – a) Lauren reported that she has had numerous questions from residents regarding the house number ordinance and the required size of the letters. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Amanda to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 11. Clerk Report – a) A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry to approve the purchase of ten t- shirts with the City logo for each of the city crew employees from N-Zone Sportswear at a cost of $779.50. Motion passed. b) A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Amanda to approve the renewal of the CMB license for Pizza Hut. Motion passed. c) Lila let the Council know about potential SPARK grant funding that may be available for the Theater. Being a municipality, the funds cannot be used for revenue replacement but could be used for things such as PPE or plexiglass barriers. Lila has submitted an application and will find out more details when they become available. d) Regarding the food pantry’s request for assistance with utility costs, Lila reminded the Council that there are funds allocated in the 2021 budget for community service type organizations, some of which could be used to assist the food pantry. e) A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to renew the ITRON maintenance agreements in the amount of $3,185.12 and $1,080. Motion passed. f) Per Lila’s request, the Council approved closing City Hall the afternoon of December 24th. g) Lila requested 3 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss and employee’s status. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 12. Council Comments: Kale – none Amanda – none Larry – none 13. Mayor Comments – Scott shared a note from Justin Gardner thanking the Council for the Christmas bonus and service award. Lauren left the meeting. 14. All bills on Ordinance #1045 were reviewed. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the bills in the amount of $177,222.48. Motion passed. JR left the meeting. 15. At 8:41 a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale for the Council along with Clerk Whitmore to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss an employee’s status, the open meeting to resume at 8:44. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to accept the resignation of Kodi Workman. 16. Adjournment: It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk