City Council

Regular Council Meeting January 25, 2021 1. Council President Amanda Milne called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, David Butler, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Mayor Scott Schultz was absent. 2. Minutes from the January 11 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve the minutes as written. 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 the following dues: Kansas Mayor’s Association - $50, Kansas Municipal Utilities - $2,659, Kansas Rural Water Association - $812, Kansas Municipal Judges Association - $25. Motion passed. 4. Visitors – none 5. New Business: a. Nathan Fiala, Library Director, presented the annual Library Report and shared the financial information and activities report. He gave an overview of the programs and community events that the Library offered during 2020 and talked about future programs. b. Natalie Knodel and Kary Zweygardt updated the Council on the “202 on Washington” project. The space will need extensive remodeling to make it suitable as a community event center and expanded art gallery. Fundraising was stalled due to COVID-19, but the committee continues to meet weekly and the project is still moving forward. Natalie spoke about the possibility of applying for CDBG funds through the City. Lila confirmed that Justine Benoit with NWKP&DC had indicated that since the CC4C is a 501(c)3 organization the City could apply for a CDBG community facilities grant on their behalf, with the organization providing the matching funds. However, the City can only apply for one round of CDBG funding per year and the current focus is the streets, but the Council agreed that this project could be taken into consideration in the future. c. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the Peddler’s Licenses for the Girl Scouts to sell cookies and to waive the fees and background checks. Motion passed. d. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Dara to approve Resolution 2021-1: (GAAP) A WAIVER OF GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES. David – yes, Kale – yes, Dara – yes, Larry – yes. Motion passed. e. The Council reviewed the Water Emergency Plan. The addition of AB Plumbing to the qualified local plumbers list was the only change made. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve the Water Emergency Plan. Motion passed. 6. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – no updates b. Projects Pending – a) Amanda asked if there were any updates on the KDOT access roads and crossovers. Lauren has contacted another law firm regarding this matter but has not heard back. She will follow up with them. b) During the January 13 meeting that JR attended with Betty Johnson, strategic doing facilitator, they discussed the Sawhill Park improvements and the band shell. If the City intends to apply for a Hansen Foundation grant, Ms. Johnson’s recommendation was to combine the bandshell projects with the Sawhill Park improvements, including the sail shades and the tree program, and make it one overall improvement project. The estimate for the seating repairs was $56,000. The sail shades were between $160,000 and $180,000. Since the band shell is on the historical registry the sail shades and seating repairs would need to be approved by the historical society. There is currently approximately $30,000 of donated funds in an account that is designated for the band shell, but the City would need to provide additional matching funds. c. Streets Project – One bid was received on January 21 from McCormick Excavation for the street project in the amount of $1,167,896.32 which is below the engineers estimate of $1,276,037. Miller and Associates will review and validate the bid and should make a recommendation at the next meeting. 7. Building Permits - none 8. Superintendent Report – a) JR reported that a sewer sample collection was missed and therefore there will be a KDHE violation on the sewer testing. This violation will be published but there will not be a fine. The violation does not indicate a failure in the sewer system and is not a cause for concern. Another sample was taken and submitted right away. b) Instead of trading in the Kawasaki Mule JR believes the City would be better off selling it and purchasing a John Deere Gator locally. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to purchase a John Deere Gator for $16,850 from American Implement. Motion passed. c) Periodically EMC Insurance performs a property inspection of all City properties to identify potential risks for the City. An inspection was recently completed and the steps at the front of City Hall were found to be a safety concern. JR will solicit bids for repair. d) JR met with Betty Johnson, along with Tom Keller, Tom Smull, and Robert Grace at the Theater on January 13 to discuss the Theater project. Previously the Council had indicated that if the Community Foundation would fund half of the architect fees the City would fund the other half. Lila will work on submitting a grant application to the Community Foundation in February. Once the architect plan is in place the next step would be for the City to apply to the Hansen Foundation for the project which is estimated to be between $220,000 – $270,000. Ms. Johnson recognized the theater improvements to be a significant and relevant community project and indicated it would be considered a strategic doing project. She noted that the Hansen Foundation does like to see 50% matching funds and/or work in kind. e) JR discussed the Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance renewal. Due to COVID and an overall industry standard increase the premiums have gone up 25.6% this year. However, with the current employees, plus the addition of two more full time employees, we would still be under budget for the upcoming year. The plan that the City has is a grandfathered plan. Changing to a non-grandfathered plan would be detrimental to the employees as there would be a significant increase in cost for co-insurance and deductibles. Because of this JR recommended staying with the current plan. A motion was made by David and seconded by Dara to approve the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance renewal. Motion passed. f) JR attended a recycling meeting in Bird City on January 13. The regional recycling organization which at one time had 8 participating counties is now down to 3 (Cheyenne, Decatur, Rawlins). The operating budget for the Northwest Kansas Recycling Center in Colby is $150,000 a year and the current revenue from the 3 participating counties is $70,000. It is not reasonable to think that the remaining 3 counties can come up with the additional needed funding so the likelihood of that organization continuing is slim. JR has spoken to Dave Flemming, Roger Jensen, and Willie Martinez and they have discussed options for continued recycling and agree that first and foremost it needs to be determined what would be best for Cheyenne County. JR will attend the Commissioners meeting on January 29 to talk about the options. It was moved by David and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 9. Attorney Report – Attorney Reyelts pointed out that the current Law Enforcement Agreement expired December 31, 2020. Lauren recommended amending item 14 to make renewal of the agreement automatic unless either party gives a termination notice or a notice of negotiation of the price no later than June 15. The Council agreed with renewing the agreement as amended and Lauren will discuss this with the County Attorney. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 10. Clerk Report – a) Lila shared information with the Council regarding the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant. The SBA is not yet accepting applications. Venues who have suffered the greatest economic loss will be the first applications processed. Based on the percentage of the Theater’s losses the City would be eligible to apply in round 3, 28 days after the application process begins. Lila requested the Council review the information and decide if the City should apply for the grant when it becomes available. b) The Council approved vacation carryover of 40 hours for Lila. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 11. Council Comments: David – none Kale – none Dara – none Larry – none 12. Council President Comments – none 13. Adjournment: It was moved by Larry and seconded by David to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk