City Council

Regular Council Meeting March 8, 2021 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members Kale Dankenbring, David Butler, Amanda Milne, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Sheriff Cody Beeson was absent. 2. Minutes from the February 22 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Larry and seconded by David 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. Attorney Report – a) The property owner for the current property cleanup case is mostly in compliance and is scheduled to appear in court March 10th, at which time Attorney Reyelts will be requesting a continuance until May to allow him time for painting to be completed once the weather warms up. b) Lauren shared a draft of a commercial license agreement between the City and the CCKCF for the police department space. She expressed concerns about the appearance of impropriety since the City receives grant funding from the CCKCF and if the City is not charging them rent to at least cover the cost of utilities, the City would actually be paying them to utilize the space. She recommended utility costs be reviewed to determine an appropriate rental fee. Lila had spoken to Kelly Frewen of Frewen Insurance. He stated that it would be prudent for the City to require anyone renting the space to carry their own liability insurance and renter’s insurance. The City’s policy might also require a landlord endorsement. There would be a cost for that which should be minimal but could be passed on to the renters. Lila also reached out to an attorney at LKM for input. He too expressed concerns of impropriety but needed additional time to research and consult with another attorney. Lila has not yet heard back from him. The agreement was tabled until we hear back from the League and to also give Lauren time to determine an appropriate amount that she would recommend be charged for rent. c) The engagement letter was sent to Jeter Law Firm, but Lauren has not yet heard back from them. d) JR commented that he is working on an issue with Prairie Land/Sunflower that may require Attorney Reyelts involvement. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. Attorney Reyelts left the meeting. 5. Visitors – none 6. Sheriff Report - none 7. New Business: a. Bill Dungan addressed the Council with his concerns regarding trash along the highways and on City property. Mr. Dungan proposed a community cleanup event for April 10 that would be sponsored by the St. Francis Lions Club and the St. Francis V.F.W. He requested the Council’s help to make the community aware of it. The Council indicated their support of the event and information about the cleanup will be put on the City’s website event calendar. b. Mike Frewen and Cindy Ham presented to the Council a proposal for purchase of a section of property in the Industrial Park. Their plan would be to remove the existing structure and cement and then put up a 30’ x 50’ storage building for personal use. There was discussion regarding the sale price of the property. The Council agreed to the sale at the same price per square yard and with the same stipulations that were in place for the property that was sold last year to Tim and Robyn Raile. JR will confirm what the sale price should be. Lila will forward to Attorney Reyelts a copy of the deed from the sale to Tim and Robyn Raile. The Council will review the Quit Claim Deed at the next meeting. No motion was made. c. Elmer Kellner addressed the Council regarding the LED sign policy. He questioned why he was not allowed to advertise the Kansans for Life spaghetti dinner. The policy states that the sign is not to be used for retail or profit purposes or to advance or support any one individual’s or organization’s political or religious activity, purposes, or agenda. JR explained that because of the location of the sign along a highway there are state regulations that must be followed. It is not just a City Council  decision. Elmer also shared information with the Council about the local Lions Club and about an upcoming workshop called “Bridges out of Poverty”. d. Lila pointed out that the current trash waiver application requires the signatures to be notarized and Lila questioned if this was necessary. Several applications had been returned, but without notarization. The Council agreed that this should not be required. Lila will update the application form. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve trash waiver renewals for CLAS Family LLC/Carla Lampe and Kody Krien. Motion passed. 8. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – discussed in attorney report b. Projects Pending – no updates c. Streets Project – The project is on schedule. JR has submitted a permit to KDHE to temporarily divert storm water during construction. JR also explained the need to modify the plans for the south end of Parkway because of the location of the water main in that area. 9. Theater Report: The Theater board met earlier this evening. The recent movies have had good attendance. The Theater Renovation grant that was submitted to the CCKCF was approved for partial funding of $4,000. The Foundation has encouraged the City to resubmit the application for consideration for the remaining $6,000 that was requested. With the assurance from the Foundation that the additional funds will be awarded, the Council agreed to move forward with the engagement of Miller & Associates for the engineering phase of the project. The agreement does not require payment in full up front and allows for partial payments as work is being completed. JR will contact Carla Lampe to confirm that the Foundation does not have concerns with the City moving forward with the agreement. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Theater report. Motion passed. 10. Pool Report – The pool board will be meeting Tuesday night. They will be discussing admission rates and rates for private parties and swimming lessons. There have been several lifeguard applications submitted. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the pool report. Motion passed. 11. Building permits - none 12. Superintendent Report – a) Superintendent Landenberger discussed in detail the recent energy emergency. It is an issue across the state for all municipalities who have their own electric and/or gas utility. On February 15th, Sunflower requested the City generate and were reminded that the City’s generation is not accredited and cannot be called on by Sunflower. Southwest Power Pool then called and ordered the City to generate as much as it could until contacted by SPP to stop. The City was notified by SPP on February 18th to stop generating. The City generated 41.7 MWhs, consuming 4628 gallons of diesel over 39 hours during the level 3 emergency. Generation was held at 90% of the City’s load so as to reduce our impact but remain on the tie in case generation failed during the level 3 emergency. For the 10 days of the extreme cold, the cost for electricity rose from a normal of $51 per MWh to $3,700 per MWh at its peak. The City’s electric cost for just that time period is expected to be around $240,000, 6 times a normal February bill. Prairie Land has indicated that the ECA for the month of February would be approximately $700 per MWh for every MWh. Currently city code for electric charges does not include an energy cost adjustment and therefore the costs will not be passed on to customers. JR discussed the possibility of changing the code to give the Council the option to pass along costs in the future. There are low interest loans being made available from the State for municipalities who have been significantly impacted. Sunflower has also offered 3-year financing. However, because of the savings that have been realized with the new Prairie Land/Sunflower contract, the City does have sufficient reserves to be able to pay the bill that will be coming and JR’s recommendation was to not apply for loan assistance. JR has been in discussions with Prairie Land/Sunflower about the City’s generation. Currently they are suggesting they pay for fuel and labor and the City pay for the power as if it were received from them. JR’s position is that the City should have its bill reduced by the MWh produced and not be reimbursed for fuel and labor. The contract with Prairie Land does not specify how to pay emergency generation operations, only accredited generation. b) JR also discussed the increase in the City’s gas bills from Midwest Energy which are significantly higher for February. JR provided an explanation as to what happened with the gas market during the energy emergency. c) JR talked about the boiler at the power plant. It operated well during the emergency. However, boilers are only expected to last approximately 15 years and we have had this one for 40. JR has received a quote for the boiler of approximately $57,911. It is a high priority and will need to be replaced before winter. It will  be added to the projects pending list. d) The extreme cold caused numerous issues with frozen meters and lines. Kudos to the City crew for their hard work during the emergency to keep utilities on for customers. e) JR spoke of the need for a bucket truck and asked the Council to keep it in mind for future discussion. f) The Council discussed issues with the recycling center and the abuses that have been happening with people leaving trash, styrofoam, and generally not following the rules of the recycling center. There are also issues with trash at the city parks. It was decided to install security cameras with a recording system at the recycling center and the parks. Limiting the hours and/or closing at night was also discussed but no decisions made. The Colby recycling center will be closing. There are 2 options that have been proposed for continued recycling. JR is gathering more information for comparison and discussions continue with the County on the best solution. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 13. Clerk Report – Lila shared a thank you from Options Domestic Violence for the contribution the City made. She also let the Council know that the County Commissioners had approved the Law Enforcement Agreement. Lila has spoken to Rodney Ritchey regarding rekeying the exterior doors of the City Hall building along with changing the locks on the interior doors of the police department. Lila recommended this be done even if the police department is not rented to CCKCF. The Council approved. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 14. Council Comments: David – will not be at the next meeting. Kale – none Amanda - none Dara – none Larry – none 15. Mayor Comments – none 16. All bills on Ordinance #1048 were reviewed. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the bills in the amount of $248,461.03. Motion passed. 17. Adjournment: It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk