City Council

Regular Council Meeting May 10, 2021 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring, and Dara Carmichael. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Sheriff Cody Beeson and Council members Amanda Milne and Larry Finley were absent. 2. Minutes from the April 26 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Dara 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; Motion passed. 4. At 7:02 a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara for the Council along with the Mayor, City Attorney, and Library Board members Pete Davis, Kelley Milliken, and Karen Neitzel to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception for personnel issues, the open meeting to resume at 7:12. The open meeting resumed, and no action was taken. The Library Board will address the issue. 5. Attorney Report – a) Lauren has reviewed the street project contracts but has a couple of questions and will be seeking clarification from Miller & Associates before signing it. b) Lauren has spoken with Jeter Law Firm regarding the access road, and they will be reviewing the documents the City provided and doing deed research. She should have a report at the next meeting. c) Regarding property cleanup, she has not been able to effectuate service on the Poulson property and until that is done she cannot move forward with that. Progress on the Zweygardt property is incomplete at this point and is scheduled for the May 19 court date. JR will provide a status update to Lauren prior to May 19. There have been several Municipal Court cases resolved with diversion agreements. d) The Council discussed the requirements for liability insurance for special events. Lila had been contacted by Cindy Burr with Riverside Recreation with questions on what entity should be obtaining the insurance. The City’s permit application indicates that a special event may require special event liability insurance. However, it has been understood that if alcohol is to be served then the special event must have general liability insurance as well as liquor liability coverage. This could be a Special Event policy with a liquor liability endorsement or two separate policies, one for the general liability and one for the liquor liability. Lauren stated it is not up to the City to decide what entity obtains the insurance as long as both required coverages are in place and the City is listed as an additional insured. d) Amanda and Kale have shared with Lauren photographs of code violations at the Lampe Motorsports property. She will be addressing the issue. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. Attorney Reyelts left the meeting. 6. Visitors – none 7. Sheriff Report – none Cody plans to attend the 1st meeting in June. 8. New Business: a. a) Jim and Christine (Anderson) Thorton spoke to the Council regarding an electric pole that is on the neighbor’s property. Electricity is run to their house from this pole. It has been broken for quite some time and is held up by wires. She is concerned about safety. JR is aware of the issue. He explained that what is needed is for a new taller pole to be placed in the alley. Ward Electric is scheduled for electrical infrastructure work between July and September and this issue will be addressed at that time. If weather or other unexpected events cause the work to be delayed it will still be completed sometime in 2021. b) They also spoke about the River Walk and the recently installed fence that prohibits vehicle access to the trail. Jim is disabled and indicated that he had enjoyed being able to take his golf cart along the trail where he would often pick up trash. Scott pointed out that the reason for the fence was to stop other vehicles, primarily 4-wheelers, from entering and tearing up the trail. JR suggested possibly giving Mr. Anderson access to continue as a volunteer to pick up the trash. It would be helpful to the City and would also allow him to continue to be able to enjoy the Riverwalk. Lila will send email to Larry Finley to discuss the proposal with  the Keller Pond committee. c) They also had concerns about the truck traffic along River Street. River Street is a designated truck route. However, they have noted trucks driving at excessive speeds along that street and especially at the intersection of Spencer and River. The speed limit is not posted. It should be 30mph at the south portion of the street but should be reduced to 20mph as it approaches downtown. JR will mention this to Cody. He will also look into posting speed limit signs. b. Lila met with the Kansas Municipal Insurance Trust (KMIT) risk control specialist Trenton Hollway on April 19 for a safety review. The City again earned a Gold status. Lila shared a Fleet and Vehicle Policy that he recommended be adopted. A motion was made by David and seconded by Dara to adopt the KMIT Fleet and Vehicle Policy. Motion passed. c. On behalf of Amy Barfield, Lila presented a variance request for the property at 404 Parkway Drive. She would like to run a daycare from her home. The Council determined that the property owners affected by the business would be Amy Grace, Roger Neitzel, Kole Moberly, David Guthmiller, Michael Raile, Gerald Weis, Ward Cassidy, and Pete Jensen. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve granting the variance contingent upon Ms. Barfield obtaining the required 80% signatures which will need to be confirmed by the City Clerk. Motion passed. This is not a zoning change and the re-designation from residential to commercial is for Amy Barfield only. 9. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – discussed in attorney report b. Projects Pending – a) Dave Flemming had an idea for a volleyball court at the old pool property and Larry will be looking at that to see if it could be done. b) The Council discussed the Empire Motel property. Lila said she had someone inquire about putting in a dog kennel/dog day care facility on the property. JR recommended that the property be reserved for its intended use of a motel. Scott stated that it needs to be something that will benefit the community, either a motel or a big enough business that would have several employees. c) The City received 1 bid for the Roadside Park bathroom painting and repairs for $4,350 from The Lighthouse. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to accept the bid. Motion passed. The Lighthouse also submitted a bid of $300 which is the cost to clean and apply a protective coating to the floor for maintenance. The Council discussed that this could be done once a year to keep the floors in better shape. c. Streets Project – no updates 10. Building permits – A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the following building permits: Carl & Kate Jenkins – 112 E. Spencer, remove rock and cement retaining wall; Leonel Mayorquin – 321 N. Scott, bathroom behind existing garage; Jose Rodriguez – 120 W. Emerson, carport, fence, deck; Jeff Meyer – 512 W. First, privacy fence; Melvin Dunn – 305 S. College, shade shelter; Natalie Knodel – 410 S. Adams, poured concrete steps; Mark Mills – 100 W. Whitter, remove and replace porch slabs. Motion passed. 11. Superintendent Report – a) At the last meeting the Council had approved having JR list the 2015 Dodge Charger on Purplewave. Dave Flemming indicated that the County uses Western Auction sometimes for their equipment. However, Cody Beeson let him know that Atwood is looking for a Police Car. The car was purchased in 2017 for $20,500 with 49,000 miles and currently has 77,000 miles. It is setup as a Police Car with lights and other equipment. The Council approved having JR reach out to Atwood and see if they would be interested in making an offer on it. b) JR will be advertising for a full-time recycling employee. He would like to move the current recycling employee to a different position. He may also advertise for a part-time weekend recycling position. c) JR has not heard back from Jason Padgett regarding the security cameras for the recycling center and surrounding area. However, Eric Harper indicated that the County contracts with Nex-tech for installation and support of their security systems. JR feels this may be a better and more reliable solution and will contact Nex-tech for a quote to consider. d) KDHE did a water inspection on the City’s water and wastewater systems and there will likely be recommendations made based on that inspection. e) A motion was made by David and seconded by Dara to approve the purchase of a John Deere lawn tractor from American Implement for $2,350. Motion passed. f) JR updated the Council on the status of recycling. We have started compacting with the trash truck and JR estimates we will get around 7 ½ -8 tons. He is still working on the contract with Sunoco. They do want the cardboard. They also own the balers and are now wanting to sell those which should be a County purchase but might be the City. The cost is only  $1,000 per baler, as compared to $14,000+ new, and JR suggested we get extra ones. g) JR spoke with Chris Miller with Miller & Associates to request they put together specifications for a water control system. We may be able to use some of the American Rescue Plan funds for this. There are also grants available but because of our very low water rates we are currently unable to apply for these grants. Our rates are 1/3 of what some communities are paying for water. JR suggested having a schedule to raise the rates to a state average so that we would then be eligible for grants for water projects. Chris Miller may go ahead and submit an application on the City’s behalf for a grant that has a June deadline, but the City would need to increase the water rates soon. JR also suggested that the City establish a long-term plan for revenue that is setup to build a reserve for future major water projects. h) JR spoke to Ward Electric today and they are tentatively planning to be here in August. The street project is scheduled to begin in July and JR believes it will be mostly completed before the end of August. There will be some degree of overlap for the two projects, but it should not be a problem. i) JR is still waiting for an estimate from Brock McAtee for the City Hall steps. j) For insurance purposes, Kelly Frewen asked for both the County Commissioners and City Council to put in their minutes that if a County employee is driving the City trash truck to Hutchinson they will be covered by the County’s insurance if there is an accident. The Board of County Commissioners gave their approval at their March 31 meeting. The City Council gave their approval. k) Regarding the previously discussed power pole issue, JR clarified that the existing pole that supports their line is on the adjacent property owner’s property and he also clarified how the issue will be resolved. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Superintendent Report. 12. Clerk Report – a) Lila has been working on the Shared Venue Operators Grant. There is a considerable amount of paperwork that needs to be completed. There are several documents that require the Mayor’s signature. The Council approved having the Mayor sign the documents. b) This afternoon the Department of the Treasury released the American Rescue Plan Interim Final Rule for the program that talks about the eligible uses for funding. Lila had not had time to read it but shared it with the Council for their review. c) Lila plans to begin working on the LMI survey soon. She shared sample notices that will be sent to the paper and posted on Facebook, as well as the letter that will go out with the surveys. She requested the Council review them and let her know of any recommended changes or additions. Justine informed her that the survey will be good for 1 year after the 2020 Census data is released but she did not know when the Census data would become available. With that said, however, it will be likely that another survey will need to be completed in a couple of years to continue to be eligible for CDBG funding. Justine would like the survey to be completed by mid-July. There will be the initial mailing, followed by a second mailing to those who did not respond. This will be followed by phone calls and door to door visits to try to obtain as many responses as possible. d) The auditors did not come onsite as expected but the audit process is moving along, and we should have the audit report delivered in June. e) The Council agreed to allow the Cheyenne County Kansas Community Foundation (CCKCF) to use a printer that we have in City Hall that is currently not in use. The CCKCF Board has approved the rental agreement with minor modifications to the wording – wherever the agreement references the “Cheyenne County Kanas Community Foundation” it must also say “an Affiliate of the Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation”. Lauren has not yet made these changes to the agreement. However, the Council has already voted and approved the agreement so the Mayor can sign it once Lauren has it ready. Dara indicated that the CCKCF board also agreed to pay half of the attorney fees for the creation of the lease agreement. The locks have been changed. f) Lila will be attending a budget workshop all day Thursday. g) Lila shared the CCKCF grant award letters received for the Theater Renovation Project and the Concert in the Park. h) A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve an out of cycle payment for the Kansas Sales tax of $4,999.55. Motion passed. i) For the past several months Helen Dobbs has been putting together welcome packets for new residents and the City Office hands them out to anyone coming in for utilities who are new to town. Recently, there have been other organizations requesting these packets from Helen to hand out themselves to new residents. The Council agreed that this is not something Helen should be expected to do since the packets are already being handed out at City Hall. If someone knows of a new resident who has not received a packet they can direct them to Helen at the CCDC. j) Lila requested 5 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel to discuss pool employee wages. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: David – asked about putting spikes as a deterrent to the buzzards on the water tower. JR indicated that would probably not be the best solution because of the placement of other equipment on the water tower. Kale – none Dara – none 14. Mayor Comments – none 15. All bills on Ordinance #1050 were reviewed. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to approve the bills in the amount of $430,208.99. Motion passed. JR left the meeting. 16. At 9:01 a motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara for the Council, Mayor and City Clerk to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss pool employee wages, the open meeting to resume at 9:03. The open meeting resumed. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the wages for pool employees as recommended by the pool board. Motion passed. 17. Adjournment: It was moved by Kale and seconded by Dara to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk