City Council

Regular Council Meeting July 12, 2021 1. Mayor Scott Schultz called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring, Amanda Milne, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present were City Clerk Lila Whitmore and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. City Superintendent JR Landenberger and Sheriff Cody Beeson were absent. 2. Minutes from the June 28 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Kale to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 3. Minutes from the June 29 Budget Workshop were distributed and read. It was moved by Larry and seconded by Amanda to approve the minutes as written. Motion passed. 4. Consent Agenda – It was moved by David 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. 5. Sheriff’s Report – none 6. Visitors – a) Kary Zweygardt, board president of the Cheyenne Community Development Corporation (CCDC) and Helen Dobbs, CCDC Director, were present to request the Council approve paying for Helen to attend the Colorado Sportsman’s Exposition in January of 2022. Helen generally has a booth at this event which attracts hunters and other visitors to Cheyenne County. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Amanda to utilize funds in the guest tax for the cost of $2,554. Motion passed. b) Elmer Kellner addressed the Council with concerns regarding the lack of City Council meeting content being published in the St. Francis Herald. This is not in the City Council’s control. Mr. Kellner intends to contact Mr. Haynes, the owner of the newspaper. 7. New Business: a. Budget Review – The Council reviewed the final proposed 2022 budget and no changes were made. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by David to notify the County Clerk of the City’s intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate with a proposed mill levy rate of 43.028 and a Revenue Neutral Rate hearing to be held on August 23 at 7:00pm. David – yes, Kale – yes, Amanda – yes, Dara -yes, Larry – yes. Motion passed. 8. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – a) Amanda shared that the Poulson property is changing ownership and there has been some progress on cleanup so JR recommends holding off on sending a cleanup notice at this time. b) There has been some work done on the McCoy property but contact still needs to be made with the owner of the property. c) The property owner of 118 W. Emerson met with JR and the Mayor to inspect the building. The building itself is structurally solid. The owner will come back with a plan for improvements of the exterior before August 26. d) There was further discussion regarding the Kelly Lampe property. Progress has been made but there is more to be done. Lauren pointed out that there is a tailgate on the sidewalk. Mr. Lampe has expressed concerns to Larry about Gary’s Auto Body also doing work on automobiles in the street. The Council talked about this as well. e) The Council discussed a proposed fence at a property located on the corner of 2nd and College. The fence would be installed on the south side of the property where the City has an alley right of way that has not been utilized in many years. JR is ok with a fence being installed there as long as there is a stipulation in writing and acknowledged that the City’s right of way would be preserved in case it is ever needed. The owner will need to submit a building permit. b. Projects Pending – a) The Mayor indicated that the major cracks on the bandshell have been fixed but the entire exterior needs repainted either this fall or next spring. There are numerous hairline cracks as well. The Council instructed that this be put out for bids and to advertise in the St. Francis Herald and the Milesaver Shopper. b) Lauren provided an update on the KDOT/crossover issue. She has received an update from Jeter Law Firm and has provided Amanda their contact number so that she can follow up with them. c) The Council discussed the proposal for the Empire Motel  property and rejected the current proposal. They agreed that there needs to be more of a commitment from the interested party which would include putting in the necessary infrastructure upfront and several units to start. c. Streets Project – Work is scheduled to begin July 21. 9. Pool Report – Everything is running smoothly. The swim meet was a big success. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the pool report. Larry updated the Council regarding Keller Pond. Larry indicated that he and JR met with Tom Keller and confirmed that the Keller family will commit $5,000 annually towards the upkeep at Keller Pond and Riverwalk area. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve contracting with Brock McAtee Construction for the upkeep and maintenance of Keller Pond in the amount of $6,000 per year. Motion passed. The additional $1,000 will come from the $5,000 that is allocated to Keller Pond each year in the budget. It was moved by Amanda and seconded by Dara to accept and file the Keller Pond committee report. Motion passed. 10. Theater Report – The board met at 6:00 tonight but neither Lila nor Dara were able to attend. Lila let the council know that the board usually reviews wages in April but have not yet done so. She will reach out to Robert Grace, board president, to schedule a meeting to take care of that. The Thursday showings are not happening during the summer this year. David mentioned how it is important to let the theater employees, and all city employees, know how valued and appreciated they are. 11. Building permits – none All visitors left the meeting 12. Superintendent Report – Lila and Amanda shared that she and JR will be working on fixing some zoning issues in the area south of Highway 36 on the west side of River Street. 13. Attorney Report – Attorney Reyelts shared with the Council two contract options for Hill Trash Service. One was a short-term contract until October 31st and the other was a 3-year contract. Lila noted that JR had requested no action be taken until he has had an opportunity to review the contracts. There was discussion after which Lauren requested 5 minutes of executive session for the attorney client privilege exception for advice of counsel. The topic was tabled for more discussion later in the meeting. 14. Clerk Report – a) Margo Douthit with the Fair Board had contacted Lila regarding reserving the Bandshell as a backup for a concert they are having on Saturday night of the fair. The Council agreed they would need to apply for a Special Event Permit. Lila asked if the rental fee would be waived, and Attorney Reyelts indicated that because it is a for profit event and admission will be charged it would be inappropriate to waive any fees as it would go against the public purpose doctrine. b) Lila let the Council know that Mayor Schultz had authorized an out of cycle payment be made to American Implement in the amount of $2,350 for the purchase of a tractor mower. The purchase had been approved at the May 10 meeting. c) Cheyene Center for Creativity (CC4C) is hosting an event at 202 on Washington with food vendors before and after the fair parade. The Council agreed they would need to apply for an itinerant merchant license. d) A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve a Bandshell rental application from Megan Stoneman for a wedding on September 4. Motion passed. e) The City has received the first distribution of ARPA funds in the amount of $98,002.47. Lila attends weekly meetings with the Office of Recovery who provides assistance to help cities comply with all of the reporting and other requirements set by the Treasury. f) JR provided three bids for the pool painting project which Lila put on the share. JR asked that no decisions be made at this time until he has had an opportunity to review them. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 15. Council Comments: David – CCDC is working on highlighting new businesses in town. David has been having a difficult time getting in touch with Mande at the St. Francis Herald but was finally able to speak with her. They have committed to putting in two articles a week. If David writes the articles he will provide them to Lila so that she can put them on the City website. Kale – none Amanda – Penny Gienger with Farm Bureau asked if the City would allow a StoryWalk project to be placed in the City parks the weekend of the fair. Amanda explained more about what it was. She has spoken to JR who didn’t think it would be a problem. The Council agreed it would be fine. Dara – indicated that the Empire Motel property needs to be cleaned up and kept that way. There was some discussion. Dara asked about the LMI surveys. Lila indicated she has received some surveys back, but we are still not at the LMI level that we need to be. She will have a status update at the next meeting. Larry – Provided an update on the Concert in the Park on August 28. They have lined up an opening band. He has also received several complaints from residents regarding outdated tags on vehicles parked on the streets as well as the golf carts and ATVs. There was  considerable discussion. Amanda will get with Cody and Jen to create a notice to be included in next month’s utility bills to all residents outlining the rules and regulations for ATV’s. The Council discussed requiring flags on the golf carts and ATVs. This topic will be added to the projects pending for future discussion. 16. Mayor Comments – none Dara noticed that there were bids for the pool painting on the share. Lila stated that JR provided the bids for Council review but asked that no decisions be made at this time until he has also had an opportunity to review them. 17. All bills on Ordinance #1052 were reviewed. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Amanda to approve the bills in the amount of $255,083.74. Motion passed. 18. At 8:37 a motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Larry for the Council, Mayor, City Attorney, and City Clerk to recess into executive session for advice of counsel subject to attorney client privilege, the open meeting to resume at 8:42. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed, and no decisions were made. A motion was made by Amanda and seconded by Kale to go back into executive session for an additional 5 minutes, the open meeting to resume at 8:47. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed. A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Kale to continue through October 31st with a “band-aid” contract with Hill Trash Pickup with the same terms and services which now exist and that a new contract will need to be written once the automatic trash trucks are in place. Motion passed. 19. Adjournment: It was moved by Dara and seconded by Larry to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk