City Council

Regular Council Meeting February 14, 2022 1. Council President Amanda Milne called the meeting to order at 7:00. Present were Council members David Butler, Kale Dankenbring, Dara Carmichael, and Larry Finley. Also present were City Superintendent JR Landenberger, City Clerk Lila Whitmore, and City Attorney Lauren Reyelts. Mayor Scott Schultz was absent. 2. Minutes from the January 24 Council meeting were distributed and read. It was moved by David and seconded by Dara to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed. 3. Consent Agenda – It was moved by Larry and seconded by Dara 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. Visitors – Gudrun Schoenrogge addressed the Council regarding the trash service. 5. Sheriff Report: none 6. New Business: a. Tyler Hilmer with Miller and Associates joined the meeting via phone. He explained the street project change orders and the application for payment. Change Order No. 3 is an adjustment of $4,029.48 to the contract price for furnishing and installing crushed concrete base material. A motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve Change Order No. 3 contingent upon approval from the Department of Commerce. David – yes, Kale – yes, Dara – yes, Larry -yes. Motion passed. b. Change Order No. 4 deletes the contract extension reflected in Change Order No. 2 and replaces it with the following: “The work will be substantially completed on or before May 16, 2022, and completed and ready for final payment in accordance with paragraph 14.13 of the General Conditions on or before May 23, 2022”. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve Change Order No. 4 contingent upon approval from the Department of Commerce. David – yes, Kale – yes, Dara -yes, Larry – yes. Motion passed. c. The Council reviewed the application for payment from Miller & Associates for payment to McCormick Excavation in the amount of $184,003.80 for work completed thru December 13, 2021. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the application for payment. David – yes, Kale – yes, Dara – yes, Larry – yes. Motion passed. d. The Council reviewed the request for payment of CDBG funds. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve drawdown #3 in the amount of $90,131.40 for the street project #20- PF-014. David – yes, Kale – yes, Dara – yes, Larry – yes. Motion passed. e. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to appoint JR Landenberger as Director-2 to serve on the KMEA Board of Directors. Motion passed. f. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the Tree Trim License renewal for Second Chance Ranch. Motion passed. g. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve the Trash Waiver Application renewals for Wade Krien/County Seat Greenery, Carla Lampe/CLAS Family LLC, and Dave Yost. Motion passed. h. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the Trash Waiver Application for Scott Northrup for the building located at 122 N. Quincy that is used for storage. Motion passed. i. Larry talked about the plans for Alumni on June 18, 2022. A motion was made by Kale and seconded by David to approve the Alumni Association’s Bandshell Rental Application and waive the rental fee, and to approve the Special Event Permit Application for the Alumni Association pending receipt of proof of liability insurance and payment of the special event permit fee and CMB License fee. Motion passed. j. Larry talked about the plans being made for the Concert in the Park to be held August 20, 2022. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve Terri Finley’s Bandshell Rental Application and waive the rental fee and to approve the Special Event Permit Application for the  Concert in the Park pending receipt of proof of liability insurance and payment of the special event permit fee and CMB License fee. Motion passed. 7. Old Business: a. Property Cleanup – The property on Denison Street has been transferred to new owners. A letter went out today to the new owners with pictures of the violations. Lauren will have an update on the Fourth Street property at the next meeting. JR will be getting pictures of a property on Whittier Street that is again in violation. There is also a property on Jackson Street that needs attention and a letter will be sent once pictures are taken. b. Projects Pending – There has been no response to the Facebook post or the bid proposal ad in the Herald for the City billboard signs. Lila located the missing letter from KDOT. Amanda sent this to Michael Baxter with Jeter Law firm. He sent Amanda an email with an update on what the options are. Lila will forward it to the Council. The Washington Street beautification committee will be meeting again soon. c. Streets Project – A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Dara to approve an out of cycle payment of $24,713.10 from the Special Highway Fund to McCormick Excavation for the additional work that was needed on Fourth Street at Parkway Drive. Motion passed. JR is looking into options for sealing of the new streets. They need to be either fog sealed or chip sealed this year. JR spoke to McCormick Excavation about doing additional work outside of the street project for this year and they are already booked. Lila shared a copy of the special assessment letters that will be sent to the property owners who had curb and gutter costs associated with the street improvement project. 8. Theater Report – Robert Grace, Theater Board president, plans to attend the 2nd City Council meeting in March to discuss the Theater renovation. JR has received the updated engineering plans and will talk about them at that meeting as well. It was moved by Kale and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Theater Report. Motion passed. 9. Building Permits - none 10. Superintendent Report – a) The City received a letter of warning from KDHE with regards to the Sewer ponds. In 2003 a new sewer pond system was built and we are having some issues with the oxygen levels. JR has responded back to KDHE with the steps that are being taken to bring it into compliance. b) JR talked about the grass that has grown out onto the sidewalks around the City parks. Some of the grass will need to be removed and the ground releveled to establish the sidewalks where they should be. It goes beyond the edging that we are able to do. The northwest corner of Courthouse Park is a good example of just how bad it has gotten over time. It is a maintenance issue which causes problems with mowing and needs to be addressed. JR is working with a local contractor to obtain an estimate. c) JR plans to speak with the County Commissioners about a direction for the recycling. d) JR completed his annual power review. He briefly discussed the extraordinary event that occurred last February and how this affected the power costs. Taking this into account the overall increase in cost year over year was negligible and the power contract is working very well. e) Roger Jensen contacted JR regarding the sign that is on the highway near the Cheyenne County Village. It is a community sign but it is not really owned by anyone. Royce Neitzel posts information on the sign. The sign has been damaged by weather and the plastic is broken. Roger requested the City consider applying for grant funds from the Community Foundation to fix the sign. JR will obtain quotes for the repair cost and the Council agreed to have Lila write a grant application once these are available. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Superintendent report. Motion passed. 11. Attorney Report – Attorney Reyelts met with Amanda, Lila, and Sheriff Beeson to discuss how to streamline municipal court to make it more efficient. A main topic of discussion was property cleanup. The current process going through the Attorney’s office is not very cost effective. There is a considerable amount of work and expense involved for Lauren to prepare a complaint to be filed and to issue a summons. Some of this could be alleviated if the initial notice letters are sent from City Hall and the problem is resolved before it gets to the point of going to court. If the property were to remain in violation after the time specified in the initial notice then the Sheriff’s office could just issue a citation for the ordinance violation and at the same time serve the summons for court. This process would save a significant amount of time. Also discussed was a modification of the property cleanup code to address those properties that repeatedly fall out of compliance. The ordinance could be revised to state that the first violation would receive a notice from City Hall. The second time would be a final warning notice. The third time within a year and they would  be issued a citation without notice. The second letter would contain the verbiage regarding the penalty for non-compliance which is a minimum of $50 a day that the property continues to be out of compliance, plus court costs. Another topic discussed was traffic violations. Because of the time it takes Lauren to process traffic citations, the cost of her services compared to the fines and court costs received becomes a loss for the City. Lauren explained that it would be more cost effective for these to go through District Court rather than Municipal Court. Cody has indicated it would be no problem for them to go to District Court. The last topic discussed was the dog ordinances. The Sheriff’s office will handle dogs at large and barking dogs. Form letters will be created that could be served as warnings. That way there is a written copy on file before any citations are issued. Letters for too many dogs or non-registered dogs would come from City Hall. These would also be filed and if not in compliance within 20 days a citation would be issued and there would then be court costs of $158. The hope is that people will comply once the letter is received. The Council discussed and agreed with all of these procedures. A motion was then made by David and seconded by Kale to direct Sheriff Beeson to send all traffic violations to district court. Motion passed. The Council gave approval for Lauren to amend the ordinance regarding property cleanup. She will bring it to the next Council meeting. Lauren requested 10 minutes of executive session for communication subject to attorney client privilege. It was moved by Dara and seconded by Larry to accept and file the Attorney report. Motion passed. 12. Clerk Report – a) A motion was made by Kale and seconded by Larry to approve the Trash Waiver renewals for Scott Schultz and JR Landenberger. Motion passed. b) Lila pointed out that while reviewing the City Code for ordinances relating to dogs she found that the code indicates that dog registrations are subject to a penalty of $5 if not renewed by March 1. The Council agreed that this should be enforced. c) Lila presented the Blue Cross Blue Schield health insurance renewal information. The cost for the existing grandfathered plan increased by 4.95%. We are still well below budget. BCBS also provided information on their Gold plan. It is comparable to the grandfathered plan in some regards but there are significant differences that would place more of the financial burden for healthcare costs on the employees. However, the monthly premiums are less. After consideration, a motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale to approve renewing the existing grandfathered plan. Motion passed. d) The Council gave approval for Lila to attend the Municipal Court Clerk training in Wichita on March 3-4. e) Tom Smull extended his thanks to the City for the Dog Park which is now completed. f) The City received another $600,000 CDBG grant for the next phase of the street project. Lila shared the award notification and the condition letter. Lila will be attending a mandatory CDBG application training on February 24 in Hays. Lila has spoken to Kevin Cowan with Gillmore & Bell regarding issuance of bonds for the next phase. Since the construction for phase 2 won’t start until the spring of 2023 JR recommended waiting until January or February of 2023 to begin the bond process. Lila will confirm the timeline for the bond process with Kevin. g) Lila shared information regarding the Governing Body Institute that will be held in Topeka April 29-30. h) Cherish Born had contacted Lila regarding a 10-year anniversary celebration that Heritage Lumber would like to have in May. There would be tables on the sidewalk and they are not asking for closure of the street. The Council agreed no special permit would be necessary. i) A motion was made by David and seconded by Dara to approve the quote from Reach solutions in the amount of $1,460 for a new SonicWALL firewall device for City Hall which includes 2 years of support. Motion passed. j) A motion was made by Dara and seconded by Larry to approve an out of cycle payment of $110.16 to the St. Francis Herald. Motion passed. It was moved by David and seconded by Kale to accept and file the Clerk report. Motion passed. 13. Council Comments: David – none Kale – none Dara – There was further discussion regarding the trash service and the earlier complaint. The Council requested Lila reach out on the Clerk link and find out what other communities do for this issue. The Council also decided to move agenda item “Visitors” to after “Old Business”. Larry – There was discussion regarding the vandalism at Keller Pond. A motion was made by David and seconded by Kale to approve the estimate of $6,900 from St. Francis Redi Mix and Construction/Brock McAtee for the repairs. Motion passed. The invoice will be given to the County Attorney for the existing court case. The Council also discussed the work to be done on the City Hall steps and the east side of the pool and agreed that we should seek bids for this work. Lila will submit a Request for Proposal to the St. Francis Herald. 14. Council President Comments – none JR left the meeting. 15. At 8:53 a motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale for the Council along with the City Attorney and City Clerk to recess into executive session for communication subject to Attorney Client privilege, the open  meeting to resume at 9:03. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed and no decisions were made. Lauren left the meeting. 16. At 9:12 a motion was made by Larry and seconded by Kale for the Council along with Clerk Whitmore to recess into executive session for the non-elected personnel exception to discuss the Assistant City Clerk applications, the open meeting to resume at 9:27. Motion passed. The open meeting resumed and no decisions were made. Lila will contact the candidates selected for an interview. 17. All bills on Ordinance #1059 were reviewed. It was moved by Kale and seconded by David to approve the bills in the amount of $440,950.24. Motion passed. 18. Adjournment: It was moved by Larry and seconded by Kale to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. ___________________________________________ City Clerk