CITY OF OVERBROOK

 

 

MINUTES                       REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING                                        JANUARY 24, 2007

 

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:         Ira Allen, Bob Sisson, Larry Coursen, Rich Hamit, Bruce Smith,

                                        Mayor Jack Young.

 

 

OTHERS PRESENT:            Jon Brady, Jason Hielscher, Beverly Hix, EulaLee Fuller, Craig & Kristine

                                        Meier, Jim Koger, Ed Harmison, Cheryl Brown.

 

 

 

            Mayor Young called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.  Roll call determined the presence of a quorum.

 

 

MINUTES/ WARRANTS:    Larry Coursen moved to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2007 meeting as written.  Rich Hamit seconded; motion carried 5-0.

            Bruce Smith made a motion, seconded by Larry Coursen, to pay all warrants presented.  Motion carried 5-0.

 

 

SEWER PROJECT:          Vic Robbins was unable to attend the meeting, but had left a report listing items of work completed and what is yet to be completed by either Joshua Excavating or their subcontractors.

Robbins had told Mayor Young that he would have liked to have seen the final water/sewer plans for the F.A.R. property before they were submitted to KDHE.  The plans have been approved by KDHE as submitted and are available at City Hall.

 

SECOND REGULAR MEETING:       The mayor presented Ordinance No 298, which would eliminate the second regular monthly council meeting.  Bob Sisson moved to approve Ordinance No 298, with Larry Coursen seconding.  Ira Allen stated that while the second meetings had been “wasted” since around October, he feels that there is enough city business to justify two regular meetings per month.  Larry Coursen stated that special meetings can be called if necessary.  The motion to adopt the ordinance was carried 3-2, with Allen and Hamit voting no. 

 

LICENSE TO SELL ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR: Ira Allen moved to renew the license for Conrad’s Bar & Grill to sell alcoholic liquor.  Bob Sisson seconded; motion carried 5-0.

 

OVERBROOK PARK PROJECT:         Jon Brady was present to update the council on the requests for grants by PRIDE and the Overbrook Athletic Association.   The grant awarded was for $285,000.00, which is  good for 18 months.  These are matching fund grants, with labor and materials donated counting as funds on the city side. 

            Brady, representing the Overbrook Park Project, asked that the council consider relinquishing control of the Jones Park fund to either PRIDE or the OAA for the tax benefit to those who donate to the project.  This fund was taken over by the governing body when Bob VonStein moved out of the city limits.  Cheryl Brown said that the only expenses paid from this fund has been for work on the ball fields by LeRoy Ming, approximately $350.  Larry Coursen moved to wait until the next meeting to make a decision.  Motion died for lack of a second.   Brady said that it’s his understanding that the board of the Community Chest may stop collecting money for the Jones Fund if it remains under the city’s control.

The matter was tabled until a later meeting.

 

EASEMENTS FOR BROOKSIDE/DRAINAGE:        The possibility of contructing a new waterway to help with the increased water run off from Brookside was tabled until it can be discussed with the city attorney and the adjoining property owners.

 

CITY HALL REMODELING:          This was also tabled until more estimates can be obtained.  Rich Hamit suggested contacting Mike Finton about the matter.

OFFICIAL CHECK SIGNERS:          Bruce Smith moved to designate Mayor Young, Patty Hylton, Cheryl Brown, Bob Sisson, Bruce Smith, and Ira Allen as official check signers.  Ira Allen seconded; motion carried 5-0.   This will have to be discussed again after the April election as Allen and Smith will be going off the council.

 

THORNTON SEWER DAMAGE:       Cheryl Brown said that the damage claims from Don & Ruth Thornton have been submitted to Employers Mutual Insurance for settlement.

 

DRAINAGE ON ASH STREET:       The city clerk said that she’s received only one letter out of the three that were mailed.  Mayor Young said that nothing can be done until all property owners have signed the letters.  Bruce Smith said he would contact Stangis and Birtell regarding the matter.

 

CITY CLERK’S REPORT: Cheryl Brown said that we received a thank-you and a 15-yr warranty from Midwest Coating for the new roof on the city hall building. 

            Brown told the council that as a city of the third class, she is not required by law to publish notices of special meetings.  However, anyone wanting to be notified needs to be on a list kept by the clerk.  She can either notify them by phone, email, or regular mail, time permitting.

            There are 5 candidates for the three council positions to be determined by the April election.  They are as follows:            Don Schultz, Dorthy Chikly, David Gerisch, Tadd Goodyear, and Jason Hielscher. Overbrook will not need to have a primary this time.  The new members will take office at the April 11th meeting after the minutes and warrants have been approved, and they have been sworn in, provided all ballots have been validated by that date.

 

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: Bruce Smith asked if the city has or should consider getting some kind of flashing lights for barricades being used in a street as they are kind of hard to see after dark. 

            Bob Sisson asked Chief Harmison about a complaint he’d received from a local teen who said that he’d been questioned by Officer Dannar about a recent incident involving the death of a puppy.  Chief Harmison said that as far as he knew, Officer Dannar had not talked to anyone about this, but he did turn some information over to the county. 

            Ira Allen wanted to address two issues.  The first was complaints about the council taking too much time.  Allen said the easement for Brookside and the drainage problem on Ash Street are two examples.  The mayor said that he’d take responsibility for the delay on easements for Brookside, but the city isn’t going to take action on the Ash Street drainage problem until all property owners are in agreement. 

            Allen then mentioned the failure of doing annual employee evaluations.  He feels they should be done twice a year by the full council in executive session.    Mayor Young said that he liked the idea of more than one person doing the evaluations, and will bring this up after the new council is seated in April. 

            Larry Coursen asked what’s being done about the water run off on the Gloss property.  The mayor said we are waiting on the electric poles to be moved.

            Rich Hamit said that Joni Hudson is planning on managing the pool this summer.  Bob Sisson asked if the pool will be able to open this year due to having to close early last summer because of mechanical problems.  The mayor said he’d talk to Bob Call about any repairs needed.

 

MAYOR’S REPORT:       Mayor Young said that he’d been contacted by Jackie Bakey, Dr. Maichel’s daughter, about a bill they received for pasture water.  She also wants copies of records of gallons pumped from the time they were dug, and also a copy of the original contracts.  Cheryl Brown explained that she recently sent a bill as she was told that the meter was turned on for the first time in over 10 years.  The council agreed that this last bill should be refunded, and discussed the possibility of removing the meter to avoid confusion.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION:        Rich Hamit moved to go into executive session for 5 minutes to discuss matters not related to elected personnel.  Bruce Smith seconded; meeting recessed at 7:35 pm.    The mayor called the meeting back to order and no action was taken.

 

            There being no further business before the council, Larry Coursen moved to adjourn.  Bob Sisson seconded; meeting adjourned at 7:42 PM.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    Respectfully,

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    Cheryl L. Brown

                                                                                    City Clerk

 

 

 

 

APPROVED: February 14, 2007