CITY OF
MINUTES REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING JULY 11, 2007
MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Schultz, Tadd Goodyear, Larry Coursen, Bob Sisson, Mayor
Jack Young. Dorthy Chikly absent.
OTHERS PRESENT: Donna Crawford, Roger Harmon, Jim Long, Pat Martin, Beverly Hix,
Glenda Allen, Phil McAnulty, Ken Krause, Riley & Kathy Gerisch, David
Gerisch, Michael Coffman, Rich Hamit, Michael & Jenna Blood, Jason
Hielscher, Pat Neil, Jr, John Krewson, Mark Tomlinson, Jim Koger,
Ed Harmison, Everette Dannar, Patty Hylton, Cheryl Brown.
Mayor Young called the meeting to order at 7 PM at which time the clerk called roll to determine the presence of a quorum.
MINUTES / WARRANTS: Larry Coursen moved to approve the minutes of the June 13, 2007 meeting as written. Bob Sisson seconded; motion carried 4-0.
Larry Coursen made a motion, seconded by Tadd Goodyear, to pay all warrants. Motion carried 4-0. Don Schultz asked about payments made for the park project. Patty Hylton said that since the incoming checks are made payable to the city, payments are made through the city’s account.
TRAIL’S GRANT: Roger Harmon appeared before the council to ask permission to submit an application for Phase II of the Trail’s project. Harmon told the council that this will be a 80/20% grant as was Phase I. That project amounted to around $90,000 with the city’s share costing about $800 due to mostly using inkind labor and materials. He’s hoping that Phase II will be just as successful. This will be the second time that he’s applied for the grant for Phase II. It was denied the last time, but Harmon is more confident of the grant being awarded this year. The city would have to guarantee 20% of the $143,000 project, or about $28,000. Harmon is confident that the city’s actual cost will be low again due to volunteer labor and materials as in the past. Harmon said that PRIDE and Rotary have both been involved. Harmon said there is a Phase III to complete the trail, but Phase II will complete the trail around the city lake. Don Schultz moved to approve the city guaranteeing the 20%. Bob Sisson seconded; motion carried 4-0. Copies of the grant application are available for viewing at City Hall.
2006 AUDIT REPORT: Jim Long, CPA was present to review his firm’s audit of the city’s 2006 financial reports. Long noted that city funds were undersecured, which is a violation of a state statute regulating depositories. The grant funds increased the bank balance above the amount of FDIC insurance and securities pledged by the bank. Cheryl Brown stated that she has since received additional security from Kansas State Bank.
Long reviewed each of the city’s funds, and stated that the records were found to be in excellent order, and commended the clerk for her efforts. The clerk commended the city treasurer for all of her work. After discussion about the findings of the audit, Larry Coursen moved to accept the 2006 audit report as presented. Bob Sisson seconded; motion carried 4-0.
Mayor Young asked Long if he’s given any thought to the 2008 budget and stated he’s particularly interested in repairing streets and ditches. Long presented a 2008 budget draft he’d prepared. Long explained that if there is any increase whatsoever in the amount of tax levied for 2008, a resolution must be passed to authorize it. As the assessed valuation has increased, there will be an additional levy so a resolution will need to be passed. Long then explained the figures he used to draft the budget. Each council member was given a copy of the proposed budget to study. The plan is to have the budget hearing during the regular August council meeting. Patty Hylton, treasurer, said that she thinks more revenue needs to be raised through the water/sewer fund to repay waterline and sewer project loan payments. Long said that the rates for both utilities probably need to be raised.
Hylton and Long discussed more possible changes based on her calculations and projections. Long said he would make any necessary changes before the hearing notice is published.
O.A.A. FUNDRAISER: Craig Meier reported that the OAA would like to start an annual fundraiser and would like to know what steps need to be taken to acquire a cereal malt beverage license for September 29th. Chief Harmison said that in the past the sale and consumption would need to be confined to one specific area. The clerk said that an application would need to be submitted for council approval which would state all the details. After discussion, Tadd Goodyear made a motion, seconded by Don Schultz, to support the OAA applying for a cereal malt beverage license. Motion carried 4-0.
MESSAGE BOARD: Don Schultz brought up the idea of having a message board installed somewhere in front of City Hall where events and/or news bulletins can be posted. Schultz has received a bid from Zeckser Cabinets for about $600. Mayor Young said that he’d like to come back to this discussion later in the meeting.
MEDICAL CLINIC: The mayor said that due to the medical clinic closing, the city might want to consider acquiring that building for the city. Bob Sisson said that he’d talked to Roger Davis and was told that the asking price is $60,000 for the building and $9,000 for the adjoining lot. Mayor Young said that he’s been told there’s another interested party. The mayor suggested that the building be looked over to see how much remodeling would be necessary.
BUILDING/ROOF COLLAPSE: Bob Sisson said he’s had a lot of people asking about the condition of the building at 323 Maple where part of the roof collapsed. Don Schultz said he’d been told by Rick Calderwood that his intention is to take the back of the building down and make it parking, but wouldn’t commit to a definite time limit. Mayor Young asked Michael Coffman to check into the legal options available to the council. Coffman said that whatever costs are incurred by the city will be assessed to the property owner’s taxes. The council agreed to ask the property owner to provide an engineer’s opinion of the building condition before the city takes any action.
U-TURNS AND
DAMAGE CLAIM AT 206 W. MARKET: Phil McAnulty was present to learn what the city has done to correct the problem that caused the sewer to back up into his basement. Vic Robbins said that the line upstream from his property had been worked on, but not the one that services the McAnulty property. Robbins stated that too much “clean water” is going through the wastewater system which could cause overloads, and back-up’s. McAnulty said there’s never been problems before. Robbins said that there may have been a restriction on the line downstream. McAnulty said he’s made arrangements to have a back-flow preventer or check valve installed to prevent future back-up’s. Mayor Young said he thinks that the line needs to inspected. Robbins said that maybe it would be good to have the line checked by camera. McAnulty asked what the city was going to do about the cost of the damages. The city’s insurance company has stated that the city doesn’t have coverage for this type of damage. McAnulty said that it could be $10,000 – 12,000 to restore the basement. McAnulty asked if KDHE had been notified of the backup. The mayor said he wasn’t sure and Bob Call is not here tonight because of illness. Robbins said that a sewer back up in a basement is not considered a bypass by KDHE. Don Schultz asked about the city sharing in the cost of installing a check valve. After this discussion, Bob Sisson moved to have the line viewed by camera before any decision is made. Tadd Goodyear seconded; motion carried 4-0. McAnulty asked that he be sent a detailed written response about the whole matter.
SEWER PROJECT: Donna Crawford, Governmental Assistant Services, and Vic Robbins were present to give an update on the sewer project. Crawford told the council that she has received permission from the Department of Commerce to close the project since the additional expenses will be paid either by KDHE loans or city revenues. Crawford presented a Certificate of Completion of what she’s covering at this meeting. Crawford explained that having the grant closed, the city can now begin new projects. Crawford was asked if closing the grant means that the sewer project is finished. Crawford said this means only the grant portion will be closed, but not the KDHE portion. Vic Robbins said there’s a “punch list” of items to be completed before the entire project can be closed. Don Schultz asked if we’ve found out who KDHE sent out to do the walk-through. Robbins said that he hadn’t contacted KDHE when he wrote the punch list. The original punch list contained 36 items, but has been reduce to about 7 items to be completed. Schultz asked if the Dale property was addressed on the punch list. Robbins said it did except the work was done just before this last 6” rain and the grass seed had been washed away. This will be re-seeded.
Crawford then told the council that the survey is going great, and the city appears to have met the requirements for LMI to apply for another grant and the results should be good for another 5-10 years. Donna Crawford told the council that they have never officially instructed the engineer to do another plan. Crawford also said that the grant application has to be submitted by September 28th of this year. Robbins said that he needed more direction from the council before starting a plan for another project. After more discussion, Larry Coursen made a motion, seconded by Don Schultz, to authorize Robbins to draft a plan for the next phase to include rip rap, new piping at the lagoons, and rehab another 10,000 feet of sewer line—with the provision that it meets KDHE time schedule. There was also discussion about how to determine the illegal perimeter drains. Robbins said that using cameras was one option. Robbins said that the initial inspections should have pointed out drainspouts going into the ground. Robbins said he would guess that the 10,000 ft of bad sewer line and the houses that are draining clean water into the sewer system are equally to blame for remaining sewer problems. Robbins estimated the cost for the next phase at approximately $900,000.00. Crawford agreed that rates will have to raised in order to satisfy KDHE that anymore loans can be repaid. Crawford suggested that the city try to get KDHE to amend the current loan rather than start the process from the beginning. Motion carried 4-0.
Robbins then gave a brief report of the current project’s progress. Mayor Young asked about the fence replacement at Dr. Maichel’s property. Robbins said that as of this morning, Joshua Excavating is going to provide $500 for the rehab of the fence, with the city paying for whatever new materials are needed. Mayor Young said he had agreed to this due to the way the old fence was treated by the contractor. Several bad spots in some streets was pointed out to Robbins to check out.
TABLED BUSINESS: Due to the length of the meeting, Mayor Young said that the following items would be tabled until a later meeting:
Job descriptions & evaluations
Plaque at the city park
Zoning ordinance
Replacement
for lights at
Drainage ditch on FAR property/city lake road
FORMING A RECREATION COMMISSION: Jon Brady asked that the city provide letterhead for the application for a Royal’s grant. Brady said that a public vote would be necessary to form a Recreation Commission that could levy taxes. It was decided that Brady, Michael Coffman, Mayor Young, Jim Long and Patty Hylton should meet later to determine the best solution for the city. The mayor said that after the quorum changes August 29th, 2 council members can work on this project. Michael Coffman suggested meeting to come up with the best options to recommend to the council.
JUNK VEHICLES: Cheryl Florance asked if everyone has received their notices, and what will happen to the ones that are still sitting around. Chief Harmison said he hasn’t heard from the 3 residents that were sent certified letters. Harmison said he would visit with her tomorrow about the situation.
SECOND FULL-TIME POLICE POSITION: Michael Blood pointed out the reason that this is on the agenda is Bob Sisson’s motion was based on a failure to discuss the topic at the May 22nd meeting. Blood said the opportunity to discuss it was presented by the mayor but no one had anything to say and read the minutes of that meeting. Blood’s opinion is that there’s no need to bring it up again because the fifth person who had a decisive vote is not present tonight, that being Dorthy Chikly. Blood also stated that while the mayor does not have the power to prevent a motion being made, he does have the power to prevent a vote being taken, even with a second. Blood then asked if Mayor Young is going to allow a vote on the second full-time police position tonight. The mayor said he does have a plan to allow a vote tonight. He then said he will let it happen, but not tonight. Blood then said he would wait and ask permission to speak IF a vote is allowed later in the meeting.
LAW REPORT: Chief Harmison presented documentation regarding the case involving Tim Nedeau’s vehicle back in 2001. Harmison also pointed out that the warrant was issued by Judge Coursen.
Harmison then reviewed his cases for the past month. He suggested reviewing the ordinances for fireworks before next year. Don Schultz asked if there can be a 30-day grace period regarding illegal J-turns. It won’t be in effect until after it’s been published, so the matter was tabled.
MAINTENANCE REPORT: Bob
Call was absent due to illness, but wanted the council to know about some areas
around
The clerk did ask the council to discuss the bids for street repairs from Hi Plains and Harbour Construction. Larry Coursen made a motion, seconded by Bob Sisson, to let Bob Call choose the bid since they were for about the same amount of money. Don Schultz wanted to clarify the work in each bid. Bob Sisson said he’d been told by Bob Call that there wasn’t much difference. Motion carried 4-0.
Don Schultz
pointed out a large area on
TREASURER’S REPORT: Patty Hylton reviewed the financial reports for June. Hylton told the council that the Capital Projects fund is now being used for the Overbrook Jones Park Project. She also told the council that the Sewer project line is still negative, but she will be sending in the forms for reimbursement soon. Hylton said that just looking at projections for 2008, she also thinks that utility rates will need to be raised to meet current debt obligations. Hylton said that the council may want to consider an additional increase in the mills to cover extra work on ditches and other projects. It was agreed to have a budget work session on Monday, July 23rd at 10 AM so Tadd Goodyear won’t have to miss any work. Bob Sisson asked if there only needed to be 3 members present, and the clerk said yes, only 3 members would be required as usual.
CLERK: Cheryl Brown read a brief note from Ira Allen. She reminded the council that after August 29th four members will have to be present for all council meetings to have a quorum.
Brown asked Ed Harmison to tell the council that some people have asked for extensions regarding their “junk vehicle” notices.
COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS: Bob Sisson said that as Michael Blood has brought up the second full-time police position and he wanted to say that at the special meeting called to discuss that issue, a motion was made by Don Schultz to reassign Everette Dannar and seconded by Dorthy Chikly and passed 3-2. Sisson said that there was never any discussion about the position, and they weren’t reappointed due to money, and nothing personal.
Don Schultz said that whenever this matter is discussed, there a lot of things to be considered. Larry Coursen asked why there isn’t going to be a vote on this tonight. Mayor Young said that according to Michael Coffman, he doesn’t have to bring it, or anything, to a vote. Mayor Young asked that they have this discussion at another time. Coursen said that we need to get it decided as there are interested people here tonight. Mayor Young said that it’s not going to be done tonight.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: Eula Lee Fuller said she’d read in the paper that the police department issue was not financial. Sisson and Young both said that not everything reported in the paper and on TV was accurate.
David Alcorn stated that we need two full-time officers in town. The mayor said that since there’s not going to be a vote tonight, these comments will have to wait.
There being no further business before the council, Larry Coursen moved to adjourn. Bob Sisson seconded; meeting was adjourned at 10:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl L. Brown
City Clerk
APPROVED: August 8, 2007