.jpg)
|
June 2, 2010 The Norton City Council met in regular session Wednesday, June 2, 2010, at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor David Corns presiding. Council members present were Kim Snyder, Roberta Ryan, Jeff Otter, Donna Foley and Toby Kuhn. Others present were Corina Cox, Ron Briery, Tony Grysch, Debbie Lawson, Mitch Jones, Dan Bainter, Erica Bradley, Deena Wente, Pat Morel, Karen Griffiths, Rob Lawson and Darla Ellis. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Roberta Ryan to approve the May 19, 2010, council minutes. Vote taken. Motion carried. The following building permit was presented: Mayor Corns said an ad has been in the paper for the council vacancy for Ward III. He stated Ron Briery was the second place finisher in the last election, and has submitted his name for the vacant seat. Motion was made by Jeff Otter to accept the Mayor’s appointment of Ron Briery to fill the vacant City Council seat in Ward III. Motion died for lack of a second. Karen Griffiths stated according to State Statute, if an appointment is not approved, a Resolution must be passed. Ron Briery stated he served for 9½ years and is disappointed that the Council will not approve his appointment, since he actually showed interest and filed for the position at the last election. Motion was made by Jeff Otter and seconded by Toby Kuhn to waive the formal first reading of Ordinance #1601, approving the interlocal cooperation agreement between the City and the County, for the joint operation of an offender work detail crew with the Kansas Department of Corrections. Vote taken. Motion carried. The Finance Committee will meet on June 7 at 5:30 p.m. with the County Commissioners and Department of Corrections to discuss details of the inmate work crew. City Administrator Rob Lawson thanked the Parks & Cemetery crew, and everyone else who helped to get the parks and cemetery ready for Memorial Day. He stated Ted Hull has been recommended for the part-time cemetery maintenance position. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Roberta Ryan to hire Ted Hull as the part-time cemetery maintenance position at $7.75 per hour. This is a 6 month position from mid-April through mid-October. Vote taken. Motion carried. Rob Lawson stated a while back he reported that one of the clarifiers at the water plant was down, and therefore, the City exceeded the maximum level for trihalomethanes and will be mailing out another notification letter to the public. Utility Supervisor Chris Frack has temporarily fixed the clarifier and has it back in service. It will be repaired during the final phase of the water project. The Utility Committee will meet with Bob Muirhead from Midwest Energy on June 14, at 6:15 p.m., to discuss power plant operating options for the City to consider. At 5:45 p.m., a public hearing was called to order, for the purpose of considering an application to be submitted to the Kansas Department of Commerce for Small Cities Community Development Block Grant funds. A specific project application to be discussed is the acquisition of a new Custom Pumper Truck for the Norton Volunteer Fire Department in an area generally bounded by the city limits of Norton, Kansas. The estimated project cost is $331,700 with the grant request for $281,945 of the project cost. The truck is estimated to cost $311,700 and administration is estimated at $20,000. The grant must be submitted in June and the City will find out whether it has been funded in August. Corina explained the rating points for the application. There were no questions from the public. The Public Hearing was closed at 5:48 p.m. Motion was made by Donna Foley and seconded by Toby Kuhn to approve Resolution #5-2010, certifying legal authority and authorization to apply for CDBG funds from the Kansas Department of Commerce. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Donna Foley and seconded by Kim Snyder to approve the administration contract with Northwest Kansas Planning and Development Commission in the amount of $19,500. Vote taken. Motion carried. Rob Lawson reported power plant operator Carol Griffey has turned in his 2 week notice, which will only leave three employees at the power plant. This is not enough to cover all of the shifts for 24 hours a day. Rob stated he would like to put all 3 employees on weekdays from 8-5, so they can work on securing the building. They would build screens on the windows and bar some doors. Nex-tech will visit the plant Thursday to design a security system for the power plant. Rob has talked to Sheriff Thomson about monitoring the security system once it is designed. Thomson said he would prefer an alarm system that would alert the dispatcher of a problem and they would call a city employee to investigate the alarm. Rob stated he would like to have keys for the three linemen, power plant employees and City Administrator and only these authorized employees would have a key to the office. Nobody else would have access to the restricted area where the engines and switch gear are. The engine room will be closed and secured, and the doors will be locked. He stated the 3 plant employees would work on securing the building for one shift per day type of operations. The Council will continue discussions with Bob Muirhead, Prairie Land and Sunflower Electric so more information can be reviewed before decisions are made. He stated the plant is not being closed down, but the extra shifts will be eliminated. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Roberta Ryan to eliminate the evening and night shifts at the power plant and transfer the existing employees to the day shift, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rob said the payroll time periods will be changed to coincide with the other departments. The police department will also be involved in the security of the plant. Vote taken. Motion carried. Rob stated he sent the WAPA power schedule to Allen Miller of Prairieland Electric so he can calculate power costs of supplying the city with firm power, but hasn’t heard back from him yet. Bob Johnson with Sunflower Electric will be here June 23, to look at the power plant and consider if it would be an asset to them or not. Police Chief Pat Morel is getting quotes for fall protection material for the playgrounds to replace the missing wood chip mulch that was installed when the equipment was built. He has gotten 2 bids so far, and is still trying to get another bid. Steve Cole and his crew are removing and repairing the items in the park playgrounds that were discussed at the parks meeting a few weeks ago. Rob Lawson stated one of the goals listed for him to reach in June of 2010 was to provide an assessment of any service or program which could be improved or eliminated within the city for 2010. He said the future of the power plant is being reviewed now. One service the City provides is labor and equipment for sidewalk replacements for residents. The City is 4 years behind on some of the requests. He said the inmate work crew could be utilized to get these projects caught up, as well as working towards replacing some of the city owned sidewalks that are in need of repair. He said the City parks crew also mows the right-of-ways along the highways. The City could look at discontinuing this and have the property owner mow it to free up some time for the crew to do other maintenance items. He stated other cities offer free 20” box fans for income qualifying customers that don’t have or can’t afford air conditioning. He stated the City could offer a similar program to start in 2011, with a maximum expense amount set for the year. The fans could be purchased by the city and given out similar to the recycle cans that were given out a few years ago. Rob also stated he has been approached by several people who think a cemetery board should be developed to assist in making decisions and operating the cemetery. Rob Lawson stated he and the City Clerk will be attending the annual budget seminar next week in Hays, and will begin revising the 2010 budget, and setting the 2011 budget in the next couple of weeks. Rob reviewed the current status of the 2010 budget. Donna Foley stated the Public Safety committee met with Judge Hawks regarding the court reports. She stated on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, two court reports will be received. One will be for pending cases and one will be for submitted cases. They are in the process of eliminating the handwritten forms by entering cases directly into the computer program. Motion was made by Donna Foley and seconded by Kim Snyder that all existing court cases be entered into the computer system by August 1, 2010 and all new court cases be entered into the computer system as they are received, eliminating the handwritten forms. Vote taken. Motion carried. The Public Safety Committee also discussed the fact that the state court costs will increase by $1 effective in July. Motion was made by Donna Foley and seconded by Roberta Ryan to increase the City’s court costs by $1 to reflect the increase that the City has to pay to the State. Vote taken. Motion carried. The Public Safety Committee discussed the house arrest system with the Police Chief and Municipal Judge. The City has 2 ankle bracelet monitors for house arrest. The Judge can offer house arrest as an option, but he cannot sentence them to this. He thinks if a payment plan were offered, more people would sign up for house arrest instead of jail time. The Judge stated he can extend their probation if they do not keep the payment arrangement. Right now, offenders don’t want to pay for the ankle bracelet monitor, so they go to jail instead because it does not cost them anything. Motion was made by Donna Foley and seconded by Jeff Otter to offer a payment plan for the house arrest monitoring system. Vote taken. Motion carried. Donna Foley stated the City pays $52 per day for offenders to go to jail, but do not get any reimbursement for those costs. The City Attorney was asked to research what the City needs to do to be able to charge offenders for their jail time costs. Motion was made by Toby Kuhn and seconded by Kim Snyder to approve the American Legion’s request to have a flag retirement service on June 13, where they will burn old torn and faded flags that need disposed of. The City will dig a pit for them on the southwest area of the Legion grounds and provide a fire truck or fire extinguisher for the service. Vote taken. Motion carried. Toby Kuhn stated the Public Works Committee reviewed the budget requests for capital outlay items from the Public Works department. They recommend to budget for 1000 feet of 4” PVC pipe to replace the City’s supply they keep on hand for projects. The finances will be reviewed to determine whether a downpayment for a backhoe can be included. Toby Kuhn stated $20,000 was budgeted in Public Works for a pole shed building. Motion was made by Toby Kuhn and seconded by Kim Snyder to approve the low quote from Ed Lawrence for a 30’x100’x14’ pole shed building, with the quote effective after June 1, 2010 of $17,667. This will be paid from line item 01.13.451. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Roberta Ryan to accept the resignation from Carol Griffey from the Power Plant position effective June 15. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Jeff Otter to approve the purchase of a 21’x32’x12’ carport for the water plant from Kowpoke Supply at a cost not to exceed $3,900, to be paid from line item 43.44.359. Vote taken. Motion carried. Kim Snyder stated the Parks Committee has discussed the possibility of a demolition derby and were looking at the property by the animal control facility, but that location did not meet their satisfaction. Kim Snyder also thanked the city crews for how well the cemetery looked. Motion was made by Roberta Ryan and seconded by Jeff Otter that when an employee is transferred to a non-comparable pay range of less pay, they are moved to the new range, and then the salary is adjusted based on the years of service to the City based on past and present employee evaluations. This gives recognition for the time served to the City. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Roberta Ryan and seconded by Kim Snyder to donate $500 to the Chamber of Commerce for their 4th of July fireworks display. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Toby Kuhn and seconded by Donna Foley to move into Executive Session at 6:34 p.m., for a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes with the Mayor, City Council, City Attorney, City Administrator and City Clerk present for discussion of non-elected personnel. Vote taken. Motion carried. Council resumed in regular session at 6:47 p.m. No motions were made as a result of executive session. Motion was made by Roberta Ryan and seconded by Toby Kuhn to approve Appropriating Ordinance #11 as a whole. Vote taken. Motion carried. Motion was made by Kim Snyder and seconded by Toby Kuhn to adjourn. Council adjourned at 6:49 p.m. ATTEST: City Clerk Mayor: David N. Corns |