May 11, 2009 City Council Minutes
Meade, Kansas

The meeting was called to order in the Council Meeting Room, by Mayor Bud Doerflinger at 7:00 P.M. Council members present were: Richard Knott, Lance DeLissa, Cliff Hailey, Ed Dye and Chris Hartnett. Also present were: City Administrator Dean Cordes and City Clerk Tiffany Neel. Visitors were: Jim Woodruff, Mike Gillen, Brad Ackerman, Tom Kuhns, Bobbie Allison and Russell Ohnick.

Brad Ackerman was present to answer questions and concerns the Council had about sponsoring the fireworks in July. Ackerman said the fireworks company insures the fireworks and provides liability insurance when the fireworks are bought. DeLissa asked if the City was listed as the insured when we buy the fireworks would we be covered. DeLissa also asked if we have time to get a copy of the insurance coverage information and have our City Attorney look over the policy. Hartnett asked if the City has to appoint a shooter for the City before we are covered on the insurance. Ackerman said he would get the papers to the City office so the City Attorney could look over everything. DeLissa wanted to know how much liability we would get with the policy, what the requirements are and wanted to know what is listed on the policy.

The April 27th, 2009 minutes were approved as corrected.

The Appropriation Ordinance dated May 11th, 2009 in the amount of $385,928.06 was approved on motion made by DeLissa, seconded by Hailey with all in favor.

Building permit #9017 was not approved by the Zoning Board therefore it was the consensus of the Council not to approve the permit.

Old Business:

Mayor reported that we would wait for the 2010 quotes for the police department pickups because we missed the date to order for 2009.

Mayor asked the Council what they would like to do about the employees using City equipment. Mayor had some answers from the City Attorney on this issue, Campbell said the City should not allow this to continue. Mayor said the City should be covered by our insurance to provide the City wide clean up as long as the employees are not working overtime or getting paid extra. Mayor said according to the law the City should not allow this to continue, all he can do is provide the information and bring it to the Councils attention. Cordes said the insurance agent does not have any updates. DeLissa asked if the City has anything as far as a policy now, Cordes said he has implemented a sign up sheet. DeLissa said it is a shame to lose this privilege. DeLissa would like to see the Kansas Statute pertaining to this issue. Hartnett would like Campbell to resolve this issue if there is an ordinance that can be drawn up. DeLissa said we could put a deadline on it at the next meeting and try to get it resolved.

Mayor asked the Attorney if he has any response on the concrete pile. Campbell said it is in Klavers hands to take the necessary action. Jag said they are waiting on Klaver to decide what to do with it. DeLissa asked who’s responsibility it is to remove the cement, Cordes said either Klaver or APAC.

Mayor asked Cordes if he has a cost for the street repairs on north Springlake, Cordes reported no. DeLissa said at the last meeting we had discussed trying to find somewhere else for the trucks to park. Cordes said we have not found a place.

The Council revised the pool contract and had two corrections to be made. DeLissa made a motion to approve the contract as corrected, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor.

Cordes reported that the pool leaks have been patched but the pool is not painted. They will start painting this week if weather permits.

Mayor asked how clean-up week was going. Cordes replied they should be finishing up the rest of this week.

Neel reported that she had talked to a USDA representative at a meeting she attended and found out that if the City has enough money in the funds we are trying to get a grant for they will turn the City down for a grant. The LMI survey does have to be filled out to receive any CDBG grants.

Cordes said the storm siren has been ordered but he does not have a delivery date. Hartnett asked where the siren would be placed, Cordes replied close to the fire station.

Cordes reported that Mid States should be here this week to finish their work on the dedicated line and then we can finish up. We are waiting on J & J Construction to replace a couple of power lines.

Neel reported the State animal representative will be here on Wednesday to check out facilities for the City to house cats. Knott responded that it would be a mistake to bring the representative here. He said the City will be spending a lot of money on the cats.

Mayor asked the Council if they would like to make any changes to the contract between the County and the City for the Artesian Valley Health Center to take over the operation of the EMS and house the ambulances in the building owned by the City. DeLissa said there are defiantly updates to be made. Mayor said we should mark through it and have the City Attorney look over it.

Cordes said on May 21st, 2009 at 3:00 P.M. bids will be opened at the City Council Room for the airport construction. DeLissa asked if there would be someone here from Airport Development, Cordes said yes. The construction will be for the parking lot and the access road leading to the apron.

New Business:

Cordes reported that he received 1 bid for the 1956 air compressor. The bid was from Gary Knott in the amount of $300.00. DeLissa made a motion to accept the bid, seconded by Hailey with 4 in favor, Knott abstained.

Cordes reported that the runway lights at the airport are not working. The constant regulator on the circuit board needs repaired. Hartnett asked if it could be by-passed, Cordes said they could explore that option. Hartnett asked how much it would cost to repair the board, Woodruff said around $1,100.00 but he does not know what the control panel would cost. Knott asked if we could look at both costs.

Cordes wanted to remind everyone that the next Council meeting would be on May 26th which is on a Tuesday.

Neel reported that Steve Rice was here to conduct the City audit on Monday and Tuesday. Rice commented that the books looked good and he would like to see the City start segregating duties and cross train in the office. He also stated that he would like to see the financial committee meet quarterly to go over the financial reports. Neel said they have already implemented the cross training and will continue to do so.

Neel reported the City had received a safety group pool dividend check from the insurance company in the amount of $9,570.88.

Neel presented Resolution 241 for consideration:
Resolution 241
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE WAIVER OF CERTAIN FINANCIAL REPORTS AND GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES.
Knott made a motion to approve Resolution 241, seconded by Hartnett will all in favor.
Neel asked the Council if they would like to be a sponsor for the Dalton Days Wild West Fest. Hartnett said we should give them something. Knott made a motion to give Dalton Days a $500.00 donation, seconded by Hartnett will all in favor.

Neel presented a quote from CIC for the Council to consider. The quote was for a new server, this would get the City off of the Serverfarm in Hays. She said if the Hays server goes down so does the City. Dye said we need to something now. Dye made a motion to accept the quote from CIC, seconded by DeLissa with all in favor. Cordes said it could be divided into different funds.

Knott noted that the weeds are getting out of hand.

Hartnett commented that there is a lot of trashy stuff in some alleys. Cordes said after clean up week we will send out letters.

Mayor’s Report:

Mayor handed out the appointments for the Councils approval at the last meeting. The appointments will stay the same with the exception of the official newspaper. The appointments are as stated:
City Clerk, Tiffany Neel
City Attorney, Curtis Campbell
Municipal Judge, Keith Whitney
Public Officer, Dean Cordes
Health Officer, Dr. Seeley Feldmeyer
City Treasurer, Vera Robertson
Police Chief, Loren Borger
Official Newspaper Prairie Sun
Official Bank Fowler State Bank
Depositors Generations Bank
Meade State Bank
Plains State Bank
Stockgrowers State Bank
Planning Commission
Pat Sims
JoAnn Tacha
Marc Berghaus
Craig Stratton
Cherie Schnelle
George Lucas
Roger Musgrove
Board of Zoning Appeals
Dale Rosenberry
Bob Mabery
Pat Sims
Mitch Little
Housing Authority
Dawn Olvera
Terry Cordes
Becky Berryman
Darrin Golliher
Vicki Fisher
Library Board
Colette Thomas
Susan Greene
Kimberly Enns
Angie Howard
Lenita Fast
Steven Salyer
Craig Stratton
Tree Board
Tim Marceau
Norman Dye
Stacy Cordes
Wes Schnelle
VACANCY
DeLissa made a motion to accept the appointments made by the Mayor less the Rec Commission, seconded by Dye with 4 in favor, Knott opposed the official newspaper.

Hartnett nominated Knott to be the Council president for next year with all in favor.

Mayor reported that the OK Kids Day had a great turn out. They fed over 1,000 people for lunch.

Mayor said it was brought to his attention that some employees have been taken advantage of by using their personal cell phone for City use. He would like to purchase City cell phones for the few employees that are contacted the most. For the past few months the Mayor has noticed many personal calls during City time on land line and cell phones. He would like to set some phone regulations and put them in the policy handbook.

Mayor asked the Council to adopt and approve the Uniform Public Offense Code for Kansas Cities manual. Hartnett made a motion to adopt and approve the UPOC book, seconded by Knott with all in favor.

Mayor wanted the Council to know that the City can now start charging inmates for their jail time. Hartnett asked if the charges the County assesses to the City will in turn be assessed to the inmates, Mayor said yes.

Mayor was approached by the Southwest Kansas Faith and Family paper and asked if he had any stories about Meade. The paper will be featuring Meade County in the month of June.

Mayor requested the Council go into executive session for 10 minutes on personnel matters of non-elective personnel. DeLissa made a motion to go into executive session for personnel matters of non-elective personnel reasons, seconded by Hailey with all in favor. No action was taken.

DeLissa made a motion to go into executive session for 10 more minutes for personnel matters of non-elective personnel reasons, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor. After executive session Hartnett made a motion to approve raises made in executive session for non-elective personnel, seconded by DeLissa with all in favor.

Mayor has been approached by Marge Ediger, she is concerned about the Beam Center. They would like to expand and maybe put in an indoor pool and was wondering if the City had any suggestions. Hartnett said to call CMS and find out what loan programs they are set up with.

Hartnett asked Cordes where we are at with condemning the house on Hart St and the building on Carthage St. Cordes said the house is still not cleaned out and they are waiting on Rodger Degarmo to finish up. The building on Carthage will go to the tax sale and the matter has been left with the County Attorney.

DeLissa made a motion to appoint George Martin as the Fire Chief, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor.

With no further business to come before the Council a motion was made by Hailey to adjourn, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor.

____________________________
Bud Doerflinger, Mayor

Attest:

___________________________
Tiffany Neel, City Clerk