June 28, 2010 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, Edward Dye, Cliff Hailey and Chris Hartnett. Also present were City Administrator Dean Cordes and City Clerk Tiffany Neel. Visitors were Leslie Himes, Mike Gillen, Tom Kuhns, Loren Borger, Jim Woodruff, Melissa Elliott and Jerrica Evans.

First on the agenda, 5 people were given utility extensions.

Chief Police Loren Borger presented the Council with the monthly police report. Knott asked why the tickets were going down. DeLissa said that we only had 2 police officers for part of May. Knott asked if Scott Whitesides would be stuck on nights. Borger said when Musgrove retires then they will start rotating every 3 months. Knott asked if it could be divided up between both police officers now. Knott asked if the City police patrolled the Golf Course. Borger said they will start.

The June 14th, 2010 minutes were approved as corrected.

Building permits #10022 and #10023 were approved on motion made by Knott, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor.

Neel read a thank you note from Arah Skalicky to the volunteers for cleaning up her property.

Cordes has estimated that it will take about 10 truck loads of old chat sweepings to get a solid base for the access road at the Beam Center. Cordes said it is not just used by the Beam Center. It was the consensus of the Council to let the City fix the road with the used chat.

Cordes said the insurance adjuster has not looked at the stone shelter house yet to decide if the roof will be paid by insurance. Dye asked how old the roof is, Cordes said 16 years. Dye stated that we need to get it fixed. Hartnett said you never know what expense you will get into when you take it off. DeLissa made a motion to replace the shingles with a tin roof, seconded by Dye with all in favor.

Cordes told the Council that he did not get a single bidder to tear down the house on the corner of Cedar and Belle Meade. He also stated that we can either wait for the tax sale to take place or tear the house down ourselves. DeLissa asked if we could require the potential buyer to fix the foundation when it is bought at the tax sale. Cordes will get more information.

Cordes said he has talked to the Planning Committee about building permit #10012. The committee is still denying the permit. DeLissa asked if it could go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Cordes said yes.

New Business:

Cordes said the employees have started tearing the trailer house down on North Meade Center.

Cordes updated the Council on the airport regulator. The new regulator is installed and is working at this point.

Cordes asked the Council to consider replacing the 1970 dump truck with a newer used model. Knott asked if we are having trouble with it. Cordes said we use it to plow snow and it is difficult to turn but there are not many other problems with it. The city employees would like to see the dump truck replaced. Dye told Cordes to start looking at prices.

Neel told the Council that the wheat crop has been cut and we received 476.95 bushels. The rate as of Monday was $3.59 per bushel. The consensus of the Council is to sell the wheat. Dye asked Neel to see if the money could go into the general fund instead of the aviation fund.

Neel asked if the Council had any additions they would like to put on the annexation information sheet. This sheet is to inform the next Council why the City did not pursue the annexation process in 2010. DeLissa asked Neel to put that most people did not want to be subject to city ordinances.

Neel asked the Council to consider approving Resolution #245 to replace Resolution #242. DeLissa made a motion to approve Resolution #245, seconded by Hailey with Hartnett in favor. Knott and Dye voted no.

Mayor’s Report:

Mayor wanted to remind everyone to contact your representatives and let them know how you stand on the different issues facing our county.

Mayor asked each councilman to give their thoughts and ideas on how the city could cut back on spending and what their goals are for the city.

Knott, DeLissa and Hailey would like to talk to Steve Rice about the budget before they give their answer.

Knott’s goal is to get involved with housing projects in Meade.

DeLissa would like to see the health care plan re-bid every year and he would also like to see the city continue to clean up the sidewalks and curbs, fix up older buildings and pursue more available spots on Hwy 54 for more businesses.

Dye would like to see the City cut back on excess spending. He would like to cut back on the turkeys for Christmas. He would also like to see less overtime unless it is needed. His goal would be to have 2 -3 more businesses in town by next year.

Hartnett asked if we could cut back on heating and cooling costs. He asked if there are programs to help utilize the cost on utilities and maybe do an energy audit. His goal is to bring more businesses and services to town. He asked if the city could put something on the website asking the citizens to tell us how they think we could cut back.

Hailey said he would like things cut back but most of the things we have bought were needed, like the storm siren and equipment breaking down. He would like to cut back but does not want to short the city employees on supplies that they need. He would also like to see more businesses brought to town. Hailey also pointed out that there is more room on the west side of Alco that another business could come in. Cordes said the State has bought the rights of access to entry on that property from Bill Cottrell so if a business went in they would have to drive through Alco’s parking lot or make an access road off of the States property to the west.

Dye asked why we allow electric wheelchair scooters to drive down the 54 Hwy. He stated that we do not allow 4 wheelers but we allow the electric scooters. Knott said this issue would have to be addressed by the police.

Mayor asked the Council if they would like to sponsor the Ranch Rodeo this year. Dye made a motion to approve $500 for the Ranch Rodeo, seconded by Hailey with all in favor.

Hartnett made a motion to go into executive session for land acquisition for 5 minutes, seconded by Hailey with all in favor. After executive session no action was taken.

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

Attest: