September 14, 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: Denice Kuhns, Jason Johnson, Dale Luedke, Mike Gillen and Jim Woodruff.

Jason Johnson was present to ask the Council if they would consider making Grant Street a one way street between Baltimore and Pearlette for 30 minutes each morning during school hours. Johnson would like to put up a barricade on the southwest side of Grant Street every morning to keep the traffic flow going one way. DeLissa suggested waiting until the City has checked into the situation. Luedke suggested the City contact a traffic engineer, the city police department and the city attorney. DeLissa said the Council could approve it pending the attorney and police departments’ advice. DeLissa made a motion to allow the Meade Grade School to barricade off Grant Street from the corners of Baltimore and Pearlette for 30 minutes each morning assuming it is approved by the city attorney and police department, seconded by Hailey with all in favor.

Dale Luedke with KDOT was present to answer questions about the cement pile on city property west of town. Luedke said the project is in the attorneys hands but if the City is going to charge rent to anyone they need to send it to APAC. Luedke said KDOT will remove the cement when the lawsuit is over if APAC does not remove it. Luedke also said that the cement is evidence in an investigation and can not be moved until the investigation is completed.

Dye questioned why the Mayor is making the Council do a role call after each motion; he said it just takes more time away from the meeting. DeLissa said he has noticed in previous meetings that it is hard to determine how some of the Council votes. Mayor said it allows the public to have information on how each member votes. Dye made a motion to do away with the role call, motion was denied due to no response from any council member for a second motion.

Mayor said the police department has had 104 tickets so far for September and there has been an increase in citizens driving around the school buses when the bus stop sign is out. Mayor wants to stress to please be careful around the school stops and pay attention to the bus stop signs.

The August 24th, 2009 minutes were approved as presented.

Building permit # 9034 was tabled by the zoning board, there was not enough information on the permit and it will be reviewed at the next meeting.

The appropriation ordinance dated September 14th, 2009 in the amount of $352,835.69 was approved on motion made by Hailey, seconded by Hartnett with all in favor.

Old Business:

Mayor asked if the Council has thought any more about buying a new lifeguard stand at the City pool. Cordes presented some price quotes and pictures for new stands. This matter has been tabled.

Mayor wanted to complement the City crew on a job well done for tearing down the Eco Devo property and said the housing authority group has been thinking about putting more housing on the property.

Cordes reported the curb and gutter repairs in front of the post office should start sometime next weekend.

Neel presented the revised burn ban resolution for the Council to review. Hartnett made a motion to approve Resolution #242, seconded by Knott with all in favor. DeLissa said we need to put something in the paper on public education concerning the burn ban.

Neel reported to the Council that 435 surveys out of 704 have been mailed to Great Plains Development and at this time the results show that the City is 35% under poverty level.

Cordes said he would like for the Council members to go look at the park bathrooms and the north shelter house before the next meeting to get an idea on what they think needs to be done on the repairs. Hartnett asked if the bathrooms could be relocated, Cordes said yes but there is only one other place that has sewer access.

Cordes presented a quote from Layne to repair water well #5. The quote is to run a camera down the well, do a chemical treatment to rehabilitate the well, replace pipe, pre-test the pump and put the well back together. The total cost would be around $56,000. Dye asked how deep the well is, Cordes replied 370 feet. Hartnett asked how much a new well would cost, Cordes said around $250,000. DeLissa asked what was wrong with well #7, Cordes said there is a vibration problem, they pulled the motor and fixed a bearing but it is still vibrating. DeLissa made a motion to have Layne rehabilitate well #5 and if the post test comes out then repair the well, seconded by Dye with all in favor. Cordes asked which fund the Council would like the money to be taken out of, the consensus of the Council is that it be taken out of the water fund.

Cordes was asked at the last meeting to get a weight limit on the fork lifts for the small tractor. Cordes said the limit is 1,360 lbs and the cost will be $1,082 for the forks. Dye asked what the forks would be used for, Cordes said to lift freight from semi trucks and to move things to other locations at the shop. Knott made a motion to buy the fork lifts for the small tractor, seconded by Harnett with all in favor.

Mayor asked the Council if they wanted to pass an ordinance for putting a term limit on how many terms a Councilman can run for office. Dye would like to see younger people in the Council. DeLissa wanted to know what you would do if no one ran for office. Dye would like to drop the subject.

DeLissa wanted to know what Cordes found out about the voltage glitches the City was having. Cordes said we have gone 6 weeks without a problem. DeLissa wanted to know when the peak time is over, Cordes replied at the end of this month.

New Business:

Neel asked the Council what they would like to do with the $600,000 CD at the Fowler State Bank. Hartnett said Steve Rice, the city auditor, suggested getting a better rate for all of the CD’s. It was the consensus of the Council to move the $600,000 CD from Fowler State Bank to Plains State Bank with an interest rate at 2.90%.

Knott said there is a stop sign on Brian Street that is faded and needs replaced.

DeLissa asked if there is a school on mosquito spraying for our employees to go to, Cordes said the place we buy our chemical from offers a class but he does not know what it consists of.

Dye asked Cordes what the City is doing with all the bikes at the sewer plant. Cordes said the bikes are given to the city or picked up during clean up week and hauled to Ellsworth Correctional Facility in Ellsworth KS to be repaired and given to needy children. Dye also said he would like to see the town squared up in terms of annexing property. Cordes said there is a lot of work involved in annexing and we would have to get someone like John Riggs to help us work on it. DeLissa said if you annex property you have to be able to provide utilities. Hartnett wanted to know if we have to provide the utility hook ups free of charge or if the citizen would have to pay for it. Cordes will look at the ordinances and get the rules and regulations for the Council at the next meeting.

Mayors Report:

Mayor asked the Council to approve his appointment of Carl McCammond to replace John Borger on the Board of Zoning Appeals and Roger Musgrove to replace Pat Sims of the Board of Zoning Appeals. Dye made a motion to approve Roger Musgrove and Carl McCammond, seconded by DeLissa with all in favor.

Mayor would like to start working on an annexation program. He would like the Council to think about what properties to annex, what additional services the City will provide and when the annexation should take place.

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

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Bud Doerflinger, Mayor

Attest:

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Tiffany Neel, City Clerk