October 12, 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, City Clerk Tiffany Neel and Attorney Mike Giardine. Visitors were: Mike Gillen, Tom Kuhns, Jim Woodruff and Jake & Viola Friesen.

First on the agenda, Mayor presented Ordinance 817 for the Council to consider:

ORDINANCE 817

AN ORDINANCE REPEALING ORDINANCE NO 796 PROHIBITING PACKAGED LIQUOR SALES WITHIN THE CITY OF MEADE, KANSAS.

Knott made a motion to approve Ordinance 817, seconded by Hailey with 4 in favor, DeLissa opposed.

Mayor asked Giardine if the City can write an ordinance to make business owners on Main Street make the necessary repairs on their buildings to improve the downtown area. He would like to see the building fronts cleaned up, broken windows replaced, tin replaced and sidewalks kept free from weeds and debris. Giardine said we need to look at our nuisance ordinance under health and welfare to make sure we don’t have an ordinance that would cover all of the above. DeLissa said it is the buildings with no business income that are not maintaining the store fronts. Knott said they are just filled with storage. Hartnett asked if there is a zoning violation against filling a commercial business building with storage. DeLissa said we need to look at a different angle and be careful not to dictate what people put in their buildings. Dye said if you don’t start now, when are you going to stop. He also said every coin has 2 sides and he wants the town to look nice. DeLissa said what we will end up with is a bunch of buildings on the tax rolls.

The October 12th, 2009 Appropriation Ordinance in the amount of $262,080.08 was approved on motion made by DeLissa, seconded by Hartnett with 4 in favor, Dye said his lawyer said he does not have to vote so he declined.

Mayor asked Cordes if the airport project has started, Cordes said it is not underway yet but he did talk to airport development group and hopefully they will start Monday. Dye asked how long the project will take, Cordes replied 35 days give or take.

Neel reported that the City LMI survey has been tallied and the city is at 37.8% at this time. There are still 230 surveys that have not been filled out.

Mayor asked Cordes if he has contacted a company for the study to be done on the power plant to determine if we need a new engine. Cordes said he talked to a few people at the LKM meeting he went to and they suggested KMEA doing the study. Knott said Ken Fairchild knows what the city has and is afraid if we get someone else to conduct the study then we will have to start all over. Dye said in the long run we might be saving a penny and spending a dime. DeLissa would like to know the cost first. Knott said it might depend on the cost of the water well.

Neel told the Council she has information on 3 collection agencies but has 1 more company sending information with a lower percentage fee.

Cordes reported that Lane was down and cleaned out well #5, after they did a pump test the well is pumping about 250 gallons per minute. When the well was first drilled in 1969 it tested at about 1,200 gallons per minute. Lane would like to look at more data. Knott would like to see what recommendations Lane has before moving on.

Mayor would like to have a special meeting on December 21st, 2009 for the Council to decide what property they would like to look at annexing. Knott would like to put it off until the beginning of the year. Cordes said we will have to find out what property to annex, who the property owner is, what utilities are there and how much their taxes will increase. The Council agreed to talk about it at the November 23rd, 2009 meeting.

New Business:

Cordes gave a report on the meeting he attended for LKM.

Cordes told the Council that the main water line from the Park to the Cemetery has another leak and they have had a lot of trouble with this line in the past. He said the guys keep patching the line but it keeps cracking in a new spots. Knott wanted to know how long the line was, Cordes could not give an exact footage. Dye wanted to know if we could ask the County to pay for some of the repairs. Hartnett wanted to know how much the project would cost. Knott asked if there was an easement through the property.

Cordes said we will be receiving the new bucket truck soon and wanted to know if the Council would like to finance the truck or just pay for it out of the electric fund. The Council agreed to pay 90% out of the electric fund and 10% out of the water fund.

Cordes brought in a part from the front end loader to demonstrate the size of the part and the cost to replace part. He said a new part would cost $1,250 but they found a used part for $300.

Neel told the Council that the last CD from Meade State Bank will mature on October 13th, 2009 but she did not have the new rates because the banks were closed on Monday. The Council agreed to have Neel find the best rate and deposit the CD at that bank.

Neel informed the Council that Vonda McCulloch will be at the November meeting to take Neel’s place, she will be attending the CCMFOA meeting in Wichita.

Mayor’s Report:

Mayor asked the Council members to please bring there evaluations to the next meeting for the Police Chief, City Administrator and City Clerk.

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