July 12, 2010
Meade, Kansas
City Council Minutes

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, and Chris Hartnett with Cliff Hailey absent. Also present were City Administrator Dean Cordes and City Clerk Tiffany Neel. Visitors were Jim Woodruff, Mike Gillen, Bob Mabery and Tom Kuhns.

First on the agenda Mabery commented that the city employees do a fine job. He wanted to say thank you for fixing the power lines that were knocked down by the Moon Mist. He stated that the guys worked diligently to get things up as quickly as possible and they need a pat on the back. DeLissa commented that the guys finally have safe equipment. Mabery also told the Council they have accomplished a lot and wanted to thank Cordes and the Council for fixing the Beam Center road.

The June 28th, 2010 minutes were approved as written.

The Appropriation Ordinance in the amount of $299,124.42 was approved on motion made by Knott, seconded by Dye with all in favor.

Building permit #10024 and #10025 and demolition permit #0004 were approved on motion made by Dye, seconded by Knott with all in favor. DeLissa asked if there are any regulations to deny a demolition permit. Cordes was unaware of any.

Mayor told the Council he had spoken to the City Attorney about motorized scooters on city highways. The attorney said if the city does not provide pedestrians sufficient sidewalk to drive on, then they have to drive on the highway. Dye said the subject can be dropped he just doesn’t want to see anyone get killed.

New Business:

Cordes said he had been contacted by Bill Cottrell who would like to put a sidewalk from the east side of Alco to the east side of Cottrell’s property. He would like the city to help him with the paperwork for the State so it is done correctly. Dye would like to know what the code is to build a sidewalk. Cordes said we have to have a permit from the State. DeLissa asked how much further we would need to go to complete the sidewalk on the north side of the highway. He said if Cottrell is going to do it then we should finish it out to the Catholic Church.

Cordes asked if the Council would approve buying more water meters. Dye asked what it would take to finish out the three quarter inch meters. Cordes said about 290 three quarter inch meters but he would also like to purchase about 10 one inch meters as well. Dye made a motion to buy 290 three quarter inch and 10 one inch meters, seconded by DeLissa with all in favor.

Cordes said we will start sealing streets on the 19th of July. He said Jeff Mather will be out for a couple of weeks and 1 summer help will also be gone during that time. He asked if he could hire Jack Shelton to help seal the streets. Council agreed.

Neel asked the Council if they would like to make an ordinance to assess a court cost of $91 to any seat belt ticket the officers write. Right now the police can only charge them $5 for a seat belt violation which includes court cost. The consensus of the Council is to drop the subject for now.

Neel told the Council that a $100,000 CD is due this week and asked what the Council would like to do with it. Plains Bank is at 1.65% for 6 months and 1.9% for a year. Fowler Bank is at .75% for 6 months and 1.0% for a year. DeLissa made a motion to renew at Plains State Bank for 6 months, seconded by Dye with all in favor.

Neel presented Ordinance #823 for the Council to consider:

ORDINANCE 823

AN ORDINANCE REGULATING TRAFFIC WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF MEADE, KANSAS; INCORPORATING BY REFERENCE THE “STANDARD TRAFFIC ORDINANCE FOR KANSAS CITIES,” EDITION OF 2010, PROVIDING CERTAIN PENALTIES AND REPEALING ORDINANCE NUMBER 819.

Dye made a motion to approve Ordinance 823, seconded by Knott with all in favor.

Neel asked the Council if they would be willing to vacate part of Baltimore and Race streets. The land is platted in that area and the owner of the property would like to see it vacated before he chose to be annexed into the city limits. DeLissa said if we vacate, then we give up our rights to run utilities down that area and we are not gaining much back. Knott said we should do it. The consensus of the Council was to get the paperwork ready.

Discussion was had on the new substation and old sewer plant being annexed as well. The Council agreed to talk about it at the next meeting.

Neel told the Council that Jeanne Berghaus has been employed with the city for 15 months now and the salary level states that she should be at $9.73. Knott made a motion to approve the raise for Berghaus, seconded by Hartnett with Dye in favor, DeLissa abstained.

Mayor’s Report:

Mayor asked Knott what the next step will be to develop an industrial park. Knott asked where could we go with it. Cordes said it is much more difficult at the airport because of FAA regulations. Mayor asked if we could look at other property.

Mayor had attended lunch at the Beam Center today to see if the citizens had any questions concerning the city or governing body. One question asked was what can be done about vehicles and trailers parked on city streets that have not been moved for months. Knott said we need to change the existing ordinance.

Knott asked what could be done about a property in town that has a large pile of sand sitting in the front yard. Cordes said he has talked to the individual about it. Knott asked Cordes to push the individual to get it cleaned up.

Dye wanted to thank Kuhns for coming to the meetings. He also said he would like to attend a MLA meeting in Greensburg on August 13th, 2010. Council agreed to let him go.

Hartnett said August is coming up and he wanted to encourage people to get out and vote. He would like to see more public individuals come to the city meetings and he wanted to thank the city employees for doing a great job. He stated that they don’t get enough thanks.

Cordes asked to go into executive session for 10 minutes for land acquisition. Knott made a motion to go into executive session for 10 minutes for land acquisition, seconded by Dye with all in favor. After executive session no action was taken.

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

_____________________________
Bud Doerflinger, Mayor

ATTEST:

___________________________
Tiffany Neel, City Clerk

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