June 5, 2025

The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on June 5^th, 2025. Mayor Bill Goebel called the meeting to order and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll wall was answered by Councilmen Cole Buffo, Jeff Channell, Charles Leet, John Neeley & Mike Thornburg. Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort, City Clerk Casey Dansel & Sheriff Jared Walker.

Councilman Buffo made a motion to approve the consent agenda containing the April minutes & Appropriation Ordinance #2025-05. Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

SHERIFF REPORT: 

Sheriff Walker gave the council his monthly report. Sheriff requested an updated list of who has purchased golf cart permits. Sheriff Walker shared his frustration with the lack of notification from dispatch regarding the Memorial Day weekend storm. Emergency management never received a call indicating the storm was coming. Sheriff also questioned the status of the siren located at the fire department as it is still not sounding.

CITY CLERK REPORT:

Casey shared that Venmo at the golf course has been used a lot and has been a good addition. Council discussed possibility of getting Venmo for the city lake as well to which staff replied that this has been discussed.

BUSINESS ITEMS:

Mr. Ort presented Fireworks Resolution 2025-03 stating that fireworks will be allowed to be discharged in the city limits from the dates of July 1^st– July 5^th between the hours of 10am and 11pm on July 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 5^th and 10am to midnight on July 4^th. Councilman Thornburg made a motion to adopt the resolution as presented. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote 4-1 with Councilman Channell opposing.

Mr. Ort presented Ordinance #690 that would allow for expanded days for sale of fireworks in the city of Jetmore per Senate Bill 199, passed by the Kansas legislature this year and signed by the governor that allowed for expanded days for sale from the current June 29^th to July 5^th to June 20^th to July 7th. After a brief discussion the council agreed to leave the days of sale currently in the city code in effect.

City Administrator Ort presented a proposal to place a half-cent sales tax on the November general election ballot to be used to pay for the annual street sealing project. During the discussion the recent storm was also brought up and the fact that, because the city will not qualify for federal disaster aid, the cost will use a significant portion of the reserves currently held by the Electric fund. Because of this the discussion expanded to include a one-cent special sales tax to be dedicated to the Electric Fund to replenish the reserves rather than to raise utility rates. Councilman Channell made a motion to place half-cent general sales tax question on the November ballot to be used for the annual street sealing project and a one-cent special sales tax question on the same ballot with proceeds to go to the Electric fund. Councilman Leet seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Councilman Thornburg made a motion to suspend the open meeting of city council and open the meeting of the Land Bank Board of Trustees. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Council discussed the former Gil Burns property. Larry Morton completed clean up of the site and it is now ready for sale. Council would like to get $15,000 for the property (which reflects the land bank’s cost to acquire and clean up the property) but are willing to accept no less than $10,000. Mayor Goebel will talk to the potential buyer and see what they are willing to pay.

Councilman Thornburg made a motion to adjourn the land bank meeting and re-open the regular meeting of the city council. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:

*City Administrator Michael Ort presented his travel/training/meeting schedule for the month.

*Mr. Ort presented the council with the staff birthdays and anniversaries for the month.

*Storm Recovery-Mr. Ort informed the council that he and the mayor had attended a recent county commissioner meeting in which County EM Mike Burke submitted a disaster resolution to the county commissioners, which they passed. In that same meeting though, Mike Burke and Kathy Hernandez from KDEM shared with the commissioners that we would not meet the threshold to qualify for federal disaster aid in this instance. Mr. Ort then also shared with the council that while the full cost of the storm was not yet known, as more invoices were expected to come, he did present a plan to pay for the cost of recovery largely with reserve funds. Doing so, he informed the council, though doable, would put the city in a more difficult position and he again urged the council to consider a rate adjustment to rebuild reserves that would be necessary for a future similar event. Mr. Ort also shared the scope of the work that was done by city staff, KMEA-Mid-States staff, and crews from the cities of Pratt, Garden City, and McPherson and the work that remains, primarily on the east electrical line in fields that remained inaccessible due to the rains.

*Red Tag Pole Project-Administrator Ort let the council know that he had received word via email that our red tag pole project has been approved by the state for Kansas Build Fund assistance in the event that the project is approved by the federal Department of Energy. Hopefully that word will come soon. The application for that was finalized on the 22^nd.

*2026 Budget-Mr. Ort informed that council that he had begun working on the 2026 budget the previous month and that he expected to be done with it within the following month or so, after which it would be ready for review by the council. His recommendation for the budget meeting was Monday July 14^th, this primarily due to travel plans he has with his wife to visit their son in North Carolina, and the statutory requirement to inform the county clerk before July 20^th if the revenue neutral rate will need to be exceeded. After a brief discussion the council agreed to the date and agreed to a 6pm start time.

*Summer Help-Mr. Ort informed the council that he and Mayor Goebel had hired summer help primarily to assist the outside staff in getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend, but also with mowing throughout the summer so that full-time staff could be freed to work on other large projects being planned, such as the Roughton St. project.

*KCAMP/Palace Computer-Mr. Ort was informed by KCAMP on May 7^th that they had learned of a breach in Palace Computer’s system that had happened sometime near the beginning of 2025 and had recently been found to have affected some county participants in KCAMP. At the time it was recommended that the city consider filing a claim. It was also noted that the deductible under the cyber policy is $10,000. Mr. Ort expressed concern with doing that, at that cost, due to the fact that we had also received, about the same time, notice of the breach from Palace who indicated that in their analysis of the breach, that the city had not been affected. Experience with the city’s system suggested that nothing was awry as no loss of data has been observed, all programs remain fully functional, and Palace had committed to ongoing monitoring of our and all their clients’ systems.

*City shop roof-Mr. Ort let the council know that he had been approached by a roof vendor about the city shop addition roof. He offered to power wash, scrape, and recoat the roof for $5,000. Michael shared this information with the mayor who, after inspecting the roof himself more closely, agreed it was necessary and gave his consent to hiring Mr. Joe Gorman to repair the roof, which was subsequently done.

*Utility Poles-Mr. Ort informed the council that the recent storm had exhausted our supply of utility poles. Because of this he had contacted Bell Lumber and ordered a shipment of Class 4 poles that will be delivered sometime in mid-July.

 GOVERNING BODY COMMENTS:

Councilman Thornburg expressed concerns about golf cart rental at the clubhouse. Recently some kids rented them and each kid took his own golf cart, which left none available to rent for other golfers. He expressed his desire to see the kids double up on the carts so that others can rent the carts.

Councilman Buffo asked the council if they would be willing to sponsor a night at the fair again this year. Council agreed to make a $1000 donation to the Hodgeman County Fair. Councilman Channell made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.