September 4, 2025

The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on September 4th, 2025. Mayor Bill Goebel called the meeting to order and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call 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, City Attorney Clayton Kerbs, Sheriff Jared Walker, Matthew Medill of Medill & Thooft & Colby Kline.

Councilman Channell made a motion to approve the consent agenda containing the August minutes & Appropriation Ordinance #2025-08. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

SHERIFF’S REPORT:

Sheriff Walker provided his monthly report to the council. Discussed a recent dog complaint with the council. Sheriff informed the council that there is some plywood left over from a recent project at the courthouse and that they would like to donate to the gun range if the city would like it.

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT:

Clayton reported there will be no court in September due to Judge Gleason being out of town for a conference.

CITY CLERK REPORT:

Casey addressed the council about a request from the FFA for a sponsorship. Council discussed options for sponsor levels.

BUSINESS ITEMS:

Councilman Channell made a motion to sponsor the FFA with a $300 sponsorship. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Colby Kline addressed the council regarding a new shed he is building behind his house. A larger transformer will need to be installed and, per current city policy, in such situations, a customer is responsible for the cost of such upgrades or additions to the utility. Mr. Kline asked the council if they would be able to share the cost with him. Following the request a brief conversation took place after which Councilman Buffo made a motion to cover the entire cost of the upgrade. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Matthew Medill of Medill & Thooft presented the 2024 Audit to the council. Councilman Thornburg made a motion to accept and file the audit report as presented. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

After a brief revenue neutral rate hearing, in which no testimony was heard from the public, Councilman Channell made a motion to adopt resolution 2025-05 stating intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate. Councilman Leet seconded the motion. Roll call vote was taken. Councilman Buffo-Yes, Councilman Channell-Yes, Councilman Leet-Yes, Councilman Neeley-Yes, Councilman Thornburg-Yes. Motion carried with 5 yes votes.

After a brief budget hearing in which no testimony was heard from the public, Councilman Thornburg made a motion to adopt the City of Jetmore 2026 budget as presented by City Administrator Michael Ort. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Councilman Leet made a motion to send a notice to the county stating that the City of Jetmore would like to amend the current Sheriff’s department budget to $60,000. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion. Motion carried with 3 yes votes by Councilmen Leet, Neeley, and Channell & 2 no votes by Councilmen Buffo and Thornburg.

An opening on the library board was discussed. Mayor Goebel appointed Karlie Lightfoot to replace Madelyn Clark on the library board. Councilman Buffo made a motion to approve the mayor’s appointment of Karlie Lightfoot. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

City Administrator Ort presented Ordinance 690 to the council regarding distributed generation. The Kansas legislature updated the regulations governing utilities and the provisions for distributed generation. The updated statute increase the percentage of historic peak load that must be allowed in distributed generation for each utility and lowers the compensation for excess generation pushed back by individual DG owners onto the utility to 100% of monthly avoided costs. Councilman Channell made a motion to adopt Ordinance 690, amending Ordinance 662 and the city code. Councilman Thornburg seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Administrator Ort presented the Highway 156 water project contractor selection to the council. Three bids for the K-156 water project were received and opened on August 26 by Mr. Ort and engineer Jeff Peterson in the presence of two of the three submitting contractors. Midlands Contracting, Inc. of Kearney, NE was the lowest responsible bidder at $206,068.87. Mr. Peterson stated that he has worked with Midlands on other projects and has found them to be a quality contractor. His very strong recommendation is that the city council award the project to Midlands. Councilman Channell made a motion to award the project to Midlands Contracting, Inc. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:   

*Mr. Ort presented his travel and training schedule and the staff anniversaries and birthdays for the month.

*Mr. Ort advised the council that air ambulance services have indicated to him and hospital staff that they are unwilling to land at the airport due to the cracks in the runway being a safety issue. Mr. Ort told the mayor and council that he forwarded this information to our engineers and to KDOT-Aviation personnel for their guidance. We were informed by all of them that a portion of the funding for the current project at the airport can be used for crack sealing as a short term fix for the current issue while the larger project is in planning and design. Mr. Ort stated that he will work with the engineers and KDOT-Aviation to make this happen so that air ambulance service can be restored to the community as soon as possible.

*K-156 Project-Michael shared with the council a phone call he received this month from Will Bonnor with KDOT about an additional pole replacement project at 220 Rd. Following that, Mr. Ort called Marty Mandl with RMA who followed up with Will directly. As a result, it was learned that there are three other projects like the one that was done at 221 Rd recently (one just east of 220 RD, at 220 RD, and at 219 RD). Because of that, twelve more steel poles were ordered from Utility Pole Solutions. That order was signed on 8/20 and the poles are 3-4 weeks out from then. The price tag for those poles, plus shipping, was $49,860, for which we will be reimbursed as we have been for the other projects and materials related to the K-156 project.

*Well 15 Project-Mr. Ort told the mayor and council that Nash Well Service in Cimarron will be drilling the next set of test wells for replacement of well 12. That work will take place the weeks of September 1 and 8.

*GWorks Cloud Migration Pause-We have made some preparations in the last month or two for the migration to GWorks Cloud, but that was put on pause recently as a result of an email conversation on 8/14 and 15. Per an email from the CEO of GWorks received by Mr. Ort on 7/29, GWorks was committing to delay migration until the GWorks cloud platform was prepared to meet all of a customer’s needs. The last time we discussed our migration with a member of the GWorks staff, they anticipated that the court management module would not be supported on the cloud platform. On 8/14 we received an email from a member of GWork’s staff asking for us to perform another task in preparation for the migration. Michael responded to this email request by asking if we could pause the migration tasks and referenced the CEO’s commitment in the 7/29 email and was told the next day that we could indeed pause the migration for now, until the cloud platform was fully prepared to meet the city’s needs. We will let the council know at a future meeting when that process begins again.

*KMIT Pres-Mr. Ort informed the mayor and council that at the recent KMIT board meeting the leadership of the organization was reorganized. The individual serving as the vice-president this past year resigned his position due to resigning his full-time position and taking a job with a non-member city. Due to that resignation, Michael will serve for the coming year as president of the KMIT board, the following year as the immediate past president.

GOVERNING BODY COMMENTS:

Councilman Thornburg discussed issues with small vehicles at the city lake without permits. He would like the city to provide the sheriff’s office with clarification on the ordinance, since the lake is considered city limit. Councilman Thornburg made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.