February 5, 2025
The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on February 5, 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, Sheriff Jared Walker, HCED Sailor Seiler, and City Attorney Clayton Kerbs.
Councilman Buffo made a motion to approve the consent agenda containing the January minutes & Appropriation Ordinance #2025-01. Councilman Neeley seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
SHERIFF’S REPORT: Sheriff Walker gave his monthly report. Councilman Leet inquired about non-tagged vehicles on city streets. Council also inquired about the status of the tornado/fire siren. Sheriff Walker informed the council that Ford County has technicians working on it and hoping to get the sirens operating from Ford County soon.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT: Sailor presented the following report- Attended Love, Kansas Zooms & received grant check, visited with Mrs. Burkhart about new opportunities for the school, attended TIAK board meeting, worked on rural champion grant, applying for TOWNS grant, filed 2024 taxes, worked with YEC students, SEED closeout & EC Loan calls.
CITY CLERK REPORT: Casey presented the council with the option for the annual lake and golf course memberships for next payroll.
COUNTY ATTORNEY REPORT: Clayton reported that court is going well and we are still receiving an increase in traffic citations from the sheriff’s office.
BUSINESS ITEMS:
Administrator Ort presented the council with information regarding the Main Street Project consultant’s rankings. Councilman Channell made a motion to ratify the selection of H.W. Lochner, Inc. as the consultant for design and project management on the Main St/U.S. 283 CCLIP Pavement Restoration Project. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:
*Administrator Ort presented his travel, training, and meeting schedule for the month.
*Water project reimbursements- We received reimbursements for expenses related to the test well drilling and engineering services. Reimbursement for Ned Marks is on hold until we receive an agreement for services required by KDHE.
*Edmunds GovTech- Office staff attended a Zoom meeting and demo from Edmunds GovTech local government accounting product vendor. We were very impressed with their product and should be receiving a quote from them soon.
*ICMA Housing- The city administrator of Mulvane found an Air B&B for him, me, and another city administrator friend to share while attending 2025 ICMA Conference in Tampa this October. Cost this year is 63% less than it was last year at $311 per person.
*Annual Audit- This year’s audit is scheduled for May 27-29.
*Airport project- The application for the airport project was submitted last week. The final design proposal by Kirkham Michael, based on KDOT-Air funding limits and feedback from Ray Seif with KDOT-Air, is to do the project in two different successive years, with the north half of the airport being the project for which we are requesting funding this year. Per the project budget included with the submission, Kirkham Michael anticipates the local share of the project to be $182,800 (total project costs of $1,382,800). When the costs for the Main St. project come more into focus, as discussed previously, I will work with bond counsel to combine the two projects into one bond issue.
*City Code Update- It’s been since 2019 that our city code has been updated. Because of that I recently made contact with American Legal Publishing to see about another update. I sent to Nils Herdlin, our contact at ALP, all of the ordinances that have been adopted since the last update, and he will be sending me an estimate to do the work.
*Power Plant Engine/batteries- On Jan. 15th the staff ran the engine for the monthly 4-hour exercise. During the exercise they noted water leaking at several of the cylinders. Farabee Mechanical was called and came down a couple of days later. Several o-rings were changed out, after which the engine was run again for one hour. No new leaks were detected. Also, I received an email from Mike Schmaderer with KMEA/Mid-States on January 13 about the backup batteries that power the switch gear in the south room of the power plant in the event of an outage. Mike mentioned them on a previous visit and after checking he determined that they were originally installed in 2010. These batteries have an expected life of 10 years, so these being now almost 15 years old, it is prudent to consider replacing them soon. The quote to replace them is $5,100 plus shipping and sales tax. This does not include installation. There is money budgeted in the electric utility for power plant and substation as well as $30,000 in the Electric Equipment Reserve fund. Where the council in the past has allowed purchase of items of necessity in excess of $5,000 without specific authorization, I have asked Mike to order the replacement batteries.
GOVERNING BODY COMMENTS:
Council discussed moving forward with the property purchased by the land bank. Council would like to have the property cleaned up before selling the land.
Council discussed a berm at the picnic shelters for the drainage/erosion of the beach issue at the city lake. Mr. Ort will discuss it with the staff at the next staff meeting.
Councilman Leet informed the mayor and council about a few complaints he received regarding tree limbs, a blocked alley & a trailer parked on City Street full of trash and stinking. Mr. Ort said that Code enforcement officer Connie Olson will inspect the areas of complaint and send letters.
Councilman Channell made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Buffo seconded the motion; vote unanimous. Meeting was adjourned at 8:29 p.m.