August 2017 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for August 3rd and 7th

                                                                                                                                            August 3, 2017

The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on August 3, 2017.  Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order.  Roll call was answered by Jesse Pitts, Orval “Pete” Shewry, Scott Smith and Larry Steinbring.  Absent was Michael Hendrickson.  Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort, City Attorney Eric Harman and City Clerk Deb McKivergan.

Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as presented.

Councilman Pitts made a motion to pay the bills for July, Appropriation Ordinance #2017-07.  Councilman Steinbring seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Sheriff Jared Walker presented the monthly activity report.  He also discussed the new speed limit on Highway 156, the speed limit on the road to the golf course and the speed limit on the roads inside the city lake area.

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT:  City Attorney Eric Harman reported that municipal court is going well.  He reported that he had been in contact with the person who had the code violation on Adams Street.  The property owner says he plans to fix up the property.   Mr. Harman will write a letter providing a time frame then will document with time and date stamped pictures.

CITY CLERK REPORT:  City Clerk Deb McKivergan reported that the League of Kansas Municipalities needs to have Jetmore’s voting delegates registered.  Councilman Shewry made a motion to appoint City Administrator Michael Ort as the voting delegate.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.  Councilman Steinbring made a motion to appoint Mayor Olson as the alternate voting delegate.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

CITY FOREMAN REPORT:  City Foreman Brian Beil reported that they have completed installation of the playground border at the City Park.  The “Welcome to Jetmore” signs have been installed at the entrances to town.  They continue to paint at the power plant and perform regular maintenance on equipment along with mowing and weed control.  Brian asked about Well #11 and any plans to make updates in the well house as the pump rate is decreasing.  Brian will talk to Darrell Schneider about possible solutions and bring a plan back to the council.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:  City Administrator Michael Ort reported his August travel schedule to the council.

*Reif Welding and construction, LLC, from Plainville, will take the wind towers down on Monday, August 7.

*Mr. Ort reported that the librarian had posted a link on the library’s Facebook page to another site where one could enter their zip code to see if their drinking water is unsafe.  It was stated that looking up Jetmore’s zip code found that our water contained “6 chemicals that the EPA thinks are above safe limits and 7 other detected contaminants”.  Mr. Ort provided a response stating that the post unnecessarily frightened and concerned residents.  The website stated explicitly that our water was within the legal limits for contaminates established by the EPA.  The organization that thought our water was unsafe was the site’s owners, Environmental Working Group (EWG), according to standards established by an agency of the California state government.  The site explicitly stated that the EPA’s analysis of our recent testing found us to be in compliance.  Mr. Ort further explained that our Consumer Confidence Report is listed on our website and available in our office free of charge to all who want one.  The Librarian called Mr. Ort to apologize and stated she didn’t think it through very well before posting and didn’t word it well.  She didn’t intend to stir up controversy; the post came from a state library contact and she thought with the water tower project and recent water testing it would be good information, but when she saw Mr. Ort’s response she removed the post.

*Mr. Ort presented the council with the fund health report.

*Mr. Ort explained a couple of changes that he has made in the proposed 2018 budget.

*The bridge at Kenyon Park was recently damaged for the second time.  Slats were knocked loose, some completely and some just at the bottom.  The loose slats were brought into the office and Mr. Ort was told that the Sheriff’s office had been notified of the damage.  Mr. Ort suggested a trail camera be placed at the park.  Mr. Ort was given authority to purchase another game cam similar to the one at the lake and another SD card to share between the two cameras.

*The Administrator reported an oversight in the numbering of Charter Ordinance #10.  There is already a No. 10 on the books, pertaining to the election date of the Mayor and council.  Mr. Ort reached out to the League and their attorney said that there was nothing catastrophic having two No. 10’s we would just refer to them by their passage date also.  They also discussed the effect of the new guest tax rate.

*Mr. Ort reported that there have been reservations canceled at the King Center due to the new rates.  He also noted that the King Center should pay for itself like the other funds, so an increase was definitely in order.  That fund has run at a substantial deficit for the past five years.

*The Council was once again asked about establishing a land bank for the City of Jetmore.  There were several questions from the council, so no action was taken at this time.

*Mr. Ort will post a notice on Facebook about the wind turbines coming down on the 7th.

The council discussed the recent sewer cleaning and noted the problem areas that were discovered.

Councilman Steinbring made a motion to adjourn.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

 

August 7, 2017

The Jetmore City Council met in special session on August 7, 2017.  Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order.  Councilmen present were Mike Hendrickson, Jesse Pitts, Orval “Pete” Shewry, Scott Smith and Larry Steinbring.  Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort and City Clerk Deb McKivergan.

The meeting was called to hold the budget hearing and to discuss the decommissioning of the wind towers.

There being no discussion, Councilman Hendrickson made a motion to approve the 2018 budget.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

City Administrator Michael Ort reported on the wind towers coming down.  He isn’t completely sure who will salvage the towers at this point, but he will negotiate with the County for a solution.

Councilman Hendrickson made a motion to adjourn.  Councilman Smith seconded the motion; vote unanimous.