October 2017 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for October 5th

                                                                                                                                           October 5, 2017

The Jetmore City Council met on October 5, 2017.  Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order.  Councilmen answering roll call were Jesse Pitts, Orval Shewry, Scott Smith and Larry Steinbring.  Absent was Councilman Mike Hendrickson.  Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort, City Attorney Eric Harman and City Clerk Deb McKivergan.  Guests present were Stacy Olson, Kyler Fetters and Jeff Channell.

Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as presented.

Councilman Pitts made a motion to approve the bills for September, Appropriation Ordinance #2017-09.  Councilman Smith seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Curtis Goebel met with the council and reported that the golf course board would be like to purchase two more golf carts from Jacob Golf Carts in Great Bend, to be used for rentals at the course.   The golf course board will purchase them and they will be paid for out of the golf course donation fund.

Stacy Olson and Lea Ann Seiler, representing the Lions Club, met with the council and asked the city to share in a portion of the water for the community garden.  Councilman Shewry made a motion to pay all but $40 of the current water bill, then the Lions Club will turn the water off over the winter and the Council and Lions Club will revisit the water bill at the beginning of the next garden season.

Sheriff Walker presented the monthly activity report.  The Sheriff also visited with the council about abandoned, non-registered vehicles that are parked on city streets.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT:  ED Director LeaAnn Seiler presented each council member a Hunt Kansas magazine.  She continues to look into a building for a person wanting to place a business in Jetmore.  Zach Schaffer will be moving his furniture shop into a building in the 500 block of Main Street.  John Macke will be meeting to look over the community profile on Monday, October 9.  Council members are invited and encouraged to attend.  Traci Nusser recently attended the Destination Boot Camp.  Zombie paintball will be held at Horsethief Reservoir every Friday and Saturday night in October.  The School Alumni Festival committee will be meeting on Saturday to begin plans for the upcoming event.  A Legislative Action Committee is working to address the fact that Highway 156 is narrow and has no shoulders.  Lea Ann is working on sandwich signs for local businesses.  Hodgeman County will be the Spotlight Community on I-70 in Goodland in October.  Spooktacular on Main will be held on Halloween again this year.  There are three loan applications for e-community loans.  The Lions club would like to move the community Christmas tree from the courthouse lawn to Sunshine Park.  That would provide better protection from north winds that have caused damage in the past.  This would also offer an opportunity to possibly create community events in conjunction with the lighting of the tree.  The Lions would also like to establish a permanent holder for the tree.  The council agreed that this would be a good idea.

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT:  City Attorney Eric Harman presented Resolution 2017-07, a Resolution appointing Kelsey Keese to the position of Public Code Enforcement Officer.  Councilman Smith made a motion to approve Resolution 2017-07.  Councilman Steinbring seconded the motion; vote unanimous.  Mr. Harman reported that municipal court is going well.  He expressed concerns about the work load and him not being able to keep up as well as he would like.  He gave official notice that he would like to step down from the duties of City Attorney, but will stay on as long as needed while finding someone to fill the position.

CITY CLERK REPORT:   City Clerk Deb McKivergan reported that she has scheduled additional on site training for the bank reconciliation portion of the new Summit software.

CITY FOREMAN REPORT:  City Foreman Brian Beil that they had recently installed water and electric services for a new residence in the Cheyenne Hills development.  They installed new lighting at the gun club and replaced two street light poles.  They performed maintenance on the power plant engine and ran the engine.  They continue to work at the power plant along with their routine maintenance duties.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT:  City Administrator Michael Ort presented his October conference schedule to the council.

*Mr. Ort reported that he visited with Pete Earles about the water tower project and he is still cautiously optimistic that the project may begin this year.

*The City Administrator said that he recently received a proposal for water tower maintenance from Preferred Tank & Tower.  After some research he found that the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) require inspections every 3-5 years.  Since our tower was inspected last year, Mr. Ort reached out to the engineers at Earle’s Engineering and they agreed that the tank didn’t need inspected this year and the money could be saved for the new tower.

*Mr. Ort recently received a bid for bunker gear for the fire department.  He explained to the Fire Chief, Brandon Harms, that the commitment was for 2018 budget dollars.  However, if Mr. Harms can find a good price on the gear at the end of 2017, would the council be willing to expend the funds this year?  The council agreed that the need was there and agreed to move forward if a good deal was found.

*Mr. Ort visited with the council about the utility bills owed by the Hodgeman County Health Center.  He will schedule a meeting with the interim Administrator and Office Director to set up a payment plan.

*Mr. Ort went over the fund health report with the council.

*The City has received the new pick-up and had a bed liner installed.  They will now add running boards and a new tool box.

Councilman Steinbring made a motion to recess into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel, pursuant to the non-elected personnel matter exception, K.S.A. 75-4319 (b) (1), with the Council, Attorney and Administrator present.  The open meeting will resume in the city council chamber at 8:41 p.m.  Councilman Smith seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Councilman Steinbring made a motion to come out of executive session.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.  No action was taken.

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