February 2018 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for February 1st

                                                                                                                                            February 1, 2018

The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on February 1, 2018.  Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order.  Roll call was answered by Councilmen Jeff Channell, Jesse Pitts, Orval “Pete” Shewry, and Larry Steinbring.  Absent was Councilman Michael Hendrickson.

Councilman Steinbring made a motion to approve the consent agenda.  Councilman Shewry seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Harold Johnson met with the council and requested a variance to Ordinance 470, to place a utility shed on his property.  Councilman Steinbring made a motion to approve the variance request.  Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Economic Development Director Lea Ann Seiler met with the council and reported that the Rooster Round-up winner for Hodgeman County was from Wellington, KS.  A retail business is looking for property in Jetmore.  The hospital has started the process of interviewing for an administrator.  Ms. Seiler also visited with the council about liability insurance for events that will be held in conjunction with Hodgeman Fest 2018 over Memorial Day weekend.

City Attorney Clayton Kerbs reported that January was a very busy municipal court month.  He discussed with the council the history of the change in the speed limit on Highway 156 west of the Highway 156/283 intersection.  Mr. Kerbs presented Resolution 2018-02, a resolution for the governing body of the City of Jetmore.  Councilman Steinbring made a motion to approve the resolution.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

City Clerk Deb McKivergan presented Resolution 2018-03, a GAAP Waiver Resolution.  Councilman Steinbring made a motion to approve the resolution.  Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Under the business portion of the meeting, the City Administrator noted that we needed to elect a president of the council after the placing of the new council member.  Councilman Pitts nominated Councilman Steinbring.  Councilman Channell seconded the nomination; vote unanimous.

Mr. Ort presented Resolution 2018-01, a resolution declaring the boundary of the City of Jetmore.  Councilman Steinbring made a motion to approve the resolution.  Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

Mr. Ort visited with the council about the current alcohol sales code.  Mr. Ort will bring a draft ordinance to the March council meeting for review.

The City Administrator reported to the council an opportunity for a CFAP grant to make improvements at the city lake.  The grant is a 90/20 cost share, up to $40,000.  He suggested updates to the bathroom facilities and possibly a shower also.  The council asked Mr. Ort to look into possible projects and their costs and report back to them at a later meeting.

Mr. Ort has been considering the possibility of working with the current private trash service to sub-contract trash service for the whole city.  This is in the very beginning stage and Mr. Ort wanted to know if the council was interested in him pursuing the project or not.  He will continue to look into it and bring back any information to the council.

Mr. Ort visited with the council about the KMEA/EMP3 capacity charge.  Their next meeting will be held on February 15, and he asked their advice on how they wanted him to proceed with requesting a refund of charges incurred when we first went on line.  Mr. Ort explained the process for figuring capacity and said he felt there was so support for refunding half and some support for no refund at all.  Mr. Ort was given permission to move forward at his discretion.

The clothing policy for the maintenance employees was discussed.  Currently the employees are given a set amount to be used as needed, along with the necessary clothing provided for working with electricity.  It was suggested that this policy be re-assessed.  Mr. Ort will draft a new policy to be reviewed at the next council meeting.

Mr. Ort presented a drug testing policy to be placed into the policy manual.  Councilman Pitts made a motion to approve the policy to be placed in the employee manual.  Councilman Steinbring seconded the motion; vote unanimous.

The position of City Treasurer was discussed and it was decided to continue with the position in current manner.

Mr. Ort discussed the cereal malt beverage license application.  The CMB Application is set by the Attorney General’s office and cannot be changed by the City.  The application requires a background check.  Mr. Ort will look into how  this can be done and bring an ordinance for a background check to the next council meeting.

Mr. Ort asked the council if they would like him to look into updating the code book since several ordinances have been added since ours was completed.  The item was tabled for further discussion until next month.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:  Mr. Ort presented his February travel schedule to the council.

*Mr. Ort presented the year end financials to the council.

*The generator was re-installed the last week in January and they began running the engine for a four to five hour test run.  There was a small interruption due to a fuel leak, which was repaired, then running was resumed without further incident.  It was run again the next day for a four hour run.  This run was uninterrupted and good data was obtained.  We are now ready to resume our normal schedule of monthly runs.

*The current year’s allotment of water meters have been ordered.  The City Administrator and City Foreman will continue to purchase meters as funds are available to complete the install of new meters as quickly as possible..

*Mr. Ort reported on the water tower project.  Project plans and specs have been approved by USDA and as soon as they are returned to the engineer, we will wait for USDA to return the plans and give approval to go to bid.

*The City Administrator reported on code enforcement letters that have been sent out and the issues that have been resolved.

*Mr. Ort reported that Municipal Energy Agencies are now subject to the KCC.  More information will be forthcoming as he continues to meet with KMEA and they discover more what this means for us.  Legislation has been introduced that would limit the extent of this intrusion and Mr. Ort has reached out to Senator Taylor asking her to consider supporting this bill.  Mr. Ort will continue to report on this as information comes to him.

Mayor Olson reported that the Library Board meets on the second Tuesday of each month and encouraged the council to attend if possible.

The Park Improvement Committee was recently awarded a grant to replace the sand in the playground area at the park.  The playground area will be closed for a couple of days soon to allow the city crew to remove the old sand and replace it with the new sand.

Asst. City Clerk Kelsey Keese is working on another city wide clean-up day to be held before the events of Memorial Day Weekend.  She will again try to engage students from the high school and the County Commissioners.

Gene Webb recently resigned from the Housing Authority Board and Mayor Olson will soon be appoint a board member to replace him.

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