February 1, 2023
The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on February 1, 2023. Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call was answered by Councilmen Jeff Channell, Connie Chavez, Kyler Fetters, Charles Leet and Mike Thornburg. Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort, City Attorney Clayton Kerbs and City Clerk Deb McKivergan.
Councilman Fetters made a motion to approve the consent agenda, containing the January 4th minutes and Appropriation Ordinance 2023-01. Councilman Chavez seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT: ED Director Sailor-Anne Seiler reported the following updates from her office. She has received new marketing materials. She attended Trail Day at the Capitol to promote HorseThief Reservoir and Kenyon Nature Park. The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge has been rescheduled to March 6th. S & P Catering held their grand opening on January 13th. She attended the Winter Expo of Southwest Kansas on Jan 20-22. Her office hosted the ED Roundtable for the SWKS region. She applied for the NWKS NEW grant. 240 pounds of ground deer meat was picked up and delivered to the HCHD and the Ministerial alliance with the possibility of more. She renewed the KDA license for Elk Plaza and gathered letters of support for the T-Mobile Hometown grant. She met with several businesses to conduct research and discuss NWKS funding opportunities. Later this month she will be attending Destination Statehouse with WWC and she will attend the ABODE and SPRINT webinars and CDBG Road Show.
Lonnie Ruff, Chairman of the HCHC Board, met with the council and discussed his concerns over snow removal at the HCHC and the airport runway. Ideas were discussed about how the city and county could work together.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT: City Attorney Clayton Kerbs reported that municipal court is going well. Their office will soon be hiring a replacement in the absence of Edgar Pando and will introduce them once they are hired.
CITY CLERK REPORT: Deb handed out forms for the council to sign stating whether they would like to accept the yearly lake pass and the golf course memberships for 2023. Deb submitted her resignation/retirement effective April 14, 2023.
BUSINESS ITEMS: The annual KRWA membership meeting will be held in Wichita on March 30th and the council is required to designate a voting delegate and an alternate. Councilman Fetters made a motion to appoint City Administrator Michael Ort as the voting delegate and Larry Fagen as the alternate. Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
*KMEA presented an Operations and Maintenance Assistance Agreement. The agreement is for 3 years – 2023-2026 for $25,000 per year. Councilman Channell made a motion to participate in the Operations and Maintenance Assistance Agreement for the years 2023-2026. Councilman Fetters seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT: City Administrator Michael Ort presented his February travel/training schedule.
*Per emails to Mr. Ort, it appears that we are about 60 days out from a loan agreement with KDHE for the repair of Well #12.
*The K-156 project bid let date has been pushed back to the spring of 2024.
*Mr. Ort has been working to finalize the construction contract between the City and Mr. Mendez for the park bathroom project.
*After the conversation at the end of last month’s meeting, Mr. Ort reached out to the listserv to ask if the city building a duplex was possible and how it could be done. He was given several suggestions and will continue to pursue the idea.
*The need for a new hangar at the airport has been discussed in the past. Mr. Ort found that the cost for the building alone would be about $150,000. Possible funding avenues were talked about and Mr. Ort will continue to pursue the idea.
*Alison Guthrie, Sailor-Anne Seiler, Mr. Ort and a representative from the Kansas Trails Council met regarding the extension of the trail in Kenyon Park. Kansas Trails has a trailer they call the “Trail in a Box” that is in the area that can be used to build the trail. Mr. Ort also suggested that the Trail in a Box might be used to work on a trail around the city lake, per suggestions made by lake users for easier access to fishing along the bank.
*A Petition for the Vacation of the alley in Block 20 of the Hauns 1st Addition to the city of Jetmore was presented by Nageeb Alhaj of Dodge Petroleum. The process begins with a petition for vacation followed by advertisement of a public hearing at least 20 days before the hearing, the public hearing, and final passage of an ordinance.
GOVERNMENT BODY COMMENTS: The Farmers State Bank has water getting into their basement and they have tried to remedy that with no results. They think it may be coming in from the street and have asked the city to help find where it is coming in. Mr. Ort will work with the bank and the city staff to coordinate the effort.
Councilman Chavez, on behalf of the Hodgeman Community Foundation, presented a check for $500 toward the building of a splash pad.
Councilman Channell made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Fetters seconded the motion; vote unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.