Meeting Minutes for March 7th
The Jetmore City Council met in regular session on March 7, 2019. Mayor Derek Olson called the meeting to order. Roll call was answered by Councilmen Orval Shewry, Jesse Pitts, Mike Hendrickson and Jeff Channell. Absent was Councilman Larry Steinbring. Also attending were City Administrator Michael Ort, City Attorney Clayton Kerbs and City Clerk Deb McKivergan.
The meeting was opened up for the public hearing for the Dodge City Co-op/Pride Ag tax abatement request. Alan Ochs, Wayne Schwartz, David Dansel and Mike Schmidt spoke to the council and shared their opinions on the tax abatement.
Councilman Shewry made a motion to deny the abatement for the City of Jetmore. Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
The public hearing was then closed and the council meeting was opened to business.
Councilman Channell made a motion to approve the consent agenda. Councilman Hendrickson seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT: ED Director LeaAnn Seiler gave the council the following report: there will be a market analysis administered for the aquaculture adventure. There will be six local businesses attending the community reinvention boot camp in the first part of April. There are two eCommunity loans out and a couple of new applications. Wing Shooting USA will be filming locally again and a possible program will be aired in August. Ms. Seiler passed along a comment from a local citizen suggesting a dance pad be placed in Sunshine Park to be used during Hodgeman Fest and other activities in the community.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT: City Attorney Clayton Kerbs reported that court is going well.
CITY CLERK REPORT: City Clerk Deb McKivergan reported that it was once again time to appoint Directors to serve on the KMEA Board of Directors. Councilman Pitts made a motion to reappoint City Administrator Michael Ort to the position of Director-1 and Mayor Derek Olson to the position of Director-2. Councilman Hendrickson seconded the motion; vote unanimous. Deb also reported that she would be attending Clerk Conference in Manhattan March 13-15.
ACTION ITEMS: In October of 2018 an oil analysis was performed on the transformer. That analysis indicated several elevated readings and required repeat testing before the standard annual repeat. The repeat testing indicated gasses building at an unacceptable rate and required further investigation. Per Solomon Corporation, the testing company, this did not indicate a critical state but did require fairly immediate need for a closer mechanical and electrical examination. This testing requires the transformer to be de-energized for three days, thus we will need to generate for three days. Kevin DeValkenaere of Farabee Mechanical has been informed of this. The cost for this service is estimated at $17,595. Councilman Channell made a motion to authorize Solomon Corporation to perform the mechanical and electrical examination for a price of $17, 595. Councilman Hendrickson seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
Nutrien Ag requested an extension to their hangar lease. The current lease dated July 3, 2016 was for a term of one year with automatic renewal. They have requested a 30 year lease with an automatic adjustment every five years, to coincide with the lease for the industrial park property. Councilman Channell made a motion to approve the lease extension as presented. Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.
The librarian is looking into having either a UPS, FED EX, or both, drop off boxes placed at the library. She is needing permission from the City because they own the property. The council agreed to let her proceed with the process of acquiring the box.
Mr. Ort reminded the council that it is time to look for summer mowing help. An ad will be placed in the newspaper requesting bids for summer mowing.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT: City Administrator Michael Ort presented his March travel schedule.
*Mr. Ort presented the March Financial Health report.
*Teardown on the old block has been completed, the new block has been delivered and buildup has begun on the power plant engine. Farabee will rearrange their schedule to complete the rebuild and testing before the maintenance outage scheduled by Midwest Energy on April 3rd.
*The main breaker for the substation recently arrived and will be placed during the outage for Midwest Energy maintenance.
*Liberty Mutual Insurance was in Jetmore on February 16th for an equipment breakdown assessment. The visit was productive and revealed seven issues for the City to address. All of those issues have been addressed or are being addressed now.
*Mr. Ort inquired about costs for a replacement oil circuit recloser (OCR), which Liberty Mutual required to be put on a replacement schedule. A replacement OCR costs approximately $2,000 and rebuilding one costs approximately $1,100 – $1,200 depending on parts needed. Mr. Ort plans to place a rebuilt OCR in place of one of the current and to purchase a new one, which will give us three new/rebuilt OCR’s in the substation. If the removed OCR’s can be rebuilt, they will be done over the next two year period.
*Mr. Ort was informed of an announcement made by Governor Kelly and the Secretary of Transportation that they will increase spending on transportation this year. Among the proposals is an increase in connecting links payments from $3,000 to $5,000 per lane mile. That would increase the City’s connecting links payments from $2,670 per year to $4,450.
*Mr. Ort and Mr. Kerbs traveled to Topeka on Monday to visit with Pete Earles, Dennis bowman and three staff members from KDHE regarding the blending issues between wells 12 and 13. KDHE will allow the City to proceed, but cautiously. They will require testing over the next six months to establish sufficient data to evaluate. This will also allow the City an opportunity to step back and reevaluate the issue.
*Two code letters were sent out in February.
*A billing error was found in which a meter was not registering correctly at Pride Ag. The Administrator has figured the correct amount for billing and a letter has been sent to Pride Ag with options for paying the bill back.
Councilman Shewry made a motion to go into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel with the Mayor, Council, Administrator, Attorney and Clerk present, and pursuant to the non-elected personnel matter exception K.S.A. 75-4219 (b) (1). The open meeting will resume in 10 minutes. Councilman Channell seconded the motion; vote unanimous. Councilman Channell made a motion to come out of executive session. Councilman Hendrickson seconded the motion; vote unanimous. No action was taken.
Councilman Channell made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Pitts seconded the motion; vote unanimous.