BELOIT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

FEBRUARY 5, 2008

The Beloit City Council met in regular session on February 5, 2008 in Council Chambers. Mayor Phillip Roberts called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. City Council members in attendance were Pat Struble, Chad Thompson, Bill Foreman, Tom Maxwell, Craig Cousland, Susan Concannon, Butch Pontow and Denis Shumate. Also present were City Administrator Doug Gerber, City Attorney Harry Gantenbein and City Clerk Charlene Abell.

Department heads in attendance were Stacy Thompson, Murray McGee, Mike Haeffele, Ryan Stocker and Lloyd Littrell.

Councilor Maxwell gave the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Mayor Roberts did not give a report. Councilor Pontow expressed disappointment that no one stepped up in the Fourth Ward to run for Council. Councilor Struble agreed with this statement.

City Attorney Gantenbein did not have a report. City Administrator Gerber reported that there is an amended agenda. A closed session was added.

Bob Severance was present to give a report on the Chautauqua Isle of Lights for 2007. There were 33 total days that the park was open. There were 8154 visitors from 83 Kansas towns, 32 states and 3 countries. The average attendance was 247 people per night. They had good weather to put up the decorations but miserable weather to take them down. Eight key nights were lost due to ice, snow and bad weather. Getting host committees was also a problem this year. Mr. Severance asked the Council if they would consider leasing Chautauqua Park to the Isle of Lights from October 29, 2008 to January 17, 2009. Opening night would be on November 26, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

Mayor Roberts asked for comments from the public. There were none.

The Consent Agenda consisted of the meeting minutes of January 15, 2008 and Appropriations 2A. A motion was made by Councilor Concannon and seconded by Councilor Maxwell to approve the Consent Agenda in its entirety. Roll call vote: Yeas: Thompson, Shumate, Maxwell, Foreman, Struble, Cousland, Pontow and Concannon. Nays: None.

Two different Resolutions were discussed concerning the Library ballot question. Resolution #2-2008A and Resolution #2-2008B were attached for the Council’s consideration. The Library Board decided that they would make several changes to help lower the cost of the project. They voted unanimously to present the City Council with the following changes to the library plan. The potential changes detailed are: omitting the east parking lot, omitting the stone entry canopies, omitting outdoor area and majority of landscaping, reduction of the multi-purpose room by 1,200 square feet and omitting the elevator equipment. Discussion was held on this issue for about an hour. Councilor Shumate made a motion to consider Resolution #2-2008B at a .4% Retailers sales tax for a period of ten years for the building and maintenance of a new library. The motion was seconded by Councilor Concannon. Roll call vote: Yeas: Foreman, Cousland, Concannon, Pontow, Struble and Shumate. Nays: Thompson and Maxwell.

A motion was made by Councilor Cousland and seconded by Councilor Pontow to approve the recommendation from staff and approve the bid for fully funded health insurance in the amount of $559,992 from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and keep the employee contribution at 5%. Motion carried 8-0.

Full House owner Gloria Homier would like to add automobile rental to the line of rental products they offer and construct a building to house the automobiles at night as well as service the vehicles. Ms Homier has made a proposal of $5,000 for the lot at the southwest corner of the Mill and South Street intersection. A motion was made by Councilor Thompson and seconded by Councilor Pontow to table this item and talk about it at the work session. Motion carried 8-0.

Four bids were received for employee uniforms. S&L Graphics was the low bid. The bid from S&L Graphics was $6,762.50. This amount may vary due to the difference in sizes and quantities. A motion was made by Councilor Foreman and seconded by councilor Maxwell to approve the recommendation. Motion carried 8-0.

A motion was made by Councilor Cousland and seconded by Councilor Pontow to recess into an executive session for a period of ten minutes for Attorney-Client Privileged Information. Motion carried 8-0. The session included the City Administrator, City Attorney and the Governing Body. The session began at 7:25 p.m. and ended at 7:35 p.m. No motions were made and no action was taken.

A motion was made by Councilor Pontow and seconded by Councilor Maxwell to recess into an executive session for a period of ten minutes for Preliminary Discussion relating to the Acquisition of Real Property. The session included the Governing Body, City Attorney and City Administrator. Motion carried 8-0. The session began at 7:38 p.m. and ended at 7:48 p.m. No motions were made and no action was taken.

A motion was made by Councilor Shumate and seconded by Councilor Concannon to recess into executive session for a period of ten minutes for Preliminary Consideration of Specific Personnel Matter of Non-Elected Personnel. Motion carried 8-0. The session included the Governing Body, City Administrator and City Attorney. The session began at 8:50 p.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m. No motions were made and no action was taken.

Councilor Pontow made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Councilor Struble seconded the motion. Motion carried 8-0. The meeting ended at 9:01 p.m.

The work session began at 9:05 p.m. Present were Mayor Roberts, Councilors Struble, Concannon, Shumate, Maxwell, Cousland, Pontow, Foreman and Thompson. Also in attendance were City Administrator Gerber, City Attorney Gantenbein and City Clerk Abell.

Department heads present were Haeffele, Thompson, Littrell and McGee.

Correspondence and Staff reports consisted of the January Community Development report, Mitchell County Historical Society services letter and a Wastewater Plant report.

City Attorney Gantenbein did not have a report.

City Administrator Gerber reported the stained glass classed offered by the Parks and Recreation Department is nearly full. The class will be taught by Councilor Craig Cousland. The Mitchell County Clerk has asked if the Municipal Building can be used as a location for the upcoming elections. There have been two columns in the newspaper about making changes in the way voting is done for City elections. It has been suggested that the people wanting to run for City Council still come from the four wards but will be voted for by the community at large. Staff will research this question and bring back more information at a later work session. At the last Library Board meeting, the issue of paying for some of the marketing costs was raised. The board would like the City to help pay for some of the marketing costs. The City agreed to help and that the funds would come from the Olive Schaffer Estate funds.

John Cashatt from Schwab Eaton was present to discuss the street petition process for Meadowlark Lane. The street would be about 1200 feet long and paving the street would cost approximately $110,000 in material only. There is concern about the drainage that crosses the cropland that is directly west of the Ackerman Addition and how the water crosses Eighth Street and overflows on Logan Street. Mr. Cashatt talked about putting a“dog leg” in and put in four storm sewer inlets to move the water in a different direction. This item will be discussed further with the property owners.

Discussion was held on the Mill Street project and plans for the near future. The plan is to construct through the Fifth Street intersection. The employees will not work longer shifts this year because the project will be out of the downtown area. There was discussion about who pays for the Mill Street Project once it has been moved out of the business district. March 6^th there will be a meeting with the homeowners in that area to discuss the Mill Street project plans.

Attached for discussion was the Energy Management Project payments summary. The summary broke down the ‘line of credit’ requirements for Energy Management Project No. 2. The City of Beloit is part of this nine city group and the Governing Body has heard numerous presentations about this subject.

The last item for discussion was the proposal from Full House that was tabled to the work session. Councilor Maxwell discussed what the lot was used for and there is demand for that area for parking. Community Development Director Murray McGee reported that there would probably be no more that three or four vehicles parked at the business at one time. Those vehicles would be housed at night in the garage, so there would be room for parking for events at the VFW. McGee reported that the owner would be flexible about the parking issue. Councilor Thompson thought that the proposal was below fair market value and he would like to see the lot sell for at least $10,000 instead of $5,000. However, there are numerous positive aspects of the proposal such as expansion of a current business in Beloit, the lot would not set empty, the lack of availability of car rental currently and a new job may be created with the hiring of a new service person. This item will be on the next agenda for action.

The work session adjourned at 10:00 p.m.

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PHILLIP ROBERTS, Mayor

ATTEST:

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CHARLENE ABELL, CMC, City Clerk