BELOIT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
NOVEMBER
1, 2007
The Beloit City Council met in regular session on November 1, 2007 in Council
Chambers. Mayor Phillip Roberts called
the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
City Council members in attendance were Butch
Pontow, Bill Foreman, Craig Cousland, Susan Concannon, Denis Shumate, and Chad Thompson.
Also present were City Administrator Doug
Gerber, City Attorney Harry Gantenbein and City Clerk
Charlene Abell. Councilors Pat Struble
and Tom Maxwell were absent.
Department heads in attendance were Murray McGee, Lloyd
Littrell, Caite Kendrick, Frank Gent, and Stacy Thompson.
Mayor Roberts offered the invocation and the Pledge of
Allegiance was recited.
Mayor Roberts pointed out that this meeting was not held on
a regular meeting night. He thanked
everyone for agreeing to the change. The
City employees have had a tough week with the death of a co-worker and friend. The Veteran’s Day Parade will be held on
Monday, November 12th. If
anyone is interested in participating in the parade, please contact the Mayor.
There were no Councilor reports.
City Attorney Harry Gantenbein wanted to extend his
family’s heartfelt sympathy to the families of Sara Deneke and Cheryl
Christians.
City Administrator Gerber also extended his sympathies to
the Deneke family and the Christians families.
Gerber indicated that he was proud of how well the employees were
dealing with the death of Cheryl Christians.
Administrator Gerber thanked everyone for being flexible in changing the
meeting to tonight. The City has
received notice from the County that the trash rate will increase on the
January billing. The new fee will be
$14.18.
Mayor Roberts asked for comments from the public. There were none.
The Consent Agenda consisted of the minutes of October 16, 2007 and
Appropriations 10C. A motion was made by
Councilor Shumate and seconded by Councilor Pontow to approve the Consent Agenda
in its entirety. Roll call vote: Yeas:
Thompson, Foreman, Cousland, Concannon, Pontow and Shumate. Nays: none.
A recommendation was made to adopt Ordinance #2041, an
Ordinance deleting the section of the Standard Traffic Ordinance relating to
third time violations of driving while license is cancelled, suspended or
revoked. A motion was made by Councilor
Foreman and seconded by Councilor Pontow to approve Ordinance #2041. Roll call vote: Yeas: Thompson, Foreman,
Cousland, Concannon, Pontow and Shumate.
Nays: none.
The White building in Chautauqua Park
is currently the home of the Parks and Recreation Department. This building is not centrally located to the
facilities the department is in charge of maintaining and the building itself
is in poor condition. A tentative offer
of $25,000 was submitted for property located at 1515 N. Walnut. This location would be more convenient and is
in much better condition than the White building. The new building will need to be
remodeled. Offices will be added to the
interior of the building along with space for certain recreation
activities. This will be a multiphase
project as money is available. A motion
was made by Councilor Concannon and seconded by Councilor Shumate to approve
the purchase of the property in the amount of $25,000. Motion carried 6-0.
A motion was made by Councilor Shumate and seconded by
Councilor Foreman to recess into an executive session for preliminary
consideration of specific personnel matter of non-elected personnel for a
period of five minutes. Motion carried
6-0. The session is to include the
Governing Body, City Attorney, and City Administrator. The session began at 7:10 p.m. and ended at 7:15 p.m.
No motions or action was taken in that session.
A motion was made by Councilor Cousland and seconded by
Councilor Pontow to adjourn the meeting.
Motion carried 6-0. The meeting
ended at 7:17 p.m.
The work session began at 7:21 p.m. Those
present were Mayor Roberts, Councilors Thompson, Cousland, Foreman, Concannon,
Pontow and Shumate. Also in attendance
were City Attorney Gantenbein, City Administrator Gerber and City Clerk
Abell.
Department heads present were Thompson, Littrell, Kendrick
and McGee.
Correspondence and Staff reports included the October
Economic Development report, the Vision Development team minutes from the October 18, 2007 meeting,
and a letter from the Bureau of Reclamation concerning the City of Beloit water rights
request.
City Administrator Gerber reported that the Planning
Commission met on Monday and approved a variance for a garage at 922 N. Bell. Gerber reported that the City of Beloit had received its
first allotment of hydro power from the Grand River Dam Authority. Three megawatts of power is in place and will
be an important component of the City’s long term power supply. The Transportation Department finished the
last concrete pour on Country Club
Drive.
December 7th will be the date for the City Christmas party at
Captain’s Quarters. Plants Operations is
in charge of making all of the arrangements.
The Beloit Youth Council hosted a haunted house for Halloween. Admission was two cans of food for the food
pantry. There were over two hundred kids
that came through the haunted house.
City wide cleanup was held last week and the City crews picked up over
forty tons of “stuff”. The League of
Kansas Municipalities Regional Supper will be held November 6th in Abilene. Administrator Gerber and several of the
Governing Body will be attending the supper.
Youth volleyball was completed on Wednesday with forty-two girls
participating in the first through third grade levels. Forty-eight girls have signed up for the
fourth through sixth grade level of youth volleyball and they will begin next
Tuesday. Administrator Gerber reported
that a letter was sent in support of the Holcomb Station Expansion
Project. A signup sheet for lunches with
Administrator Gerber was passed around for the Councilors to sign.
Discussion items consisted of a residency policy, a
checking account bid, and an energy supply agreement.
The residency policy was discussed at the last meeting in
work session. Administrator Gerber was
asked to bring the policy back for more discussion at this work session after
receiving input from the department heads.
Gerber presented a draft for review.
The policy would require employees to establish residency within a
fifteen minute legal drive from the city limits. The following employees must establish and
maintain residency within the city limits of the City of Beloit:
City Administrator, Assistant to the City Administrator, Administrative
Services Director, Chief of Police, Director of Plants, Director of Systems
Operations, Director of Transportation, Director of Parks and Recreation and
the City Clerk. Seasonal laborers and
part-time employees will be exempt from the policy. The draft will be on the next agenda for
action.
The next item for discussion was the City checking account
bid. The City of Beloit checking account is bid out every
three years. A draft of the Request for
Proposals for Depository and Banking Services from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010 was presented for
review. The Governing Body agreed that
the draft was appropriate and that staff could send out the proposals. The proposals are due November 26, 2007, by 3:30 p.m. and then a selection will
be made at the December 4,
2007 City Council Meeting.
The City has received a letter agreement to establish a
temporary market-priced energy supply from Mid-Kansas Electric Company to the
Kansas Municipal Energy Agency for service to several Kansas
cities including the City of Beloit. Long term power supply agreements will not be
completed and/or approved by all of the required parties prior to the
expiration of the Cities’ existing power supply agreements with Mid-Kansas on November 1, 2007. This letter of agreement will be in effect
one hundred twenty days from November 1, 2007, or until such time that the long-term
power supply negotiations are complete and approved by all required
parties. The agreement will be signed
and sent in.
The work session adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
_________________________________
PHILLIP ROBERTS, Mayor
ATTEST:
______________________________
CHARLENE ABELL, CMC
City Clerk