BELOIT CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
DECEMBER
4, 2007
The Beloit City Council met in regular session on December 4, 2007 in Council
Chambers. Mayor Phillip Roberts called
the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
City Council members in attendance were
Chad Thompson, Bill Foreman, Craig Cousland, Susan Concannon, Pat Struble and
Denis Shumate. Also present were City
Administrator Doug Gerber, City
Clerk Charlene Abell and City
Attorney Harry Gantenbein. Councilors
Tom Maxwell and Butch Pontow were absent.
Department heads in attendance were Mike Haeffele, Stacy Thompson, Frank Gent, Lloyd
Littrell and Murray McGee.
Councilor Struble offered the invocation and the Pledge of
Allegiance was recited.
Mayor Roberts had nothing to report at this time. Councilor Shumate has heard very positive
comments on the Christmas decorations downtown.
He wanted to let the City departments and staff to know about the
positive comments.
City Attorney Gantenbein had no report.
City Administrator Gerber also thanked the departments that
worked on the downtown Christmas decorations.
He also thanked Michele Heidrick for her involvement in the
project. A Kansas Government Journal was
available for each of the Councilors. City Administrator Gerber has been
working with the League of Kansas Municipalities to host a regional supper next
year in Beloit.
He was notified that the City was
chosen to host a regional supper on November 6, 2008.
He has also been working with the League on an article about Beloit that will be
published in the Kansas Government Journal.
Mayor Roberts asked for comments from the public. There were none.
At 7:05 p.m.
a public hearing was held regarding Country
Club Drive street improvements. There were no comments or questions. The public hearing ended at 7:06 p.m.
The Consent Agenda consisted of the meeting minutes of November 20, 2007 and
Appropriations 12A. A motion was made by
Councilor Cousland and seconded by Councilor Shumate to approve the Consent
Agenda consisting of the two items. Roll
call vote: Yeas: Thompson, Foreman, Cousland, Concannon, Struble and
Shumate. Nays: None.
A motion was made by Councilor Foreman and seconded by
Councilor Concannon to approve Ordinance #2042.
This ordinance is assessing property in the City of Beloit for the purpose of paying for a
portion of the costs for improvements such as a concrete street and curb and
gutter for Country Club Drive. The cost of the materials, concrete, etc was
$33,28638. The assessments
can be in full or can be spread over a period of ten years with an interest
rate of 6%. Roll call vote: Yeas:
Thompson, Shumate, Struble, Foreman, Cousland and Concannon. Nays: None.
At the last work session information was presented
concerning the details of the Interconnection Agreement between the City of Beloit and Mid-Kansas
Electric Company, LLC. This agreement
will allow a connection of the City’s electric system to the MKEC system for
the flow of electricity over the transmission system. This will make it possible to sell and
purchase power to and from outside sources.
The interconnection agreement will replace the 120 day agreement that
was signed. A motion was made by
Councilor Cousland and seconded by Councilor Struble to approve the
Interconnection agreement. Motion
carried 6-0.
A motion was made by Councilor Foreman and seconded by
Councilor Concannon to approve the cereal malt beverage licenses for the following
businesses:
Casey’s
Retail Company Beloit Bowl
Plum Creek
Meats China
House
Pump Mart El Puertos
Shamburg Oil
Company Mitchell County
Fair Association
The applications had been previously reviewed by City
Attorney Gantenbein and Police Chief Frank Gent. No violations were found. Motion carried 6-0.
Every three years, the City is required by policy to bid
the City checking account. The current
account is at the First National Bank and that bid is scheduled to end December 31, 2007. Two bids were received from eligible banking
institutions: First National Bank and Guaranty State Bank. Central National Bank was sent a proposal,
but they did not respond. The bid from
the First National Bank met and exceeded all of the standards of the request
for proposals. A motion was made by
Councilor Concannon and seconded by Councilor Struble to approve the
recommendation and accept the bid from First National Bank. Motion carried 6-0.
A motion was made by Councilor Cousland 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 thirty minutes. The session is
to include the Governing Body, City Administrator Gerber and City Attorney
Harry Gantenbein. Motion carried
6-0. The session began at 7:10 p.m. and ended at 7:40 p.m. No motions or decisions were made in that
session.
Back in regular session, a motion was made by Councilor
Thompson and seconded by Councilor Struble to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 6-0. The meeting ended at 7:42 p.m.
The work session began at 7:50 p.m. Those
present were Mayor Roberts, Councilors Thompson, Cousland, Foreman, Struble, Concannon
and Shumate. Also in attendance were City
Administrator Gerber, City Clerk Abell and City Attorney Gantenbein. Councilors Maxwell and Pontow were absent.
Department heads present were Murray
McGee, Stacy Thompson,
and Frank Gent.
There was no City Attorney report or any
correspondence. City Administrator
Gerber asked if the Council was interested in cancelling the January 1, 2008 City Council meeting. Everyone agreed to cancel it and that a
meeting could be called if necessary. The
City of Beloit applied for and received a grant
from the University of Man for $3,700 to help fund our newly established Post Rock
University. Administrator Gerber reminded Councilors
Cousland, Struble and Shumate about working at the Isle of Lights on December
11th from 9:00 p.m.
to 10:00 p.m. The Police department had an interview Monday
for an officer and will have another one on this coming Friday. The City Christmas Party will be on Friday,
December 7th at Captain’s Quarters.
On Tuesday, December 11th, Administrator Gerber will have
lunch with Councilor Shumate and Mayor Roberts.
Administrator Gerber reported on the information concerning the Police Department
vehicles. They are considering leasing a Durango
in 2008 and putting the 2007 Crown Victoria
into the fleet. Police Chief Gent has
been driving the 2007 vehicle and he would use the Durango when it was purchased. This will be a formal action item at the next
Council meeting. Administrator Gerber
and Assistant to the Administrator Thompson attended a library board meeting on
December 3rd to hear what the next steps that the library board
plans to take. The board has already
planned to meet with the North
Central Kansas
Technical College
and an architect on Thursday, December 6th to tour the site and talk
about how the college can participate in digging and excavation. There was a question on whether or not the
Library Board may want to put the new library question on the April ballot. Some commented that they thought it would be
a bad idea to bring the question back so soon.
After the discussion, it was a consensus of the Governing Body to
discuss this item at their next meeting so that they can determine the opinion
of the entire Council on this issue. The
Councilors also suggested that City Administrator Gerber contact the Library Board
and staff and invite them to attend a council meeting.
Work session items consisted of Vision Statements and Third
and Mill Street
property proposal.
Leon Atwell, facilitator for the Vision Development Team,
was present to discuss six draft vision statements that were developed by the
team. The team consisted of Councilors,
staff and citizens that met for over a year to come up with the following draft
vision statements: Beloit is a leader in North Central Kansas
by:
v Providing a positive, attractive
and supportive atmosphere showcasing our
distinct spirit.
v Encouraging local and regional
growth and viability, while maintaining the
character
of our community.
v Strategically attracting a new
generation of partnerships, businesses and
services while building a talented network of leaders.
v Engaging the community in quality
entertainment and recreational opportunities.
v Developing a progressive and
proactive infrastructure system.
v Celebrating the essence of our
rural character, offering affordable, high quality
and
family oriented living and being an inviting hub for cultural experiences.
Discussion was held on what the next Vision Statement steps
would be, including, getting community buy-in, planning, goal setting and
implementation. There is a need to find
a way to get feedback from the public on the statements, establish some
baselines and bring the information back to the Council.
A proposal was received from A Full House for the property
located at Third and Mill Street
that is owned by the City. The local
business is interested in erecting a building and displaying cars on the
lot. Before accepting any proposal, the
City would have to advertise that the City is accepting proposals for the lot. The councilors agreed that they wanted the
business to expand, but they didn’t think that particular lot was a favorable
location. It was agreed that the City
needs to advertise the property for sale and have Administrator Gerber and Community
Development Director Murray McGee
work with the business on their expansion.
The work session adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
_________________________________
PHILLIP ROBERTS, Mayor
ATTEST:
______________________________
CHARLENE ABELL, CMC
City Clerk