REGULAR MEETING
Monday, April 13, 2009
The governing body of the City of Coldwater met in regular session with the following present: Mayor Tony Smith , presiding, Council members Brian Adams, Penny Bruckner , Charles Salisbury, Tiffany Sowa , and Richard Thompson , Public Works Director Danny Shaw , Water Operator Chad Mull , City Attorney Skip Herd, City Marshal John Schmeidler , Lake Manager Pat Puderbaugh , Pool Manager, Adele Lopez and City Clerk , Kristal Sherman.
Guests included Greg Vanderree, Kelsey Thompson, Chris Bruckner, Wade Sherman, Brad & Lesa Davis, Roger & Sherrie Misak.
Mayor Smith called the meeting to order and led the flag salute.
Newly elected city council member Brian Adams, re-elected council member Penny Bruckner and re-elected Mayor, Tony Smith were sworn into office by City Clerk, Kristal Sherman.
Minutes from the March meeting were approved as written, motion by Chuck Salisbury, seconded by Penny Bruckner. Motion carried.
Greg Vanderree told the council he was there on the advice of his attorney to “make nice”, he also proceeded to tell the council that Danny Shaw is picking on him when it comes to code enforcement. He said he realized his car dealership on the north end of the City needs cleaned up and he is currently working on that, but didn’t see why he should have gotten a letter regarding the trailer he owns on North Topeka street when the issue had to do with the back yard and no one sees it. The council told Greg that Danny is only doing his job as code enforcement and he sends letters on their advisement. Greg said he wanted his $125.00 refunded that he paid after his truck was towed off his property, he said the City did not have the right to tow the truck since it was on personal property. After discussion, Mayor Smith told Greg they will discuss refunding the $125.00 later in the meeting and get back with him.
Kelsey Thompson first asked the council for an extension to re- roof the lake and pool buildings from the original date of May 1st to May 25th. He explained the weather has not been very cooperative and he needs the temperature to be in the 70’s for a few days in a row so the shingles will adhere to the roof. The council agreed to the extension. Kelsey also asked that 75% of the total bid ($33,750.00) be paid since he’s already been billed for the materials. Chuck Salisbury made a motion the City pay Kelsey $33,750.00 for materials, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried.
Pool manager, Adele Lopez, told the council she has hired 8 lifeguards for the summer with 5 needing to take the lifesaving class at $125.00 per student and two needing to take the CPR refresher course at $45.00 per student. Richard Thompson made a motion the registration fees be paid for the lifeguards to take the lifesaving and CPR classes at a total cost of $715.00, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried. Adele said she is ready for the water heater and sink to be installed at the pool because KDHE will be here to inspect the premises in the near future.
Lake Manager , Pat Puderbaugh , told the council he has a citizen of the City going to and from the lake in her all-terrain-vehicle, which is prohibited at the lake, but she has been given a permit to ride it in the City. After discussion, it was decided the lake committee of Penny Bruckner and Chuck Salisbury will talk to her about the matter. Pat reported the restrooms at the lake will be open as soon as the weather permits, and the urinal in the men’s restroom at the front gate needs repaired. He asked if a waterless urinal could be purchased to replace the one at the front gate to try it out. Tiffany Sowa made a motion that a waterless urinal be purchased to replace the urinal at the front gate, seconded by Richard Thompson and the motion carried. Pat also reported the storm shelters have been checked and cleaned out, all electrical upgrades have been finished, and he traded work on trimming trees for 2 jet ski permits from a local citizen. The council discussed with Pat if burning the reeds was a possibility, Richard Thompson said he will check with Fire Chief Larry Ellis to see if they can burn. Pat also asked the council about the possibility to build a new ticket booth at the entrance gate. The council asked Danny if the city crew would have time to build it, he said they could build it at the shop in their spare time and on rainy days. Pat also asked the council about taking the new picnic tables that are being built over to Filson’s Manufacturing in Protection to have painted, at a cost of $12.00 per table. After discussion, Tiffany Sowa made a motion to allow Pat to take the picnic tables to Filson’s Manufacturing to have painted at $12.00 per table, seconded by Brian Adams and the motion carried. Pat asked about purchasing t-shirts for the lake hosts and the assistant manager. After discussion, it was agreed to purchase 1 t-shirt for the lake hosts and 2 for the assistant lake manager. Pat also informed the council he was going to have to go in for minor surgery in the near future.
Brad and Lesa Davis, Roger and Sherrie Misak and Wade Sherman made a complaint to the council first about a “car detailing business” a few teenage boys have opened at the unoccupied residence of 111 N. Jefferson which is right across the street from the residence of Brad and Lesa Davis, they noted that it’s in a residential district that does not allow a business in a residence without a zoning variance. Second, they complained about the noise coming from the business itself and from the boys with their loud pickups coming and going from the residence/business late at night. After discussing the matter, Council member Brian Adams said he warned them to keep the noise down and to be finished by dark and was afraid this might happen, he said he would take care of it and have the business moved to his residence since his son is one of the boys opening the business. Lesa Davis asked what they should do if the matter is not taken care of and Mayor Smith told her they could get together a petition with signatures of the neighbors and present it to the council.
City Marshal John Schmeidler told the council he has purchased a hand held radar and received the camera for the taser. John reported he is going to a grant meeting on April 22nd and a taser instructor class on April 23rd. The taser instructor class will give him the ability to certify anyone on a taser. He informed the council he will need to certify Chris McDaniel on the taser before summer.
City Attorney, Skip Herd reported he has prepared a pasture lease agreement between the City and Noel Zahn. Skip also told the council they should think about an ordinance regulating wind generators within the City since there are starting to be meetings about wind farms in the area.
Water Operator, Chad Mull reported the cost of the dialers and charts on the water wells and sewer stations is $4,993.00. Richard Thompson made a motion to approve the purchase of the dialers and charts at a cost of $4,993.00, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. The subject of phones to use with the dialers was discussed. Mayor Smith said the cost of a plan through United Wireless would be $59.00 per phone and $19.00 for the service plus $9.99 per line per month. The council instructed Chad to check on prices of other phone companies and report back at the next meeting. Chad told the council that Jack Sooter wants to take out a section of fence at the city park between the park and pool. After discussion, the council agreed to leave the fence and instructed Chad to let Jack know not to take it out. Richard Thompson made a motion the council go into executive session for personnel reasons for ten minutes with Chad Mull , seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. After returning to open session, there was no action taken from executive session.
Public Works Director, Danny Shaw asked the council to look at their copy of a letter from the Kansas Department of Commerce asking for ideas how to spend stimulus monies the State will receive. He said if they had ideas, to write them down and he will fax them in tomorrow. Danny reported Hoy Cox will be coming back to work for the City over the summer and he has had applications for mowers and will be making a decision about them within the next couple of weeks. Danny asked Mayor Smith about running a new water line to his storage buildings at the south end of town if and when the Dollar General store comes in. After discussion about where to run the line, Richard Thompson said he will ask the Kansas Department of Transportation what permit is needed to run the line in the highway right-of-way on the west end of the property. Danny discussed with the council about different lighting ideas for the bath house at the pool.
City Clerk, Kristal Sherman explained when the council approved the application for the work-site utility vehicle permit, the fees for the tags were never discussed and since we have a citizen that purchased a work-site utility vehicle, we need to charge him for the tag. After discussion, Tiffany Sowa made a motion to charge $20.00 for the tags for the work-site utility vehicles, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Council committees were discussed since we have a new council member. Chuck Salisbury made a motion to adopt the council committees as follows: Police: Tiffany/Mayor; Lake: Penny/Chuck; Oil & Gas: Chuck/Penny; Streets: Richard/Brian; Parks & Pool: Tiffany/Brian; Water & Sewer: Richard/Tiffany; Gun Range : Richard/Brian; Comanche Estates: Penny/Chuck/Danny; Code Enforcement: Richard/Penny, the motion was seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried.
Penny Bruckner reported the Comanche County Economic Foundation has offered to let the City have a website through them at the cost of $200.00 per year to start with and after discussion about the website, it was agreed to find out more information about the particulars of the website and report back to the council.
Richard Thompson told the council the lake/golf course fence is in terrible shape and after the Country Club had their annual meeting last week they discussed ways to improve the fence. Since it’s actually the City’s fence, Richard asked if the council had ideas of what kind of fence to go back with. Danny said he has some wire that can be used and if it runs out he can get more. Richard will work on getting posts.
City Clerk, Kristal Sherman presented the council with a golf cart permit application from Don Moore. After discussing the application, Chuck Salisbury made a motion to deny Don the permit since he can operate a motor vehicle, seconded by Brian Adams and the motion carried.
Kristal also presented the council with prices on different new and used copiers for City Hall from Bolen Office Supply. After discussion, Tiffany Sowa made a motion to buy the Kyocera KM-2550 new with a service contract for a cost of $2,395.00 and $35.00 per month for the service contract, seconded by Richard Thompson and the motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $58,601.23 were presented for payment. A question was asked about buying the City Marshal duty boots and after discussion the council agreed to buy the Marshal one pair of duty boots per year at a cost of less than $100.00. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to approve the bills as presented, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried.
Under unfinished business, the Prairie Plaza computer purchase was discussed. A motion was made by Richard Thompson to buy the CPU at a cost of $487.58 and the 3-year extended warranty at a cost of $147.14, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. The council also discussed Greg Vanderree’s earlier request to have his $125.00 towing fee refunded to him. After discussion, the council agreed to wait and see if Danny has a picture of where the truck was placed on Greg’s property to see if it was on the City right of way and tabled it till the next meeting.
No further business was presented. Tiffany Sowa moved the meeting adjourned, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.