REGULAR MEETING
Monday, March 9, 2009
The governing body of the City of Coldwater met in regular session with the following present: Mayor Tony Smith , presiding, Council members Penny Bruckner , Klete Hackney , Charles Salisbury, Tiffany Sowa , and Richard Thompson , Public Works Director Danny Shaw , Water Operator Chad Mull , City Attorney Skip Herd, City Marshal John Schmeidler and City Clerk , Kristal Sherman.
Guests included Dennis & Joan Sangster, Jeff Ragoschke, Marion Word, Darlene Caraway, Jerry Allen and David Cull
Mayor Smith called the meeting to order and led the flag salute.
Minutes from the February meeting were approved as written, motion by Chuck Salisbury, seconded by Penny Bruckner. Motion carried.
Dennis and Joan Sangster presented the council with copies of correspondence from CMS, pictures of an electric transformer directly in front of their newly built home at Comanche Estates and CMS maps of Comanche Estates showing where transformers should be set. Dennis said CMS will move the transformer box at a cost to him of $2,769.80 or $2,870.58, depending on which way it was moved. Dennis said he would be willing to pay a portion of the cost, but does not believe he should have to pay the entire cost, especially when the first map by CMS shows the transformer should not have been set there in the first place. After a lengthy discussion, Mayor Smith told Dennis and Joan he will discuss the matter further with Darrell Frazier and Rusty Blehm of CMS and get back with them.
Jeff Ragoschke told the council he would like to construct an 8-foot wood fence around his house to keep his dog in the yard and also for privacy reasons. Jeff drew a picture on the chalk board of how he would like to build the fence. The council told Jeff they would rather it not be 8 foot high and to set it back at least 2 or 3 feet from the sidewalk. After discussion, they asked Jeff to flag where he is planning on building the fence and the council members will go look at it, then Danny will get back to him within a week with their decision.
Darlene Caraway, manager of Prairie Plaza , asked the council to cover a $3,381.00 purchase made to upgrade the HUD software needed to do their monthly business and a new computer to enable it to work with the new software. The cost of the software is $1,780.00 plus $500.00 for additional tech support and the cost of the computer, which Darlene has already purchased from Best Buy, is $1,101.00. After discussing the situation, Klete Hackney told Darlene that she or members of the Housing Authority should have spoken to the council about the need for funds before they purchased the equipment, not after the fact. Richard Thompson told her he had a problem with her buying the computer out of town without even getting a bid locally. The council took no action on the request.
Marion Word informed the council she has a Doberman Pincher breed of dog which is on the list of vicious dogs in the newly adopted ordinance. She explained her dog is a watch dog, but she wouldn’t have a dog she couldn’t be in control of and asked that her existing fence be grandfathered in. Mayor Smith explained why she needs to have her fence up to the specifications mentioned in the ordinance. The council gave Marion ideas of things to do to get her fence up to the specifications.
David Cull, an engineer and tank inspection manager for Caldwell Tanks gave the council an update on the progress being made at the water tower. He said a crew was currently in Coldwater and explained they had cut holes in the concrete floor of the tower and voids in the dirt below had been discovered, but he did not believe the settling of the dirt had been caused by a water leak, he drew a picture on the board of the theory he had to make the dirt settle and the pipe break. He further explained that soil compaction samples had been taken from beneath the collapsed floor of the tower, but the results would not be available until tomorrow (Tuesday the 10th). He said the pipe had been repaired and pressure tested today and showed no sign of leaks. He also told the council he believed the best solution to the problem would be to pump concrete into the voids and then pour a new concrete floor on top of the old one, that also depends on what the soil compaction test showed. Mayor Smith and the council told Mr. Cull they felt that Caldwell Tanks should remove the entire floor, repack the dirt and then pour a new floor, the council explained to him they want it to be fixed right so this does not happen again in the future. Mayor Smith and the council told Mr. Cull and Danny Shaw they wanted to be informed of the results of the soil compaction test in the morning.
Adele Lopez, pool manager, told the council she has a water heater she is willing to donate to the City for use at the pool. Adele made a recommendation the pool be closed on Sundays rather than Mondays this summer and also recommended 6:30 p.m. be the closing time of the pool each day. After discussion, the council agreed to the recommendations.
Lake Manager , Pat Puderbaugh , passed around new license tags for golf carts he has had made, he also passed out a revised lake brochure for the council to review. He told the council the copier in the clerk’s office is not equipped to run very many copies at a time, he would like the City to be able to copy the brochure instead of going to the expense of having it printed by an outside company. The council instructed the City Clerk to price new copiers and a folding machine for the next meeting. Pat reported he has had a good response for lake hosts for the summer and has set a meeting with them for Saturday, March 28th. Pat asked the council if he could start the lake hosts working weekends in April, the council agreed. Pat also reported he has moved the handicap campsite on the west side of the lake closer to the bath house and has rented what used to be the handicap site for the season. Pat asked the council to consider giving assistant lake manager Connie Cox a 50 cent an hour raise, the council said they would consider it later in the meeting with the rest of the pay evaluations. Klete Hackney asked Pat about spraying the reeds at the lake. Pat explained they plan to burn the reeds and spray them when we get rain to lift the burn ban.
Marion Word returned to the meeting with another question about the vicious dog ordinance, she asked the council what kind of screens she needs to put on the windows of her house. The council simply said if there are no screens on the windows, she is not to open the windows, otherwise she needs to put screens on her windows. Marion said she may just move out to her mother’s property out of the city limits on the east side of the City, with the council telling her they could enforce the ordinances within a three-mile zone around the City. As Marion was leaving she said she would just have to move to Oklahoma .
City Marshal John Schmeidler showed the city council his new taser gun, and pointed out the camera for it was backordered. Mayor Smith asked the council what they thought about hiring volunteer reserve officer, Chris McDaniel during busy holiday weekends to help John patrol the lake. The council agreed it was a good idea.
City Attorney, Skip Herd reported he had the waiver of liability for Chris McDaniel, but if the City was going to hire him as a security officer for the busy holiday weekends, the waiver of liability would be null and void since he would be an employee of the City. Skip asked the council if they had reviewed the pasture lease he had brought to the City Clerk’s office. They all agreed it would work to use the same form for Noel Zahn’s pasture lease.
Water Operator, Chad Mull reported the cost of the dialers on the water wells and sewer stations is $3,200.00 and the cost of the phones through United Wireless is $59.00 per phone plus the cost of service of $39.00 per month, he did not have the amount for the charts yet so the council tabled the purchase until the next meeting.
Public Works Director, Danny Shaw passed around a color chart for the council to decide the colors for the welcome to Coldwater sign south of town. After colors were chosen and a few changes made to the sign, the council instructed Danny to order the sign. Danny informed the council, the employees that use ING for their deferred compensation plan, would like to switch to Waddell & Reed from Meade , KS . Klete Hackney made a motion to add Waddell & Reed as the City’s Deferred Compensation Investment Firm, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. Danny told the council he would like to hire his 15 year old daughter Rachelle as a lake mower this summer and asked the council if they had a problem with him doing that. Richard Thompson asked the council go into executive session with Danny for 5 minutes, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried. After returning to open session, Richard Thompson made a motion Danny be able to hire his 15 year old daughter as a lake mower with the provisions of the child labor laws, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried. Danny asked the council for a zoning variance for Machelle Brown at 307 W. 3rd to extend a fence in their back yard. Danny said he didn’t see any problems with granting the variance. Tiffany Sowa made a motion the zoning variance be granted to Machelle Brown to extend a fence, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried. Klete Hackney informed the council he may be building a shop on the lot behind what used to be the Elizabeth Adams residence, along the highway. It would probably be a 40’x 50’metal building with a concrete floor, he explained he’s just in the planning stage of it right now, and doesn’t even own the lot as of yet. Danny told him he would just have to fill out a building permit and pay the $10.00 fee when he’s ready to do so. Danny reported the upgrade to the lake hookups is going good and is almost finished. He also said he’s adding two new hookups in Section F, one on the lake side and one across the road and is still staying within the budget allowed for the project. Danny also asked the council to read the letter he received from an attorney with the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS). It gives clarification that if an employee is hired as “seasonal” or “temporary”, they can work over the 1,000 hours in a calendar year and are not eligible to be covered by KPERS.
Mayor Smith asked the council if they wanted to raise municipal court costs after the discussion was tabled at the February meeting. City Clerk, Kristal Sherman told the council currently the court costs are $70.00 and the county’s traffic court costs are currently $75.00. She also mentioned Judge Zielke recommended they did not raise them any higher that what the county’s court costs are. Klete Hackney made a motion the municipal court costs raise to $75.00, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Mayor Smith explained Steve Herd, the county road and bridge supervisor, approached him about a 10’x 90’ strip of land the City owns west of the City. Steve explained the county can be guaranteed government stimulus money to replace this bridge if the City deeds the County the strip of land, he told him the county would be willing to pay $200.00 for the land. Richard Thompson made a motion the City quit claim deed the land over to the county for $200.00, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Mayor Smith told the council Linda Crowe with Peoples Insurance visited with him about the City’s insurance policy and set out an option to add an umbrella to the policy at the cost of $4,200.00 per year and also to add law enforcement liability insurance at the cost of $750.00 per year. After discussion, Tiffany Sowa made a motion the City add the law enforcement liability insurance for $750.00 per year to the insurance policy and decline the umbrella addition, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Richard Thompson and Klete Hackney gave the council an update on the City’s 125th Anniversary Celebration. City Clerk Kristal Sherman, also asked the council if they want to have a firework display during the celebration and if so, this would be the time to order the fireworks since she received the order for the July 4th fireworks today. After discussion, Klete Hackney made a motion to double the original order of $2,500.00 and have fireworks for July 4th and also during the Anniversary Celebration, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried.
Penny Bruckner reported the Coldwater Housing Authority has two vacancies and said Jerry Allen is willing to serve another term. She said they had also approached Carole Byram and she would be willing to serve as well. Penny Bruckner made a motion to appoint Carole Byram and Jerry Allen to the Coldwater Housing Authority for a four-year term from March 2009 to March 2013, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. Penny Bruckner also explained about Darlene asking for the new software and computer, saying Darlene was not at their Plaza Board Meeting that was held last Wednesday, and she had already bought the computer and left copies of the receipts for each board member at their board meeting. The council agreed to table the matter until the April meeting.
Bills in the amount of $40,082.83 were presented for payment. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to approve the bills as presented, seconded by Richard Thompson and the motion carried.
After the Mayor and council reviewed employee evaluations, Mayor Smith told the council he was recommending most employees receive a 25 cent cost of living increase. Richard Thompson told the council he had conducted a survey of a few area Cities to compare our employee’s wages to and said we are behind on most positions’ wages. After discussion, Klete Hackney made a motion to approve wage raises, as listed below, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried:
Danny Shaw – 2% from 3,128.70 to 3,206.05 per month
Ryan Beeley – from 12.36 to 13.11 per hour
Rodney Keith – from 9.00 to 10.25 per hour
Joe Lopez – from 8.25 to 9.50 per hour
Chad Mull – from 10.50 to 11.00 per hour
Kristal Sherman – from 11.50 to 12.75 per hour
Connie Cox – from 7.50 to 8.00 per hour
Hoy Cox – from 7.00 to 8.00 per hour
Mayor – from 200.00 to 300.00 per month
City Council Members – from 100.00 to 200.00 per month
Under unfinished business, Mayor Smith asked the council if they want to sell the 1988 Chevy pickup for $100.00, the bid they received last month from Joe Lopez. After discussing the matter, Klete Hackney made a motion to sell the 1988 Chevy pickup to Joe Lopez for $100.00, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried.
No further business was presented. Klete Hackney moved the meeting adjourned, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.