CITY OF COLDWATER
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REGULAR MEETING
Monday, October 13, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.
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 and City Clerk , Kristal Sherman.
Guests included Jeff Levering, Tom and Cindy Offield, Larry Ellis, Mike Baldwin, Linda Hart and Chris Bruckner.
Mayor Smith called the meeting to order and led the flag salute.
Minutes from the August meeting were approved as written, motion by Chuck Salisbury, seconded by Penny Bruckner . Motion carried.
Jeff Levering asked the council for a zoning variance to allow him to keep four horses on his property on East Main which is not zoned for livestock. After discussing the matter with Jeff, the council told him they would discuss it later in the meeting and get back with him.
Tom Offield told the council he is in the process of purchasing the property just south of the Coldwater Laundry which was owned by the Bob Keith estate and only recently found out the city has a special assessment for over three thousand dollars on the property. He asked the council if they would consider forgiving the assessment, he will not buy the property otherwise. City Clerk, Kristal Sherman, explained the assessments are put on the property once a year. The County Clerk asks for them in August so they can be put on the tax rolls and billed in November. After discussion, Richard Thompson made a motion to relieve the special assessment for Tom and Cindy Offield since they did not know it existed at the time they purchased the property, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Dennies Andersen, representing the Chamber of Commerce, asked the council to waive the rental fees for the Veteran’s Building for the Chamber sponsored city-wide garage sale weekend. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to waive the Veteran’s Building rental fees for the Chamber of Commerce, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried.
Mike Baldwin and Linda Hart, representing the Comanche County Economic Development Foundation asked the council for a donation which they have given annually for quite a few years in the past. Richard Thompson made a motion to donate $3,500.00 to the Comanche County Economic Development Foundation, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried. Linda Hart wanted to remind the council it will be time to appoint a council member to the CCEDF for the coming year. Council member Chuck Salisbury is currently serving on the Foundation board and he can either be re-appointed or another council representative could be appointed to the board. Linda also invited the council to the meeting hosted by the CCEDF this Wednesday, Oct. 15th, regarding the results of a First Impressions Survey of the three Cities in Comanche County conducted by Ron Wilson of KSU, she also noted a group making a documentary about “Smalltown USA” will also be attending the meeting with a camera crew to film and possibly use the meeting in their documentary. Linda will also be taking the group around Coldwater on Thursday to film different aspects of our community.
Comanche County Fire Chief Larry Ellis, reported on the tests he, Danny Shaw and Chad Mull had done at the request of the city council regarding the water volume and pressure in the City when the old water tower is shut down. He explained there was a drop in both volume and pressure at the fire hydrants when the old water tower was shut down, but there is more volume and pressure now than there was before the new water tower was put into place. The council agreed they will proceed with plans to discontinue the use of the old water tower due to the expenses involved in the upkeep of the old tower.
Water Operator, Chad Mull, asked the council for a computer for his office. He explained it would help to keep water records, make necessary forms and he would be able to receive reports over email. Chad had costs comparisons from Buy The Byte, Dell and Gateway. After discussion, Richard Thompson made a motion to buy the water department a computer for $975.00 or less from Buy The Byte, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried.
Council member, Richard Thompson told the council he believes City Hall could use a scanner, especially to work with the website. Richard made a motion to buy City Hall a scanner, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Public Works Director, Danny Shaw asked the council to consider forming a new council committee to oversee code enforcement. After discussion, Mayor Smith appointed Richard Thompson and Penny Bruckner to be the code enforcement committee. Danny asked the council to reconsider using the fire hydrant meter for the Farmers Co-op, after discussing the matter, Klete Hackney made a motion to allow the Farmers Co-op to purchase a hydrant meter, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried. Danny reported the water tapping charges have been lost and asked the council to make new charges to cover the costs of the City. After discussion, Tiffany Sowa made a motion to accept the following tapping charges: 5/8” to 3/4” - $525.00 up to 60 feet; 1” - $655.00 up to 60 feet; 2” - $1,410.00 up to 60 feet; 3” - $2,500.00 up to 60 feet; the motion was seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried. Danny told the council he would like to see an after-hours dog pickup fee put into place and suggested charging $80.00. After discussing the matter, Klete Hackney made a motion to charge $80.00 to a dog owner who wants to get their dog out of the pound after-hours, seconded by Richard Thompson and the motion carried. The council agreed to also inform the dog owners if they don’t want to pay the $80.00 fee or it’s late at night, they must wait until the next working day to get their dog from the pound. Danny asked the council permission to order 30 loads of chat for street work next year at an estimated cost of $25,800.00. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to allow Danny to order 30 loads of chat for next year, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried. Danny asked the council if they want to leave the entrance bathroom at the lake open for the winter since there are campers out at the lake over the winter time. The council agreed to keep the entrance bathroom open. Danny reported Tyson Uhl has been driving his golf cart to and from work every day and does not have a permit to do so. Klete Hackney agreed to visit with Tyson and tell him it is not allowed. Danny also reported the cost of materials has gone up, since it was last discussed, on the replacement of a planned water line upgrade in the north part of the City from $4,000.00 to $4,500.00. The council agreed to the raise in the cost of materials.
Richard Thompson told the council he recommends moving the City sign at the North end of town. He instructed Danny to get with him, and the State highway department will work with the City maintenance guys to get it moved. They also discussed the sign south of town needs some attention and will take care of it also.
City Clerk, Kristal Sherman asked the council to set the date for the annual City Christmas Party, she suggested Sunday, December 14th for the date and 6:30 for the time, everyone agreed.
The City Clerk also reported the committee for the City’s 125th anniversary met and made a proposed budget of $7,500.00 to bring before the council for review and approval. After discussion of plans for the celebration, Tiffany Sowa made a motion to accept a budget of $5,000.00 for the 125th anniversary celebration, per monitoring by the City Clerk, with the agreement that additional funds would be made available if needed. The motion was seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
Discussed bids for the pool roof and instructed Danny Shaw to put an ad in the paper for 2 weeks for interested contractors to meet at the pool Friday, October 24th at 1:00 p.m. Danny will explain to those interested, the specifications of the job and the fact they will have until 5:00 p.m. November 10th to submit bids to the city council to be reviewed at the meeting.
The council reviewed the bids from three different contractors for the tearing off and re-shingling 114 squares of shingles on various buildings at Coldwater Lake : Hebert Construction bid of $22,002.00; Amalgamated Services bid of $25,000.00 and KAT Construction bid of $20,648.00. Penny Bruckner made a motion to accept and approve KAT Construction’s bid of $20,648.00 for the roofing of the lake buildings, stipulating the job needs to be completed by May 1, 2009, seconded by Klete Hackney and the motion carried with Richard Thompson abstaining.
The council reviewed two bids received for the electrical work to be done in the Veteran’s Building: BKM Electric of Meade for $3,615.00 and Wildcat Electric of Minneola for $5,338.66. The council was concerned the bid from BKM Electric didn’t have all the specifications of the job since they didn’t list everything on their bid and it was so much lower than the other bid. Danny assured the council BKM bid on the exact same job, but agreed to contact them to make sure. Richard Thompson made a motion to accept and approve the bid from BKM Electric of $3,615.00 pending satisfaction of specifications after Danny contacts them, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried.
Mayor Smith opened two bids for the Chevy S-10 pickup; one from Clayton Adams for $200.00 and one from Hoy & Connie Cox for $250.00. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to accept the bid of $250.00 from Hoy & Connie Cox for the Chevy S-10 pickup, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried.
Lake Manager , Pat Puderbaugh, had the council look through the income and expenses of the lake, noting the expenses will go up before the end of the year with the expected electrical upgrades starting this month. Pat reported he had visited with a representative from the Kansas Wildlife and Parks who had done a fish survey of the lake saying he was going to come to a council meeting in the near future to discuss a number of recommendations he has for the lake. Pat also reported quite a few of the wood picnic tables are in need of major repairs and recommends they think about purchasing some new tables next year, he also said Hoy Cox constructs the metal frames for them and they would cost about ½ of the recycled tire tables, he asked the council to think about making that a winter time project. Penny Bruckner made a motion to go into executive session for 15 minutes for personnel reasons with Pat Puderbaugh, Danny Shaw and Kristal Sherman, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. After returning to open session, no decisions were made.
Richard Thompson asked the council to review another example of an ordinance banning pit bull dogs from the City. After a discussion, the council decided to table the matter until the November meeting.
Richard Thompson made a motion to go into executive session for 5 minutes for personnel reasons with Danny Shaw and Kristal Sherman, seconded by Tiffany Sowa and the motion carried. After returning to open session, Richard Thompson made a motion to give Chad Mull a 50 cent an hour raise from $10.00 to $10.50 an hour upon completion of his 90-day probationary period which will end October 28th, seconded by Penny Bruckner and the motion carried.
Bills in the amount of $154,522.56 were presented for payment. Tiffany Sowa made a motion to approve the bills as presented, seconded by Klete Hackney . Motion carried.
Under unfinished business, Jeff Levering’s request for a zoning variance was discussed. The council agreed Jeff should get signatures from all his neighbors before they will agree to the variance. Klete Hackney volunteered to talk to Jeff about the council’s decision.
No further business was presented. Tiffany Sowa moved the meeting adjourned, seconded by Chuck Salisbury and the motion carried.
10/31/08: Danny Shaw conducted a call-around vote to hire Joe Lopez as a maintenance employee. All council members were contacted and all five voted yes to hire Joe Lopez.