[0:00] and call the meeting to order um so please go ahead and join me to say the

[0:04] Pledge of

[0:07] Allegiance all right I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of

[0:14] America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible

[0:21] with liberty and justice for all and I'd like to welcome Chris gets with the

[0:26] First Christian Church to say the invocation

[0:28] please my pleasure will you bow with me Heavenly Father we come before you

[0:34] and thank you for the privilege and the blessing that it is that we've got a

[0:37] city that cares and a team of people that also care and so we just ask Lord

[0:42] your wisdom and your guidance as they continue on uh to deal with the Affairs

[0:46] of our town we're grateful for them and I just pray Lord your hand of blessing

[0:49] as they make decisions for us it's in your holy name we pray amen amen thank

[0:54] you Chris you thank you CHR than guys okay approval of the minutes for

[1:01] November 24th City Commission meeting commissioner Cole did you have any

[1:04] questions I do not have any questions commissioner

[1:08] GW yeah under uh regular business they got

[1:13] two uh in the second paragraph under that they got two of them morphed

[1:19] together so the the supplement agreement number three from

[1:24] PEC uh I think uh

[1:31] so I think I think Bridget made the

[1:35] motion Jody just need to clean up the verbage and it approved two to one and

[1:42] then on the on the motion on the annual Christmas bonus the way I remembered it

[1:48] don't really matter but I think I motion I think bridg seconded it I think it was

[1:51] a three to0 three to zero vote yeah yep I'll fix it

[1:56] correct okay and that's that's all that I saw

[2:00] okay great then I will go ahead and make a motion to approve the November 24th

[2:05] 2020 minutes after amended do I hear a second I'll second I it's been moved and

[2:12] seconded all in favor say I I

[2:20] I motion passes recognition of employee of the month for November was Desiree

[2:25] Donovan thank you so much Desiree for all the work that you have done I know

[2:29] that at least I'm pretty sure you've been handling uh coordinating the zoom

[2:33] meetings for us and giving us all of our meeting materials always appreciated I

[2:37] always have enjoyed talking to you very pleasant and upbeat and positive and you

[2:42] even gave up your office space which was very considerate to help with the when

[2:47] the city was reorganizing so we just thank you so

[2:50] much for always being a team player and being there for the

[2:55] City Y

[3:00] citizens to be

[3:05] heard I don't know if there's anyone on the

[3:08] call I don't see anyone so we'll go ahead and move on to governing body

[3:13] comments student rep Nathan Gwyn do you have anything that you'd like to say no

[3:18] I don't have anything thank

[3:21] you uh commissioner Gwyn uh I just first off I'd just like

[3:27] to thank Mike Burns of the Auburn fmer for the donating a courtesy car to the

[3:33] airport and I out there this evening and very nice car huge upgrade for them and

[3:41] uh airport project looks like it is proceeding they run into a hitch one

[3:46] crew a couple of the crew members got Co so they had to send them home and

[3:51] brought in another crew so they're hoping to they're hoping to finish

[3:55] everything up Thursday so uh it's kind of progressive but they ran into a hitch

[4:01] today on that and that's uh that's all that I

[4:07] got okay uh commissioner Cole yes I would like to thank the chamber for

[4:13] organizing the Santa Cruz I'm really excited for that to take place um on

[4:17] December 19th uh 6 to 8 o'clock right I think that's right and I also

[4:23] want to thank the friends of the Prairie Spirit Trail for decorating the Harris

[4:26] Park they always do such a nice job and it's just um we appreciate them so

[4:32] that's all I

[4:36] have um Chris the only thing I was kind of curious about was The Southern Star

[4:41] comments I know that that period was really limited and I was kind of

[4:43] wondering if the city knew if anyone had submitted anything to

[4:48] that as far as I'm aware nobody submitted any comments or had any

[4:53] concerns regarding the uh regarding the proposed leave-in Place project okay all

[5:00] right thank you and I just wanted to thank Auburn Pharmacy too for the

[5:03] donation of that car I noticed that this past weekend I believe there were people

[5:08] here who were able to utilize it so that was really exciting and so wonderful to

[5:11] see that we have an little bit of an updated model

[5:15] there all right moving on to regular business item a consideration of

[5:20] appointment of Bob Mills and reappointment of Beth merman to the

[5:23] Planning Commission and board of zoning Appeals

[5:30] right commissioner Cole did you have any questions I don't have any questions but

[5:34] I'm excited to see all the people that are interested in all the the openings

[5:37] that we have on this committee so no questions commissioner Gwen I I didn't

[5:43] have any questions either okay I did not either so I will go ahead and make a

[5:48] motion to approve the appointment of Bob Mills and Beth merman to the Planning

[5:52] Commission and board of zoning appeals do I hear a second I'll

[5:55] second okay it's been moved and seconded all in favor say I

[6:00] I I all right motion passes consideration

[6:05] of appointment of Helen Norman and reappointment of Susan Karen to the

[6:09] tourism Advisory Board commissioner Cole I don't have any questions um I

[6:15] would move to approve the appointment of Helen Norman and the reappointment of

[6:19] Susan Karen to the tourism Advisory Board okay I'll second it's been moved

[6:24] and seconded all in favor say I I I

[6:30] I okay motion passes consideration of reappointment of janon Gordon and Roy

[6:36] Salazar to the Parks and Recreation Advisory

[6:41] Board all right uh commissioner Cole no I would move to approve the

[6:48] reappointment of Janan Gordon and Roy Salazar to the Parks and Recreation

[6:52] Advisory

[6:55] Board I have second okay it's been moved in second

[6:59] did all in favor say I

[7:05] I all right um consideration of reappoint oh sorry motion

[7:11] passes H consideration of reappointment of Linda huon Mueller and Sandra mofet

[7:17] to the library

[7:21] board I will go ahead and make a motion to approve um the reappointment of both

[7:26] Miss huton Mueller and Sandra mofet the library board do I hear a second I'll

[7:32] second okay it's been moved in seconded all in paper say I

[7:38] I okay motion passes and then consideration of

[7:43] reappointment of Elizabeth Abraham to the Housing Authority

[7:47] board

[7:50] um I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the appointment of um Elizabeth

[7:55] Abraham to the Housing Authority board do I hear a second I'll second

[8:00] okay it's been moved and seconded all in favor say I

[8:05] I okay M motion passes approval of CBG CV funds in the

[8:11] amount of $1,341

[8:15] 63 for CD shy agency this is probably pretty standard

[8:21] then Chris to go along with all the other cdbg dollars

[8:25] correct okay are there any questions that the other commissioners

[8:30] have I didn't have any okay I don't have any questions all right then we'll go

[8:35] ahead and make a motion to approve the CBG CB funds in the amount of

[8:39] $2,341 63 for CD Shelty agency do I hear a second I'll

[8:46] second I it's been moved and seconded all in favor say I I I

[8:53] I okay motion passes item G uh consideration of police

[8:59] Police Department remodel I think there might be questions here so we'll slow

[9:06] down okay Chris um Chief King is on the call isn't

[9:10] he I know he was getting on I don't know if he's here quite yet or not unless

[9:15] he's Mom's computer I'm not seeing him so um now I noticed I noticed that he

[9:22] had sent a video kind of explaining everything that he was looking at having

[9:28] remodeled and that has not changed correct correct okay unless something's

[9:35] changed in the last hour and a half so I don't believe so surpris yeah okay

[9:40] that's what I was gonna ask when did he send the video I didn't see it I haven't

[9:46] seen it but i' been driving home as so so um if you hold on a second I can tell

[9:53] you I'm not exactly sure what this will do to my video

[9:56] but I re I received the video from a link called evidence.com

[10:02] on December 4th so there was an email first from Kurt King and it it went to

[10:09] all of our Garnet Kansas City email addresses so if you haven't checked that

[10:14] one then that would be where you would have received it and right after

[10:19] that was the one who what I received an email from him

[10:26] that said he was going to send one but I I mean I earlier today and I still

[10:30] hadn't received it so I don't know if there's something wrong with that email

[10:34] address or maybe it just didn't come through right but Fe Sate on the 4th

[10:39] today's the eth it should you know it's had plenty of time to get there so okay

[10:43] but there isn't there aren't any changes compared to

[10:47] the written information that he gave us at the previous I I don't believe so and

[10:53] Kurt has joined the conversation now so I can let him address some of this but

[10:58] uh with regard to the email issues I can if you would like uh I can access uh I'd

[11:07] have to change your passwords that I can try to get into it and see if there's uh

[11:12] any issues and make sure that it's functioning properly um but if you would

[11:17] like to try to do that I can try to see if there's any issues there that may be

[11:21] preventing you from receiving those and then I could reset the

[11:26] password and uh resent you resend it to you so you can update your password

[11:32] after after we get it whatever issues there may be

[11:36] addressed okay yeah I wouldn't mind finding out maybe why it didn't come

[11:41] through but I did have an opportunity to read through the material he gave us at

[11:46] the last SC so

[11:51] yeah so C uh Chief King there was uh a question about the video only mayor bre

[11:59] kaen hus uh has had a chance to review the video I believe commissioner Gwen

[12:04] you didn't get a chance to either I don't I don't use my city email so I

[12:09] didn't I didn't see it okay um so I know that commissioner

[12:16] Cole indicated Chief you came came in just a little bit late uh commissioner

[12:20] Cole indicated she for some reason hasn't received it either on on her City

[12:24] email address so we'll have to look into to why that occurred um and try to make

[12:29] sure that we can get that out to you but you might check to see if it wasn't

[12:34] maybe went to spam CU it's it would have been a link from evidence.com like so

[12:39] once it got uploaded from our body cams it shares it's a secure portal so it

[12:43] sends a link and it'll self I said it I think for 10 days then it self deletes

[12:48] after that but they should have got a link to download from evidence.com and

[12:53] there's times that that will go to spam so I did receive it in the main inbox

[12:58] there uh shortly after you sent the first

[13:01] email so it at least didn't go to to my spam email folder I

[13:07] guess did the and I guess the other Commissioners probably haven't seen it I

[13:12] I mean I just sketched something up I didn't know the dimensions I just took

[13:16] some some guesses but I sketched up some sort of a blueprint have there is there

[13:21] has there been a plan made or are we still where we was at last time we just

[13:25] want to build something and then tear it down and and redo it later

[13:29] well I guess my question to the commission is is what is considered

[13:36] later well it would be my hopes that uh we can proceed if if we can I don't have

[13:43] trouble expending this amount of money on the project if it's a section of the

[13:49] building and that part's done and then and then we carry the project on as we

[13:53] get monies but uh to to do it and then just turn around and tear it out seems

[13:58] like a waste of money

[14:02] and I guess the only thing that I was thinking if we continue to put

[14:06] 125 into the capital Improvement line item

[14:12] each year based on what the Architects gave us on that previous one at a half a

[14:16] million it's going to be like 38 years before we get to the half a million Mark

[14:20] to remodel it

[14:26] completely I'm thinking a half a million is going to be kind of a Taj M Hall it

[14:30] might even make the county county barn look like a coat closet I I don't know

[14:36] how you could hardly spend a half million dollars in that

[14:41] space I I'm just going off what the Architects told me I I I thought that

[14:45] was an I I figured it'd be closer to a quarter of a million personally

[14:51] but the problem is is that it has steps and to even get it an ADA Compliant just

[14:56] like the side entrance is going to take the the grade would take you almost

[15:00] halfway across the

[15:07] building coming in from the parking lot yes is there is there one step or maybe

[15:13] two there's

[15:16] two and then the same thing for the step down to get over to the City Hall

[15:24] side the Ada issues are significant um that Chief King is

[15:30] referencing and if we were to make any kind of uh fullscale remodel we would be

[15:36] required to make it ADA Compliant to my

[15:51] understanding so this tonight's proposal is exactly the same as last time right

[15:59] I believe that is the case yes Chief King was hoping that with an additional

[16:03] couple weeks to review uh that the commission might be might have enough

[16:07] time to uh review and consider the information and then I think that the

[16:12] issue at the last time was that you only had a couple hours toh to review that

[16:16] information so that was obviously challenging to

[16:21] do now goad information that he okay on the

[16:27] remodel information that he gave us at the previous meeting that I read you

[16:31] that's not going to be enough that it would lock us into any ADA compliance

[16:37] right I I don't believe so uh City attorney sander would you have any

[16:43] concerns with regard to um will it amount to a

[16:55] minor uh Mr solander you're muted okay how

[17:00] about that there better there we go okay yeah I got it uh unmuted I don't uh

[17:10] have any drawings or anything but based on my conversations with Chief King uh I

[17:18] think the remodeling that's proposed for right now

[17:23] is slight enough that it probably would not trigger 8 because it doesn't address

[17:31] the entry and so forth and areas that are obviously non-compliant won't be

[17:37] affected by it so it's always been my understanding that

[17:42] unless uh pretty much started from scratch if you left areas that weren't

[17:48] as long as what you put back is ADA Compliant you should be all

[17:56] right okay thank you

[18:02] so Chris this would come um out of already budgeted Capital Improvement

[18:06] funds right yes

[18:11] ma'am what was that dollar amount again I know it was on the

[18:16] previous but I didn't see it on the front here it might be all the bid total

[18:20] up to 17,6

[18:27] 7396 okay and if the commission would feel better

[18:32] I guess some things if you we could scale back on some things the biggest

[18:38] thing is is I have a uh an interview room upgrade

[18:44] coming uh the uh software is going to get purchased here in the next week or

[18:48] so uh and so we have to insulate one room to so that we can adequately use

[18:55] our interview room and then that South room I would request even if we don't do

[19:00] some of the others I would still request like the flooring and things would help

[19:05] improve it just the looks dramatically and that the one wall in

[19:11] the South room I would assume even if we do a remodel will stay

[19:16] there uh and uh a complete remodel I'd assume that would remain probably the

[19:23] same and then the flooring if if a if a somehow we come up with money to do a

[19:30] more extensive remodel then we could reuse the flooring it's it's going to be

[19:35] a vinyl plank flooring which will come up easily and it can just lay over the

[19:39] existing flooring that we

[19:45] have mayor Breck heisen has I don't have any other questions and U I would be

[19:51] fine if you would want to make a motion okay uh yeah I just I was just going to

[19:57] make mention of the fact that it's coming from the police department's

[20:01] Capital Improvement fund I I am okay with the idea of using it at the

[20:06] discretion and approval of the um of the city manager as well with the

[20:12] police department you know and identifying that need and I mean chief

[20:16] King you know the needs of the department and if that is where you find

[20:19] that you know Capital Improvements are best made then I uh trust that and I did

[20:25] appreciate being able to watch the video to see that as well so I am I'm fine

[20:30] with that expenditure if that is how you want to proceed especially in light of

[20:36] the odds of there being a significant remodel in the near future is unlikely

[20:41] and it does need a lot of work done to that area so I

[20:46] am I'm okay with that as well H now commissioner going are there any other

[20:52] questions you had before any motion is made

[20:59] no I like I say I don't have I don't have a problem with expenditure and they

[21:02] definitely need some upgrades to that area but uh

[21:07] I well I just for the lack of planning uh to be able to use this remodeled area

[21:16] into the future I just can't vote for it with

[21:20] uh as it stands

[21:24] okay I will go ahead and make a motion then to approve the police Department

[21:29] remodel in the amount of and correct me if I'm wrong $ 17,6

[21:36] 7396 do I hear a second I'll second moved and seconded all in favor

[21:43] say I I I all again or all opposed same sign

[21:51] I okay motion passes 2 to

[21:56] one all right consideration claim for damages from commissioner

[22:02] Gwyn I've spent well I really don't know how much

[22:07] time I've spent on it I've spent more on it than what I anticipated I would have

[22:12] to I'd say I'm probably 75 to 80% through but I'd like the opportunity to

[22:18] complete it I should be able to give you a report in advance of the next meeting

[22:23] so that you would have it prior to uh that time okay that's fine with me fair

[22:32] enough okay then we will go ahead and table that for the next meeting and move

[22:37] on to discussion regarding an ordinance regulating dirt bike tracks or noise

[22:43] levels uh Chris do you mind going in explaining

[22:48] this a little bit I mean do you even have a I didn't see that there was an

[22:52] example ordinance in here or if anything in our noise ordinances would pertain to

[22:58] addressing any of this so if you don't mind kind of elaborating on the issue

[23:04] absolutely uh so the currently the city does not have uh really a a formal noise

[23:12] ordinance um like a lot of communities do um we basically have disturbing the

[23:19] piece um but there's not like a you know deible level type ordinance that a lot

[23:24] of communities have um The Challenge has been that we had a uh a resident who has

[23:32] uh requested that an ordinance be considered uh

[23:37] regarding dirt bike tracks in the city limits because uh right across from his

[23:43] house is one of his neighbors has uh basically started to use their front

[23:48] yard as a as a dirt bike track uh and I believe I provided a link to a to a

[23:55] video um hopefully you were able to review that that

[24:01] um and uh basically the um the situation was that the the

[24:10] individual uh

[24:13] is having an excessive amount of noise that is dis disturbing the uh the

[24:20] individual and he has I believe I provided in your in a packet this

[24:24] evening a list of uh community members neighbors to that property who have

[24:31] basically signed a petition that they would be in favor of consideration of

[24:36] such an ordinance um we discussed a couple different options with this with

[24:41] this resident whether it be you know a noise ordinance whether it be regulating

[24:46] dirt tracks uh Etc I told him I wasn't sure what direction the commission might

[24:50] like to proceed and that's why I don't have a sample ordinance in front of you

[24:55] uh really was hoping to get some guidance from you this evening on if you

[24:58] would like to consider such an ordinance and then City attorney solander and I

[25:03] can try to come up with something for your consideration uh but you know

[25:08] whether it would be something that you would want toh to view a a dirt bike

[25:14] track prohibition whether it be in city limits whether it be in a residential

[25:18] area um or whether it be something more along the lines of a of a traditional

[25:24] noise ordinance regulating certain decibel levels uh it's Etc so wasn't

[25:29] wasn't exactly sure what direction you might like to go but thought I'd hear

[25:34] what your thoughts were on that could I make a comment if you guys don't mind

[25:41] sure um I don't know uh Mr solander and Greg you guys might remember when there

[25:48] was an issue with um someone having a gun range out off of

[25:56] katala um I don't what the Precedence uh was I mean I think that set the

[26:02] Precedence for this um I don't know what the um final decision was on that but

[26:08] this was probably six or seven years ago do you remember how that

[26:13] um uh what we did there um with with that uh noise

[26:21] complaint I think it just pretty much took care of itself I'm not recalling

[26:26] that we did anything particular on that I don't remember anything being done

[26:31] either yeah that's my recollection is that we we talked about it and uh the

[26:37] complaints went away or subsided or something because I sure don't recall

[26:42] that we enacted anything to address the issue and I wasn't that property in the

[26:49] county and not in the city also it was County yes that's what I was thinking

[26:55] and the the if if I uh I haven't done any research in the

[27:01] registered leads office with this particular uh situation and the person

[27:06] who has the dirt TR dirt bike track but I believe some part if not a significant

[27:14] part of their ground is outside the city and if it's prohibited uh uh just you

[27:21] know from a a dirt bike standpoint you're going to have a

[27:27] problem if they're doing doing it outside the city the noise ordinance

[27:30] looks to me like it might be the most profitable Avenue to

[27:36] explore and the only cautionary that I would say at this point is 10 or 15

[27:43] years ago when these uh noise ordinances became fairly popular it coincided with

[27:49] the availability of relatively inexpensive decibel

[27:55] meters and there was some concern in some cities uh that without proper

[28:03] training uh City officials would probably get challenged in court when

[28:11] the prosecution of citations was uh necessary I don't I've seen a number of

[28:18] ordinances that now prohibit noise and again it's not an exhaustive

[28:24] search by any means but after the notes appear

[28:28] last meeting in the city manager report I I did a very minimal amount of

[28:35] checking there are enough of them out there that I suspect maybe some of the

[28:40] early concerns have been addressed or proved to be not the problem that they

[28:47] were expected to be uh so I think a uh a noise ordinance might be more uh

[28:57] effective if somebody was trying to move it

[29:00] outside the the city limits noise has a way of of moving and I um I'm not sure

[29:08] that you couldn't make an argument that uh the city would have jurisdiction if

[29:13] somebody was so close to the boundary as to be able to you know create virtually

[29:19] an indistinguishable problem for City residents even though it was being

[29:23] generated outside the city um those are just pretty much random

[29:30] thoughts right now but uh unless there's a real appetite just to address dirt

[29:36] bikes I think my inclination would be to study it from that perspective at least

[29:43] initially have they I assume this property is in the city limits and and

[29:48] have uh has anybody reached out to that property owner and and talk to them I

[29:53] mean we're talking about passing rules for everybody over this one situation

[30:01] I haven't uh talked to anybody about it so I have not spoken with the uh the

[30:08] individual in question I can certainly reach out to um to to that person uh I

[30:14] do my understanding is that there have been conversations um regarding this

[30:20] situation uh with the neighbor and the individual but U I have not but I can

[30:26] certainly do that if if you would like to

[30:28] have me explore that route uh prior to uh moving forward with an

[30:35] ordinance yeah I think that I would appreciate hearing what would come of a

[30:39] conversation with the person I mean is it during the day typically that this is

[30:43] happening or is it a nighttime event so to my at least the the video

[30:49] that was provided uh it was certainly daylight and um it seems to me uh

[30:56] through the conversation I had with the with the resident that it wasn't

[31:01] necessarily limited to certain time frames that it was probably um a uh

[31:07] fairly consistent issue uh in evenings and during the daytime but I can I can

[31:14] certainly visit with the with the individual who the complaint is is

[31:23] regarding yeah that would be great please

[31:31] commissioner Cole did you have any other questions in the interim before he

[31:37] speaks um no but I do think it's a good idea to reach out to the person who has

[31:43] the complaint to try to gather all the information so we'll have that as we

[31:48] move forward yeah good and if nothing else too um the

[31:54] person then has the opportunity to become aware that it's coming for the

[31:58] commission so they could always speak on the matter as

[32:02] well okay approval of semi-monthly bills and payroll in the amount of

[32:12] $996 uh commissioner Cole did you have any questions I do not commissioner

[32:19] Gwen I got my questions answered only notes I'll make is that the 308,000 of

[32:26] it is for

[32:30] fueling apron and taxi way at the airport and 437,000 of it is for debt

[32:37] payoff on a waterline project so that's some some big numbers that R this thing

[32:43] up just for a little explanation of some of it thank

[32:49] you all right I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve this in my monthly

[32:52] bills and payroll in the amount of

[32:56] $996,000 second

[33:00] second it's been moved in seconded all in favor say I I

[33:07] I motion passes we'll go ahead and move on to informational items departmental

[33:12] reports commissioner Cole did you have any comments or questions on these I do

[33:18] have a few um on Julie and I know she's on here um it said that the the

[33:23] Harvesters the next distribution may be on Monday December 21st if someone wants

[33:29] to help with that who would they do they contact you

[33:34] um second [Music]

[33:37] Susan was that who you're were referencing Mrs Cole it is okay sorry uh

[33:43] yeah uh you could certainly reach out to to Susan or Mr Dan col train is actually

[33:48] who puts that together I don't know if you know Mr col Train's contact

[33:52] information but um I don't have his contact information but I do know who it

[33:57] is okay uh C certainly we can help

[34:01] coordinate that if you would have any interest in assisting I I do know uh

[34:07] it's always the more hands that are available certainly makes it a lot

[34:12] easier it's been growing certainly especially around the holiday season in

[34:16] terms of the number of people who are um who are in need and uh

[34:23] the the amount of food and resources that are provided it's it's just

[34:28] absolutely tremendous that our community can do that for our people yeah I have

[34:33] that day off so I would I would like to to help with that um the other question

[34:38] I have in Susan's report it talks about Meals on Wheels is there um is there an

[34:44] age limit to the kids that could help with

[34:48] that do you know like let's say um KY organization or the FBLA out of the high

[34:55] school are if that would even work for

[35:00] them do do they have to be a certain age to help with that that's what I was to

[35:05] to be honest I am not sure on on that okay could I just email Susan would she

[35:13] probably uh she might know Mr sander do you

[35:17] happen to know if there's any age restri I'm not aware of any age restrictions on

[35:22] it but uh I haven't had any reason to check into it so I really don't know

[35:28] okay my my first thought would be that it'd probably be possible essentially

[35:32] you're just picking up Meals um previously prepared meals from the

[35:36] senior center and then delivering them to uh to wherever their final

[35:41] destination is but as long as you have a driver's

[35:45] license my assumption would be that that would be

[35:48] Poss I think where there's no compensation involved in in doing it

[35:54] it's a regular uh Class C license which 177 or 18 year old would be able to

[36:01] possess that ought to be adequate okay I will pass that

[36:07] information

[36:10] on I wanted to ask on the fire department at a question

[36:18] he just said that um there's some additional Emergency Equipment that's

[36:22] going to be needed and he's going to put that in his December report

[36:27] know do you have any idea what equipment he's talking about is it going to be

[36:31] like big dollar amounts or something that we might be able to get for them uh

[36:37] so it was uh all purchases that I think were you know going to Total to less

[36:43] than 5,000 if I recall correctly uh Chief Skillman and I had a conversation

[36:48] about um what they needed to try to do here at the end of the year um if there

[36:53] were any any expenses any needs that they had and you know one thing was um

[37:01] getting the garage doors repaired um they weren't closing all the way and uh

[37:06] the the motor itself and the chain it was constantly running and if we didn't

[37:12] get it fixed uh eventually that door was going to um malfunction to where it's

[37:17] going to open um and then when we have a fire we need to get a truck out we can't

[37:21] get the truck out because the door won't open um or you know we end up having to

[37:25] replace the whole door and get gear and chain and everything so I believe that's

[37:29] going to be around a $1,000 fix and he's looking for uh hope hopefully get a

[37:34] grant for that as well um he went ahead and purchased I believe it was another

[37:40] weed eater a chainsaw uh some equipment to help

[37:44] outfit the trucks so that way no matter which truck they take uh they they'll

[37:49] have the equipment that they need um currently uh we have or at least

[37:54] historically we have had to at times uh switch equipment from one truck to

[37:59] another to try and make sure that the right equipment was on the truck that

[38:03] they were going to respond with and by outfitting the trucks with all the uh

[38:08] same equipment they're not going to have to to spend valuable time um trying to

[38:12] make sure that the the truck has the tools that they need um before they can

[38:17] actually respond um so this way they can have a quicker response time uh as well

[38:22] as um I believe uh a fairly significant purchase was a fan um

[38:28] you know just trying to make sure that they're they're properly outfitted for

[38:35] the the job itself and so most everything was tool oriented um or like

[38:40] in the case of the garage door uh some repairs there I believe they're also

[38:43] looking at um replacing the Bay Lighting from uh traditional lighting to LED

[38:50] lights uh which will be some Capital expense but longterm should save us some

[38:55] money on on electricity on electricity costs uh same same deal with the garage

[39:00] door in that it wasn't closing properly and so we were leaking air conditioning

[39:05] we were leaking um hot hot air all the time and so by fixing that we it should

[39:11] reduce our utility costs as well given that we'll be able to actually close

[39:16] that door so overall uh I I do think that it's going to be less than you know

[39:23] $5,000 to my understanding okay I just when the fire department needs things

[39:29] for their trucks I just wanted to make sure that we I didn't want to slow up

[39:33] that process so if there are things that they need I just want to make sure that

[39:36] they get those I just have a couple more things um on the Parks and Recreation

[39:42] and and this is just a question I know that high school activities are not

[39:46] allowing anybody in any Spectators and so when I read that we are doing that I

[39:52] just I didn't know if there was um I mean maybe we what reasoning we use to

[39:59] to do that to allow Spectators so to uh Phil and I had a had

[40:06] a conversation about this yesterday morning and I didn't have a chance to to

[40:09] visit with him um at link uh to try and really see I guess what modifications

[40:17] they're looking at but I know that there are restrictions on the on the amount of

[40:21] Spectators that are going to be allowed um I know that in our league there are

[40:27] uh a number of schools that were it was pivotal to get on board with being able

[40:33] to really play ball at all uh because if they were going to um in a lot of cases

[40:40] it was you know a consideration of they may not allow us to to be in there at

[40:44] all and and use their gymnasiums and that was something that uh thankfully we

[40:49] were able to our league was able to partner with those schools and make that

[40:52] happen there was I believe one school or one community that dropped out of our

[40:57] recreational League because they did not want to abide by the um restrictions on

[41:04] attendance for spectators um so rather than play with limited Spectators they

[41:09] decid they opted out of playing at all um but we are grateful to be able to

[41:15] offer the um the programming uh at all so I know that that's something right

[41:21] now that's challenging Casa did meet today to review the appeals boards

[41:27] recommendation to uh rather than completely remove Spectators to

[41:34] allow I believe it was somewhere between one or two

[41:38] um parents or or Spectators per child I'm not sure you you're probably more

[41:44] aware of what that result was than than I am but uh I I know that in

[41:51] general the the leagues our league was able to uh get schools and gymnasiums

[41:59] available that we were going to be able to have limited

[42:03] Spectators and so it is something that you know may be a little bit more than

[42:07] what Casa allows uh but it is still Limited at

[42:12] least okay um I did you don't mind real real quick I just um we also purchased

[42:19] two iPads with spark funding so they can actually stream those youth sport games

[42:26] to still limit the attendance so um we were going to not we weren't going to be

[42:31] able to spend everything that we were um allotted and so we were thinking outside

[42:36] the box and Phil suggested uh doing that I reached out to uh the county clerk and

[42:41] she said yeah that's a viable spark expense so we actually did and purchase

[42:46] two iPads so they can live stream those games as well yeah I was excited to see

[42:51] that when I read that I did want to compliment Karen who was doing some

[42:55] online classes um exercise classes so good for her um the last thing I had I

[43:01] happen to than the fire department they always make money through their chili

[43:05] soup supper and I know we have that Santa Cruisin coming up and I didn't

[43:09] know it might be too late but I wondered if they could do something where people

[43:13] could order it and you know get get those item get soup to go maybe during

[43:20] that time and maybe that would help them um bring in a little bit of money for

[43:25] some of the things that they're needing but

[43:28] just an idea okay that's all I have thanks thank

[43:34] here commissioner Gwen

[43:38] um well I on the the uh West report fire chief I see they got two new uh

[43:47] firefighters on board Zachary wilper and Justin Thompson so that's good that they

[43:52] they're getting some some young people on there and got some interest in that a

[43:57] vital service that they provide

[44:01] um one thing on one of the reports the see a Wastewater truck is needing

[44:07] replaced is that a is that like a pickup style truck or or a bigger truck like

[44:14] commissioner G can you hear me commissioner G can you hear me yep

[44:20] okay it is a Ford F250 and it's not necessarily being replaced uh it would

[44:26] serve is a backup truck but it's getting pretty thin

[44:31] um pretty thin and my hope is that next year we can get them a new truck or a

[44:38] good used truck and then have that as a backup truck uh mechanically we're

[44:44] putting a lot of money into parts and labor because that is their daily driver

[44:49] um 25 years old and I can see through the wheel well to the frame

[44:57] it's getting pretty rough I I just wanted to bring that up because they're

[45:01] getting by very well with very little um and I don't want them to miss their

[45:08] turn and then they can't rot a sewer because they don't have anything to pull

[45:11] the sewer Roder

[45:15] with Chris do we have uh is there anything scheduled for

[45:20] 21 in regards to that do you know commissioner when

[45:25] sir uh I've been taking care of or trying to take care of public works' uh

[45:31] equipment reserve and they are due for one next

[45:37] year it was it budgeted

[45:41] yes so we do have the the budget uh set for the equipment Reserve plan for next

[45:48] year for a Wastewater truck

[45:55] yes sounds like that issue is going to be

[45:59] resolved correct it should be

[46:04] yes

[46:08] okay and then the uh looking for a replacement truck for

[46:13] the uh sanitation department

[46:19] um sounds like that's probably the cheapest best route than having these

[46:25] trucks that keep breaking down all the time

[46:28] uh realizing that that's even with that said it's still

[46:31] going to be an expensive Venture not only buying the truck but then getting

[46:35] it outfitted with the with the bed that's on our truck that I assume is

[46:40] what they're talking about doing right uh we're hoping to move one of our beds

[46:45] over we have a Ford that has a faulty brake system that we keep on getting

[46:51] repaired and then warrantied on the second repair and we have an

[46:55] international that has a faulty EGR valve

[47:00] um due to engineering very poor engineering and my thought was to drive

[47:07] whichever one of the two into the ground um get every last little bit of mileage

[47:14] out of it we can and then replace that truck with a good used

[47:20] truck sell the remnants on purple wave and move forward

[47:28] that uh well that that sounds like a good a good plan to me

[47:34] uh we we need a reliable backup truck uh I I did heard something here

[47:41] lately and and I was curious about the uh we're hauling trash to Coffee County

[47:47] and I so they're hauling trash over there in the trash truck to to Coffee

[47:51] County is that correct yes when I looked into the pricing and

[47:56] Coffee County was one of them it was really my intent as if we

[48:02] went with a transfer station and haul in bulk over there instead of a a pickup

[48:08] load at a time I I don't see how that can be cost effective even if you break

[48:13] Mr Gwyn we don't haul a pickup load at a time we haul a trash truck load

[48:18] um we're saving a little bit of money not a lot um I'm working on a transfer

[48:25] station it's going to be homemade but it we're

[48:28] going to save the engineering fee and then I have another proposal that I

[48:31] think will actually move the trash service forward that should be discussed

[48:36] tonight furthermore uh the guys are doing regular maintenance on the trucks

[48:44] now and I read that that's good the uh well I yeah I'm interested in hearing

[48:52] about the uh transfer station that it was yeah

[48:57] really my intent to really see any cost savings is hauling more volume of trash

[49:03] even though a trash truck still as far as volume goes

[49:07] in a terrible lot compared to what a semi load would be um to really see the

[49:17] savings so it's whatever works I was just surprised if that small volume was

[49:21] being haul clear over there um

[49:28] so so at the moment uh we are currently paying $40 a ton at our local transfer

[49:35] station here and at Coffee County I believe we're paying $24 a ton so it's

[49:41] not half the cost uh but at a at a cost difference of 16 $16 a ton with how much

[49:49] we're hauling per trash load over there I mean that that we normally uh dispose

[49:54] of right around 2,000 tons a year um that's $32,000 a year if we were to

[49:59] dump all of our trash at Coffee County drive all that way back and forth and

[50:03] our increased costs are our labor as well as wear and tear on the trucks um

[50:09] the trucks truly are not meant for all the highway miles um so it is a little

[50:14] bit more wear and tear on them certainly we're going to have increased costs

[50:18] associated with that um we're seeing some of that this year with regard to

[50:24] because we had to go to Allen County last year

[50:27] um but to you know in my mind I don't think we're going to come close to an

[50:32] additional $32,000 um even if we were to go there

[50:36] every day that was our that was our Daily Dump uh that we wouldn't spend an

[50:40] additional 32 Grand a year uh in uh in wear and tear vehicle maintenance and

[50:48] labor cost uh you know the the trash utility is one that I think uh you know

[50:54] while our costs are going to go up in terms of Maintenance they're not going

[50:58] to be we're still going to save money on the

[51:02] $16 cost savings granted that's still not ideal uh I'd rather either a

[51:08] transfer station or uh have cost savings or a a different structure as Mr

[51:15] Burkhart has has proposed um as what is in your packet I I think either one of

[51:21] those them or both of them are uh more favorable options longterm um but for a

[51:28] short-term uh fix I do believe that this is saving us money rather than being

[51:33] Break Even or even costing us extra and that $40 is going to 45 is

[51:39] that correct or that's

[51:42] what's and Mr gwy I will say I am trying everything that I have to make the trash

[51:49] service solvent um I'm looking into getting a recycling station because

[51:53] every pound we do not put on a truck we don't pay for

[51:57] move down here but I can't find anyone that's willing to do it for the

[52:01] recycling value that they get moving it up here um I considered hiring somebody

[52:06] three days a week on the trash service versus five um there's lots of things

[52:12] we're throwing out this to

[52:17] try okay well I just wanted to touch on a couple of those uh but uh looking to

[52:24] me anyway looking for the replacement trucks good plan the one thing I wanted

[52:29] to touch on and Susan had requested in her report that uh that we at least

[52:35] discussed something about the uh Garnett's 160th celebration so I don't

[52:40] know if anybody will have any thoughts on

[52:44] that and other uh that's all I had commissioner Gwen on that 160th

[52:52] anniversary did she say she was going to reach out to the committee kind of get

[52:57] some ideas first I guess that I guess that's how I read it then maybe she

[53:01] would check with them and then maybe get back with

[53:04] this uh what I read it says here I would appreciate the commission's thoughts on

[53:08] a celebration of the Garnett's 160th should we do another ball drop on 1231

[53:14] 2021 host a parade or a festival of sorts or in some other manner recognize

[53:22] the Milestone so I think what I read she was putting it to us what uh if we had

[53:26] any thoughts of even doing anything or or our blessing towards

[53:34] it okay it later it says that she's going

[53:39] to be sharing that information so um okay I I I think we

[53:45] should do something I I don't know if I have any Grand ideas right now

[53:50] but I can think about it and shoot them to

[53:53] her shoot them as in an email

[54:01] yeah okay well I thought the 150th was a was a neat deal I can't remember the the

[54:07] cost on that but the the Cris cakes or whatever came down and anyway I thought

[54:13] it was kind of unique maybe we don't have to go that big this time but it was

[54:17] uh just any kind of community involvement I guess with the co thing

[54:22] might might change that Outlook a little bit but uh

[54:28] anything to get the community involved would be would be a great

[54:35] thing yeah it's nice to have those opportunities to Rally around especially

[54:40] when it comes to a community event that is celebrating the existence of the city

[54:46] so I think it'd be neat to see what ideas you know come forward from

[54:53] it is that all you have commissioner Gwyn that's ahe okay I think that we

[55:00] covered most of the comments uh let me

[55:05] see oh Jody I was just going to mention I didn't get a chance to I I think part

[55:10] of the reason too they might well would be interested in allowing some

[55:15] Spectators as opposed to zero is just the age group like being um if it's K

[55:20] through second grade just thinking of my kids I probably wouldn't want I don't

[55:24] know to just leave them there and they probably wouldn't necessarily want me to

[55:28] leave or there might be some children who wouldn't want their parents to leave

[55:31] them so I I did see that on the little ones and I and that was my guess um I

[55:36] know we've got little ones that come in that are probably two and three for SLP

[55:43] services and they have to leave them the parents have to leave them at the door

[55:46] so yeah I can it'd be greater for everybody if if they were there but

[55:52] I I'm going to do we were allow spectator

[55:57] oh yeah um let me see oh I was going to ask

[56:00] Chris and I don't I don't know if you'd be aware it said that there was a

[56:03] greater influx of kids coming in from the high school whenever virtual

[56:07] learning is over for the day I didn't know if there was um if everything at

[56:11] the rec center was still going well I mean I don't know if

[56:16] this is in off hours when there isn't office staff if there's been any

[56:20] increase and um not necessarily vandalism but wear and tear or what

[56:25] we're see so we uh and granted I haven't had this

[56:32] exact discussion with director burus but uh I know that when we have talked about

[56:38] the rec center everything's going well to my understanding um we are planning

[56:43] on having the uh the offices out there because as you are aware director burus

[56:50] is moving his office down to the rec center and so all that should be uh

[56:54] getting fixed up next week I believe with regard to the flooring and um and

[57:00] so they he should be down there here uh middle of the month I believe um on a

[57:07] more permanent basis uh the with regard to current situation I know our staffing

[57:13] isn't quite what it was um G given you know the covid situation and whatnot uh

[57:19] you know we don't were not open as many hours as what we uh previously were with

[57:24] regard to just walk-ins um I think it's mainly two to seven at the moment um but

[57:31] we haven't seen at least to my knowledge any significant up uptick with regard to

[57:36] vandalism or um any significant negative factors uh which is certainly a positive

[57:42] thing uh and you know I think we've seen kind of the same thing with regard to

[57:47] you know the depot and some other areas where we have historically had some some

[57:51] challenges uh you know this year has been um

[57:56] somewhat unusual and that we haven't had those challenges as what we uh as what

[58:01] we historically have had so so that's certainly been a positive um and I'm not

[58:05] sure you know exactly how everything fits into that if it's the you know more

[58:10] uh isolation due to covid or or what it may be but um you know as far as

[58:15] vandalism is concerned at least that's been a positive for us we haven't seen

[58:19] nearly as much of that this year to myh to my

[58:22] knowledge thank you so much that's really good to hear I also noticed that

[58:27] they were working on a grant to possibly place an outdoor Fitness Park as this I

[58:32] know this had kind of been talked about in the past would this be around the rec

[58:35] center where they're looking at yes so at the moment the the game plan would be

[58:40] to try to uh build it just in the Tot Lot south of the of the rec center and I

[58:47] know that this is a fairly significant uh exercise fitness area um it's to the

[58:56] tune of I believe uh around $160,000 um playground area and uh

[59:02] they've applied for a grant to try to get some significant funding from that

[59:06] or for that as well as looking for some um some uh areas sponsors to help try to

[59:13] to make that happen um they're going to choose I believe five sites in the state

[59:18] of Kansas to uh to have this Fitness area and so we're in the running at

[59:24] least to to be select for it um I know that I believe talking to Phil there is

[59:30] only one currently open in the state in Witchita and they're building one in

[59:34] Kansas City uh and so it' definitely be a a positive and I think a significant

[59:39] draw to the community if we were able to um to to bring such a fitness uh area to

[59:46] our community um at uh a significantly reduced

[59:51] cost yeah that would be wonderful thank you for explaining that a little bit Mar

[59:56] appreciate that um oh I just wanted to point out too I thought it was great in

[1:00:00] the public works department report it said that they held a an event like a

[1:00:06] barbecue morale event that didn't cost the city anything and I just think

[1:00:10] that's wonderful that they were able to do that for their

[1:00:14] employees I think that's all that I had marked so we can go ahead and move on oh

[1:00:20] unless Chris did you have anything on your last comment there that

[1:00:23] was all director burkart uh he he decided to to put that on for his staff

[1:00:29] and so certainly appreciate him him doing that U I know I think the guys

[1:00:34] certainly have appreciated it and are I think it certainly is a good morale

[1:00:38] booster yeah I think it's wonderful it sounds like there are a lot of good

[1:00:41] things and ideas coming out of the public works

[1:00:45] department I would con I did want to make uh one point on commissioner gwyn's

[1:00:51] comment earlier about the almost $400,000 uh in the airport expenses for

[1:00:57] the fueling apron the vast majority of that will be reimbursed through an FAA

[1:01:01] Grant um so uh that isn't necessarily the whole bunch of tax dollars being

[1:01:07] expended for an airport project uh the extreme majority of that is going to be

[1:01:12] reimbursed thankfully so okay thank you for clarifying

[1:01:18] that oh Chris I did I forgot I had marked this as a question based on the

[1:01:23] trash hauling trash and whatnot have you you heard anything from the county at

[1:01:28] all and do we have a joint meeting before the end of the year we do not uh

[1:01:32] have a joint meeting as far as uh the county on this particular issue uh

[1:01:37] they've essentially said you guys want to research and look into your own trans

[1:01:41] transfer station have at it they don't think that that's an

[1:01:46] option that we are going to seriously consider I think that it'll be too

[1:01:50] expensive for us to really want to go down that route and it may end up being

[1:01:54] that way um but director burkart is doing everything he can to try to put

[1:01:58] together uh a set of engineered plans from from his own mind uh um that uh

[1:02:06] will be you know at least usable for us and the biggest issue is just um get the

[1:02:12] state permit um and so I know he's working with the state and that's one

[1:02:17] area where he's got a lot of experience is working with the state um to try to

[1:02:21] make sure that that permit is is signed off on so um I think he's got some good

[1:02:26] ideas on how he can try to make it make it work um and we'll see if it's

[1:02:31] feasible um the there's something else I was

[1:02:36] gonna mention but I can't remember what it was now so oh I so just in general so

[1:02:40] there will not be any joint meetings correct yeah uh not before the end of

[1:02:44] the year sorry so I spoke with County Clerk wetstein and she indicated that

[1:02:50] they were hoping to have something after the first of the year okay okay great

[1:02:54] thank you uh November 2020 financials commissioner

[1:03:00] Cole did you have any questions I do not commissioner

[1:03:05] Gwen I did not other than the uh let me find it

[1:03:14] here only thing I think for December it didn't have any income or expense here

[1:03:20] it is any income or expense items listed for December

[1:03:27] did I include the wrong month there it should have been November not December

[1:03:32] uh that may be that explains it because I think well thought I found

[1:03:40] it yeah I apologize on that uh it it should have

[1:03:45] shown November's revenue and expenses rather than December um I that so that

[1:03:52] explains it uh but I looked at the year to date and and everything look look

[1:03:57] fine to

[1:04:02] me okay all right we'll go ahead and move

[1:04:06] on to informational items traffic study for the intersection of u59 k31 Park

[1:04:14] Road Chris uh so as you may recall here a

[1:04:19] couple years ago there was a a question about the possibility of a left turn

[1:04:26] signal there at that intersection uh especially on Tuesdays today it gets

[1:04:32] insanely busy with regard to the sale going on at the sail Barn as well as um

[1:04:38] traffic for school Etc so uh there was some some desire to see if that might be

[1:04:43] possible kot went ahead and commissioned a traffic study on it said that well

[1:04:49] it's probably going to be a year and a half to two years before our Engineers

[1:04:52] can get a study done so this is the result of that study uh essentially

[1:04:56] they're saying that um there is no need and they're not going to be willing to

[1:05:03] to allow a turn a left turn signal at that location they have some some

[1:05:09] recommendations as you can see uh but a left turn signal itself is not one of

[1:05:16] them yeah I noticed they had phrased it it may be consider considered when

[1:05:20] funding becomes available yeah

[1:05:29] okay uh commissioner Cole did you have any questions about this study I do not

[1:05:34] commissioner Gwyn I did not it was very extensive

[1:05:39] I'll give them that yes it

[1:05:44] was okay item D refu utility operational changes

[1:05:52] proposal so as I'm sure sure you read director Burkhart has came up with a um

[1:06:00] in the process of trying to make our trash utility more solvent as you may

[1:06:04] recall we've talked for the last two years about our utilities and the issues

[1:06:09] that we have um that Wastewater and trash are really the two utilities that

[1:06:14] we have that are in the um that that cause myself at least the the greatest

[1:06:20] majority of concern um given that currently our our revenues either e

[1:06:25] don't meet don't cover costs operationally or it's very close um and

[1:06:30] trash itself uh is the utility which is in the mo is in the worst shape um that

[1:06:36] we're losing money every year on the trash serice um and it's continues to

[1:06:41] bleed more and more and that's going to be uh even worse come next year uh with

[1:06:48] regard to the counties change and cost to us for for dumping as you're aware um

[1:06:54] in the process C of of trying to figure out how we can make it more solvent

[1:06:58] director Burkhart has came up with a number of ideas one of which is to go

[1:07:03] and and dump more frequently at Coffee County which I do think will help but it

[1:07:07] is not the solution um as commissioner Gwen referenced that's um unless we get

[1:07:13] a transfer station built that's not realistically um going to be a long-term

[1:07:17] solution it's more of a short-term Band-Aid um the this particular proposal

[1:07:23] as you can tell um addresses the trash solvency issue from

[1:07:28] a different perspective more from the from the Outlook of that you know we

[1:07:36] meter all of our other utilities with regard to electric gas water uh and this

[1:07:40] is one utility that that we do not we have that capability uh but we don't

[1:07:46] currently do that um and given that our costs are are twofold one we have a

[1:07:52] fixed cost which is cost of personnel which is cost trucks uh so on and so

[1:07:56] forth the cost of being able to actually pick it up and then we have a variable

[1:08:00] cost which is our cost to dispose of the trash we our current rate structure with

[1:08:06] all other utilities is based on both we have a fixed charge the customer charge

[1:08:11] of whatever it may be for instance gas it's $2 a month we've talked about that

[1:08:15] at length in the past that in my opinion that rate structure needs to be modified

[1:08:19] increase the the base charge the fixed charge decrease the usage charge um in

[1:08:24] this case they uh and that's because for gas your fixed charg is so low if you

[1:08:31] use a lot of gas you pay a lot if you don't use very much gas you don't pay

[1:08:34] very much at all but we charge for the usage charge because our cost we have to

[1:08:39] purchase at wholesale we resell if you use more gas it costs us more money

[1:08:44] trash is the same way in that we charge a base charge of $15 a month and but

[1:08:50] then we incur cost as well for how much trash you dispose of we have to go dump

[1:08:56] that the more trash you have the more cost it is to us as the city we don't

[1:09:01] currently charge anybody based on how much they use so whether it's one bag of

[1:09:06] trash or whether it's 50 bags of trash it's the same cost for a resident and

[1:09:12] and Commercial properties in in most cases are estimated uh and so it's a

[1:09:16] it's a challenging scenario for us currently um in

[1:09:21] that compared to other utilities we are consistent stantly losing money because

[1:09:26] we're not charging based on usage um and so that's the gist of where his proposal

[1:09:32] is coming from um and uh certainly I'll let him speak a little bit more to the

[1:09:38] to the specifics of it but you know High L overview that's kind of that's kind of

[1:09:42] where we're at uh I would welcome questions uh Mr

[1:09:48] Wier explain it pretty well the problem is you can throw away $1 General sack

[1:09:53] you don't purchase trash bags $1 General sack at the mailbox and be

[1:09:59] fine or you can throw away an entire blocks worth of trash and be fine

[1:10:04] um what needs to happen is we go to a method where we bill for the amount of

[1:10:09] trash you throw out um we don't have to raise rates by any means as long as you

[1:10:14] can fit in the small container

[1:10:18] um and additionally I have cart Tipper proposals because we have to go to a

[1:10:23] standardized trash cart um quite frankly I've ridden the trash

[1:10:29] truck a lot since I've been here and the way we do it is very Antiquated just my

[1:10:35] personal

[1:10:38] opinion my question my question is are you making a billing

[1:10:45] nightmare by you know they pull up there to dump the trash whe they got a bag or

[1:10:50] two two bags more than they're you think they should have uh

[1:10:56] all getting that information down and then getting it relay to City staff and

[1:11:01] then getting that build I mean it looks to me like an

[1:11:05] operational nightmare i' I've heard of different outfits selling stickers and

[1:11:11] you if you have something extra you got to have another sticker to put on it you

[1:11:16] buy the stickers I I don't know I just wonder if it's not

[1:11:21] going to be a a a nightmare for billing and to keep track of

[1:11:27] it Mr wi not at all if it doesn't go in the cart we don't pick it

[1:11:33] up that's not going to do too much for the aesthetic town if we got trash line

[1:11:38] in the streets H then you buy another cart but but what if they just don't

[1:11:44] care that the trash is sitting out there they let them rot on their own

[1:11:49] filth that becomes a Code Enforcement issue at that point I think that the

[1:11:54] difference here compared to other utilities like say gas electricity

[1:11:59] that's not something you can move somewhere else so if you have someone

[1:12:03] who doesn't want to pay for excess garbage you're going to find that your

[1:12:06] city dumpsters are going to be full of people's trash or people will put their

[1:12:10] trash in front of someone else's house I mean

[1:12:14] I I just don't know that that would work too well I mean I know that in some

[1:12:19] cities they will allow people if they want to purchase a cart or use one of

[1:12:24] the city carts they can pay a $2 monthly fee or something to use it but they can

[1:12:29] still have trash outside of that cart and it not cost them money I mean it's

[1:12:33] kind of a health and sanitation issue too I would almost rather see that uh

[1:12:37] the sanitation department be subsidized to a degree which I know that it is but

[1:12:43] more so than um compromising on I I don't know charging people more based on

[1:12:49] some usage that could definitely fluctuate

[1:12:57] Miss mayare respectfully do you choose to use a

[1:13:01] certain amount of water in the summer versus the

[1:13:05] winter I know that our trash definitely varies as far as like is there a holiday

[1:13:11] so around Thanksgiving or Christmas we're gonna have a lot more

[1:13:15] trash so would you be willing to pay more for a larger cart knowing that you

[1:13:20] can fit everything you ever need to have in that cart I think that I would honest

[1:13:25] prefer just to know what I'm going to be Char I mean have a flat rate fee as

[1:13:28] opposed to um it being a variable fee and then would you hold back some of

[1:13:35] your trash on your heavy weeks and then put it in there on light weeks

[1:13:44] to it would really depend what's in the trash bag I suppose but I'm not really

[1:13:48] even speaking from me because if we did have this I would I suppose try to

[1:13:52] monitor my trash I'm saying is that there are going to be people who are

[1:13:55] going to take their trash bags to the city dumpsters to throw their trash away

[1:13:59] or they'll just dump it in the country because they don't want to pay

[1:14:02] more in which case it's Anderson County that bears the burden not

[1:14:09] us that's still our our our problem to some extent we don't want to be a

[1:14:15] problem like that I uh and I for one thing I I definitely

[1:14:22] appreciate the thoughts put into uh operational changes and trying to get

[1:14:27] the the financials in a better situation I wonder if you guys

[1:14:32] would allow me some time I I mean uh director burkart I I'm I'm good friends

[1:14:39] with a a gentleman that owned a a large trash company for

[1:14:44] decades I wonder if I can try to set up a meeting and and have him uh we just

[1:14:50] sit down and talk to him I think he could give a lot of insight to a lot of

[1:14:53] these things and and uh got years of experience and it might be uh might save

[1:15:00] a lot of grief or or give some insight on

[1:15:03] things and so we are uh in the process of trying to reach out to some other

[1:15:08] utilities as well that do the same job uh have a contact with the city of

[1:15:14] Emporia um to try and reach out to them and and visit with their Public Works

[1:15:18] director and and their sanitation director to visit with them about how

[1:15:22] they um they handle their operation granted they're a lot bigger than us uh

[1:15:26] but you know their their situation is you know they have the same challenges

[1:15:30] that we do um and my understanding you know their uh situation is that their

[1:15:36] trash utility actually subsidizes other departments their trash utility

[1:15:40] subsidizes the general fund um like our electric utility do and water and and

[1:15:46] gas um because they're able to turn a profit um through their operational uh

[1:15:51] methods same same thing with the City of Lawrence and a lot of other places um

[1:15:55] that you know the trash utility is solvent and it actually is a a mechanism

[1:16:00] that is a profit generator rather than a um an entity that needs subsidized and

[1:16:06] each of these utilities at least in my opinion needs to be self-sufficient um

[1:16:11] each utility should be run like its own individual business and if if your

[1:16:16] business is losing money um you know we need to make some changes operationally

[1:16:21] this business is one that is losing money this should be a Standalone

[1:16:25] business the trash utility uh should be able to to generate a profit on its own

[1:16:30] to be able to then reinvest into itself uh to be able to reinvest into buying

[1:16:35] new trucks uh whatever we need to do um to keep to keep the utility going and

[1:16:40] and at the moment we're just not there um so but but we are you reaching out to

[1:16:45] others as well as you know director Burkhart I think does have some some

[1:16:48] terrific ideas that uh we're obviously exploring but um certainly if you have a

[1:16:54] contact commissioner Gwyn I I think we'd love to to have that but it is something

[1:16:58] we are actively trying to figure out hey what what why why reinvent the wheel you

[1:17:03] know other people are successful with this so let's try to check their best

[1:17:07] method best methods and see if we can Implement some of those here

[1:17:12] locally absolutely and I do appreciate um that the work that has been put into

[1:17:18] it so far I would just um I know that it was brought here as a proposal more for

[1:17:23] us to acquaint ourselves with the ideas and to kind of um you know see if we can

[1:17:29] you know how receptive we are and you know what we would like to see or what

[1:17:34] we might work on so I mean since it's not even a regular business item yet

[1:17:38] well like I said I appreciate the information being provided so that um

[1:17:43] the so that all the Commissioners can basically become acquainted with what

[1:17:47] might be on the horizon so that we can refine everything to work best for the

[1:17:51] city so thank you for all the work that's been done there

[1:17:58] okay city manager report uh commissioner Cole did you have any

[1:18:02] questions I don't think I have any additional questions from the report no

[1:18:08] commissioner when do you have any questions I did

[1:18:12] not did you have anything that you wanted to add to your

[1:18:18] report uh ju just a few things real quick uh would like to mention that the

[1:18:25] Maple Street project the uh drainage project from Fourth Avenue to First

[1:18:29] Avenue hoping to have designs for that here within the next couple weeks moving

[1:18:33] forward on that uh the water plant project we're meeting next Monday with

[1:18:38] the engineers on that again to um to help move forward on continue moving

[1:18:43] forward on that I would like to as has already been been done uh thank Auburn

[1:18:49] Pharmacy and and uh its owner Mike Burns for the airport upgrade a sign ific

[1:18:55] Improvement the uh new airport car or airport vehicle that we have compared to

[1:18:59] our previous vehicle that we couldn't even get started here earlier this week

[1:19:03] so certainly appreciate Auburn for for that gracious donation um on the issue

[1:19:11] of a trash truck that director Burkhart was discussing earlier and and

[1:19:15] commissioner Gwen you brought up um that is something that director Burkhart and

[1:19:19] I have been um discussing he's been working with his staff uh to try and

[1:19:24] find find some some good options on that route and and it's something that in a

[1:19:29] lot of cases they'll find a good truck that you know there was one here in

[1:19:33] Anderson County um that would have worked terrific uh that would have been

[1:19:37] terrific it was a good price low mileage good good operationally mechanically to

[1:19:42] my understanding uh but it sold awfully quick so just wanting to make sure

[1:19:46] everybody is is uh on board with if we find a a good truck that you know checks

[1:19:52] out mechanically and everything um for us to go ahead and move forward on that

[1:19:56] purchase because likely we're not going to be able to come back to you and

[1:20:01] request permission because you we wait for the next meeting and we're going to

[1:20:05] wind up um missing out on that vehicle um so so everybody in agreement that if

[1:20:11] if we find something that you're okay with with going that

[1:20:14] route I definitely am okay thank you yeah uh

[1:20:21] the I did want to mention real quick um on the Santa Cruz on the 19th uh if you

[1:20:28] would like to to uh be present be involved I've asked City staff to try to

[1:20:34] be there um certainly we'd like to to recognize you as the commission if you

[1:20:38] would like uh to to be there in any fashion um I would like to see if we

[1:20:42] could get approval from you to close Oak Street on um on that date from around 5:

[1:20:50] to 8:00 P.M uh for that section of of Road uh to be able to to block it off

[1:20:56] for that purpose I know that's something that you know you're normally supportive

[1:21:00] of for those types of of events but thought I'd seek your

[1:21:05] approval yes I'm okay with yeah I too okay thank you all and I would also like

[1:21:12] to extend my gratitude and thanks to both uh Chris Hicks and Susan wetstein

[1:21:18] for putting this together on such short notice I know for Chris it was

[1:21:22] devastating that the chamber parade got canceled

[1:21:25] um and all the work that she had put into that was was nixed and so uh to be

[1:21:30] able to throw this together and and make something positive happen I I certainly

[1:21:34] appreciate her efforts um so appreciate both of you for for finding a way to to

[1:21:39] make something positive here that's all I

[1:21:43] have thank you citizens to be heard is there anyone

[1:21:49] who has any questions or comments that they would like to come before the

[1:21:51] commission

[1:21:56] okay seeing none then I will go ahead and make a motion to adjourn do I have

[1:22:01] it here a second second I it's been moved and

[1:22:05] seconded all in favor say I

[1:22:10] I I

Garnett Kansas City Commission Meeting 12.08.2020

Transcript