[1:07] hear me? Okay. Yes.
[2:32] Although we do have fairly wide ranging
authority over the
[2:50] watercol pieces of heavy equipment
[2:55] chains, cables, winching equipment to do
our job with several specialty
[3:02] pieces by the
[3:06] way. We try to spend our funds locally
bank fuel from a local co-op. Buy our
[3:15] tires from
tire insurance across the
[3:21] street as much as we can.
[3:26] Although our work is of a part-time
nature and highly
[3:31] dependent source and
[3:36] help
out is our
[3:41] home
has remain.
[3:49] Many of you are
aware Bill Schmidt was a longer
[3:54] dedicated employee and
[3:58] president timely passing last
[4:02] August
[4:06] personally directors
operations we had to work through a
[4:12] number of challenges due to that but I
am pleased to say we have rallies we've
[4:18] overcome most of
[4:21] Been a month passing the back of the
field on the
[4:29] river
dedicated
[4:39] here. Two smaller ones.
[4:49] However, we still have a
[4:54] challenge unable to buy an
auction building.
[5:17] Now we need a
building. We can store our supplies and
[5:23] equipment. We can maintain and
repair some new
[5:30] equipment
acquisition building as our head for
[5:36] operations.
[5:39] That's why
[5:42] we're interested in acquiring
[5:51] small like put a building up on
[5:55] that heavy
[5:59] concrete on
concrete working space.
[6:11] Part of this building would be gravel
floor, opened machinery,
[6:34] We're
[6:39] thinking the first few
years we would have planned
[6:45] projects
[6:52] cost our proposed
building prepared
[6:58] frame metal
skin. We have an insulated
[7:03] shop, parts room, office,
[7:11] bathrooms have an open
[7:16] All height will be about
[7:20] 14 gas
[7:39] he currently spread all over some
private property and
[7:46] By the end of 2021, we feel we could
have the open sided machinery storage
[7:51] portion
completed completed with funds
[7:55] unencumbered on
[8:04] hand. We plan to pursue add funding for
these grants.
[8:11] We also
[8:41] Yeah, we have no problem with that
already. Yeah. No, you guys had voted
[8:44] last meeting to pursue that. So, we are
in the process of getting that into a
[8:51] smaller tract and visited and with the L
leadership team several times before
[8:58] that. So, just thought it was good for
them to to come and tell you kind of
[9:02] what their plans were to weal
[9:11] I I couldn't hear we request be put on
the next agenda.
[9:23] Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Very good.
[9:32] are out there. So it's
[9:41] understanding quite interest.
[9:59] We would prefer you pull it into your
driveway over there in industrial park.
[10:11] I'd like to just take a moment if you
don't mind
[10:23] commening really pleased to see that
building a part of it.
[10:35] I agree.
Um, we do understand what you guys are
[10:40] looking for and we'll do everything we
can as a city to help with this project.
[10:45] Um, Phil Schmidt was a personal friend
of mine as well and his loss is great to
[10:51] the community. Um, so yeah, I'll make
sure that we get you if you guys can be
[10:56] ready in two weeks, we can put you on
the agenda for the next meeting. Um, I
[11:02] don't think getting you the ground is
going to be an issue. I think we can
[11:06] make sure that happens.
So say you guys are an unseen asset to
[11:13] the county
community. I know I speak for many
[11:20] people here.
[11:25] pretty hard.
You guys have picked up some pretty big
[11:28] trees out of that river, too.
[11:35] We had a pretty rough year last year. It
wasn't just because of
[11:47] Bill's unusual occurrence on the south
end of down. We had a giant ash across
[11:55] the whole river on
[12:07] supposedly expansion.
[12:33] Absolutely. Well, thank you guys very
much.
[12:39] Absolutely. You know, I own two houses
with two brand new basements here in
[12:44] town, so I'm glad you guys do what you
do.
[12:49] It's kind of
[12:54] nice. Yeah, we we'd like to get you on
the agenda for that full presentation.
[12:59] That will give the public an opportunity
to join and see what you guys are doing,
[13:02] too. And and you know, I'm can't think
of anybody in this town that wouldn't be
[13:07] behind your effort. So, thank you.
[13:13] Yeah. Thanks for coming in. Thank you.
Is there anybody else here that wishes
[13:18] to address the council in public form
this
[13:22] evening? Looks like we're losing most of
our audience. So that tells me they were
[13:27] all on on that team together. So we'll
close a public forum and I'm going to
[13:32] move on to the consent agenda and ask
for its approval at this time. Mr.
[13:36] Mayor, after review of the consent
agenda for January 11th, I will make a
[13:41] motion for approval. Second.
You've heard the motion and second on
[17:28] spread out over its its life cycle. Um
it's called a lease, but it's we're not
[17:34] paying interest or anything like that on
it. Um it does have full maintenance um
[17:38] service on the machine through the five
years. Our monthly payment actually
[17:42] decreases uh from its current amount.
Not not a whole heck of a lot, but it is
[17:48] some cost savings there. virtually
identical to what we have. Um, and it is
[17:53] kind of like a copier of it's something
that gets used every day, multiple times
[17:57] a day. So, do we get trade in value on
the old one? No, it just kind
[18:04] of it's the way the the way the postage
machine game works.
[18:11] Yeah. I say that's kind of the if you
keep it and go of we would be not
[18:16] adhering to USPS standard as far as the
barcode that was printing and then uh it
[18:22] kicks it off of its service agreement.
So we'd be paying a hefty fee there if
[18:25] something were to happen with the
machine. We would like uh council to
[18:30] approve us and pursuing this
replacement. So if we don't have any
[18:36] volunteers to come down and lick
envelopes, you guys might want to make a
[18:39] motion on that.
Well, reading through this here, it
[18:44] sounds like we're getting a little bit
better deal. Not by much, but uh uh
[18:49] annually it's going to be a little bit
less. So, I would make a motion to
[18:53] approve the ongoing 5-year lease and
service agreement with Quadrant leasing
[18:59] and Midwest uh single source for an EX5
mailing system for the city of Holl.
[19:09] I'm going to have to assign
documentation as necessary. Second.
[19:14] Okay, we have in the motion in the
second to approve the new postage
[19:17] mailing machine. All in favor say I. I.
Post. Same sign. That motion
[19:24] carries. Next item on the agenda is
consideration of insurance renewal with
[19:28] KAMP.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As council recall,
[19:33] we uh switched our property and
liability insurance coverage to the
[19:37] Kansas County Association Multi-line
Pool or KAMP um last
[19:42] year. As noted, uh our original annual
estimate was about 80,000. Um I know
[19:48] Mayor Travis might be able to speak to
it more as he attended that meeting on
[19:52] behalf of the city of Holstead, but as
they were preparing and looking at
[19:55] rates, they did anticipate, you know, a
around a 4% increase in rates just
[20:00] overall. uh due to the insurance market.
Um we of course saw um almost a 14%
[20:07] increase in our annual cost from what we
were anticipating to that. Um and that
[20:13] was mostly driven by our increase in
values of the city property um that was
[20:17] that is being insured. Um additional
mobile equipment um things we didn't
[20:22] have originally when we uh started with
them and then vehicles as well of just
[20:27] trading out old vehicles for new. Um,
obviously it's it costs more to insure
[20:31] those newer vehicles. So, that's really
what's driving our major cost. I did put
[20:36] that our last quoted cost from EMC. Um,
and the supplemental carriers we would
[20:41] have to have for what EMC wouldn't cover
was
[20:43] 99,468. So, we do believe KAMP is still
um our best uh cost option uh for
[20:50] current
coverage on that and would seek approval
[20:55] to pay the invoice to continue our
coverage with them.
[20:59] Did that premium increase? I mean, did
you see individual premiums like for the
[21:04] new loader? Was that a significant
increase compared to what the old one?
[21:09] Yeah, just because it's the new one's
valued so much higher and with
[21:13] depreciation. It's a double-edged sword,
isn't it?
[21:18] Budgetwise. Yes. Um, this is still below
what we've built into the budget um for
[21:24] it. Uh, KAMP is really good about um I
was impressed of in June they actually
[21:30] sent us even before they had met and
made their final decisions as a board uh
[21:34] kind of what their staff was expecting
for increases which was very nice on the
[21:39] insurance side. It's not really
something we saw through EMC all that
[21:42] much. Um, being that they're more
specialized in government, they kind of
[21:46] understand the process and we're very
transparent of, hey, we think it's going
[21:49] to go up. Please be prepared when you're
doing your budget. So, correct me if I'm
[21:53] wrong. If I remember from the
presentation that we had many
[21:56] discussions over this, there was some
form of year end rebates for money that
[22:01] wasn't
um we did receive a grant um of $2,000
[22:07] for risk mitigation activities that we
do. Um so, we applied that to a camera
[22:14] system, a body cam and vehicle system
that we bought for the police department
[22:17] and that covered about half of that
cost. Um and so and then when we we as
[22:24] we were a new um eventually we'll hit
the process where they actually have
[22:29] some kind of if you um do a multi-year
like agree for three years um it can
[22:35] help your rates but since we were a
brand new client, we don't qualify for
[22:39] that yet. But
but we are seeing some payback in other
[22:45] areas that traditionally you wouldn't
see from a normal insurance company. So
[22:51] yeah, almost
[23:01] $10,000. If there are no other
questions, I make a motion to approve
[23:05] the renewal of Kansas County Association
multi approval and
[23:11] authorized of the invoice in the amount
of $9,310.
[23:17] Second heard the motion and second to
renew our insurance with Kate Camp. All
[23:22] in favor say I. I. Post same sign. And
that motion
[23:28] passes. Next item is consideration of
afterprom funding
[23:34] request. I don't see anybody
representing the high school.
[23:40] This is uh an annual donation and we can
definitely call them forward uh and ask
[23:47] them to come. I think money you should
show up in person.
[23:52] But uh there is the uh letter there as
far as consideration. Um and it is
[23:58] something that the city historically has
has funded more years than not. Um and
[24:03] we noted the donation we typically do.
So I will leave that up to you all if
[24:08] you want to make that decision this
evening or pin we can gladly communicate
[24:11] with the after prom committee and ask
someone to come and present. Agree.
[24:17] Okay.
We need a motion to continue.
[24:22] He can just put on the agenda for the
next meeting.
[24:29] All right. We'll move on to item number
four. consideration of public hearing
[24:34] date for tax abatement
[24:39] review. Uh we slight change um as you'll
notice from the agenda memo. Normally we
[24:47] do our um tax abatement review for
active uh tax abatements in the city at
[24:52] our second meeting in January. Uh we
were contacted by leg company. Uh
[24:57] they've had some staffing changes in the
department that handles that. Um and so
[25:02] through that change they uh weren't able
to get thus the information in time
[25:06] asked for an extension. Um we told them
that we would get back with them
[25:10] tomorrow of of whether that we do
believe after speaking with Brad that we
[25:15] have the right uh you know if you all
agree to it by a majority vote to
[25:19] deviate from our policy uh which states
that we'll do a review by January 31st
[25:23] of every year. Um this would put it in
conjunction with our February 8th
[25:27] meeting. Um so still early in the year,
still time for us to communicate with
[25:31] the county um and make sure that we have
all those documents. We have two active
[25:36] tax abatements, so we would also be in
um contact. We have heard back from
[25:40] Martin Machine um and let them know if
give them some time to respond as well
[25:45] on anything they might be missing and
what they've presented so far. So
[25:51] So we just need that motion to deviate
from it. Yeah, I'll make a motion to
[25:55] deviate from the normal requirements of
the city's economic development policy
[25:58] and to set a public hearing for review
of active tax abatements on February
[26:04] 8th, 2021 at 7 p.m.
[26:09] Heard the motion and a second uh to move
our public hearing for tax abatements to
[26:15] February 8th. All in favor say I. I post
same sign. We will move that
[26:23] review to
them. Next item on the agenda is
[26:27] consideration of the League of Kansas
Municipalities 2021 statement of
[26:33] municipal
policy. Thank you. Um hopefully you all
[26:38] had a chance to review. It's a it's a
little bit of light reading for you all
[26:42] the uh statement of municipal policy. Um
this is something the league develops
[26:46] just of their overall um advocation uh
that they do with the uh Kansas
[26:51] legislature on behalf of cities. Um
obviously they represent all um 600 plus
[26:56] cities in the state of Kansas. So as you
read through there there's probably some
[26:59] things that are very applicable to us
and some things that are not. Um but by
[27:04] us adopting um support of this uh gives
me the clearance to be able to provide
[27:09] testimony when it's called for. Um there
are some bills already on the table or
[27:13] if you've listened to some of our
representatives talk, you know, some of
[27:17] the items like tax transparency and
things that we're going to be following
[27:20] very closely because those have direct
implications on us or our
[27:25] responsibilities. So, um this just gives
staff the uh the coverage they need if
[27:30] if we need to provide testimony or or
statements that support that. Um kind of
[27:35] allows us to to do that. And you guys
know that you as a governing body are
[27:39] okay with those stated policies
and initiatives that the league would
[27:45] like to pursue.
[27:51] [Laughter]
[27:57] Um there's no questions or discussion.
I'd make a motion for the city of
[28:01] Hallstead to support the League of
Kansas
[28:04] Municipalities uh 2021 statement of
municipal policy and authorizes staff to
[28:10] engage in activities related to the
support of those policies.
[28:15] Second. Heard the motion and second to
adopt the uh League of Candidates's
[28:20] Municipalities 2021 policy. All in favor
say I. I. All oppose. Same
[28:27] sign. Okay, that one passes unanimously.
You see I shortened that up when I was,
[28:33] you know, reviewing that vote.
Next thing on our agenda is we do have
[28:39] an executive session this season this
evening. So I would entertain that
[28:43] motion. Mr. Mayor Motion City Council
recess into executive session for 15
[28:49] minutes to discuss performance of a city
of Hallstead employee pursuant to
[28:54] personnel matters of elected personnel
exception
[29:01] KSA75-4319 B1 to include governing body
city manager city attorney opening to
[29:08] resume at 7:50.
Second.
[29:13] Got the motion and the second to move
into executive session. All in favor say
[29:18] I. I. Opposed? Same sign. We will move
to executive session.
[46:51] one of the photo.
Oh, really?
[46:56] That's amazing.
We are back from our executive session.
[47:01] Is there any action to be taken as a
result
[47:05] of seeing no movement from the council,
we will move on to
[47:10] reports tonight. We will start with
governing body and I will start with you
[47:14] Ed.
I think I know what the flags are
[47:20] for
[47:24] AT&T. Uh AT&T is uh from what we can
tell AT&T is laying fiber optic to some
[47:32] of their customers or increasing their
base permits or they pull one calls but
[47:39] with our franchise agreement with them
um beyond the one call or permitting um
[47:44] for that I mean to make sure they're not
hit running a foul of any other users in
[47:49] the right of way. Um, so we got the one
call and we go out and mark our
[47:53] utilities and um, but beyond that we
don't have like control of the
[48:08] contractor posting on Facebook.
[48:17] George. Yes. I had um citizen reach out
to me and express um thanks for the city
[48:25] maintenance crew to come back out and
they did some excavating for the water
[48:29] beater. And then they came back in and
back filled it. And there was settling,
[48:33] significant settling. And when she came
home, it was all filled in. Actually,
[48:39] the the dump um the tractor was still
there. the loader was still there with
[48:43] the bucket and and apparently somebody
else had reached out and so maintenance
[48:48] going around and was filling in back
filling some of the sites that was going
[48:52] on. So just thank you to the maintenance
crew,
[48:58] Mr. Wallace.
Okay, I don't really have anything this
[49:02] evening other than I'm excited to see a
new home going up west of my little home
[49:07] on Second Street. So, it'll be fun to
keep driving down Second Street and
[49:12] watching that construction come
together. So, we'll move on to our
[49:16] manager report, and that would be you,
Ethan. Thank you. Uh departmental
[49:22] activity um for the beginning of the
year includes 26 calls for service, 22
[49:26] traffic stops, and 10 criminal cases for
the police department. Uh fire reported
[49:31] nine calls for service, and staff have
finished school inspections and are
[49:34] working on various grant applications.
EMS has had 25 calls for service. Uh
[49:40] twothirds of those in Holstead and a
third in Sedwick. Uh staff is currently
[49:43] seeking quotes on replacement of the EMS
command vehicle and then evaluating
[49:47] potential operational and equipment
changes in light of staffing levels. Uh
[49:51] EMS also continues to oversee our uh
ultraviolet disinfection of city
[49:55] facilities as our policies dictate.
Parks and recreation continue to
[49:59] coordinate with USD440 on how their
level of response to COVID might affect
[50:03] recreation activities in their
buildings. Uh planning for the pool and
[50:07] needed equipment or maintenance is also
underway for this coming pool season.
[50:11] Staff coordinated with the tree board on
their winter plantings uh and have also
[50:15] worked on trash and debris cleanup at
the city parks uh specifically Riverside
[50:20] Park. Wedgwood golf continues winter
maintenance and service of equipment. Uh
[50:24] offseason rates continue to be in effect
and staff have been busy scheduling
[50:28] tournaments and registering both new and
returning memberships for play at the
[50:31] course.
Uh, public works has worked on taking
[50:35] down street Christmas decorations, uh,
picked up around 15 Christmas trees uh,
[50:40] that were put curbside, performed
equipment service and maintenance, and
[50:43] checked unresponsive and zero read
meters. As we continue the AMI process,
[50:48] uh, burial and examation was performed
at the cemetery, and tree removal was
[50:51] done along the levy on the west end of
the north side.
[50:56] Administrative staff have been very busy
with the utility billing process uh
[51:00] continuing to investigate errors as they
are identified and then working with
[51:03] public works and our vendor to identify
the root cause of those issues. We have
[51:07] appreciated everyone's patience with the
delays in billing and believe the
[51:10] majority of the issues that were causing
delays have been rectified as we move
[51:14] forward. The bills that would have been
mailed out December 1st were sent out
[51:18] about three weeks late and the bills
that would have been mailed out at the
[51:21] beginning of January were sent out a
week late. Um all late fees and charges
[51:25] have been waved until January 19th,
2021. Uh the bills that people or the
[51:32] bills that people do have uh reflect the
change from the old to the new system as
[51:36] well as actual usage being reconciled
against the previous months which were
[51:39] estimated usage. Uh again, this will
result in some people seeing slightly
[51:43] lower bills if their usage had been uh
overestimated and does not indicate that
[51:48] meters are in some way running
backwards. and in other people's cases,
[51:51] their bills may be slightly higher if
their previous month's usage was
[51:55] underestimated. Any resident with issues
should contact city hall and we'll
[51:58] gladly look into their specific account
details and readings to make sure
[52:01] there's not some sort of error that's
being missed. Uh utility bills are also
[52:05] build in a rears. Uh so just a reminder
that this most recent billing is going
[52:09] to reflect uh you know the change into
cold weather and people uh generally
[52:13] have increased gas consumption which can
also lead to a higher than expected bill
[52:17] from the last couple months. Uh with any
new technology, there are always going
[52:21] to be growing pains and a learning
curve. Uh so just please contact us if
[52:25] you have questions on your bill. Uh and
we are very hopeful that the outstanding
[52:29] issues have been fixed and bills will be
sent on out on time in February. Uh just
[52:35] the majority of the system is working as
we expected, but there are some just
[52:39] outstanding issues that we continue to
uh hunt down and investigate as they're
[52:43] identified. So just please please please
contact us if you have a question or
[52:47] think uh something is incorrect on your
utility bill. So all city staff beyond
[52:52] that have been busy with year and
closing and finalization of yearly
[52:55] reporting requirements respective to
their departments. Staff continue
[52:58] working on implementation of the new
VoIP phone system and resolving issues
[53:02] as seen tonight with the council and
conference room upgrades as we uh
[53:06] continue to work through those new tech
upgrades.
[53:09] uh just to have attended some meetings
and have a meeting this week on uh
[53:13] reviewing flood plane changes in our
area. And um that is all I have to
[53:19] report this evening. Oh, I'm sorry. A
brief update on 204 main. Uh did get a
[53:24] hold of the structural engineer. He is
coming out to do um basically just a
[53:28] check on some of the measurements and
things uh this Thursday at 11:30 and
[53:32] then hopefully we'll have that report um
in hand for next council meeting. So
[53:37] that will be Russ. Yeah, Russ is coming
Thursday at 11:30. So they uh just
[53:43] wanted to double check a few of his
numbers and and have a final look
[53:47] through it and then he thought he would
have that wrapped up. So very very
[53:51] hopeful we'll have something to start
moving forward on some course of action
[53:54] for that building. So council, any
questions of that report?
[54:02] If not, that finishes our agenda this
evening and I would entertain a motion
[54:07] for adjournment.
So move second. Heard the motion and the
[54:12] second for adjournment. All in favor say
I. I. Post same sign. We are adjourned.
[54:18] Thank you, councel.