i did something
bad
good evening everyone welcome to this
evening's
regular meeting of the independence city
commission
if i could have your attention please
we'll now all stand and
say the pledge of allegiance
i pledge
for which it allegiance
one nation under god
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all
gentlemen you've had chance to see the
agenda are there any
amendments or
adjustments to this evening's agenda
i have none
i move approval is there a second second
all in favor say aye aye aye aye motion
carries
presentations sean are you ready to make
a presentation this evening
i've got one person running a little
late uh
would it be possible for you to go ahead
and go to the consent consent agenda and
then come back to me is that possible
sure john if you'll just let me know
we'll do it when everyone has arrived
okay all right i'll give you the thumbs
up
uh the next item on the agenda is the
consent agenda do i have a motion to
accept it as presented
i make a motion that we accept the
consent agenda as presented
second all in favor say aye aye aye aye
motion carries
um items for commission action let's go
ahead and do
the uh consider
proclaiming april 29th 2022
as arbor day who's speaking to this this
evening
mayor i am
this was presented to us and asked that
we would
uh you guys approve this proclamation
for arbor day and i believe they would
like for you to read it if you would
please i'd be happy to do that
should it pass any questions gentlemen
nope
no i'm not do i have a motion
i make a motion that we move to sign the
army day proclamation for april 29th
2022 is there a second second all in
favor say aye aye aye aye motion carries
the proclamation reads as follows
whereas in 1872 the nebraska board of
agriculture established a special day to
be set aside for the planting of trees
and whereas this holiday cold arbor day
was first observed with the planting of
more than one million trees
in
nebraska and whereas arbor day is now
observed throughout the nation and the
world and whereas trees can be a
solution to combating climate change by
reducing the erosion of our precious
topsoil by wind and water cutting
heating and cooling costs moderating the
temperature cleaning the air producing
life-giving oxygen and providing habitat
for wildlife and whereas trees are a
renewable resource giving us paper wood
for our homes fuel for our fires and
countless other wood products and
whereas trees in our city increase
property values enhance the economic
viability of business areas and beautify
our community and whereas trees
wherever they are planted are a source
of joy and spiritual renewal now
therefore i dean a hayes mayor of the
city of independence kansas to hereby
proclaim april 29 2022 as arbor day in
the city
of independence kansas and i urge all
citizens to celebrate arbor day and to
support efforts to protect our trees and
woodlands and further i urge all
citizens to plant trees to gladden the
heart and promote the well-being of this
and future generations dated this
10th day of march 2022 signed mayor dean
hey hayes
we look forward to seeing everyone out
and about on april 29th arbor day in
independence kansas planting a tree
how are we doing sean
not yet
moving on then we'll go to item b
consider setting the date of may 26 2022
at 5 30 pm for a public hearing to
consider condemnation of 317 south
second as dangerous and unsafe who's
speaking to this uh mayor this is a
condemnation proc that we had started
and we missed a date so we're just
starting the process back over
and asking to set the date for public
hearing
on may 26 2022 the family has indicated
they are trying to get the resources
together
to rehab the house and fix it
and uh we continue to work with them so
hopefully by the may date we have an
answer whether they'll be able to get
the necessary funds to repair the house
david it looks like this fire
that damaged the home was
confined to the attic space is that
correct yeah the attic has all most of
the damage was
uh some of
as a firearm were putting it out pulling
the ceilings down so it has a lot of
structural rafters up there that just
need to be replaced or repaired
i was curious when i
saw this item do we have a picture of
the outside of the house outside really
looks fairly good other than i think we
put a hole on the north side to get into
the attic
and maybe did we do a hole in the roof
sean if i remember right but it's
fixable
okay uh their issue is
they just don't have a lot of access to
funds so they were they're hoping with
their tax returns
and others they can get enough money to
put it together to make the repairs
any other questions gentlemen
i have none do i have a motion
i would move that uh the date of may 26
uh 2022 at 5 30 p.m be set as a time for
public hearing consider to consider the
condemnation of 317 south second
as a dangerous and unsafe structure
second
all in favor say aye aye motion carries
we'll continue on then to
consider authorizing trans systems to
prepare and submit a kdot cost share
program grant application
for
sorry did i skip item c
sorry about that consider approval of
change order
with bryant and brian for the main
street from 8th to 10th project
david mayor
this project
in order to assist the businesses allow
for pedestrian traffic and ada access
to a few of those businesses
we have been working with bryant and
bryant
to leave some sidewalks but it requires
snow fencing so people do not get into
the construction zone
and also
at main
and 10th street the proper signage per k
dot so cars do not make left turns when
they come out of
scooters
so that is what these change orders are
is to do all that proper marking and
access
and i also put on there with the help of
the chamber tabitha main street and city
staff
we made signs to help direct people
to the businesses that are impacted with
this
shutdown
uh john's crews put those signs up so i
just wanted you guys to see and you
probably have seen him downtown an
example directing people how to get to
those businesses
and another aspect of this is we're
putting up a couple reserve spots in
some places
so
those businesses patrons have a place
where they can park and go to the
business and come back out without
having to be several blocks away
so that's kind of all a part of this
what we're requesting you guys to do
tonight
i just do i do want to point out that i
had a visitor from topeka today
in a meeting this morning and they
specifically pointed out these uh
directional signage that we've put up as
a very helpful in them again navigating
the construction in downtown so thank
you for doing that well i i appreciate
tabitha lisa joanne
and all those came together to help
problem solve this
i mean and to help keep our businesses
functioning and
through this because it's a difficult
time for the next four months for them
well i just wanted to confirm it's
working yes thank you
uh questions gentlemen
thanks great i'm good
do i have a motion
i make a motion that we
move to allow the mayor to sign a change
order for brian and brian in the amount
of six thousand four hundred and eighty
seven dollars sorry is this uh is this
value correct the value on the screen
i mean
i wish that should be eight thousand six
eight six forty seven sixty one
eight six forty seven i'm sorry i just
noticed that
okay
so let me back up here
okay i moved to allow the mayor to sign
a change order for bryant and bryant in
the amount of 8647.61
and allow city staff to install
additional temporary signage and parking
for the businesses during construction
do i have a second second all in favor
say aye aye aye motion carries thank you
david
uh consider authorizing trend system
we're good to go
we're going to take a break from the
request for commission action to hear
the presentation
of life-saving award
good evening commission if i could have
paul cherry deanna standrich tristan
rigner and chris fur come forward
so i'm happy to for them to be here
tonight to hand out life-saving
commendations
on february 8th 2022 approximately 0 7
27 hours independence fire and ems were
dispatched to residents for report of a
female not breathing
upon arrival the husband was
administering cpr
with over-the-phone assistance from ipd
dispatch
we took over cpr and initiated advanced
life support which resulted in the
saving of her life and she is at home
now
doing well
so commissioners if i could have you
come forward
teachers
shall we take this picture
[Music]
behind the window
one two three
zero
[Applause]
go forward
i just want to add a sincere thank you
to all of the people that we've honored this
evening it's uh it's
for this very reason that you put in all
the hours of training and skill
development and when you can find this
opportunity to save a life
it really makes it all worthwhile thank
you so very much for all the hard work
you've been put in to prepare for
emergency situations
the family of the victim is absolutely
certain that you're worth every penny
thank you
let's go on then
consider authorizing trans systems to
prepare to submit a kdot cost share
program grant application for sycamore
10th to 21st street good evening john
um this is
a cost share
project which
the kdot would typically match 15 of the construction costs uh engineering
and inspection beyond the city and
sycamore this is the third time um we've
applied for sycamore to be done
and typically uh we've been told
that the more times you
put the same project up the more likely
you are to be awarded
that cost share grant so
this is
the same project that
we have already applied for twice so
this will be the third application
what percentage did you say that the uh
kdot would match for this um
they match
85 percent of construction costs okay i think i said
75 but 85 percent
i'm just looking at the numbers as
presented to us and it does look like
the city's matches only 15 percent of
the project cost yes
has anything been added or detracted
from this since the last time we applied
the only changes to this project have
been escalation for change construction
costs
thank you
any questions for john gentlemen
i have none
i hope the third time is the charm
that's right needs repaired so
keep my fingers crossed
i moved to authorized trans systems to
prepare an application to kdot
cost share program
for the project from on sycamore for
from 10th to 21st street and to submit
the application to kdot
second
i have a motion and a second all in
favor say aye aye aye aye motion carries
thank you john
consider authorizing change order number
one with jay graham construction on the
enterprise drive project
uh this particular change order uh
refers to the water line
that currently
was built
parallel to the where the railroad
crosses at that area
and heads over to lebet health that was
to provide lebet health a redundancy of
water supply and so
we would be taking the existing eight
inch line and cutting it where it
crosses the the property that precision
has purchased
because they are actually uh cutting so
much of the the ground out that they
would be um you know our our line would
be five feet above the future ground
level line
um
so rather than
um
rather than replace that line we did
have
the line being looped with the
enterprise drive project so what we'll
do is we'll up size
the remainder of the line that will go
from fedex
the new fedex building down south to
where it already does enter by drawings
would intersect with this eight inch
line and so it would feed with um
even greater uh greater volumes that
line so
uh for eighteen thousand dollars
we actually will get a little bit more
of a feed to the lebet area and
we will also abandon that section of
line
what questions do you have of john on
this project gentlemen
i have none i have none your explanation
was good
thank you john
i have not either do i have a motion
yes i make a motion that we move to
authorize
change order number one with the j
graham construction
in the amount of
thousand seven hundred dollars in the
execution of any required documentation
is there a second second
all in favor say aye motion carries
consider temporary consider temporarily
waiving the application process
and fee for right-of-way access on maine
between 8th and 10th
only during the construction process
who's speaking to this this evening
mayor uh i've been working with tabitha
and
this group down in the construction area
and as you know our patio 210 hosts food
trucks on a fairly regular basis
would still like to continue to do that
but again we're dealing with
construction everything else
uh if i say this wrong tabatha you can
correct me but robert box has agreed to
provide the electrical hookup
for a truck to come over there on the
west side of his business in the right
of way
and due to just all the construction the
difficulty getting there
staff would like asking the commission
if we could just waive that downtown
right-of-way permit application until
this construction is over for that area
to allow this to go on
what is that
it's a process before i mean i know what
it is what is the cost
it's just a 25 processing fee for us to
do it 25 25
and that's just our time of reviewing it
make sure it is
if we have to have the street department
take barricades just the administrative
time of getting all those things set up
is this recommended i assume staff
recommends we do this yeah we feel it's
you know
due to the difficulty right now and just
trying to keep some activity for those
businesses down there it's great we just
feel it's worth waving this for this
time during the construction
the the cross traffic is basically cut
off at that particular point during the
construction process so there wouldn't
really be any through traffic there no
they're gonna have to come in from the
south correct
yes
fun they're gonna park over in walgreens
it seems like a reasonable accommodation
for the inconvenience that we're
creating uh by virtue of the
constructions the inconvenience we're
creating
for the inconvenience we're creating yes
the inconvenience did i say convenient
yeah
the
inconvenience we're creating i move that
the city wave the application process of
right-of-way access on main street
between 8th and 10th during the
construction
second all in favor say aye aye aye aye
motion carries consider extending the
city hall bid date
to march 15 2022. who's speaking to this
uh mayor mccowan gordon contacted us and
asked if we could ask the commission to
extend to march 15 2022. the reasoning
behind this is the trade partners
have a lot of great questions a lot of
questions that are having to go back to
trainer
and they're trying to really drill down
and provide the best price without being
able to get clarifications on this
the uh construction crews have to put an
estimate to some of the work
so
cal gordon thought this would help give
a better bid
potentially lower some cost by giving
the
construction and trade partners more
time to ask questions about the
bid documents and for trainer to respond
they are still planning on
receiving on the 15th they will be
speaking to city staff on the 18th
we will have those documents to you on
the 22nd
which will still be a day and a half
before
you guys have to make a decision on the
24th
any questions gentlemen
i have none i have no questions i
certainly favor anything that has the
potential of lows or lowering costs as
do i absolutely
i move to extend the city hall bid date
to march 15th
at 11 a.m is there a second second all
in favor say aye aye motion carries reports gentlemen
have you had a chance to
review
the reports as presented and are there
any questions
yes i have and i have no questions i
also have no questions thank you
um
sorry did did i uh
did you have something for us this
evening uh i i see you have a question
on the report i was here to answer it i
see the uh the economic development
advisory board report
okay
city city manager comments
mayor the only thing i have to ask the
commission or talk to the commission
about tonight is we're going to be
this code enforcement building
department is meeting with the city
attorney tomorrow we've finished up our
downtown inspections and we're at that
point where we have some buildings
that we were unable to access or refuse
access
and we will be working with the attorney
on the proper
access to those buildings we will give a
courtesy one more courtesy letter to the
owners
asking for access but otherwise
we will do a
what's it called
search warrant this is strictly for the
purpose of
checking for fire protection or
potential hazards we're not there any
other
reason but i wanted you aware
because you guys may hear
how many people have refused
i think it's like 15 buildings
four
probably talking five or six
refusals okay
so that will be happening probably try
to send a letter out next week if we
don't hear anything back
uh
within the following week or two we will
get with jeff and finish it up but we're
gonna visit with jeff tomorrow and just
go through the process and make sure
we're all
prepared to move forward
that's all i have man well thank you i
appreciate how careful you'll careful
your being with this process and
i celebrate its
progress i
think that once we get to the end of it
we'll be able to begin to talk about
what the next steps are
that's good
thank you david commissioner comments
commissioners do any either of you have
comments this evening i am none i'm good
and i have none david do we have any
public concerns this evening
i make a motion that we adjourn is there
a second second all in favor say aye aye thank you for being here this
evening
yes