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CITY COUNCIL
NOVEMBER 2, 2009
7:30 P.M.
The Council of the City of Augusta, Kansas met in regular session on November 2, 2009, with Mayor Kristey Williams presiding. Council present were Holly Harper, Matt Childers, Michael Huddleston, Michael Wallace, Tom Leffler, Mike Rawlings, Robert Griffith and Ronald Reavis. Also present: City Manager Bill Keefer, City Attorney David All, Assistant to the City Manager Josh Shaw, and City Clerk Erica Jones. Visitors present were: Mike McDermott, Charles Hanna, Bill Morris, Martin Goedecke, Suzie Allstrand, Jon Rolph, Troy Reid, Gary Willhite, and Brad Wesenburger.
Prayer: Pastor Steve Spencer, First United Methodist Church, gave the invocation.
Minutes: Reavis asked that the minutes from the October 19th meeting be amended to show that the agreement with Aqua Tech Engineering was for the metal building for the Electric Distribution department. Keefer stated it should also be corrected to say “not to exceed $3,500”, not “$35,000”. Harper made a motion to approve the Minutes of the October 19, 2009 council meeting as amended. Rawlings seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Appropriations:
October (10A): Griffith inquired about the payment to DOI. Keefer stated it is the annual payment to the Department of the Interior to maintain the gauge at the Whitewater River. Griffith inquired about the payment to First National Bank for education purposes. Keefer stated it was the payment on his credit card for the annual League of Kansas Municipalities conference. Huddleston inquired about the payment to the Augusta Animal Clinic for $61. Keefer stated it was for a returned check payable to the Animal Clinic for an impound fee. Huddleston inquired about the payment to Itron. Jones stated it is for the software for the handheld meter reader. Huddleston inquired about the payment to Goedecke for design work. Keefer stated it was for the 7th Street ARRA project, construction engineering for the KLINK project on the east side of the overpass, and for engineering for the 2009 Street Sales Tax projects. Huddleston inquired about the payment to Kansas Motorcoach. Keefer stated it was for a advertisement in a trade magazine by the Convention and Tourism Bureau to promote tourism. Wallace asked Keefer to explain the water protection fee. Keefer stated it is a fee the City is mandated to pay annually to the State of Kansas. Keefer stated the water protection fee is used to fund projects, such as our spillway project. Huddleston stated those fees are passed off to our utility customers and Keefer agreed. Griffith made a motion to approve Ordinance 10A in the amount of $357,581.48. Huddleston seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Visitors:
Charles Hanna: Charles Hanna, 1705 State, submitted a bill in the amount of $5,950 to the governing body for a drainage system to protect his home from street run-off. Hanna requested a due date of November 17th and also requested a 20% reduction in electric billing to cover the cost of the pump he will be using.
Visioneering Wichita: Jon Rolph and Suzie Allstrand of Visioneering Wichita were present to review and update their Vision Plan. Rolph explained the history of Visioneering Wichita and Allstrand the purpose of Visioneering Wichita. Rolph stated they are asking the City of Augusta to formally join Visioneering Wichita and to make the commitment to partner with them. Childers made a motion to approve becoming a Vision Partner with Visioneering Wichita. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
New Business:
Raw Waterline: Rawlings made a motion authorizing Savage Services Corporation to relocate a section of the City’s raw waterline that runs through the Frontier Refinery as part of their rail spur project. Harper seconded the motion. Rawlings stated this is a low cost project that will be very beneficial to us. Griffith asked if the City would have to pay for the expansion in size of the line. Keefer stated we would have to pay the difference in cost if we asked for it to be increased to 18” or 20”. Motion carried without opposition.
Change Order: Council considered approval of Change Order #9 for the Streetscape Project. Huddleston inquired about several of the items listed in the change order which were responded to or answered by Goedecke and Keefer. Huddleston inquired about the $40,000 retainage for the uncompleted items in the punch list to which Goedecke stated that the only remaining item on the punch list that is incomplete is the replacement of the snow removal signs. Huddleston stated that Williamson Plumbing was promised that the holes in front of their business would be re-filled. Goedecke agreed and stated he would have to check on that to see if it had been done. Huddleston inquired about the cracks on the retaining wall south of the museum. Goedecke stated the cracks are there for expansion and drainage. Huddleston asked if the City will be billed for the replacement snow removal signs. Goedecke stated the contractor will absorb the cost difference. Huddleston asked Goedecke if he is satisfied that the bases of the signs are at an appropriate height per KDOT regulations, as some are only two inches deep. Goedecke stated he is and that four inches is the maximum. Reavis inquired about the cost of mobilization, which Goedecke stated this is fairly common and standard for a KDOT project. Reavis inquired the $45,000 cost for traffic control which Goedecke explained was the lump sum amount the contractor put in the bid. Reavis asked if we should receive some of that back if the actual cost was not that high. Goedecke stated no, because it was a lump sum amount in the bid instead of a quantity bid. Huddleston stated that he is not satisfied that we have to cover the cost of their mistakes. Leffler made a motion to approve Change Order #9 in the amount of $90,190.07. Reavis seconded the motion. Huddleston stated that approval of the change order sets the retainage amount. Motion carried with Huddleston opposing and Wallace and Rawlings abstaining.
Airport Runway: Reavis made a motion to approve Runway Alternate D for the Runway Feasibility Study. Wallace seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Airport Entrance Sign: Council reviewed and discussed the airfoil artistic feature for the Airport Entrance Sign. Bill Morris presented the mock up to the Council. Huddleston asked if solar lighting could be added later if it wasn’t done now as part of this project. Morris stated it could. Williams inquired about damage to the feature due to the weather. Morris stated that there would not be a guarantee it won’t be damaged, but that it would take a large storm to damage it to which Shaw agreed. Morris stated it would be repairable in place and that the City’s insurance should cover any damage incurred due to a storm. Harper asked how Butler Community College became involved in this. Morris stated that when he was looking at different options for the sign he contacted the professor, who expressed interest in taking this on as a project. Huddleston asked if composite would be more expensive. Morris stated it would have to be created by a mold and that he didn’t receive a response from anyone about the use of composite, but that he did look at the cost of using aluminum and it was over $20,000.
Reavis voiced concern about justifying $15,000 for a sign at the Airport or anywhere else. Williams stated it is difficult to look at our budget and while this is not a make or break item, we need to decide if we are going to promote our airport which this sign would do. Reavis stated we spent $6,000 for the entrance signs in town and asked if we need to spend an additional $6,000 for the wing on top of the sign. Childers agreed and stated that maybe the Council should approve the sign for now and put the airfoil wing on later. Morris stated the original intent was to create a certain image for the Airport. Morris stated there were several designs for the entrance signs, but that we purposefully wanted to do something different at the airport to create a special image as it would be an investment in the long run. Shaw stated the airfoil wing atop the sign would add two feet which would help make the sign more visible.
Childers stated he would be more comfortable if it were put out to bid. Harper stated someone could contact the Air Museum about using another medium that might be more cost effective. Williams asked if there would be enough time to bring this back to the Council before the end of the year. Keefer stated the bids for the sign would be ready for the next meeting, but that he was not sure for the timetable for the airfoil and that it could be a challenge to get those bids back before the end of the year. Griffith stated he thinks we need something unusual to draw attention to the sign and that it would be money well spent in the long run. Williams asked if a local composite manufacturer could donate something like that. Rawlings stated he could see them spending $10,000 just for the mold. Wallace stated he doesn’t think we’ll find anything cheaper than what was proposed tonight. Childers made a motion to table this until after reviewing the bids for the sign base at the next council meeting. Wallace seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition. Huddleston asked staff to specify the cost of the lighting for the sign.
Special Alcohol Grants: Reavis made a motion to approve a special alcohol grant for Family Life Center of Butler Count in the amount of $2,500, for Youth Leadership Butler in the amount of $300, and for the DARE program in the amount of $1,500. Huddleston seconded the motion. Motion carried with Childers and Wallace abstaining.
Cereal Malt Beverage: Wallace made a motion to approve a Cereal Malt Beverage License for Sunshine Energy LLC dba SE #53 located at 115 East 7th Street. Childers seconded the motion. Huddleston asked if the persons listed on the application should be included in the memo. The consensus of the governing body was not to include that information in the memo. Motion carried with Rawlings opposing.
Water Service: Council was notified that the City was contacted by MKEC Engineers representing the Chisholm Creek Casino in regards to water service to that facility. Wallace asked if this would be a chance to re-negotiate our contract with Mulvane. Keefer stated we’d have to see what happens, there may be an opportunity. Wallace asked if we’d have the ability to provide them with water, since there have been water restrictions in the past. Keefer stated that the last water restriction was six or seven years ago, and that the new water plant has been built and other changes in our system that have improved our ability to provide water. Griffith stated the casino is a long way from a sure thing. Wallace made a motion to authorize staff to meet with MKEC to discuss this further and in more depth. Childers seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Informational Memorandum:
Reavis – Reavis stated the Library minutes state that one of the goals for 2010 is for someone to take care of the grounds for the 2010 summer. Reavis asked if the City is currently taking care of the Library grounds. Keefer stated the City mows the grass and does some minor landscaping, but that they are probably referring to more landscaping such as the flower garden and shrubs. Keefer stated he would follow up with the Library on this.
Wallace – Wallace asked if there is any more information on who owns the Christmas tree. Keefer stated there had not been any discussion on that yet.
Griffith – Griffith asked for a timetable on when the grants for the dam/spillway project will be discussed. Keefer stated he needs to follow up on that to see if the Washington County project is a go or not. Griffith asked if there is a timetable for when the project would get started. Keefer stated the earliest would be this time next year. Rawlings stated the raw waterline that runs through the Frontier Refinery could not be down during that project. Keefer stated he hopes the raw waterline project would start this year or early 2010.
Huddleston – Huddleston asked how the County’s landfill inclement weather plan would affect us. Keefer stated that he has voiced concerns to the County about how the plan would affect us, but that he hasn’t received any feedback. Keefer stated that if the landfill were closed due to inclement weather it could put us in a bind.
Final Comments:
Huddleston – Huddleston asked when the right hand east-bound lane at 7th and State Street will be reopened. Keefer stated he was not pleased with the work that was done, and that KDOT has asked us to keep it closed to let it settle. Keefer stated he doesn’t know if the work has been repaired yet, but that it will hopefully be opened up later this week.
Griffith – Griffith stated he has seen that street work has started on 15th Street. Keefer stated that is part of the 2009 Street Sales Tax program.
Williams – Williams stated there will be an Entrepreneur workshop at the Art’s Council building next to the Theatre this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Williams stated the Streetscape project is complete, but now we need to work on filling some of the vacant buildings downtown. Williams stated that there has been an Augusta folder produced for API, the Chamber of Commerce, and the City to use for promoting the community. She stated the City will receive 100 of those folders.
Leffler – Leffler stated that after a previous meeting Wallace commented about changing the council meeting start dates. Leffler made a motion to change the council meeting time from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. beginning on January 1, 2010. Childers seconded the motion. Wallace stated he would like to amend the motion to say 7:00 p.m. or as per designated by the council. Motion died for lack of a second. Original motion carried without opposition.
Reavis – Reavis congratulated the Chamber and DAI for a successful Trick-or-Treat Street and Chili Cook-Off. Reavis stated there were 17 entrants in the cook-off and a lot of people down town enjoying the festivities. Williams asked who won the cook-off. Reavis stated Mike Martin won. Childers stated that Reavis volunteered at this event and several others throughout the community and has done so prior to becoming a council member. Childers thanked Reavis for all the work that he does.
Adjourn: At 9:10 p.m. Reavis made a motion to adjourn. Wallace seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
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