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CITY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 7, 2009
7:30 P.M.
The Council of the City of Augusta, Kansas met in regular session on December 16, 2009, with Mayor Kristey Williams presiding. Council present were Holly Harper, Matt Childers, Michael Huddleston, Mike Rawlings, Robert Griffith and Ronald Reavis. Councilmen Michael Wallace and Tom Leffler were absent. Also present: City Manager Bill Keefer, Assistant to the City Manager Josh Shaw, Director of Electric Utility Bill Webster, Electric Production Superintendent Jim Sutton, and City Clerk Erica Jones. Visitors present were: John Black, Kyler McCommas, Kent Bush, and Anthony Speer.
Prayer: Pastor Paul Andrews, Life Church, gave the invocation.
Minutes: Reavis stated the word “irreverent” in the Visitor’s section should be changed to “irrelevant”. Reavis also stated that under Airport Lease Agreements on page two, the “a” in advanced should be capitalized. Harper made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 16, 2009 meeting as amended. Reavis seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Appropriations:
November (11A): Griffith made a motion to approve Ordinance 11A in the amount of $663,907.37. Childers seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Visitors:
Old Business:
Airport Sign: Council reviewed and considered options for the proposed Airport Sign. Rawlings made a motion to approve the bid from Sharp Construction in the amount of $9,000 for the larger airport sign without the airfoil. Childers seconded the motion. Huddleston inquired about the lighting. Shaw stated that was being looked in to and that there would be sufficient funds available to cover that cost. Keefer stated the sign will be lit. Motion carried with Griffith opposing.
New Business:
Fire Truck: Griffith made a motion to approve the bid for general obligation bonds for the fire truck from Country Club Bank with a net interest cost of $238,449.78. Huddleston seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition. Reavis inquired about the annual payments. Jones stated they would be between $67,000 and $70,000 per year.
Griffith made a motion to approve Ordinance 1992 authorizing the issuance of $700,000 of general obligation bonds and providing for the levying and collection of taxes for the payment of the bonds. Rawlings seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Childers made a motion to approve Resolution 2009-19 authorizing and directing the sale and delivery of $700,000 of general obligation bonds. Reavis seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition. Rawlings told the public he wanted them to know the spending of $700K to purchase of the fire truck was not taken lightly even though they rushed through the motions tonight. Rawlings stated the governing body has been working on this for a while and tonight was the finalization of that effort. Childers stated Reavis brought this up nearly nine months ago. Keefer stated the fire truck is tentatively scheduled to be delivered in March.
Street Closure: Rawlings made a motion to approve a request from USD 402 to close the 1800 Block of Cron Street during the construction of the new Lincoln School facility. Reavis seconded the motion. Reavis asked for clarification on the area to be fenced in and Kyler McCommas from Crosslands stated it would be the northeast corner of the lot. Reavis asked if the fire hydrant would be accessible during the construction. McCommas stated it would be available and that it may need to be relocated after the construction. Griffith asked if the City should put a timeframe on when repairs would need to be made. Keefer stated he would not issue the occupancy permit until the repairs were made. Huddleston asked who would decide if there was any damage. Keefer stated there would be a joint walk-thru with the City and School District. Huddleston recommended a pre-inspection with photos. Motion carried without opposition.
Airport Lease: Reavis made a motion to approve reversing the assignment of the Aerospace Product, Inc. lease to ARTDG back to the City of Augusta. Rawlings stated he wanted to make sure staff wants the lease to be given back. Keefer stated that Anthony Speer from ARTDG planned to attend the meeting, but was running late. Keefer recommended tabling this agenda item until Speer arrived. Reavis withdrew his motion.
Bids: Rawlings made a motion to approve the low bid from Augusta Saw & Mower in the amount of $8,189 for a 72” Husqvarna mower. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Childers made a motion to approve the low bid from Solomon Corporation in the amount of $19,240 for transformer maintenance. Rawlings seconded the motion. Huddleston asked why there was such a difference in the pricing. Webster stated that Solomon has always bid cheaper, and that Betts is located in Colorado which could be part of the reason their bid is higher. Motion carried without opposition.
Depot Grant: Huddleston made a motion to approve Resolution 2009-20 supporting the submittal of the City’s application for Transportation Enhancement Funds for the renovation of the Frisco Depot. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Utility Abatements: Harper made a motion to approve utility abatements for 2010 as follows: Augusta Arts Council (Theatre) $8,500, Augusta Arts Council (Gallery) $1,500, Augusta Chamber of Commerce $1,700, Augusta Community Caring Center $2,500, Augusta Historical Society $4,000, Augusta Public Library $22,000, Augusta Senior Center $2,500, Kansas Museum of Military History $5,000, Mid-Kansas CAP $6,000, for a total of $53,700. Reavis seconded the motion. Motion carried with Childers abstaining.
Airport Lease: Williams asked Speer to explain ARTDG’s reasoning for requesting the reversal of the lease assignment. Speer stated that Ken Stultz has never recognized ARTDG as his legal landlord, and that he believes it is in the best interest of everyone if the lease assignment were reversed. Shaw stated that staff has had to step in on many occasions because Stultz has refused to work with ARTDG, and that reversing the lease assignment will give the City the powers and rights of the lease. Shaw stated that Stultz has made it know that he wants this through his refusal to work with ARTDG. Huddleston asked if the City will be reimbursed by anyone for the cost of the lease rewrites. Keefer stated that David All prepared the documents and he would have to ask him what the cost was to prepare the rewrites. Huddleston stated there is a cost for a conditional use permit because of the staff involvement, why shouldn’t there be a cost here. Williams stated the conditional use permit has an upfront cost, and that there has never been a fee for a re-draft of a lease in the past. Williams stated if there were to be a fee, it would be appropriate to apply the fee to Stultz as well as ARTDG. Childers asked if Stultz made the request for the reversal of the lease assignment. Shaw stated that he has not formally made a request. Huddleston asked why we think Stultz will have a better relationship with the City. Childers stated he doesn’t think it is unreasonable to charge a fee. Williams stated these documents were already prepared, that they only had to be altered to include the changes. Shaw stated he would have to inquire with Mr. All.
Speer stated that a fee would not be unreasonable, but that the amount of time and resources staff has expended prior to ARTDG’s request is more than the cost associated with rewrite of the documents. Shaw agreed. Griffith stated the reversal of the lease assignment would somewhat be to the City’s advantage. Speer stated that ARTDG has a legal lease with Stultz, but that they don’t want to have to go to court with him if it can be avoided. Speer stated that if the governing body votes against the reversal of the lease assignment ARTDG will take the action they deem necessary. Huddleston asked why ARTDG wanted the lease in the first place. Speer stated they wanted to have control of that whole complex. Huddleston stated that now they want to pass him back to the City. Shaw stated Stultz is the City’s problem now anyway, but without the lease we have no authority to act. Childers asked if this is to the City’s advantage. Shaw stated he doesn’t know what we would loose to take the lease back. Childers asked why ARTDG has not taken action to terminate the lease. Shaw stated they have had the legal right to do so, but that we have asked them to hold off so staff could discuss the complaints about grant assurances with the FAA. Huddleston asked if Stultz has been making his lease payments to ARTDG and whether he is current. Speer stated he has, but only after attempting multiple times to make payments to the city and having them returned to him. Speer stated he is in default for December and that he has not provided a certificate of insurance as requested.
Williams stated we have had difficulties with other tenants that are not able to pay their lease payments. Griffith stated everyone is letting him get away with not dealing with ARTDG and asked if it would be easier for the City to deal with his lease. Shaw stated if the governing body approves the reversal of the lease assignment, Stultz’s lease will be an agenda item at the next meeting and it will have to be decided at that time whether to keep the lease as is, re-negotiate the lease, or terminate the lease. Griffith made a motion to approve reversing the assignment of the Aerospace Product, Inc. lease to ARTDG back to the City of Augusta. Rawlings seconded the motion. Motion carried with Huddleston opposing.
Rawlings made a motion to approve the second amendment to the lease agreement with ARTDG at the Municipal Airport. Childers seconded the motion. Motion carried with Huddleston opposing.
Access Agreement: Rawlings made a motion to approve an access agreement for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Public Hearing: Childers made a motion to approve Resolution 2009-21 scheduling a public hearing for 7:00 p.m. on January 4, 2010 to take input whether the home at 815 Money should be considered a dangerous structure and ordered to be cleaned up or demolished. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Public Hearing: Reavis made a motion to schedule a public hearing for 7:30 p.m. on December 21, 2009 to consider amendments to the 2009 Budget. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Informational Memorandum:
Huddleston – Huddleston stated he was glad to see the bid notices being advertised on the website. Huddleston also stated it was good to see that the governing body was left out as an essential function of the City in the Pandemic Preparedness Plan. Shaw stated that was duly noted.
Reavis – Reavis asked if the holdup on the KLINK overpass project was the laying of the asphalt. Keefer stated the paving mats have to be put down at a certain temperature and that is why the project is being delayed. Reavis asked if this will affect the other street projects like Columbia Street. Keefer stated that it would not because that is a different project with a different contractor. Childers asked if there would still be one lane blocked off. Keefer stated he thought the road would be opened back up but it hasn’t yet, so he will follow up with Goedecke.
Final Comments:
Griffith – Griffith stated the brick around the manhole at the intersection of Osage and 5th Avenue has settled. Keefer stated that work is under warranty and that he has passed that on to the contractor.
Harper – Harper asked what would happen to the brick when the work on Columbia is completed since it is in really good shape. Keefer stated it will have an asphalt overlay.
Williams – Williams thanked those that are working with Ignite Augusta and encouraged others to volunteer or visit the lights and donate.
Executive Session: At 8:27 p.m. Reavis made a motion to go into executive session for consultation with an attorney on matters that would be deemed privileged in an attorney-client relationship for 10 minutes. Harper seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition. Rawlings left the meeting at that time, as he could not attend the executive session due to a conflict of interest.
At 8:38 p.m. Childers made a motion to exit executive session with no action being taken. Huddleston seconded the motion. Motion carried without opposition.
Adjourn: At 8:39 p.m. Reavis made a motion to adjourn. Childers seconded the motion. Huddleston inquired about the situation with the pipelines with regard to the levee. Keefer sated that we are working with the owners of the pipelines and will be advising the governing body of the costs of relocating the waterlines and the other pipelines that will have to be moved. Huddleston asked about the start date for the levee project. Keefer stated he hoped that construction will begin in late summer or early fall 2010. Motion to adjourn carried without opposition.
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