CITY OF BURLINGTON, KANSAS


GOVERNMENT

Applying for Public Office
Board of Zoning Appeals
Burlington Housing Authority
Burlington Cemetery Board
City Council

Electrician Examining Board
General Information
Mayor
CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES, AGENDA,  & PUBLIC NOTICES
 & WATER EMERGENCY
Mission Statement
Planning Committee Members
Plumbing Examining Board
Subdivision Committee
Standing Committees
Tree Board

See also (list of Department Heads) "City Department/Services", "Programs and Services"


GENERAL INFORMATION

Burlington was incorporated as a second class city on December 9, 1882.

The City operates under a non-partisan Mayor/Council form of government. The Mayor is elected on an at-large basis and serves a four-year term.

The six Council Members are elected by Ward (two representing each of three Wards) and serve four-year terms of office. An election for Council Members is held every odd-numbered year, with one representative from each of the three Wards being chosen each election.  Ordinance 795 submitted Charter Ordinance #8 to be put on the April 5, 2011 election ballot.  Charter Ordinance #8 passed by majority vote of the Electors.  Charter Ordinance #8, section 2.d states,  ‘Positions that become vacant during the course of the four-year term shall be filled by an eligible resident of the Ward in which the vacancy exists, following a majority vote of approval of the appointment by the Governing Body.  However, if after thirty (30) days of the position becoming vacant, no eligible person in that Ward has expressed interest, the Governing Body may appoint a person from one of the other Wards with the understanding the interim Council Member shall not be eligible to be a candidate in the next election for that seat unless having obtained residency in that Ward.’


The City Clerk is appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council. The City Clerk is responsible for the administration of the City’s finances, personnel, purchasing, budget, correspondence, utility service requests, utility billing and public relations.


MISSION STATEMENT
Burlington's Mission Statement provides a broad overview of the City's aspirations.

MISSION STATEMENT of CITY OF BURLINGTON, KANSAS 
We, representatives and employees of Burlington, collectively agree that our mission is to do what is best for the City of Burlington. We do not work for or represent any special interest group. We believe that integrity is the backbone of decision making and loyalty to the community is paramount. Our ultimate goal is to improve the City's quality of life by making informed decisions, using resources intelligently and pursuing innovative ideas to ensure a better tomorrow. To reach these ends, we shall work as a team, trust in one another and listen to the people we represent.


MAYOR
The City operates under a non-partisan Mayor/Council form of government. The Mayor is elected on an at-large basis and serves a four-year term.  Gene L. Merry was elected Mayor of the City of Burlington on April 5, 2011 and took his Oath of Office on April 20, 2011.   His term will expire in April of 2015.
GENE L. MERRY
       Mayor, City of Burlington      
 
 
 
 
  P.O. Box 207; 301 Neosho St.
     Burlington, Kansas 66839
    City Hall: Phone: 620-364-5334
Business Phone:  620-364-3051
     FAX  (620)364-2996
     Email: downtownguy@embarqmail.com  

CITY COUNCIL

The six Council Members are elected by Ward (two representing each of three wards) and serve four-year terms of office. An election for Council Members is held every odd-numbered year, with one representative from each of the three Wards being chosen each election. (For phone numbers, see "Government - City Council Roster".)

Note:  Mail may be addressed to the Council Member(s) at P.O. Box 207, Burlington, Kansas 66839.

Mayor and Ward 1 Positions were elected in 2011 & will expire May 2015.   
Ward 2 Positions were elected in 2013 & will expire in May 2017. 

WARD 1

Position 1

Position 2


Forrest T. Rhodes 
Cell:     (620)203-0168
Home:  (620)364-2051
Fax:      (620)364-2996
Email: ftrhodes@mchsi.com 
 
 
Jerilyn Curtiss 
Cell:      (913)957-6312    
Home:   (620)364-2705
Fax:      (620)364-2996
Email: jmcurt@embarqmail.com 

 

WARD 2

Position 1

Position 2

R. Stan Luke
       Cell:     (620)364-6741 
       Home:  (620)364-2373
        Fax:    (620)364-2373 (call first)
        Email: rsluke1@mchsi.com 
 

William C. Scott
   (President of Council)
      
   Office:  (620)364-5334
         Home:  (620)364-5663
         Fax:     (620)364-2996
         Email: billscott64@hotmail.com 
 

 

WARD 3

Position 1

Position 2

Lewis Lenard
        
        Home:  (620)364-8716
        Fax:    (620)364-2996
        Email: thelenards@mchsi.com /
 
Jane Griffith
        
        Home:  (620)364-5814
        Fax:      (620)36-42996
        Email:  janerg@embarqmail.com
             

 

OFFICER and BOARD APPOINTMENTS
Appointed by Mayor Gene L. Merry
(May 2013)

CITY CLERK REGINA R. KEWLEY
DEPUTY CITY CLERK / ASSISTANT COURT CLERK ANNE C. BROWN
UTILITY BILLING CLERK / MUNICIPAL COURT CLERK CAROL L. MAST
ZONING & GRANTS CLERK JIMMY HUGUNIN  
CHIEF OF POLICE DOUGLAS L. JONES
CITY TREASURER SHARON S. GUEHO
CITY ATTORNEY THOMAS F. ROBRAHN
JUDGE PRO-TEM REGINA R. KEWLEY
MUNICIPAL JUDGE JAMES R. CAMPBELL
SUPERINTENDENT OF ELECTRIC / ELECTRIC INSPECTOR ALAN SCHNEIDER
SUPERINTENDENT OF PARKS KEVIN BOYCE
SUPERINTENDENT OF STREETS & ALLEYS DOUG MAST
SUPERINTENDENT OF WATER & SEWER UTILITY / PLUMBING INSPECTOR DANNY HAWKINS 

APPLYING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE

To declare candidacy for office of Mayor or Council Member, the following actions must be taken or contact the County Election Officer at (620)364-2191 or the City Clerk at (620)364-5334.

1. Candidate’s declaration of intention

2. Statement of substantial interests for local office

3. Affidavit of exemption from filing receipts and expenditures reports by a candidate

4. A $5.00 filing fee must be paid or a nomination petition must be completed with the required number of duly registered voters from Ward/City of representation.


BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
(5/2007)

 ON MAY 2, 2007, ORDINANCE 757 WAS ADOPTED TO OFFICIALLY DISBAND THE BURLINGTON'S BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, AND ALLOW  THE BURLINGTON PLANNING COMMISSION TO ALSO ACT AS THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS., EFFECTIVE WITH PUBLICATION OF ORDINANCE 757 ON MAY 8, 2007.  


 
 

BURLINGTON CEMETERY BOARD

(Current 05/2013)

Secretary/Treasurer – Lane Jones
[Jones Funeral Home 620-364-5319

MEMBERS

 Daniel Allen
 Mark Burns
 Ron Hoover
 Lane Jones
 Kent Smith
 Larry Tice
 Gene Traylor
 Gordon Varvel

 

BURLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY

(Effective 5-1-2013)

Secretary/Treasurer - Project Manager
Tim Martin

MEMBERS

Tim Martin - Secretary/Treasurer
Bill Walton (Chair)
 Donna Erbe
Ben Gaut
Sharon Hall
Jodie Mahoney

 


ELECTRICIAN EXAMINING BOARD:
(Mayor's Annual Appointments 5/2013)

CHAIR(Inspector)Alan Schneider
MEMBER (Electrician)Jim Thweatt
MEMBER(Council Member)Stan Luke

 
 
PLANNING COMMISSION/BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS MEMBERS
(Rev. 5/2013)

Contact: City Zoning Clerk

301 Neosho St.; P.O. Box 207; Burlington, KS 66839
(Phone:(620)364-5334/FAX:620-364-2996)
Email: zburlington@mchsi.com  

Ordinances 514, 756, 757
Board Membership: 5 for a Quorum, 9 maximum
Two members shall reside outside of City limits, but within 3-mile extraterritorial
 


MEMBER

                   POSITION(s) 

Ken Grate   Chair

  Vicki Fry

  Vice Chair
Dallas Scothorn   City Liaison Representative / Subdivision Representative

  Cara Mays

  County Liaison Representative

  Jeff Clark

  Comprehensive Plan / Subdivision Representative
Ken Caudell Jr.   Subdivision Committee Chair / Secretary
George Shove   Member 
Wade Handley   Member
Thomas Allen   Member
Jimmy Hugunin   Zoning Clerk / Recording Secretary / Subdivision Administrator



 
PLUMBING EXAMINING BOARD
(By Mayor's Annual Appointments 5/2013)

[Contact  Water & Wastewater Department, at 620-364-8332 or email:  h2oburlington@mchsi.com
CHAIR(Inspector) Danny Hawkins
MEMBER(Council Member) Lewis Lenard
MEMBER(Plumber) Calvin Freeman
.

 
STANDING COMMITTEES
(Mayor's Annual Appointments Revision 5/2013)

STANDING COMMITTEES

OFFICE

NAME

ANNEXATION, ELECTION, PLANNING & ZONING: Chair/Council Member
President of Council
Lewis Lenard
William C. Scott
DECISION MAKING AUTHORITYChair (President of City Council))
Mayor
Bank
Business
Chamber of Commerce
Stan Luke
Gene L. Merry
Dale Rein
Lisa Garrett
Polly Epting
UTILITIES
(Electric, Water, Sewer)
Water -   Chair
Electric - Council Member
Sewer -   Council Member
Lewis Lenard
Stan Luke
Jerilyn Curtiss
FINANCEChair/Mayor
Council Member
President of Council
Gene L. Merry
Jane M. Griffith
Stan Luke
INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCEChair/Mayor
Council Member
Gene L. Merry
Lewis Lenard
PARKSChair/Council Member
Council Member
Jerilyn Curtiss
Jane M. Griffith
PUBLIC SAFETYChair/President of Council
Council Member
Council Member 
William C. Scott
Lewis Lenard
Forrest T. Rhodes
STREETS & ALLEYSChair/Mayor
Council Member
Council Member
Gene L. Merry
Jerilyn Curtiss
Forrest T. Rhodes

SEE ALSO: City Departments & Services


 
 
 
TREE BOARD
(Rev. 5/2013)
 
For information/inquiries contact:  

Burlington City Hall
(Phone:(620)364-5334)
Email: zburlington@mchsi.com  

MEMBERS

Daniel Allen (Chair)
Kevin Boyce
Burlington Parks Superintendent 

Donna Erbe

Matt Moon
Nelda Stitzel
John Truelove
Lila VanHorn
Jimmy Hugunin (Secretary)
Burlington Zoning Clerk
Tim McDonnel (Consultant)

 
 
CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES, AGENDA, & PUBLIC NOTICES
 & WATER EMERGENCY

AND CITY CLERK'S NOTES OF PLANNED MONTHLY WORK

NOTE:  Council Meeting minutes  of at least three sessions will be provided, after Council approval, at one time on this site. 

Burlington City Council normally meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

 

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE

6:00 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, unless specified otherwise.
Burlington City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas

 

 

BUSINESS APPRECIATION PICNIC

City of Burlington and City of New Strawn will host the annual Business Appreciation Picnic for Local Business Owners and Managers on between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, June 14, 2013 in Kelley Park in Burlington.  

 

BURLINGTON CITY HALL CLOSING

 MONDAY, MAY 17  

BETWEEN 11 TO 1:00  

FOR AN EMPLOYEE MEETING.

 

CITY OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED

 MONDAY, MAY 27

TO OBSERVE LABOR DAY

 

 

BURLINGTON CITY ATTORNEYS APPOINTED  5-1-2013

THOMAS F. ROBRAHN

and 

COLLEAGUES, DENNIS D. ROTH and PHILIP D. WRIGHT

 

CHLORINE TREATMENT                                    

Burlington Water Department will be doing a chlorine burnout of the water system and flushing hydrants from Monday, Oct. 15 through Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.

Due to the drought and necessary minimal water usage, chlorine residuals are low and must be brought up to requirements mandated by the State of Kansas.

Your water may smell and taste different and may be discolored – just run it for a few minutes and it will clear.

                                                  

PRESS RELEASE for WATER EMERGENCY

WATER WARNING DOWNGRADED TO A WATCH 

For All Consumers of Burlington Water

Please Use Water Wisely.  

Conserve water now for future availablity.

 Conservation Tips:  See wateruseitwisely.com  & See www.kwo.org

Your ongoing water conservation efforts are appreciated! 

 

  WATER EMERGENCY

WATER WATCH DECLARED

For All Consumers of Burlington Water  

(MARCH 20, 2013 UPDATE)

   Kansas Water Office told Water District #3 the Water Emergency Stage II Water Warning can be replaced with a WATER WATCH. 

   In accordance with Ordinance 536, Section 6, Voluntary Conservation Measures, The Mayor of City of Burlington hereby declares City of Burlington and all its water consumers, including Rural Water Districts 2 and 3, and the Cities of Gridley, LeRoy, and New Strawn to be under a WATER WATCH. 

   Mayor Gene L. Merry hereby calls on all water consumers to employ voluntary water conservation measures to limit or eliminate nonessential water use.

   The drought is far from over.  We should all continue to work together to increase our water conservation efforts – use less, waste none.  Conserve now for future availability.

   Updates and conservation tips can be found in the local newspaper, at City Hall, on Burlington’s Facebook page, Burlington’s website www.skyways.org/towns/Burlington, at http://wateruseitwisely.com, and at www.kwo.org. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSERVATION EFFORTS.

 

WATER CONSERVATION TIPS

USE LESS     WASTE NONE

Conservation Tips from wateruseitwisely.com

·     When washing dishes by hand, fill a container with rinse water instead of letting the water run.

·     Install covers on pools and spas to reduce evaporation.  Check for leaks around pumps.

·     Use garbage disposals sparingly.  Compost Vegetable food waste to save gallons of water.

·     Adjust sprinklers to water only the lawn and shrubs, not structures, sidewalks, or driveways.

·     Fill a container to wash fruits and vegetables; then use the water on houseplants.

·     Check indoors and outdoors for water leaks. Fixing one leaky faucet could save 140 gallons of water a week.

·     Laundry – match your water level to the size of load.

·     Spreading a layer of mulch around plants retains moisture.

·     Clean your driveway and sidewalks with a broom instead of a hose.

·     Save 25 gallons of water a month by shutting off water while brushing your teeth.

·     Turn water spigots off tightly after each use.

·     Turn off the water while you wash your hair and save 300 gallons of water a year.  Turn it off while shaving and save 150 gallons a year.

·     Wash your pet(s) outside on a part of the lawn that needs watering.

·     Use leftover ice in your glass to water a plant.

·     Put a bucket in your tub or show to catch water as it warms and use it to water plants, flush the toilet, etc.

·     Don’t use running water to thaw food.  Defrost food in the refrigerator or microwave.

·     Remember to check your sprinkler system valves periodically for leaks.

·     Soak pans instead of letting water run while scraping them.

·     Use a water-efficient shower head could save up to 750 gallons of water a month.

·     Run the clothes washer only for full loads or set the water level for the load size.

·     For cold drinking water, refrigerate a pitcher of water.

·     If water runs off your lawn easily, water for shorter periods to allow absorption.

·     For a reminder, set a kitchen timer when watering your lawn.

·     Clean aerator screens on your faucets.

·     Newer dishwashers are more efficient; you can reduce rinse time.

·     Cut utility bills & conserve at the same time: upgrade to more efficient appliances, shower heads, and toilets.

·     Plant in cooler weather in the fall.

Together we are all making a difference.

Your continuing efforts to conserve water and get all of our communities through this water shortage are greatly appreciated.    Thanks for conserving water! 

City of Burlington

VACANCIES

See Employment Opportunities under 'City Departments and Services' page.

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CITY OF BURLINGTON

SIDEWALK COST-SHARE PROGRAM

City of Burlington has updated the Sidewalk Cost-Share Program and increased the amount of the City’s cost-share to $10 per linear foot.  Property owners are encouraged to take advantage of the Cost-Share Program to improve the appearance, safety, and value of their property by repairing or replacing the sidewalks or sections of sidewalk that are in poor condition, or by installing new sidewalk.

Ordinance 807 governs the Sidewalk Cost-Share Program. City Council shall appropriate annually $10,000 from the City/County Infrastructure Grant for cost sharing of sidewalk replacement within the city.  This program shall be for replacement of old sidewalk and for new sidewalk along the horizontal front footage in front of residence or in the case of a corner lot along the side yard.

Replacement sidewalk sections can match the width of existing sidewalk on either side of the replacement section.  New sidewalk must be five feet in width.   Both new sidewalk and sections of replacement sidewalk must be 5 ½ sack cement strength and four inches in thickness.

A positive inspection of the completed project by the city Street Department Superintendent is required before issuance of authorization to the City Clerk’s Office to pay the individual property owner the amount based on running foot of sidewalk.

Applications and the Ordinance are available at Burlington City Hall, 301 Neosho Street.  Please take a few minutes to come by and fill out the short application, which will be submitted to City Council for approval.

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BURLINGTON CITY CLERK’S NOTES OF INTEREST for MAY 2013  

NOTICE to City of Burlington water consumers, including Rural Water Districts 2 and 3, and Cities of Gridley, LeRoy, and New Strawn. 

Ø WATER WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.  Although we have had some rainy days, Coffey County is still in a Water Watch which puts us under voluntary water conservation measures to limit or eliminate nonessential water use.  Updates and conservation tips can be found in the local newspaper, at City Hall, on Burlington’s Facebook page, Burlington’s website www.skyways.org/towns/Burlington, at http://wateruseitwisely.com, and at www.kwo.org.  Thank you for your continuing efforts.

Ø The Business Appreciation picnic for Business Managers/Owners will be Friday, June 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ø Closing:  City Hall will be closed for an Employee Meeting on Monday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ø Vacancy:  City of Burlington is accepting applications for a Heavy Equipment Operator for the Street Department, until the position is filled.

Ø A Come & Go Appreciation Reception for Stephen J. Smith will be held at Burlington City Hall from 2 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22nd. 

Electric Department Distribution Change power poles, do customer service requests, read meters, and work on the Automatic Meter Infrastructure (AMI) project.

Electric Department Production: General plant maintenance, monthly reports, RICE/NESHAP upgrades, and attend KPP meetings,

Parks Department: Clean Public Buildings & Restrooms, mow, spray weeds, and work on ‘Welcome to Burlington’ signs.

Police Department: BPD will work nuisances, trash and junk.  Watch for Children – School will be getting out for the summer.

Street Department: Will patch and crack fill streets, weather permitting.

Water Distribution: Normal duties and Plant projects, clean ¼ of city’s sewerlines, reseed 6th Street from Niagara to Potomac (weather permitting), do normal duties (locates, work orders, read meters, safety training, etc.), and

Water Plant/Production:  Do CO2 water line install, Transfer well weir install, Work on rapid mixer valve.

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TO RESIDENTS AND TAXPAYERS

OF BURLINGTON, KANSAS

Issues involving the Mediacom Cable TV franchise, including complaints by citizens of Burlington, were discussed by Burlington’s Governing Body in November and December 2011. 

In 2006, the Kansas Legislature passed Kansas Statutes 12-2023 and 12-2024, which stripped all Kansas cities of the right to negotiate or have control over cable television franchises, and delegated authority to the Kansas Corporation Commission. 

City of Burlington does have the right to charge Mediacom a franchise fee, which has historically been two percent.  Mediacom wrote asking if the City wanted to increase the fee to five percent, the maximum allowed by law. 

On December 7, 2011, Burlington’s Governing Body unanimously voted NOT to increase the franchise fee.

Please contact your Kansas State Legislators with your comments, complaints, inquiries, or concerns.

                                 City of Burlington

                                    GENE L. MERRY, MAYOR

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CITY OF BURLINGTON

CLARIFICATION ON PLUMBING AND ELECTRICAL WORK

This notice is to provide clarification of Burlington City Codes on electric and plumbing work being done within the City of Burlington’s jurisdiction.

A homeowner may do plumbing and electrical work only on his/her own home of residence, not on any other properties he/she owns. 

If not the homeowner’s residence, a licensed plumber must do the plumbing and an electrician must do the electrical.  Before any electrical or plumbing work is begun, the electrician or plumber must come to Burlington City Hall to complete and sign the required permit.

All electrical and plumbing work must be done by the licensee, who will be liable for the work.

Failure to comply with City of Burlington ordinances and the National Electric Codes and/or National Plumbing Codes shall result in any or all of the following:

Ø   Denial of electric service and/or plumbing services.

Ø   Loss of license to perform work in City of Burlington jurisdiction

Ø   Notification to liability company issuing insurance to licensee.

Codes are available at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas.

CITY OF BURLINGTON  Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

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City of Burlington Utility Customers

Delinquent Utility Account Processing

City of Burlington wants our utility customers to understand how delinquent utility accounts are handled in a consistent manner to be fair to our rate payers. 

All utility bills are due by the 10th of each month.  When a customer is late paying his/her bill, a Final Notice is mailed with the following statement on it:  ‘Dear Customer:  Please check your records for payment.  If this bill is not paid on or before the above shut-off date, service will be disconnected.  Customers have the right to request a hearing before the City Clerk regarding this billing, providing the request is made to the City Clerk no later than three working days prior to the above termination date.’  If service is disconnected, there is an additional $75.00 charge per meter if reconnected between 8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M., Monday through Friday, and $100 for reconnection at any other time.

When the City determines the customer has no intention of paying the utility bill, City of Burlington will send it to the State of Kansas Set-off Program for collection through attaching income tax refunds or other means at their disposal. 

City of Burlington tries to work with customers who are having a difficult time and cannot pay their utility bill.  If you are having a difficult time and cannot pay your utility bill, please contact the City Hall before the disconnection date to make payment arrangements and avoid additional charges.

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CITY COUNCIL MINUTES & AGENDA

(Note: Coffey County Republican attends City Council Meetings and publishes their summary of the meeting.)

(Meeting minutes published on the website are prepared by the City Administrative Assistant,

 approved by City Council, signed by the City Clerk, and then uploaded to this website.)

 

CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA FOR JUNE 5, 2013

     [AGENDA WILL BE PUBLISHED THE WEEK OF THE NEXT MEETING.]

ROLL CALL

   ELECTED OFFICIALS:  

MINUTES TO BE APPROVED:  

APPOINTMENT:  None   

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Update

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:     Update  and  Water Emergency - Watch:  Update

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

POLICE DEPARTMENT: Update

PARKS DEPARTMENT: Update

CLAIMS ORDINANCE & PAYROLL ORDINANCE

PLANNING & ZONING: Update

COUNCIL BUSINESS:   

ZONING PERMITS: 

LEGAL UPDATE

CITY CLERK'S UPDATE


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CITY COUNCIL MINUTES

 

 

BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION MAY 1, 2013

 

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday May 1, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                            Yes Jane M. Griffith                        Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                       Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                     Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)      Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)        Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
No Doug Mast (Street)         Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater) 

  Also Present:    Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)              Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                            
Yes Thomas F. Robrahn (Sworn in as City Attorney)      Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

                          

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Thomas Robrahn, Dennis Roth, Philip Wright, Cameron Roth

CITY ATTORNEY & ASSISTANT ATTORNEYS

      Tom Robrahn introduced himself and his two colleagues, “I will be your new City Attorney, and I have two colleagues who will be assisting me in this endeavor.  Dennis Roth served in the capacities of Burlington’s Assistant City Attorney and City Attorney from 1972 to 1987.  He will be our advisor.  Philip Wright is what I consider a civil procedure guru, and he will be dealing with Municipal Court.  The best thing I like about this setup is that when I’m not able to be here, most likely one of these two will be here to help you.  Whenever Philip is not able to be at the Municipal Court, Dennis or I will take care of that.  I want to assure you that just because you will have three attorneys, we will not be double-dipping or triple-dipping; we all have our duties we will take care of.  The reason these two gentlemen are here tonight is that we have to have prosecutorial immunity if they are going to act as either an attorney for Municipal Court or here advising you.” 

      Oaths of Office:  City Clerk Kewley administered the Oath of Office of Burlington City Attorney individually to Thomas f. Robrahn, Dennis D. Roth, and Philip D. Wright.

      Appointment & Contract:  Council Member Griffith, “I move to ratify the Mayor’s appointment of Thomas F. Robrahn as City Attorney for the City of Burlington, and to authorize entering into the Contract for Professional Services of City Attorney, as presented.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

AGENDA:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES of April 17, 2013:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of April 17, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:   None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported Electric personnel have been doing the normal work including work orders, locates, customer service requests, equipment maintenance, tree trimming.  They hung the sign for Relay for Life on Monday, but took it down six hours later.  Something else will be done. The Electric Department is continuing to change out power poles and down guys (guywires)that have deteriorated to do electrolysis.

      Sewer Liftstation Replacement Project:  Electric personnel installed electric service for the new liftstation #8 (LS#8) by the Country Club.  They also installed two poles by the liftstation #6 (by Huff’s) and liftstation #8.  These two poles will have antennas on them for the sewer SCADA monitoring system.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      General:  Power Plant personnel have been performing regular Plant duties and maintenance.  They are trying to get the weeds under control at the substations.

      KPP Training:  Superintendent Schneider will be attending the Kansas Power Pool’s power supply strategy meeting on Thursday, May 2nd, in Wichita.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the sewer project is still moving along.  As Superintendent Schneider said, they did install the two poles. The contractor got pump stations #3 & 4 (LS#3 & LS#4) tied into the system.  They did get into our water main, so we had to repair that.

      Pump Station Replacement Project - Cleaning sewerlines:  Superintendent Hawkins reported that they have been cleaning the sewerlines.  He thanked the Street Department for pulling the equipment out when it got stuck in the mud.  Two pumps had to be pulled out of pump station #2 (LS#2).  Superintendent Hawkins said that we thought we had a major catastrophe on liftstation #7 (LS#7) and had to run the sewer machine into the forced main.  We found the reason we couldn’t get enough flow was that when we replaced it when we had the break underneath Rock Creek, it had sheared out by the street and was packing up stuff on the inside.  We were able to get in there with the sewer machine and get it dislodged.  Superintendent Hawkins said that at the Sewer Project progress meeting tomorrow he plans to discuss replacing the last 180 feet of pipe.

      General:  Personnel have been doing normal duties, including work orders, line locates, and meter rereads.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      General:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “The Water Plant has been running well.  The water temperature is starting to come up.  Water quality is still the same.  We are doing normal maintenance in the Water Plant, including changing the oils and grease on the machines, pumps and motors. 

      CO2 Machine:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We have been working on putting in our new CO2 water line.  We are hoping to get the tiepin done tomorrow night when we shut the plant down.  We should be up online tomorrow night.”

      Weir:  Superintendent Hawkins said they will rent scaffolding to go into the transfer and do a weir install.  To make it as safe as possible, we are getting enough harnesses, tripods, and air ventilation.

      Water Emergency Stage 1, Watch – Update:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “For the month of April, we pumped 13,505,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 450,200 gallons of water.  Usage is still down, and we’ve had some spring rains. We are still in a drought water watch, which is a Stage 1 water emergency.  Rains are returning.  Who would have thought we would be talking of having snow in May.”  He was hopeful the rains will continue so we could cancel the water emergency in a short period of time.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Mayor Merry gave the Street Department update on behalf of Superintendent Mast who was in Lawrence for a meeting.

      Spring Cleanup 2013:  City personnel hauled twenty-three loads of junk to the Coffey County Landfill, totaling 70,660 pounds (over 35 tons).

      General:  Since the last council meeting, the Street Department has spent most of its time cleaning ditches and installing driveway tubes for citizens.  They also worked on several alleyways, and added rock to some.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project - Bids

      Mayor Merry reported that Superintendent Mast recommended all bids for the sidewalk project be accepted as submitted and that the bid from Burlington Construction be accepted as the best bid.

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to accept the bids submitted for the 2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project as bone fide.” Council Member Griffith, “I’ll second it.”  There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to accept the bid from Burlington Construction for the 2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project, not to exceed their bid of $31,861.40.”  Council Member Griffith, “I’ll second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Vacancy for Heavy Equipment Operator – extend application process

      Mayor Merry said Superintendent Mast was not really satisfied with the response to the advertisement for a Heavy Equipment Operator and would like to extend accepting applications until the position is filled.  Council Member Rhodes, “I move to continue to advertise the position of Heavy Equipment Operator for the Street Department until the position is filled.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  He explained there were not enough applicants and the ones who responded were not qualified. There being no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Chief Jones reported, “We’ve been staying active from working some narcotic cases to a pair of search warrants.  Last week, in connection with the Sheriff’s Office we had hit two trailers/houses at the same time in the same block – a family deal.”  Burlington Police Department worked the spring demolition derby last week and didn’t have any trouble.  Only about three hundred fifty people attended, which was not near what they were hoping for.”

      Training:  Chief Jones will be doing some training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center on the 14th and 15th of May.  It is a command level two-day seminar for active shooter and mass casualty incidents, and will be instructed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He figures that over a two-day timeframe they will get into some training that should be quite interesting and he is looking forward to the training.  He didn’t anticipate a lot of expenses to be involved since he is planning to stay with his son.

      Animal Control Shelter – Euthanasia Chamber:  Chief Jones said, “The biggest thing we have is what Jessica Stice (Animal Control Officer) has been accomplishing at the Animal Shelter.  The euthanasia chamber has been disposed at scrap metal prices.  Bruce Haughton, one of our very prolific donees to the Animal Shelter, parted the chamber out for about $300.  Mr. Haughton added about $500 of copper pipe to the pile as a donation.”

      Animal Control Shelter – Give A Dog A Home Event:  Chief Jones, mentioning there will be an article in Friday’s newspaper, said that Animal Control Officer Stice held a ‘Give A Dog A Home 5K/1 Mile Run in which there were over a hundred participants.  After expenses, over $1,600 was donated to the Animal Shelter.  Chief Jones said City Clerk Kewley took a tour of the Shelter this week.  City Clerk Kewley said, “Jessica has done a great job down there, cleaning it out and making it nice for the animals.”  Chief Jones, “In the three and a half years Jessica has worked for us she has successfully adopted about 387 animals; and that is an average of two dogs she has found a home for every week for three and a half years.”  Everyone thought that was amazing. 

      Nuisance-Burned Structure – 416 Miami:  Mayor Merry commented that they started cleaning up after the burnout of the house at 416 Miami.  Chief Jones said he’d talked with Rhonda Gilbert of the Coffey County Housing Authority.  She got the County Commissioners to agree to waive Landfill fees, and Skillman Construction volunteered to remove the structure.  He said there are a couple of other houses we are working with the owners on to see if they can get on the CCHA demolition list – if not for this spring, then for this fall.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Boyce reported personnel have been doing normal duties, cleaning public building and restrooms, mowing, and spraying weeds.  Last week they spent some time turning water off at the parks because of freeze conditions.  The next day they turned the water back on.

      Welcome to Burlington’ Signs:  Last week, the addition was added to the north entrance to Burlington sign.  Superintendent Schneider said the ‘Welcome to Burlington’ signs are lit up now on the north and south entrances to town.

      Nuisances:  Parks personnel mowed two nuisance yards this week.

      4-H Building – Painting:  The contractor has power-washed and prepared the exterior of the 4-H Building to be painted, but may have to wash it again after the inclement weather is over.

      Hazard Trees:  They have waited to see if some of the trees would improve and show life.  They didn’t so they had to be removed.  There will probably be quite a few more that will need to be removed due to the drought.

      Flower Planting on Hold:  Due to the water watch, the Parks Department is waiting to plant flowers.   

      Conrad Park – Lighting:  Superintendent Boyce reported having received complaints about the lighting at Conrad Park not being adequate for kids playing at the playground after dark.  Superintendent Schneider checked the lights that were in the area, and one more was added.  Superintendent Boyce thanked him.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-09

$162,990.67

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-09

$  73,307.54

                                   TOTAL

$236,298.21

      CLAIMS 2013-09:  Council Member Luke, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-09 in the amount of $162,990.67 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley said, “We have a couple good sized items.  One item is payment to Landis+Gyr for the Automatic Meter Infrastructure (AMI) Project, for $41,177.  Another is payment to Midland Contractors in the amount of 73,207.83 for Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-09 unanimously approved.   

      PAYROLL 2013-09:  Council Member Rhodes, “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-09 in the amount of $73,307.54.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”    Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-09 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Training – CDBG:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin attended the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) training in Hutchinson.

      Permits:  Several permits have been issued this week for various things, and will be on the next council agenda.

      Arbor Day, Postponed to May 10:  Due to inclement weather, Burlington’s Arbor Day Celebration was postponed from April 26 to May 3rd, and has been postponed again to Friday, May 10th at 5:30 p.m. at Conrad Park at the south end of Skate Park.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Annexation of Payne Property

      Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been working with Mike and Janet Payne to annex their property adjacent to Pioneer Meadows.  Since the property is not in our extraterritorial jurisdiction, he prepared a resolution (Resolution 2013-06) to request the County Commissioners to determine annexation will not hinder or prevent proper growth or development of the area.

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS:  Mayor’s Annual Appointments for 2013

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to ratify the Mayor’s Annual Appointments for 2013.”  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion on the motion.  Council Member Scott stated, “I think this is a perfect example of leadership’s style of arrogance and intimidation.”  After reviewing the appointment lists, Council Member Rhodes said, “I’m disappointed.  I recognize you have the authority to make the appointments; I don’t like what you’ve done.”  Mayor Merry, “Any other discussion?”  There being none, he called for a vote.  Council Members Griffith, Curtiss, and Luke voted in favor.  Council Members Scott and Rhodes voted against the motion.  Mayor Merry declared that by a vote of 3:2, the motion carried.

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS:  Business Appreciation

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to hold the annual Business Appreciation Picnic on Friday, June 14, 2013 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Kelley Park; and the Employee Picnic on Monday, June 17th from 11a.m. to 1 p.m., at Kelley Park.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS:  Proclamation – Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day, May 11, 2013

      Scott Nordstedt, Postmaster of the Burlington Post Office, requested the Mayor proclaim May 11th to be Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day in Burlington.  Burlington residents are encouraged to put non-perishable food items beside their mail boxes for the mail carriers to pick up.  Donations will be delivered to God’s Storehouse.  This is a nationwide event.  The proclamation will be published.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin:

None

ORDINANCE 818, Fix City Attorney’s Compensation and Duties

      Council Member Griffith, “I move to adopt Ordinance 818, An Ordinance Establishing Compensation for the City Attorney of the City of Burlington, Kansas; and Updating Chapter I, Article 3, Section 1-311 of the Code of the City of Burlington.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Ordinance 818 unanimously adopted by a vote of 5:0.

RESOLUTION 2013-06, Annexation of Payne Property (adjacent to The Meadows)

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve Resolution No. 2013-06, A Resolution Requesting the Board of Coffey County Commissioners of Coffey County, Kansas, Determine that Annexation of A Certain Tract of Land Adjacent to the City of Burlington will not Hinder or Prevent Proper Growth or Development of that Area within Coffey County, Kansas.”  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Resolution 2013-06 unanimously approved by a vote of 5:0.

RESOLUTION 2013-07, Financing the 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project

      Mayor Merry explained, “This resolution needs passed in order to take the money to pay for improvements out of the General Fund – in this particular case, the City Infrastructure Fund.  This is a practice we’ve done through the years.”

      Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve Resolution No. 2013-07, Authorizing Funding From the City Infrastructure Fund for the 2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project, in an Amount Not to Exceed $31,861.40.”  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Resolution 2013-07 unanimously approved by a vote of 5:0.

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update    None 

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Hall Staff has been busy with normal duties, calls and inquires, customers paying utility bills, and preparing work orders, payroll, and council meeting minutes.  We have been busy preparing ordinances and resolution and contracts and various documents and reports.

      Audit 2012:  Our auditors (Mize Houser & Company) were going to be here today, but have rescheduled to next Thursday and Friday (May 16 and 17).

      Rural Water District #2 – Credit:  This month, we are paying our final payment on credit owed to Rural Water District #2.

      Training:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Municipal Judges Conference last Sunday, Monday, Tuesday in Wichita to get her credit hours.

      KPERS Workshop:  City Clerk Kewley and Deputy City Clerk Brown attended the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System training workshop on April 25th in Topeka.

      Bid Opening:  City Clerk Kewley participated in the bid opening for the 2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project this past Monday.

      Sewer Construction Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley will attend the Sewer Construction Project Meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

      Training – WebEOC:  City Clerk Kewley will attend the WebEOC training tomorrow at the courthouse at 1:30 p.m.

      Business Appreciation:  The Business Appreciation Picnic will be Friday, June 14th and the Employee Picnic will be will be the following Monday, June 17th.  Both picnics will be at Kelley Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:    None

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:   None

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION APRIL 17, 2013

 

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday April 17, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                Yes Jane M. Griffith                       Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                      Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                    Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present:

      Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)                 Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)                          No Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
     
Yes Doug Mast (Street)                   Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)      

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)           No Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes Smith (City Attorney)                     Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS:  Council Member Scott, concerning the tee-shirt he was wearing, stated, “I have a story.  I have run the Boston Marathon twice; and in 1998-1999 I helped Mark Barbee prepare for and run the marathon.  He brought me a tee-shirt in honor of that.  I still have that tee-shirt, love it, and I wear it all the time and it’s getting kind of ratty.  Over spring break my son, Jay, went to a conference at Harvard University, and I asked him to pick me up a tee-shirt. So I have a Boston Marathon tee-shirt, which after tonight it will probably never be seen in public because although I’ve run there, I’m certainly not going to give anybody the impression that I was there for this particular marathon.  I am wearing this tee-shirt tonight in honor of the people who got hurt and the people who died.  It may not mean much to you guys, but the people who trained for that race – there were something like 5,000 of them who did not get to finish.  You don’t just enter the Boston Marathon; you’ve got to qualify for that.  So these 5,000 people in the calendar year before had prepared for and run a qualifying time for Boston.  I’m here to tell you as a runner that Boston means a whole heck of a lot, and they had no chance, they were just told ‘you're done’ – you get to mile 26 and they say you can’t finish.  I apologize, but it just seemed to all fit together, so I have my shirt on tonight.”  He thought the only other time he might wear the shirt is if they catch the bombers.

      City Attorney Smith, “Just to follow up on that, I was at Topeka all day yesterday and there were a lot of people in Topeka that are runners and they were wearing their Marathon shirts in commemoration of that.”  Council Member Griffith, “I think it tells how important our city – all the people that work for our city and all the first responders, from everything I’ve read, they have practiced and if it hadn’t been for all of those people doing their jobs and being prepared, there would have been a lot more deaths.”  Council Member Scott explained there is a two-block triage set up on the right hand side of the finish line, so there were already a lot of emergency people there.  Council Member Griffith added that it was also in the middle of four of the best hospitals in Boston.

ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE TO ELECTED OFFICIALS

1)      Jerilyn Curtiss was administered the Oath of Office by City Clerk Kewley for City Council Ward 1 Position 2.

2)      Jane M. Griffith was administered the Oath of Office by City Clerk Kewley for City Council Ward 3 Position 2.

3)      William C. Scott was administered the Oath of Office by City Clerk Kewley for City Council Ward 2 Position 2.

VISITORS:  Samantha Tyson, Jennifer Tanha

AGENDA:  Council Member Lenard, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES of April 3, 2013:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of April 3, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:   None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported Electric personnel have been doing the normal work including work orders, locates, customer service requests, and equipment maintenance.  They will secure the barriers for the Spring Bash Demo Derby for this Saturday.  They are continuing to change out power poles and down guys that have deteriorated to do electrolysis.

      Sewer Liftstation Replacement Project:  Electric personnel will hook up power to liftstation 4 (LS#4) next week.

      Personnel – Training:  Superintendent Schneider said he has been working on apprenticeship modules and preparing for testing on those.

      Brush Pickup:  Brush pickup was last week.  Between the two departments (Electric and Water), thirty-five loads of brush were picked up, which is less than usual.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      General:  Power Plant personnel have been performing general Plant duties and general Plant maintenance.  They have been doing reports, including the Quarterly Knox Report and the annual Emission Inventory Class II report.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Pump Station Replacement Project – LS #3 & 4:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the sewer project is still going, but they are having a delay with the rain.  The contractors did extend the sewer forced main coming out of pump station number 3 (LS#3) and ran it up to Alleghany Street.  They will punch underneath Alleghany and run it on down behind Mr. Dwight’s house (920 Alleghany).  It is delayed due to the rain and they will come back as soon as they can and will dress the area up after the work is done.  The Electric Department will get the power to LS#4 next week, too.

      Pump Station Replacement Project - Cleaning sewerlines:  Superintendent Hawkins reported that they started cleaning the sewerlines this week.  They will do a quarter of the city’s sewer, so personnel will be out with the sewer cleaning machine.  He explained that since they are coming close to the end of the Pump Station Replacement Project, they want to make sure the pump stations we already have online are getting ready to go offline by pumping out the wet wells.  We are trying to pull grit, sand, sewer coupons, or anything from the project to those pump stations.  Plus, the State wants us to clean at least a quarter of the town’s sewerlines every year.  If an alleyway is wet, we won’t get in there and rut up the alley.  They are working on that now.

      Flushing Fire Hydrants:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We’ve been flushing fire hydrants because we have been having brown to red water with the cast iron lines and dead-end lines; so we will be seen out doing that as the seasons begin to change.”

      General:  Personnel have been doing normal duties, including work orders and line locates.  They helped with the annual brush pickup.

      Dodge Truck sold:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the 2001 Dodge pickup truck was sold to Mark Hegg for the scrap value of $500.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Valves:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “The Water Plant’s been running well.  We’re still working on some projects and right now we are working on valves.  At the end of this month, the intent is to have Millers and Dezuirk come in and work on some of those valves.”

      CO2 Machine:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We are also working on the CO2 machine.  This is something we are excited about.  We have a booster pump that runs inside the Water Plant.  It has always been what we might call our Achilles’ Heel because if we were to lose that, we would never have the ability to pump water; so we’ve always had a spare on the shelf.”

      We went back through the design plans, and we visited with Charles Wheeler who deals with Tomco.  If we can – and it appears like we can, and we’re putting in the line as we speak – we will be doing away totally with using a booster pump.  We’re going to go with the water tower elevations.  Based on the readings that we have, we’re going to be able to totally eliminate the booster pump; so that is going to help us to where we’re no longer going to have the ability to be down.  We are going to keep it (the booster pump) online as a precautionary measure so if we ever get into the situation that for whatever reason we lose tower pressure or something, we can close that valve and have the booster pump come on.  It will just be kept as a backup; so now we will finally have a backup to a backup.  We are hoping we’ll see the electric bills come down by not having to run that pump.”

      Water Emergency Stage 1, Watch – Update:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “For the month of April, we pumped 7,473,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 439,588 gallons, which is obviously lower than we have been seeing.  We are coming into our good rainy season.  We are still in a drought water watch, which is a Stage 1 water emergency.  We have attended some Local Emergency Program (LEPC) meetings with Coffey County Emergency Management, and we’re still attending the Assurance District meetings and keeping everybody’s height of awareness up on the drought and everything.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  The Street Department has been working on some alleys around town, and doing their normal duties. 

      Spring Cleanup 2013:  Superintendent Mast reported, “We did the trash cleanup this week in less than a day and a half, so there was not as much put out as there has been in the past.”  Council Member Scott stated, “I was asked to pass on to you that this person really appreciated how that got done and the fact that it did get done.”  Superintendent Mast, “I’ll pass it along.”

      Street Department Sign:  Superintendent Mast reported they have been working on a sign for the Street Department, and it will probably be ready to put up next week.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Out of State APWA Training

      Superintendent Mast requested permission to attend the APWA’s International Congress & Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.  He tries to go to the APWA’s convention each year if it is close enough to drive to it.  He definitely won’t be able to drive it next year because it will be in Canada.

      Council Member Curtiss stated,I move to approve Superintendent Mast attending the American Public Works International Congress & Exposition in Chicago, Illinois from August 25 through 28, 2013, with the City paying the expenses.”  Council Member Griffith stated, “I’ll second it.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Vacancy

      Applications for the vacant Street Department Heavy Equipment Operator position will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, the 19th of April.  Superintendent Mast is hoping more applications will come in, and commented that we’re not getting many, possibly due to the Wolf Creek outage.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  None

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Boyce reported personnel have been doing normal duties, cleaning public building and restrooms, and attended the KMU safety training..  They started mowing last week and have been spraying weeds.  All of the public restrooms are open now; water is on at the RV camping spots and RV dumping stations.  Parks personnel also helped with the Spring Cleanup picking up trash/junk. 

      Mayor Merry thanked all the Water, Sewer, Electric, Street, and Parks personnel for participating in the city-wide cleanup of brush and junk. 

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-08

$310,865.77

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-08

$  68,238.69

                                   TOTAL

$379,104.46

      CLAIMS 2013-08:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-08 in the amount of $310,865.77 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Lenard, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley said half of that amount, $162,037.10, would be for the Kansas Power Pool.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-08 unanimously approved.   

      PAYROLL 2013-08:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-08 in the amount of $68,238.69.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”    Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-08 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      City Clerk Kewley informed Council that Zoning Clerk Hugunin is attending a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) class in Hutchinson today and tomorrow.  She provided his report. 

      Annexation – Payne Property:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been working with Mike and Janet Payne to annex their property adjacent to Pioneer Meadows.  Since the property is not in our extraterritorial jurisdiction, he is preparing a resolution to the Coffey County Commissioners to request the annexation.

      Website Update:  The City’s new website should be up and running in two to three weeks.  City Clerk Kewley got an email today verifying that our request to the federal government for the City to have a .gov domain has been approved.

      City Code Update by LKM:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been working with the Nichole Proulx Aiken of the League of Kansas Municipalities on getting our City Code recodified.  They are running behind, but have hired several employees, which will help expedite the process.

      Arbor Day, April 26:  This year’s Arbor Day Celebration will be at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 26 at Conrad Park.  Mayor Merry signed the Arbor Day Proclamation, which will be published.

      Pizza Hut Relocation:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin talked with Joe Waugh of Confederate Buildings, Inc., who said Pizza Hut will be moving to the vacant lots to the west of their current location.  He will be sending a new site plan.

      Riverbank Fill Permit:  In conjunction with the 6th Street Sidewalk, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Riverbank Fill Permit for dumping clean concrete behind the Water Plant has been submitted. 

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS: 

      Coffey County Economic Development:  The City received an invitation to the 17th Annual Elected Official Networking Breakfast on April 24.  Mayor Merry will be making some comments at the event.

      Election Results:  The City received the Coffey County Clerks Official Results of the April 2nd General Election.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin:

2013-009  Joyce Whinery, 1007 Potomac for a shed

2013-010  Michael Abendroth, 1008 Merrimac, for a garage

2013-011  Ron Hoover, 1325 Penobscot, for a fence

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Municipal Court:   City Attorney Smith’s retirement is coming up quickly.  He attended his last session of Municipal Court last week, and he said tonight is the last session of City Council as our City Attorney.  Mayor Merry thanked him and said we would be having an open house reception for him in May. 

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Hall Staff has been busy with normal duties, calls and inquires, preparing meter readers for the meter reading, and preparing work orders, payroll, and council meeting minutes.

      Financials:  The first quarter financials were distributed to the Governing Body.

      LEPC:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Wednesday, April 10th Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting.

      Budget for 2014:  Next month, City Clerk Kewley will be working with the Superintendents on their line items for the 2014 Budget preparation.

      KPERS Workshop:  City Clerk Kewley and Deputy City Clerk Brown will be attending a Kansas Public Employees Retirement System training workshop next Thursday, April 25th in Topeka.

      Audit 2012:  Our auditors (Mize Houser & Company) will be here May 6th and 7th, and will be working at the council table. 

      City Attorney Smith’s Retirement Reception:  City Clerk Kewley announced that we will be having a Retirement Reception for Steve from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd of May; and Steve was okay with that date and time.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:    None

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:   None

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

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BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION APRIL 3, 2013

 

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday April 3, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                  Yes Jane M. Griffith                        Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                       Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                     Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)     Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)     Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)

                                             Yes Doug Mast (Street)       Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)         

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)             Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)         Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Bill Stutesman, Martha Newkirk, Sherri O’Keefe, Bobbi Gellhaus, Thyra Davis, John Evans

AGENDA:  Council Member Rhodes, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES of March 20, 2013:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of March 20, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Griffith. “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES of March 28, 2013:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of March 28, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Scott. “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

APPOINTMENT: Martha Newkirk

      Martha Newkirk addressed Council, “We are representatives of the Cancer Support Group.  We have fifty members and we average about thirty-five to forty-members at our meeting every month.  So, it’s a big group within Coffey County, and we have cancer survivors and care givers represented here tonight.  The reason I am here is because I want to thank the City for waiving the fees for the 4-H Building for our soup luncheon we had on the 2nd Tuesday in March.  We’re hoping to have that be an annual event.  I also want to recognize Kevin Boyce because he went to great lengths to make sure the electrical in the 4-H Building could support 17 roasting cookers and 47 crockpots.”  She said it was great to have a large building to host the luncheon, and people felt comfortable to sit and visit.  The luncheon raised gross over $4,000; and every dollar of that goes to local people.  After expressing appreciation one more time, Mrs. Newkirk, Sherri O’Keefe, Bobbi Gellhaus, Thyra Davis, and John Evans departed.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:   None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported that since last meeting, Electric personnel have been doing checks of the hardware and electric connections of the distribution system and fixing any issues.  They did the annual audit of the pole attachments that CenturyLink and Mediacom have attached to our structures.  Personnel also worked customer requests and did other normal duties. 

      Automated Meter Infrastructure System:  Superintendent Schneider participated in a conference call with the AMI Project Manager on progress and question.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      General:  Power Plant personnel have been performing general Plant duties and attended training.  They have been doing end of month reports and quarterly emission reports for KDHE.  Oil filters on one of the generators were changed.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project – Tree removal:  The Water Department personnel finished moving all the water meters for the sidewalk project on 6th Street.

      General:  Personnel have been hauling sludge from the old sewer lagoon out to the Coffey County Landfill.  They have been doing their normal duties: re-reading meters, doing work orders, doing line locates, etc.

      Sewer Improvement Project – Inspection:  Superintendent Hawkins reported that the Water Department has been inspecting alleyways and manhole areas around town from the sewer project.  Any major things they’ve been trying to take care of; but Larry Williams, Bartlett & West, will visit with contractors with a walkthrough, too, because we have a two-year warranty with the contractor.  Larry Williams and Andy Wright (Bartlett & West) will be walking the streets and alleys along with the contractors.  Superintendent Hawkins said, “We just want to be proactive.”

      Sewer Progress Meeting-Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the progress meeting on the sewer project was this morning at the Water Plant.  Midland Contractors had been slow because they had a few concerns with their subcontractors, so they will be doing a lot of the work themselves.  They were doing a bypass on LS#6; and will be doing backfill around LS#3.  They also finished a 70’ bore underneath 10th Street; and they did get the tie-in done on it, so it is completed.

Rigid Camera:  Superintendent Hawkins reported that they now have a new Rigid camera that was discussed at the council meeting on the 20th of February.  The camera can be used in lines down to almost an inch in circumference.  He said they wanted to be sure they could get it into just about any tight spot they needed to view.  The longest extension they could get was 325 feet.  The camera is self-setting, so once it is in, it doesn’t matter whether it’s moving because it’s always self-leveling.  Superintendent Hawkins explained, “It was a good deal.  Three bids came in on it.  We went with Rusty Smart of Reeves-Wiedeman Company in Emporia.  He’s one of our local vendors.  The best part was, they had a spring sale that if you bought a camera, you got a new locator which is worth $1,500; so we’ve got another locator.  The best part was, we already had the Rigid locator when Doug got me on the Kansas Surplus.  We went up and bought one for $120 and the Rigid guy said ‘do you already have a Rigid, these are normally $2,000, and I said, ‘Well shoot, we’ll just go buy them at Kansas Surplus for $120.’  That didn’t make him very happy.  We did get a few attachments with it; that was a good thing.”

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Plant - TOCs:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “The Water Plant’s been running well.  With the rains coming, we did see a slight drop in the TOCs (Total Organic Compounds), but they didn’t hold.  So, the chemical usage is still up on that.  We are glad to see the rain come.”

      Rapid Mix:  Personnel cleaned out the rapid mix reactor basin.  It’s normal maintenance to clean out the calcium from the blades and walls. 

      Water Emergency Stage 1, Watch – Update:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “For the month of March, we pumped 15,905,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 513,064 gallons.  That’s very good.  I want to thank the public and everybody.  I know it’s the time of year when we don’t normally use a lot of water, but people are still being very aware of the drought conditions.  We are still in a Water Watch; it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet.  We’re still attending meetings and being active attending the Assurancy District meetings and Coffey County Emergency Perparedness, and visiting with them.  Hopefully, the rains will keep coming and we’ll be out of drought shortly.”

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT: Trucks for Sale by Sealed Bid (Water Dept.: Dodge; Street: Chevrolet)

      Bid Received for Water Department 2001 Dodge, 2500 Series 3/4 Ton V-10: 

1)      Bill Stutesman’s bid of $101.00 was the only bid received.

      Bids Received for the Street Department’s 1988 Chevrolet 2500 Series ¾ ton: 

1)      Bill Stutesman’s bid of $399.00      2) Harold Reiling’s bid of $149.00.

      Accept Bids as Bona Fide:      Council Member Lenard, “I move to accept the bids presented for both trucks as bona fide.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Superintendent Hawkins said he visited with the Water Committee concerning the bid for the pickup truck.  Basically, we want to accept the bid of $399.00 on the Chevy pickup truck; and rejecting the bid of $101.00 for the 2001 Dodge pickup truck, and to sell it for scrap metal price.

      Street Department’s 1988 Chevrolet:  Council Member Luke stated, “I move to accept Bill Stutesman’s bid of $399.00 for the 1988 Chevrolet 2500 Series ¾ ton pickup truck.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Water Department’s 2001 Dodge:  Council Member Lenard recommended that he would like to leave an open period of about two weeks prior to the Dodge being taken to recycling to get an amount equal to recycling value and if we get an offer that we accept it; otherwise we will take the truck to recycling.  Superintendent Hawkins thought that would be great because if somebody is interested and comes in and pays the scrap value, it would save us having to drain the fluids, etc. for recycling.   Attorney Smith advised to put in the motion that it would be at the discretion of the superintendent.

      Council Member Luke stated, “I move to reject the bid of $101.00 for the 2001 Dodge pickup truck on the basis it is not in the best interest of the City.”  Council Member Lenard, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Attorney Smith advised making a motion to dispose of the truck as scrap with the contingency discussed. 

      Council Member Lenard, “I move to authorize Superintendent Hawkins to dispose of the 2001 Dodge pickup truck as scrap if after two-weeks time, no one has purchased it at an amount equal to what it would sell for if recycled.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT: Bureau of Water Protection – Sewer System Construction Alternatives

      Council Member Lenard stated, “The Water Committee hasn’t discussed this document, but I wanted to get it to everybody that there are some potential alternatives to some of our challenges with sewer.  You can look at that, and sometime when we get together with the Committee, we can discuss this.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Mast stated, “We hope we’ve worked our last snow of the year.  We’ve been getting some late snow.  We finished the barricades we’ve been working on.”

      Shop Storage Building:  Superintendent Mast reported they finished constructing the storage building.  It cost $4,350.63 to put the building up, which he thought was pretty good for a 30’x60’ building.  He stated, “The guys did a real good job of putting it up; and I appreciate all the help from the other departments.  I think we got different equipment from the Electric Department and the Water Department to help us out while we were putting it up.  It turned out really good, so I think that was a good deal for the City.  I told the guys I thought they did a great job there.”

      Street work:  Street personnel have been working on some of the gravel streets in town, trying to get those bladed and adding a little rock to a few of them.  They have also been doing some patching around town.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Vacancy – Advertise for a Heavy Equipment Operator

      Superintendent Mast requested permission to continue advertising and accepting applications for a Heavy Equipment Operator though Friday, April 19.

      Council Member Curtiss stated, I move to approve the Street Superintendent to continue advertising for a Heavy Equipment Operator through April 19, 2013.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported it has been normal calls and they have been staying busy. 

      Spring Demolition Derby:  Chief Jones, “We’ve been asked to have officers at the Spring Demo Derby on Saturday, April 20. 

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Boyce reported personnel have been doing snow and ice removal.  They have been doing some tree trimming and removed a hazard tree below the RV spots at the City Dam.  They did maintenance on equipment and got the mowers out and ready to use. 

      Seasonal Restrooms:  Superintendent Boyce said they started opening seasonal restrooms yesterday.  The City Dam/Drake Park restrooms are open and the RV spots, too.  The restroom by the playground in Kelley Park is opened up now.  Tomorrow they will be working on the Stadium and livestock barns in Kelley Park and the restrooms at Jones Park.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-07

$310,946.71

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-07

$  72,256.73

                                   TOTAL

$383,203.44

      CLAIMS 2013-07:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-07 in the amount of $310,946.71 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Rhodes “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley explained, “We are paying for the 2013 Ford truck.  One of the big items is the insurance policy through EMC, which is $168,017.00.  We do have an increase on our policy for the year, but we have added five new vehicles this year.  Our Workman’s Compensation MOD did go down.  It was 9.4 last year, and now it’s 8.1.  I think we’ve been so safety oriented; and with the way we have it set up with the Medical Center, we really have a good policy set up for all of our Work Comp claims.  Also, we have also received in the last five years, $80,196.24 back in a dividend check for participating in our safety program that we are involved in with Kansas Municipal Utilities (KMU).  That has really saved us through safety. That’s the big ticket tonight.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-07 unanimously approved.    Council Member Lenard commented to City Clerk Kewley, “You mentioned the modification (MOD) going from 9.4 to 8.1.  That’s phenomenal.  The Superintendents ought to take a lot of pride in that because that’s huge for our insurance.  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, it really worked out well because we have a process, when they call into the office, we set the appointment with our doctors, and if there’s any deductible we’ll pay it if it’s something minimal and then we’ll file a claim if it’s necessary.  So that way, working with the Medical Center really helped us keep our claims way down.”

      PAYROLL 2013-07:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-07 in the amount of $72,256.73.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-07 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Spring Cleanup:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin said everything is in place for the Spring Cleanup week.  Republic Waste will be providing one truck and possibly two personnel to help our crews.

      Website Update:  The federal government is getting everything processed for our .gov url.  They need two dns server names, which Scott with IM Design will take care of.  After that, it shouldn’t be long before the city’s new website is up and running.

      Tree Board – Tree City USA: Parks Superintendent Boyce and Zoning Clerk Hugunin attended the Tree City USA Recognition Ceremony in Derby on the 28th of March..  Burlington has been a Tree City USA for twenty years in succession; and in commemoration of the twenty years, we received a glass plaque, a new flag which Kevin has flying, and new signs to put up on the outskirts of the city.

      Industrial Park #3 Lots: Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been talking with a couple of people who are interested in buying some lots in Industrial Park #3.

      Riverbank Fill Permit:  The fill permit for the area behind the Water Plant is still being worked on.

      Grant Writing Training:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin will be attending training on grant writing on the 17th and 18th of April in Hutchinson.

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS:  KMEA Director #1 Appointment

      Council Member Luke, “I move to re-appoint Alan Schneider as Director #1 of the Kansas Municipalities Energy Agency.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin:

2013-007  Michael Abendroth, 1025 Cumberland St., for a single family residence

2013-008  Gary Otta, 406 Jason St., for a storage shed

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Municipal Court:   City Attorney Smith reported, “Not much has changed since last time.  We are phasing out/processing the outage (Wolf Creek).  Fines collected are up and a lot of people want to pay their ticket(s) before they leave town. Other than that, it’s been a quiet outage.” 

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      Utility Billing and CCR/WQR – Mailing:  City Hall personnel have been doing normal duties.  The bills were mailed for the month, and customers are already paying their bills. 

      Sewer Charge Calculations:  City Clerk Kewley explained that in the month of April, we will be recalculating for the new sewer charges, which will be on the next utility bill.  The customer’s average for water usage for December, January, and February will be used to adjust their sewage charge for the coming year.

      Delinquent Utility Accounts:  City Clerk Kewley reported, “This month we are going to send $628.06 of delinquent utility accounts to the Kansas Setoff Program.”

      Audit for 2012:  Auditors will be here May 6th and 7th to start on the City’s 2012 Audit.

      Sewer Construction Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley attended the sewer meeting today.

      Water Assurance Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley will attend the Water Assurance Meeting at the Library tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Personnel Evaluations – Executive Sessions

      Prior to the Executive Session, Mayor Merry said the supervisors could leave for the night if they would like to.

      Council Member Curtiss stated, “I move to enter into an Executive Session for Personnel Matters for five minutes, with Personnel Officer Kewley and City Attorney Smith.”  Council Member Lenard, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Council entered the Executive Session at 6:25 and exited at 6:31 p.m.

      Council Member Curtiss stated, “I move to increase Kevin Boyce’s salary after a market adjustment of 2% to a total of $22.81 per hour, effective April 6, 2013.”  Council Member Scott, “I will second that.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Council entered the Executive Session at 7:07 p.m. and exited at 7:37 p.m.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:  Budget 2013

      City Clerk Kewley referred to a letter dated April 1, 2013 from the Coffey County Clerk Angie Kirchner, which stated, ‘Due to an error in valuation for Burlington City’s Budget for 2013, the levy calculations exceed the requested budget amount.  After consulting with our Auditor, we will need to make adjustments for the surplus amounts in the following funds:  General Fund $15,959.88; Bond & Interest $3,188.78; Cemetery $350.77; Special Liability $79.72; Total $19,579.15.  These amounts will be deducted from the May 2013 distribution.  The County Clerk’s Office will create a separate fund for the Treasurer’s Office to deposit the excess amounts into to hold until 2014.  When the new budget for Burlington City is finalized for 2014, these amounts will be returned to their respective funds and the 2014 levies adjusted accordingly.  The County Clerk’s Office will create a journal entry to move these amounts into a temporary holding fund.’

      City Clerk Kewley stated, “It was brought up in the Finance Meeting and had to do with our pre-evaluation on our Budget.  When I did get back my certified Budget 2013, it was down by about $500,000.  I called the County Clerk about it, and she checked into what had happened.  They had filed it with the State with the incorrect appraised valuation, so we were paying more tax on our property values.  They got their auditors involved, and the way they are going to remedy that is that they will have to collect it because they’ve already filed with the State; they will put that money in a holding

account; and in 2014, they will adjust it back to the City.  This notice came in today and I think it is the one they sent to the County Treasurer and received a City of Burlington was courtesy copy.  If anybody asks, the mil levy is higher on the bills than it should be – by about a mil.  We’re going to get back $19,579.15, they’re just paying it early – they’re holding the money.”  Mayor Merry, “Actually holding the money, they’re earning the interest on it.”  City Clerk Kewley said, “It’s the perception of the citizens thinking our mil levy is that high, when it’s not.”  Mayor Merry, “I didn’t think they were ever going to send a letter to admit it was their mistake and it wasn’t on our end.”

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Boy Scouts

      Council Member Lenard announced that Ken Roney’s benefit will be on Saturday night, April 6, around 6 p.m. at the 4-H Building.  The Boy Scouts will help with it.  There will be a dinner, silent auction, a live auction, and dance.  Also, the Boy Scouts have set the date on May4th for their annual fund raiser at the American Legion.

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Attorney Smith’s Retirement

      Council Member Griffith asked if we are planning to do anything for Stephen Smith’s retirement.  City Clerk Kewley said the Mayor has been talking about having a reception for him.  Mayor Merry, “Have a reception here.  We are thinking about a full-page (in the Coffey County Republican) with proclamation in the center and several comments surrounding it.  We have several, including the County Attorney, who want to be involved with a comment.”  Council Member Griffith commented about her brother’s retirement.  It will probably be in May.”  Council Member Rhodes thought maybe it would be better to hold a reception at the Country Club than at City Hall.

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Andy & Lisa Williams

      Council Member Rhodes, “I hope somebody – the bank or somewhere– is going to set something up for Andy and Lisa.  He is getting brain surgery.”  Council Member Lenard said there is something at the Club.  Council Member Curtiss said the Ministerial Association they’re doing some kind of a fundraiser, and they’re holding it out at the Club. 

 

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk
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BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION MARCH 20, 2013

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday March 20, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:    Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                Yes Jane M. Griffith                          Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                      Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                      Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)   Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)  Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
Yes Doug Mast (Street)     Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)           

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)           Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)        Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Harry Huff, Shalena Rohrer, Doug Stewart, Jacy Lenard, Madison Stewart, Brenda Bluma, Makayla Cole, Kameron Cole, Pamela O’Connor, Merlin Kaufman, Rhonda Gilman, David Gilman, Anita Kirchner, Summer Kirchner, Jacquelyn O’Connor, Breana Bluma and two other persons who came after meeting started.

AGENDA:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of March 5, 2013 as amended.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

APPOINTMENT: BHS Lady Cats Recognition - Proclamation

      Mayor Merry invited Doug Stewart, Coach of the BHS Lady Cats Basketball Team, to come to the front of the council tables; and at his request, he also invited the team to come forward.  Coach Stewart explained that some of the girls could not attend because they were away on spring break and some were in Costa Rica on vacation.  Mayor Merry had given each of the Lady Cats and the Coach the Proclamation at a function last week.  The week of March 13 through 20 was proclaimed as Burlington High School Lady Cats Week in recognition of the BHS Lady Cats’ winning the 3A State Basketball Tournament Championship title.  Mayor Merry presented Coach Stewart and the Lady Cats with a framed Proclamation.  Coach Stewart was congratulated for their success; and Coach Stewart was congratulated for being chosen Coach Of The Year.  There were several rounds of applause and pictures were taken.  Mayor Merry commented that if it hadn’t been for Salli Stewart putting a lot of things together, it may not have happened.  There was another round of applause as the team left City Hall.

      Mayor Merry stated, “I want to publicly thank Sue (Administrative Assistant Susan Stroh) for doing all the work on the Proclamation.  There was a lot of research in doing that. Thank you for doing what you did...  I appreciate it.”  Ms. Stroh, “You’re welcome.”  City Clerk Kewley mentioned it will be in the newspaper either on Friday or Tuesday.

APPOINTMENT: Harry Huff – CDBG Loan for Huff’s Gardens

      On January 16th, council approved Harry Huff’s request to allow Huff’s Gardens, Inc. to pay the interest on their Revolving Loan (CDBG 2008) on January 17, and to grant an extension on the loan until April 15, 2013.

      Tonight Mr. Huff distributed a statement to the Council, and stated, “In January I met with you and asked for an extension, and since that time the situations have resolved themselves, and I am now coming to you asking for an extension on the principal payment for 2013.  We would be happy to pay the interest that is due, and ask for an extension so that we just roll over that principal payment to the end.  I would start in 2014 to make principal payments again.”  Mayor Merry, “So it would be 2014, 2015, and 2016 that the principal payment would be $5,000 each.”  Mr. Huff asked City Clerk Kewley if the payment date is the 7th of July.  She said, “Actually, August 7th, but you can come a month early if you want to.”  He offered to visit at his greenhouse with anyone who has questions. 

      Huff’s Gardens has been open this season for almost three weeks.  They are going to start several new programs this year.  They will continue for the third year helping ECKAN by giving away free vegetables to those who are vested through ECKAN.  They will try to establish a place for nursery containers to be returned to be recycled; and will promote plants in the community.  Mr. Huff, referring to his distributed statement, said he referred to the number of persons employed by Huff’s Gardens and mentioned he tries to do business with local merchants.

      Council Member Scott, “I move to accept Harry Huff’s request for an extension on the CDBG loan for Huff’s Gardens and allow him to pay interest only on the loan for 2013, and to resume payments of principal in 2014, with a payment of $5,000 being due on August 7 of 2014, 2015, and 2016.”  Council Member Lenard, “Second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

APPOINTMENT: Shalena Rohrer – Relay for Life on May 3, 2013 - Banners

      Shalena Rohrer addressed Council, “This year we are going to have Relay for Life at the High School track.  We are going to have concessions and laser tag.  A photographer is going to be there.  We have moved it to inside on the track, which is something we haven’t done for several years; so we’re hoping that will pick up the attendance.  This year, we are also making a banner that will go overhead across Highway 75; and my co-chair, Jen Plummer, has already checked with KDOT to make sure we can hang it across the highway.  They said as long as our ‘home plate, which is you guys, approve it we can hang it.  It is just going to say ‘Relay For Life is Friday’, leave the date open and hang it the week before the event.  Another thing I need to check is to make sure about is the city’s logo (on the tee shirt).  Last year you had underneath the logo ‘In Honor of Jay Szambecki’.  Do you still want it in honor of Jay Szambecki or just the logo itself?”  City Clerk Kewley stated, “I talked to Jen.  We’re going to leave Jay on it.”  Ms. Rohrer, “Okay.”

      Ms. Rohrer continued, “I’m supposed to pick up a check too.”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, tomorrow.  I told Jen to come in tomorrow.”  Ms. Rohrer said the banner will be hung across the highway north of Dairy Queen where the Wild Blue BBQ banner has been hung.  She said, “Jen talked to Alan Schneider.”  City Clerk Kewley, “When Jen gets that permit from KDOT, have her bring it in so I can sign it.  It will require that.”  Ms. Rohrer, “Okay.” 

      Superintendent Schneider said, “It’s kind of a joint-use thing, so I did get with Lyon-Coffey Electric Coop on it; and of course, they were perfectly happy to do so.  Like I told Ms. Plummer on the phone, when you get it in and get ready to hang it, just get with me and we’ll assist in getting it done.”  Ms. Rohrer, “We’ll probably do it the Monday of the last week before May.”

      Council Member Griffith, “With the understanding that Relay For Life has permission from KDOT and Lyon-Coffey Electric Cooperative to hang a banner across Highway 75 north of the Dairy Queen, I move we approve Ms. Rohrer’s request to hang the banner the week prior to the event.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.” There being no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:   None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Electric personnel have been doing normal duties, work orders, and line locates.  They have been trimming trees and getting rid of volunteers before they grow and become problems.  Superintendent Schneider has been meeting with customers as needed. 

      6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project – Tree removal:  The Electric Department helped the Street Department the other day remove some trees in preparation for the 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project. 

      Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Schneider met with Larry Williams, Bartlett & West engineer, about the sewer extension that is going in to the Street Department where the new liftstation is going.  He had concerns about the powerlines and we worked out a solution for that.

      AMI System:  Some meters were programmed for the AMI System.  Superintendent Schneider stated, “I’m going to steal Danny’s thunder.  We got a sneak peak at the new GIS Mapping System that Bartlett & West is building.  It’s amazing. They have done a tremendous job.  He stated that Blake Flannigan said this is the first one like it they’ve done; and that Kansas City , Lawrence, or Topeka don’t have the system that we’re going to have.”

.ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      Control Panel Replacement Project - Corrections:  Superintendent Schneider reported Mid States Energy is here correcting a few issues we have with the control panels.  We knew this was going to come up and since it was part of the original project, it is not creating any budget concerns.  Mid States is tweaking the software.

      General:  Power Plant personnel have been performing general Plant duties.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Sewer Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the project is moving along a little faster now.  More crews are coming onsite, and over the next sixty to ninety days, we’ll be seeing more and more of them.  Weather depending, Charlene Marlow with Midland Contractors will possibly be passing out road closure notices with her contact information.  Road closings include from 14th and Neosho through 14th and Hudson, and from 13th to 15th Street on Hudson Street.  Superintendent Hawkins explained that we want to make sure the public will be able to get into their driveways.  If the public has any concerns, they can call her or call the Water Plant.  The contractors did complete a bore underneath 10th Street today.  The project is still ahead of schedule and going well.

      Superintendent Hawkins said they have been helping Bartlett & West with Liftstation #1.  They took a 90 off the inlet line that goes down into the wet well.  During the rehab of the liftstation, some corrosion was found on the piping in there and there was concern we would need to go back in.  They have been trying to do the work themselves rather than hire a contractor to come in; and will hopefully save the city several thousands of dollars down the road as far as us being able to do it for them (Bartlett & West).

      At the Pump Station on 12th Road by the Country Club, city personnel have been raising the manholes that are out in the field because when the pump station maintenance was done there was mud in it from farmers going over the top of the manholes.  The manholes are being brought up to ground level, and barricades are being put around them to keep the farmers from getting soil into the mains.

      General:  Superintendent Hawkins reported personnel have been installing water services, reading meters, doing locates and work orders, and regular duties; and attended safety training.  He finished the personnel evaluations.

      6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project – Tree removal:  The Water Department got the Kansas One Call line locates called in for doing two of the water meters for the sidewalk project on 6th Street; so we should be able to start on them and have them in - weather depending – by this Friday.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Ended – Stage I Water Watch Declared:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “We have great news today – we are no longer in the Water Warning!  I visited with the Department of Agriculture this morning.  The assurance side – the Chief Engineer saw desirable amounts of water for fourteen consecutive days at Parsons.  The water flow that’s coming in is good and met all the criteria of our assurancy water, so they are not having to release assurancy water for us, which is a good sign.  I asked if that was the official word that we’d be out of the Warning.  Of course, that wasn’t what they told me; so we contacted Galen Biery with CNRBWAD Water District #3, and they were waiting on the Kansas Water Office (KWO) to give the official okay.  Later in the afternoon, Toby from the Iola Water Plant called me because he is on the Board and said, ‘Guess what, you guys are out of the Water Warning.’  It was good news, but we still want to encourage the public to be conservative on the water because it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet.  Everybody is doing a good job of conserving.  We do want to keep everybody up to date.  [CNRBWAD is Cottonwood Neosho River Basin Water Assurance District #3.]

      Water Plant Production:  For the month of March, the Water Plant pumped 9.958,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 524,105 gallons.  The weather forecast is calling for a 70% chance of ice/rain for Thursday,  a 30% chance on Friday for rain, a 70% chance on Saturday for snow, and a 20% chance on Sunday for rain.

      Other:  Mayor Merry asked, “As much work as we’ve done in the alleys and now we have snow sitting on top of there, have we had a lot of settling?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “We’ve had two calls that we are going to address.  We’ve got some areas that we had some digs, too, on water lines and stuff; and we need to go in and do what we can to fill them in.”  Mayor Merry, “Is any of that in a warranty basis?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “Some can and some can’t.  If it’s a minor issue we fix it ourselves; but we do have a two-year warranty contract on all sewerline work.  If it’s a major issue, something that can cause maybe losing a truck, we go out immediately and fix it.  It’s just a case by case scenario.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Training:  Superintendent Mast informed Council, “I sent the crew to Vance Brothers on the 6th of March for an asphalt seminar, and they all said they thought it was a great seminar.”

      General:  Street personnel have been working on the shop building, patching potholes, cut down a hazard tree, and did some sweeping of curb and gutter.

      6th Street Sidewalk Improvements Project:  Street personnel, with the help of the Electric Department, took down some trees in coordination with preparing for the 6th Street Sidewalk Project.  He thanked the Electric Department for their help.

      Work Hours:  Although they usually change to the summer work schedule of four ten-hour days with the time change, the Street Department won’t start the summer schedule until the first of April this year.  He explained that due to the end of March snows, he extended their winter work schedule.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  6th Street Sidewalk Improvements Project

      Superintendent Mast requested permission to go out for bids for the 6th Street Sidewalk Improvements Project.  He mentioned that after the bids are opened, they will be presented to Council, as will a resolution.  Council Member Curtiss stated, “I move to authorize the Street Superintendent to go out for bids for the 2013 6th Street Sidewalk Improvement Project.”  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke asked, “Is this for all the work?”  Superintendent Mast, “Yes, this will be from Alleghany Street down south to where Kevin (Parks Superintendent Boyce) did the prior sidewalk project.”  Council Member Luke asked if all the work would be done by outside labor forces, not by the Street Department labor forces.  Superintendent Mast replied, “We will be trying to do some of the work ourselves as far as removing the old sidewalk.  We will try to take that out ahead of the contractors and utilize that for riprap at Kelley Park where Kevin has a Corps of Engineers /Wildlife & Parks Permit for riverbank stabilization, so we’ll dump the cement there.  We’re trying to save a little money and will work with the contractor and will remove as much of the sidewalk as they want us to ahead of time – without causing a lot of problems and trip hazards.  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported it has been normal calls and they have been staying busy.  They assisted with the parade last week for the BHS State Champions by providing traffic control.

      Personnel:  Police Officer Brandi Charlton returned to work from her maternity leave on the 9th of March.

      Animal Control Facility – Euthanasia Chamber:  Chief Jones reported, “Our State animal shelter inspector has informed Jessica Stice (Animal Control Officer) that the State of Kansas intends to ban the use of euthanasia gas chambers, such as the one we have at the Animal Shelter, starting next year.  We purchased the chamber about twelve years ago for around $5,000.  I brought this up to the Committee (Police) and the consensus was to see if we could recover anything out of it.  It may end up with us trying to recoup the metal price out of it; but we may be able to find an agency in another state that is interested in purchasing it.  Trying to find a new home for the euthanasia chamber will be one of Jessica’s projects for a while.  It’s really not going to be a hardship for us to lose that particular asset.  Jessica has moved the Animal Shelter pretty firmly into the no kill facility camp, and we’ve only used that euthanasia chamber once in the last four years.”

      Council Member Rhodes inquired what the State is planning to do.  Chief Jones stated, “Apparently, the general feeling is the use of a carbon monoxide chamber to euthanize animals is inhumane; so in the event that we do have to put one down, we would have to take it to the veterinarian and have it done.  We’ve had to put down only two animals since Jessica came to work for the City.  One had a medical condition and we had no choice.”  Mayor Merry asked how much

space it takes up.  Chief Jones explained, “The chamber itself is in about a ten-foot by ten-foot room that has to have a separate lock on it.  The gas chamber is probably about 6’x4’x4’.  There is a lot of stainless steel and metal in there; so it’s pretty substantial.  As it turns out, the man who owned the company that built it died, his family sold the company, and they don’t make this model or support it anymore.”

      Council Member Lenard asked, “Is there any value for anybody else in the state for us to try to get rid of it?”  Chief Jones, “That’s what we’re thinking.  According to our State Inspector (Carmen), the State of Michigan and a couple of others for animal health does still permit the use of these type of chambers; so we may be able to sell it out of state - or it may be cost-prohibitive to try to do anything with it other than have it hauled off.  I don’t know; see what our options are.” 

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Downtown Trees:  Superintendent Boyce reported the trees that were removed in the downtown area have had the stumps ground out, chips have been removed, and rock has been put in.  Once it starts greening up, there might be a couple more that will be taken out this year.  Others can be done next year as property owners ask.

      Welcome to Burlington Signs:  The south ‘Welcome to Burlington’ sign’s new addition is installed.  Hopefully, the addition to the north sign will be installed the first of next week.  After that, installation will begin for the signs at the east and west entrances to Burlington.

      General:  Parks personnel are seeding the areas where hazard trees have been removed. 

      4-H Building-Electrical Work:  Superintendent Boyce reported, “We worked with the Cancer Support Group, which had their soup benefit in the 4-H Building this year.  They had seven roasters and forty-seven crock pots.  We’ve had several issues with electrical, so prior to the Cancer Support Group using the building, I had Jim Thweatt (Thweatt Electric) go in and make sure one wall of the building would handle what they needed.”  Superintendent Boyce said he visited with them after the event and everything went very well; so he thinks the event will probably be held at the 4-H Building from now on.

      4-H Building Exterior:  The rock work on the 4-H Building is completed.  While the rock work was being done, the painters worked on the gutter system to get it ready to paint when the weather permits.  Mayor Merry commented on how the rock changed the look of the building. 

      General:  Superintendent Boyce attended a Tree Board meeting, and worked on preparing for the Arbor Day Celebration.  Personnel attended the KMU Safety Training.

      Seasonal Restrooms – Opening:  Seasonal restrooms at the parks will be opened up during the first or second week of April, depending on the weather.  He had several requests last Friday for them to be opened, but snow is in the forecast for this week.

      New Fair Building:  Superintendent Boyce said he visited with Dennis Polson.  They’re not going to start construction on their new building until after this year’s fair season; and although he is not positive, he thinks it’s going to be on top where the old building is.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-06

$336,334.43

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-06

$  72,482.58

                                   TOTAL

$408,817.01

      CLAIMS 2013-06:  Council Member Luke, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-06 in the amount of $336,334.43 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Scott, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley explained, “The big item is the Kansas Power Pool, the Kansas Surplus for payment for the two trucks for the Water Department, Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project expenses, and Kutak Rock for the bond closing last time.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-06 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-06:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-06 in the amount of $72,482.58.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-06 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Permits:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin reported having just finished a permit for a home for Mike Abendroth.  It will be on the agenda for the next meeting of Council.  Permits approved so far this year have been submitted to the County Appraisers Office.  Spring cleanup flyers have been prepared and distributed to various locations in town. People are starting to come in for permits to do projects.

      Tree Board - Arbor Day:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been preparing flyers and handouts for this year’s Arbor Day celebration, which will be on April 26th on Shea Street just south of Skate Park at Conrad Park.   The Tree Board finalized the plans for Arbor Day at the March 19th meeting.

      Tree Board – Tree City USA: Parks Superintendent Boyce and Zoning Clerk Hugunin will be going to Derby, Kansas on March 28th to attend the Tree City USA Recognition Ceremony. 

      City’s new Website:  We are waiting for the government to complete issuing our .gov address.  IM Design has the new website looking good.

      Welcome to Burlington Sign:  City Clerk Kewley gave Zoning Clerk Hugunin a photo of the sign on the south of town that had the new addition installed on it.  He put the photo on the City’s Facebook page.

      Nuisances:  Chief Jones reported several properties are on the Police Department’s watch list of nuisance properties.  He said they’ve been working with people with health issues and introduced one gentleman to the Coffey County Housing Authority to see if they have some rehabilitation money to help him with his place.  Several people have been talked to about taking advantage of the annual Spring Cleanup.

OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS:  KMU Voting Delegate Appointment

      Kansas Municipal Utilities has asked that every municipal member of KMU participate in the Annual Business Meeting of the association.  This year’s meeting will be held in conjunction with the KMU Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita on Friday May 10.  Each member city has been given the opportunity to appoint a Voting Delegate and an Alternate to represent the city at this meeting.  Burlington does have a KMEA Director 1, Alan Schneider; and a Director II, Stan Luke, who also attend the KMU Conference; however, KMU would also like us to have a Voting Delegate and an Alternate if we’d like to.  Council Member Curtiss stated, ““I move to appoint Alan Schneider (Electric Superintendent) as Voting Delegate to represent City of Burlington at the 2013 KMU Conference.”  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin:    None

RESOLUTION 2013-03, KCP&L Environmental Improvement Revenue Refunding Bonds Series 2007) $146,500,000

      City Attorney Smith said, “This is ongoing.  We’ve been working on it since January.  Traditionally, they have given the City an issuance fee, and I brought this up a couple of weeks ago.  KCP&L has not agreed to do that, so I adjusted my bill with the City and gave the City a credit for what I billed them directly because I didn’t feel it was fair for the City to pay for something they weren’t going to get reimbursed on.  However, I did write a strong letter to KCP&L talking about the thirty-year history of us doing this and bending over backwards to accommodate them, and thought they ought to make a donation to the Mayor’s sidewalk fund.  The County is going to pass this by resolution, approving it on Monday; but they (KCP&L) have to have it done by April 1.  We’ve done this for years and years – every two or three years, and then suddenly this year they have amnesia and don’t remember giving us any money to do it.  I’m trying to shame them into it.”

      Attorney Smith continued, “This (resolution) authorizes the Mayor to sign all the paperwork, then we’ll get it sent off special delivery to overnight it to Chicago.”  City Clerk Kewley, “It should be $20,000 worth of signatures right here.”  Council Member Luke, “What we do doesn’t really go into effect until after the County does their part, does it?”  Mayor Merry, “They’re pretty simultaneous.  The closing is actually the 1st of April.”  Attorney Smith, “Right, and ours is contingent on that paragraph.”  Council Member Luke, “On the County approving it.”  Attorney Smith, “They tried to do a roundabout around the language; the County Attorney objected vociferously before he went on vacation, so they decided to get the County resolution, too.”

      Council Member Luke made the motion to accept Resolution 2013-03, a Resolution of the City of Burlington, Kansas Authorizing the Execution and Delivery of Fourth Supplemental Indenture of Trust which Further Amends the Indenture of Trust relating to the City’s Environmental Improvement Revenue Refunding Bonds (Kansas City Power & Light Company Project) Series 1993A and Series 1993B; Authorizing the Execution and Delivery of a Policy Cancellation Agreement, an IRS Form 8038 and Related Documents; and Other Related Matters Pertaining to Said Supplemental Indenture and Bonds.  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

RESOLUTION 2013-04, Declare End of Water Warning and Declare Water Watch

      City Clerk Kewley told Council the reference to the Water Watch as a Stage 2 Water Emergency would be corrected to Stage 1 before the Mayor would sign the resolution.

      Council Member Scott made the motion to approve the modified Resolution No. 2013-04, A Resolution Declaring the End of a Stage 2 Water Emergency - Water Warning; and Declaring a Water Watch in Effect for City of Burlington, Kansas and its Water Consumers, including Rural Water District 2 and 3 and the Cities Of Gridley, Leroy, and New Strawn, Kansas; as Required By City Of Burlington’s Emergency Water Operations/Supply Plan-Drought/Emergency Contingency Plan and City Ordinance 536.  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “If I read this correctly, this is all voluntary, there are no penalties for (not conserving water) other than somebody maybe saying you should do it.”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, we’re back to the Watch, like we had prior to the Warning being declared.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Municipal Court:   City Attorney Smith reported, “Last week when we had City Court, Chief Jones said we cleared up two and a half months of backlog because of snow days and everything else.  We were there until about 7:30 at night.  We had a sitting judge from Osage County come down because James (Judge Campbell) was out of town.” 

      KCP&L Bonds:    Attorney Smith has been working on the KCP&L issue.  

      Industrial Park Screening - Complaints  Attorney Smith said, “I have also been busy addressing complaints from certain people of the County that are adjacent to our industrial parks, on behalf of Kevin, the Chief, and Jimmy. It’s springtime, and the trees aren’t big enough, trees aren’t enough, the fence isn’t good enough, it’s noisy, it’s.….  We’ve been addressing those; the file just keeps getting bigger.  It’s another thirty-year history.  But anyway, the City is not in violation of anything.  Kevin has mowed and he has replaced trees like he’s supposed to.  We are obligated for only one row of trees, not two or three.  We’ve kept the fence line clean.  Kevin tries to address it, but it’s getting worse.”

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel

      City Attorney Smith requested an Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel with the Council, City Clerk Kewley, Street Superintendent Mast, and himself present.  Mayor Merry asked for a motion to enter into a ten-minute Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel with City Clerk/Personnel Officer Kewley, Street Superintendent Mast, City Council, and City Attorney Smith.  Council Member Luke, “So moved.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.” Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Council entered the Executive Session at 6:44 p.m. and exited at 6:54 p.m.

      Council Member Curtiss stated, “I move to terminate Merlin Kaufman for cause, effective immediately.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

(The City will advertise to fill the position and a recommendation will be presented at the next meeting of the Council.)

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel

      City Attorney Smith requested a five-minute Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel with Council, City Clerk/Personnel Officer Kewley and himself present.  Council Member Luke moved to enter into a five-minute Executive Session for Non-elected Personnel with City Clerk/Personnel Officer Kewley, City Council, and City Attorney Smith.  Council Member Scott, “So moved.” Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Council entered the Executive Session at 6:58 p.m. and exited at 7:03 p.m.  No action taken.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      Utility Billing and CCR/WQR – Mailing:  City Hall personnel have been stuffing envelopes with utility bills, the Annual Water Quality Report, and water conservation information and tips.  This will complete our State required distribution of the Water Quality Report.  City Clerk Kewley assured Council we are going to continue to provide updates and conservation tips because we are still in a drought, and although it is good we are out of the Water Warning, we are still in a Water Watch.  This is good, but we still need to conserve water.

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff prepared meter readings for the utility billing this month.  They also prepared work orders, vouchers for bill paying, payroll, and minutes from council meetings; and handled calls and inquiries. 

      Delinquent Utility Accounts:  City Clerk Kewley reported, “This month we are going to send $317.95 of delinquent utility accounts to the Kansas Setoff Program.

      Personnel Evaluations:  Employee evaluations have been completed.

      Pictures for 303 Neosho:  City Clerk Kewley informed Council she has been working with Jim Stukey to get some city photos matted and framed to be hung in the City’s meeting room at 303 Neosho adjacent to City Hall.  Three more pictures of the city parks will be coming next month.  The Proclamation for BHS Lady Cats Week will also be hung in the meeting room.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Personnel Evaluations – Executive Sessions

      City Clerk Kewley requested an Executive Session for Personnel Evaluations.  Council Member Luke, “I make a motion to enter a thirty-minute Executive Session for Personnel Evaluations with elected officials and City Clerk (& Personnel Officer) Kewley present.”  Council member Rhodes, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Council entered the Executive Session at 7:07 p.m. and exited at 7:37 p.m.

      Council Member Luke stated, “I make a motion that the personnel and pay increases be as modified.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:    None

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:   None

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by City Council and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

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BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL SESSION MARCH 28, 2013

A Special Session of City of Burlington Governing Body was conducted on March 28, 2013 between 9:55 and 11:50 a.m. via telephone from Burlington City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas.  Mayor Merry opened the Special Session of the Council.  Under the direction of Mayor Gene L. Merry and the advisement of City Attorney Stephen Smith, City Clerk Regina R. Kewley telephoned each of the Council Members for his or her vote on Resolution 2013-05.

GOVERNING BODY MEMEBERS TELEPHONED:    Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members participating:

          Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                Yes Jane M. Griffith                     Yes Lewis Lenard
      
   
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                     Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                   Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Also Participating:    Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)      Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)     
                                   
Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)                

RESOLUTION 2013-05, KCP&L IRB Series 1993A&B, Policy Cancellation Agreement

      Administrative Assistant Stroh sent the following email to the Governing Body and the City Attorney prior to the City Clerk Kewley making the telephone calls. 

‘The attached Resolution 2013-05 was inadvertently missed for approval at the last meeting of the Council.  Steve Smith emailed it to Gina this morning.  Gina has been in contact with the Mayor.  Both the Mayor and Steve have authorized Gina to call Council Members for a vote. 

I have attached the Resolution and the draft motion so you will have time to review them before Gina call, which will probably be in a few minutes.’

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      Council Member Scott made the following motion, “I move to approve Resolution 2013-05, A Resolution Of The City Of Burlington, Kansas Authorizing The Execution And Delivery Of A Fourth Supplemental Indenture Of Trust Which Further Amends The Indenture Of Trust Relating To The City’s Environmental Improvement Revenue Refunding Bonds (Kansas City Power & Light Company Project) Series 1993a And Series 1993b; Authorizing The Execution And Delivery Of A Policy Cancellation Agreement, An IRS Form 8038 And Related Documents; And Other Related matters pertaining to said Supplemental Indenture and Bonds.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Council Members Scott, Luke, Curtiss, Lenard, Rhodes, and Griffith each voted in favor of the motion.  Resolution 2013-05 was unanimously approved.

   The Meeting officially adjourned when the last Council Member voted.

Approved by City Council and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

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CITY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MARCH 5, 2013

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday March 5, 2013.  President of Council William C. Scott called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  No Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)             Yes Jane M. Griffith                       No Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                   Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                    Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)  Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)   Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
Yes Doug Mast (Street)     Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)           

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)             Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)         Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  None

AGENDA:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of February 20, 2013 as amended.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:  None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Electric personnel have been doing shop maintenance, vehicle maintenance, and preventive line maintenance. 

      Power Outages:  Superintendent Schneider reported a storm-related outage involving a fallen tree limb.  There was an outage yesterday morning unrelated to the weather, for which no overtime was required.

.ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      General:  Power Plant personnel have been performing general Plant duties and doing generator maintenance.

      KPP:  Superintendent Schneider reported Kansas Power Pool has changed the company that manages their load forecasting and manages our Power Pool supply.  Up until March 1st it’s was Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA).  It has been replaced with Tenaska.  The change is going to have significant financial benefits to the KPP, which should reflect back to us. 

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We’ve been pushing some snow due to the weather.” 

      Sewer Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the project has slowed down for this month.  The Sewer Construction Meeting scheduled for March 7th has been canceled. 

      Backup Generator:  A run was done on the backup generator; it worked great.  They did a simulation of a power outage at number 1 liftstation.  It started and ran as long as needed; and they did it several times.

      Trucks Purchased:  The two Dodge pickup trucks were picked up.  Personnel have been putting city decals, racks, lights, etc. on them. 

      Water Plant Tour:  Superintendent Hawkins reported he and his personnel toured the Paola water plant, and were looking at their Polymer Feed System.  He said, “They feed the same chemical that we do.  Basically, we can build the system they have with parts through the USA Bluebook, so we’ll probably just integrate it.  We photographed it, looked at it, and made sure that KDHE was fine with the application as long as we can test the milligram per liter with it. So, we are in the planning stages of that.”

      Water District Assurance Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley and Water Superintendent Hawkins attended the Water District Assurance Meeting.  Superintendent Hawkins told Council Member Scott that Galen Beiry addressed the question he had at the February 6th meeting of Council about what it will take us statewide to get us out of Stage 2, Water Warning of the drought emergency.  Mr. Beiry said they think that what could possibly pull us out of the Water Warning is that if the water conservation pool level reaches 1041 at John Redmond Reservoir.  Superintendent Hawkins explained, “But that was their speculation.  That wasn’t what the Kansas Water Office was saying as far from the State.”  Council Member Scott asked, “What is it right now?” Superintendent Hawkins, “We’re at 1035 or 1036 or something like that; so we’ve got quite a bit of water we need to make up for.”  He continued, “There was a lot of discussion and Water Assurance District #3 wants to have the State come down and have a meeting to discuss if we can get out of the water warning.  There are other entities that are not as bad off as we are, so why are we doing it statewide.  They want to see if there’s ways that we can possibly be pulled out of the water warning into a water watch and address it with our own restrictions.”

      Utility Committee Meeting (Freeman Subdivision #1):  Superintendent Hawkins reported a Utility Committee Meeting was held last evening.  They addressed some issues with the sewer forced main on the north end of town (Tiffany’s Cabinets at 1261 N. Hwy 75).

      Freeman Subdivision II – Water to 1055 Lynx Lane:  Superintendent Hawkins reported City Clerk Kewley, Zoning Clerk Hugunin, and he met with Stephen Freeman concerning the waterlines he requested to be run out along Lynx Lane.  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “He has basically got it all worked out for the meter.  We will continue running the waterline out.  We will run a four-inch main.  I went out today and measured, and we’re roughly around 1,220feet.  I visited with Dan Clair (of KDHE) this afternoon to see what we need to do as far as permitting.  I contacted Greg Deckit, Bartlett & West, so we can get the process going.  Hopefully, we’ll get the okay and as soon as the weather clears we can start the process.  I’ve already been in contact with several of my vendors to get parts for it. In our conversation with Mr. Freeman, the agreement was that we would run the line out and put a fire hydrant on the end; and for each additional home he would put up, he would pay the $3,000 per meter; and then we would try to help him with it going out further, and if he wanted a one-inch meter, it’s $3,200.  We discussed all that, and he was fine with it.  As soon as we get the okay from the State, we will proceed to get that done.”

      Council Member Luke stated, I move to approve Stephen and Tiffany Freeman’s Application and Permit for Water Service Outside the Corporate Limits of Burlington and Related Petition and Consent to Annexation Agreements and for 1055 Lynx Lane.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Second.”   President of Council Scott called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley said, “We all did meet with Mr. Freeman and Tiffany and explained that to Stephen that since he didn’t have a structure out there, he did need to get a zoning permit because he is in the city’s thee-mile extraterritorial area.  He did come in today and got the building/zoning permit for a storage building.”  There being no more discussion, President of Council Scott called for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Plant Efficiency Project - Chlorine System:  Superintendent Hawkins reported they are still working on the problems within the Water Treatment Plant.  The main things they are dealing with now are the rapid mix valves, the filter effluent valves, and the altitude valves.  The altitude valve is supposed to arrive here next week.

      Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Update:  Superintendent Hawking stated, “We did notice a slight increase in water usage in the past few days.  RWD#3 called in that they found a leak and got it fixed.  We are still in the Water Warning, and there have been no new restrictions from the State.  For the month of February, we’ve pumped 14,316,000 gallons of water.”

      Consumer Confidence Reports:  The annual Consumer Confidence Report (also referred to as Burlington’s Water Quality Report) has been received from KDHE.  Letters, with a copy of the report, have been mailed to our customer water districts and cities: Rural Water Districts 2 and 3 and the cities of Gridley, LeRoy, and New Strawn.  Superintendent Hawkins said, “We’ve all stayed in compliance with KDHE requirements.  We really try to stay on top of the Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and the Haloacetic Acids (HAA5s), which are a cancer causing agent that occurs; and we have stayed well underneath the minimum the State requires.”  He added, “I want to thank my guys for doing a good job and staying on top of it.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Snow Removal:  President of Council Scott, stating that he knows other departments helped, commended the Street Department for the excellent job of clearing snow and ice.  Superintendent Mast stated, “I would also like to thank the Water Department and Electric Department for coming out and helping us.  Their help is really appreciated and helps keep our overtime down.  Hauling all the snow off from downtown takes a long time, and we try to get the other roads done at the same time.  On both storms, both departments brought guys out and we had them using our equipment to clear intersections.  Overall, everybody did a great job.  I’m proud of the job everybody did, and I want to thank everybody. We were also working on equipment that was breaking down during snow removal and changing out different blades and such on equipment.  Street personnel have mostly been doing snow and ice removal for the last couple of weeks.”

      Drainage Ditches:  The snow is melting and leaves and debris have gathered in the ditches, so Street personnel got out today to clean drainage boxes around town. 

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Vehicle-Pedestrian Accident:  Chief Jones reported on this morning’s accident where a seventh grade girl got hit by a vehicle on Cross Street.  She was not at the crosswalk, and the driver of the vehicle stated she did not see the girl at all.  Apparently, the girl darted out of the Recreation Center parking lot and the driver of the east bound vehicle didn’t see her.  It is possible the time change getting close and the sun rising earlier may have been a factor.  The Police Department was working the school zones at the grade school.  The Sheriff’s Department happened to be right there and is the agency that will work this accident.

      USD 244 Time Change:  Burlington schools will be extending their days another twenty minutes for the rest of the school year to make up for the snow days.

      General:  Chief Jones reported it’s been normal business for the Police Department – dealing with juveniles and going to meetings.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Parks personnel cleaned public buildings and restrooms and cleared snow and ice, and did maintenance and cleaning of the equipment after the snow removal. 

      Heath Birk:  Superintendent Boyce reported that the new Parks Maintenance Worker, Heath Birk, started on the 25th of February.  On his second day on the job in the snowstorm, he took right off on the tractor with no issues.  He is already a plus for the Parks Department.

      Banners:  The new banners are in and put up.

      4-H Building Exterior:  The contractor is putting the three-foot rock wall on the front of the 4-H Building.  The rock is on and they have some mortar work to do.  It should be finished by the end of the week.

      Evaluations/Work Plans:  Superintendent Boyce worked on employee evaluations and a Work Plan for Heath.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-05

$3,524,858.25

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-05

$     65,105.42

                                   TOTAL

$3,589,963.67

      CLAIMS 2013-05:  Council Member Rhodes, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-05 in the amount of $3,524,858.25 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  President of Council Scott called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley explained, “The big item is the $3,360,000 permanent loan for Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project.”  Hearing no further discussion, President of Council Scott directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  President of Council Scott declared Claims Ordinance 2013-05 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-05:  Council Member Griffith “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-05 in the amount of $65,105.42.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, President of Council Scott directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  President of Council Scott declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-05 approved.

FINANCE:  Charloma Annual Tax Exemption Administrative Review

      City Clerk Kewley reported that the Administrative Review Committee met on the 25th of February.  The Committee members are Mayor Gene L. Merry, City Attorney Stephen Smith, USD #244 Superintendent Cliff Williams, and City Clerk Regina Kewley.  The Committee reviewed information Charloma had submitted including the Annual Claim for Exemption, the Exempt Real Property Form, and data on the number of full-time employees working at their Burlington facility. 

      City Clerk Kewley reported that Charloma continues to employ thirty-six full-time employees and are requesting an exemption for another year.  The tax exemption will continue for two more years after this year.  The Administrative Review Committee recommends that the Governing Body extend the tax exemption to allow Charloma, Inc. to receive 20% abatement and pay 80% of their property tax responsibilities for 2013.  City Clerk Kewley asked for a motion to approve the tax exemption for 2013, and said Charloma has done everything we have asked of them and have already sent the $100 check for the exemption application fee.  City Attorney Smith commented, “They have always done everything they’re supposed to and paid their fees.”

      Council Member Griffith stated, “I move to accept the Administrative Review Committee’s recommendation to extend the tax exemption to allow Charloma, Inc. to receive 20% abatement and pay 80% of their property tax for 2013.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  There being no discussion on the motion, President of Council Scott called for a vote.  Motion unanimously passed.

FINANCE:  Personnel – Salaries – CPI Recommendation

      President of Council Scott reported, “The Finance Committee met on February 27th.  We came up with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) being 1.5%; and I think we need a resolution for that.”  City Clerk Kewley, “We do.  We pull the CPI from the same data at the same time every year, and it was reading 1.5%; so that’s what the Finance Committee is recommending to the Governing Body to set our salaries for 2013.”  President of Council Scott, “So, if you pass a resolution, it will reflect the CPI in the wage and salary sheet?”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, the Resolution has two attachments: the Wage and Salary Schedule and the Employee Annual Work Plan & Evaluation Guideline.”

      Council Member Luke stated, “I make a recommendation to approve a 1.5% Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase to City of Burlington employees, beginning with the first full payroll of April, 2013.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, President of Council Scott called for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.

      Council Member Luke, “I move to adopt Resolution 2013-02, Providing For and Fixing Salaries and Compensations of Officers and Employees of the City of Burlington, Kansas pursuant to the Personnel Policies and Guidelines Established by the City of Burlington, Kansas in 1996, including Exhibit “A”, Wage and Salary Schedule, and Exhibit “B”, Employee Annual Work Plan & Evaluation Guideline.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  There being no discussion on the motion, President of Council Scott called for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Crotts’ Property on Hudson Street:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin reported he’s been busy working with Larry Crotts on his property on Hudson Street and steps he needs to take to have the property removed from the Floodplain, if possible, what steps he has to take to put a structure there or an R.V. Park, and gave him that contact information.

      Freeman Subdivision II – Water to 1055 Lynx Lane:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin said he was at the meeting with Stephen and Tiffany Freeman concerning the waterlines he requested to be run out along Lynx Lane.  Stephen did come in and get his zoning permit today to build a storage building on that property.

      Spring Cleanup/Brush Pickup:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin reported getting an email from Coffey County that the County will hold their Spring 2013 Clean-Up Week and provide free landfill service from April 15 through April 20th.  In conjunction with that, Burlington’s brush pickup will be the week of April 8, with brush to be out by the curb prior to 7 a.m. on Monday, the 8th of April.  Trash (junk) pickup will be the week of April 15th, with trash to be put out by the curb prior to 7 a.m. on Monday, the 15th.

      City’s New Web Page Design:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin is still working with IM Design on the webpage.  We are waiting on verification that we will have the .gov extension.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin

      2013-006  Burlington Development for a Storage Building at 1055 Lynx Lane

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      City Attorney Smith reported they were snowed out of Municipal Court in February.  He has been doing a lot of work with a KCP&L Industrial Revenue Bond refinancing that is coming up at the March 20th meeting of Council.  The City usually receives an issuance fee for all the work involved by the City Clerk and City Attorney with the documentation.  The issuance fee is put in the General Fund.  An update will be provided at the March 20th meeting of the Council.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff have been busy with customers paying utility bills.  They prepared work orders, vouchers for bill paying, payroll, and minutes from council meetings; and also handled calls and inquiries. 

      Meetings Attended:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Administrative Review Committee meeting on Charloma’s annual tax exemption review.  She attended the Finance Committee meeting last week.  She also met with Stephen and Tiffany Freeman, Water Superintendent Hawkins, and Zoning Clerk Hugunin and worked out the water situation for 1055 Lynx Lane in Freeman Subdivision II.

      Sewer Improvement Project, Phase II – Financing:  City Clerk Kewley worked on the closeout for the financing Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project (IRBs Series 2013A) last week.

      Siren/Tornado Drill:  City Hall Staff participated in the statewide tornado drill.

      Employee Work Plans and Evaluations:  City Clerk Kewley reminded everyone that the Work Plans and Evaluations are due for the March 20th meeting of Council, from the superintendents for their employees, and from the committees for the superintendents.  She asked them to be given to her the Monday prior to the meeting.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:  None

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Attorney Smith

      City Attorney Smith, “The League of Kansas Municipalities wants all of you to be very well aware of the bill in the legislature to move all the municipal primaries and everything  to the fall elections, which will make all the city elections as partisan as the statewide and nationwide races.  The League is very strongly urging everybody to oppose it, and to tell everybody you know to oppose it – that they are making city council into a partisan position.  The idea is to marginalize the voters because they know who’s going to show up and vote every time, and every election will be a partisan election now.  I don’t what to see that happen in Burlington or any other city that I’m associated with.  The League doesn’t want it either.”  City Clerk Kewley said she has been passing that on too, from the League to the Governing Body.”

President of Council Scott declared the meeting adjourned.

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

CITY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 20, 2013

 

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday February 20, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:    Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                  Yes Jane M. Griffith                        Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                       Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                     Yes erilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)   Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)   Yes  Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
Yes Doug Mast (Street)       Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)         

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)             Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
No Stephen Smith (City Attorney)          Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Stephen Freeman, Calvin Freeman, Donald C. Franklin, Karen Franklin, Darion Freeman, Mike Stewart, Ken Grate, David Wilson, Betty Hawkins

AGENDA:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of February 6, 2013 as amended.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

      Stephen Freeman said his discussion would take more than five minutes, so Mayor Merry set a 6:05 p.m. appointment for him to speak.

APPOINTMENT 6:05 p.m., Stephen Freeman on his property (Freeman Subdivision 1 and Freeman Subdivision II)

      Freeman Subdivision I, 1261 N. Hwy 75:  Stephen Freeman stated, “Last Thursday, I got served papers – a letter from Steve Smith, along with Danny Hawkins and a Police Officer.  They yanked the meter out of my business north of town (Tiffany’s Cabinets); no water meter.  I’m here to ask, what events led to that?”  After a long pause, he said, “There had to be an event that led to it.  It didn’t happen on its own.”  Mayor Merry asked, “Do you have an answer to that, Forrest?  Or Danny?”  Superintendent Hawkins answered, “No, I don’t have any comment.  We did corrective action in accordance to the laws of the State of Kansas.  That’s all I have to say.”  Council Member Rhodes, “That’s the position I am going to take, also.  We operated under the State law.”  Stephen, “That’s what we’re going to do from now on anytime there’s supposable – there was a thirty-inch diameter of brown paper on the ground; and I got my water meter yanked for that purpose?  Is that everybody’s opinion?” 

      Stephen continued, “Stan, was it a public works meeting?  Was it a Sewer Committee meeting?  Who notified you?  I’m looking for answers here.”  Council Member Griffith stated, “I was present.  He called me the night before this happened and asked to talk to me and told me what this was about.  And he had not got any satisfaction.  Calvin (Freeman Plumbing, Heating & AC) can also address this.  According to him he has done everything, and we get up there and everybody’s you know (saying), ‘Can’t do anything about it.’  ‘I’m not a plumber.’ But he still has a water problem.  I personally feel that we as the city have a responsibility to our citizens if they have problems.  I know if it were me at my home…..  And then the other thing that I found offensive when I was there is there were two businesses there; and they were so blatant - just pulled the tube.  You know, these are businesses.  These are our community.  What are we thinking?  There was no threat to anything.  I’m sorry, but I felt like it could have been handled a lot better.”

      Stephen, “I still haven’t got an answer to my original question.  What specific event led to it?  Did somebody call?  Notify?  Somebody has to answer.  No comments, Stan?”  Council Member Luke, “Well, the comment I’ll have is, you had received a letter over sixty days before that with respect there had been sewage on the ground and that your pump didn’t work.  The City had sent you a letter identifying the issues, and at the end of the letter was to notify us when corrections were made.  We were never notified.  Now, you talked to Jane and notified her.  Fine, but nobody else had been notified.  Because we hadn’t been notified, we went to the site, found the sewage on the ground.”  Stephen, “Who’s ‘we’?  Who went to the site?”  Council Member Luke, “The Water Department went to the site.”  Stephen, “Who on the Water Department?”  Council Member Luke, “I cannot answer that for sure. I do not know.”  Stephen, “Danny’s the Supervisor; he should be able to answer that.”  Council Member Luke, “Danny, did you go?”  Council Member Luke, “Okay, Danny went. The sewage was on the ground.”  Stephen, “What day?  The day before the letter?”  Council Member Luke answered, “Yes.”  He then said, “With Stephen Smith we went through what the State statutes were and what KDHE required; and since we hadn’t been notified that it was repaired, we took the action the State requires – terminate the water service until this is resolved.  We went to the site.  Calvin was there, informed us that the pump had been replaced, a brass valve I think he said was put in, we agreed that if the lime was put on the spot we would turn the water back on.  I was onsite when the lime was placed on the spot and we turned the water back on.”

      Stephen, “Okay, I’ve got a couple of comments about that.  I carried that lime around to that spot, and I came back around the building and said it’s been done, turn the water on.  The guys are out– your answer – the guys are out front putting the water on.  Nobody even come back and saw me dump the lime on the hole.”  Council Member Luke, “I went there and looked at the lime before I told them to turn it back on.”  Stephen, “There wasn’t time for you to do that.  You were out talking with Jane in her vehicle clear out in the parking lot, Stan.”  Council Member Luke, “And I left there, went up to the front, told them to wait, went over to the site and looked at it, and went over to the front and said ‘You can turn it back on.’  I came back to you because you were still back to the back and told you to check because the water was on.”  Stephen, speaking to Stan, “Okay, so I’m not..…” 

      Council Member Griffith, “Well, I’m…”  Stephen, “Well, I’ve got another point.  While we were standing there you, Mrs. Griffith, Calvin, his helper, Jay Szambecki – local law enforcement, and Danny and myself, Danny made the comment he hadn’t been there in sixty days.  You just told me he was there the day before with you.”  Council Member Luke, “No, I was not there the day before, he (Danny) was there, I’m pretty sure at the site.”  Stephen, “So, who’s lying?  Who’s lying then?  Was he there or was he not?  He said he wasn’t.”  Council Member Luke, “I know he was there to take the picture of the site to bring to the meeting the following day; before that, I don’t know.”  Stephen, “So, while we were all out there that day, he lied to us.  Nothing’s ever going to get done if people don’t stand up to their actions.  He was either there or he wasn’t; he said he wasn’t; now we’re saying he was.  I’m confused.”  Council Member Griffith, “And I’m confused; and I’ll tell you what.  From what I saw standing there, I wouldn’t want to do any business with Burlington because I didn’t see any integrity anywhere.” 

      Stephen, “I can tell you this.  I’ve called Danny’s cell phone all the time and never get a response.  Nobody’s ever answered his cell phone number.  I’ve called and left messages on his cell phone and never got a returned phone call-ever.  Calvin, has he ever answered when you’ve called?”  Calvin Freeman, “Very seldom.”  Stephen, “It’s hard to let him know that the situation’s been corrected when he won’t even answer his public use cell phone that the City provides.” 

      Council Member Rhodes, “You know, sewage on the ground is a public health (issue).”  Mayor Merry, “Glad you brought that up, Forrest.  Calvin, when you called KDHE and asked them what sewage on the ground is concerned with – what would that be?”  Calvin, “What was that?”  Mayor Merry, “When you called KDHE and you asked them what really had to be on the ground to really be a violation, and they looked at this as a minor deal that should have been settled here in Burlington?”  Calvin, “He told me if there’s any solids on the ground, they need to be picked up.  He said, the paper, just throw a little lime on it.  He said it’s no big deal, it happens all over the State of Kansas.  He said KDHE’s main concern is the sewage running out from under a building, its sludge all underneath –something big like that.  He said this here is nothing but a minor situation.” 

      Mayor Merry, “I went back and looked at it, and it looked like it was granules from two or three other times back there; and then there was a brown color which they were saying was some of your tile renderings which was a dark…”  Stephen, “It was some form of lime.  It was granulated lime, is what that was; which I had to explain to Danny.  He was telling me that if I’m putting lime through his public sewer system, I’m paying for the next pump that goes out if he gets a chip in it.  So, I had to take him to the building to prove to him that my drain pit in the granite room, which is ran and metered by Don Franklin here, is not hooked up to the city sewer system.  It was installed after the building was put up – years after.” 

      Mayor Merry, “Calvin, when you asked KDHE about how that needed to be disposed of, what’d they say?”  Calvin, “He said the excess water in it you’d just pump it out on the earth, let it evaporate and if there’s granules in it just dispose of them – put them out in the driveway if you want.  He says there’s no problem with it.”  Stephen, “You know, back to the granite chips, why would I want them going through my pump to begin with, let alone trouble the city with the chips?  All our granite waste goes into my driveway.”

      Council Member Griffith, “Stephen, can I?  From our conversation about the pump, Calvin, you said you’d done everything you know how to do to get that to pump – correct?”  Calvin, “Correct.”  Stephen, “And right now, it is.”  Mayor Merry, “Do you think we had a plug or something in the line, I mean, it built up a lot?”  Stephen, “I think there’s been one there for twelve years since the building was erected.”  Mayor Merry, “You had a lot of head pressure, though.  Didn’t you blow the threads out of a pump because there was so much back pressure?”  Stephen, “Terry Swank and him worked on this, and they’re just behooved on what they need to do to keep the lines together because something upstream….  And that’s the issue – when the City does come out and blow this line out, they shut the valve off to me – I no longer exist.  They blow air through their line; the air compressor shoots up on their machine to an astronomical number; and then boom, it releases; they turn me back on and I pump free.  So, there’s something in there causing the blockage.  At one point in time last spring, I was informed they were going to blow this line out once a week until we get a liftstation in down there to expand the city.  I was informed by Mr. Hawkins that that was no longer going to happen.  He didn’t have manpower and didn’t feel like it needed done - burnt up another pump soon after that.  I’m on pump number eight right now; and it cost me $1,200 to purchase the pump, let alone with the backflow preventers and the service call - just to let me know.  To buy that pump retail, it’s a $2,400 pump.”

      Mayor Merry, “Have you had any problems with the building toward the south?”  Stephen, “I was informed that they didn’t.  Stan had a whole different answer.”  Council Member Luke, “We met with the woman that manages the Dollar General.  They have an issue inside the ladies restroom within their facility; they have no problem with the men’s restroom.”  Mayor Merry, “Do they have a grinder pump?”  Council Member Luke, “They have a grinder pump, also.”  Stephen, “I have the identical pump installed that they do.”  Mayor Merry, “Okay.”

      Council Member Griffith, “My one question.  When I went up there when we saw it, when we asked what should be done, Stan said, ‘We can’t tell you, we might be sued’; and Danny said, ‘I’m not a plumber.’  And you know, we need to solve problems.  We need to give solutions.  I mean, we need to change this.”  Stephen, “Yeah, I continued to ask during this forty-minute rebuttal – ‘What do I need to do to turn the water back on?’  ‘Read the letter.’  The letter says, ‘You know your discharged waste is a public hazard.’  So, what do I need to do?  Do I need to put lime on it?  ‘I can’t answer that.’  So, finally I said, well when I was dumping into the ditch earlier, anytime I blew a pump up and we would wait for two or three days for a new one to come in, I would bypass the system and dump down the ditch – that’s the only option I had.  And I have corrected that, I’ve taken that bypass out; and the answer was, ‘You need to cover this area with lime.’  That’s what was done; so, my question that day was, okay so if I dump lime on this, I’ll get a water meter turned back on?  ‘I don’t know. I can’t answer that.’ – over and over and over.” 

      Mayor Merry, “You know, everything sounds like communication; and the worst thing was Lewis (Council Member Lenard) didn’t have any idea what was going on in the Water Committee.  That frustrates me.  Calvin, in your professional opinion, is there a major problem with lime - that forced main going around there?”  Calvin, “There’s got to be some restriction or something in there or it wouldn’t be stopping it like that.  It’s either got a kink in the line, or settlement, or something like that in it because the City shouldn’t have to be blowing it out.” 

      Mayor Merry, “We have the same kind of system out at Country Club Heights and I’ve never seen it……….”  Stephen, “You know, when I’m sizing my pipe when my brother originally built that, we need a half horse pump – blew that; three quarter horse pump - blew that one; we’re up to a one-horse.  We know there’s a problem.  We can’t get anybody to do anything about it; but we know it personally because we’re spending thousands of dollars on this pump; so we know there’s a problem.  Dollar General, they come in and they have everything engineered and they start out with a one-horse power pump – it won’t work right; so now they’re up to a horse power pump.  They’ve got engineers taking the drawings that Danny can provide you from when that was installed.  They can take the distances, the ninety degree turns, the uphill flow, the downhill flow; take all that into consideration, run the numbers, and tell you what size pump you need.  So, we’ve got two different engineers telling us we need half to one horse power; and we’re both up to a two horse power now.  We’re just going to continue to have problems because it’s not right.  You’ve got two different engineers telling you the same thing.  Something’s wrong there.  Put a liftstation in down there.” 

      Mayor Merry, “It’s not a big enough line to run a camera in – a three-inch line?”  Council Member Luke, “The new camera we’ve ordered, will that run a three-inch line?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “Not thirteen hundred feet.”  Council Member Luke, “Can we run it from one direction and then from the other?”  Stephen, “Will it turn a ninety (degree)?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “I won’t know until we get it.”  Mayor Merry, “Or even if you went so far.”  Council Member Luke, “In the liftstation sewer program, we have ordered or are in the process of ordering a new traveling camera that we’ve never had in the past.  When that comes in, we can camera as much of that line as we possibly can to look for restrictions or spots that are collapsed or rough edges or whatever we can that’s there, and address and take care of the situation then.  Right now, we have no way to camera.”  Council Member Curtiss, “How far down the road is this camera coming?”  Council Member Luke, “Once it’s ordered, it’s a few weeks.” 

      Council Member Griffith, “I have another question.  If we did have raw sewage out there to any extent, why are we giving them ninety days?  Shouldn’t it be taken care of immediately?”  Council Member Luke, “We gave them sixty days to solve the problem because at the time the equipment was not operational, if I remember correctly.  During that time they couldn’t put anything additional out onto the ground.”  Stephen, “It was operational.  It had been worked on so many times in the past twelve years, the bolts have been lost out of my lid, the rain water was coming off of my roof and able to enter the pit.  Well, the pit’s an eighteen inch hole, so eighteen inches of roof was actually of rain water would go into the public sewer system – if my pump would push it through.  Other than that, that was the big problem, so it has been covered.  That’s all I had to do was put a piece of plastic over it to come in compliance with KDHE – a piece of plastic took care of that.”  Council Member Merry, “It wasn’t the best design.  I don’t know when that was even put in there.”  Stephen, “We were going to put in a septic system to begin with when we built the building, and Jack Sowder was the current Wastewater Superintendent.  At the time, him and Martha Newkirk, which was the planning and zoning, came down and said ‘I think we can put this on the public sewer.’ We were like, you’re a long ways away, we’re going to have to pump.  Said ‘no, easy, no problem, we do it all the time; we done it up here south.’”  Mayor Merry, “We do.”  Stephen, “Yeah.  I agree.  I agree.”  Mayor Merry, “We’re taking it a long ways off west.”  Stephen, “And as soon as they blow air up their line.  They can’t blow air down my line because they shut it off.  They’re only blowing their line out.  As soon as they do that, my pump runs fine.  And the Dollar General thing – I’m always that one that takes care of whatever the situation is; so who says that I’m not blowing out eventually their problem before they have a problem because they have a lot more line to fill than I do.  I’m a lot closer to where we tie on to the city.  So, who knows if that’s not the case?”

      Stephen continued, “I think that the way this was handled – to come out and yank my water meter.  We shut down the granite job that day and we shut down a job that’s going on at Wolf Creek right now for the day because of a thirty-inch circle of chewed paper on the ground.  That kinda disgusts me, as a citizen of this town.  It’s ridiculous.” 

      Mayor Merry, “Calvin, on a forced main like that - I mean, it’s a lot different than a gravity flow where you have a cleanout in it - is it that big a deal to put in a cleanout and keep the integrity of the forced main?”  Calvin, “It would be hard to do.”  Mayor Merry, “Just because of the pressure on the line and the thread?”  Calvin, “Right, especially on metal abrasions that’s there.”  Mayor Merry, “So, what would be your solution if you were to solve the problem?”  Calvin, “For

right now, I’d go ahead and blow the line out and see if that corrects it every so often until you get the camera; run the camera in there and look at it; if there is a bad place in it, dig her up and take care of it.”  Council Member Luke, “Got no problem with that.  If there is, we’ll fix it.” 

      Mayor Merry, “I wonder if to test it again would be to run some dye through it and check that main where it goes back in on the south side to make sure that we’re getting a full cycle through and not just blowing it down the line.  It will handle a lot of waste, but no more than those two buildings in three months time…”  Council Member Luke, “We did that when we did all the sewer checks, when we did all the lining and everything to make sure they weren’t blocked – ran dye through them.”  Mayor Merry, “Not that line.”  Council Member Luke, “No.”  Calvin, “It might be where it hooks onto the main, you know.”  Mayor Merry, “Well, being dry too, have you noticed it more in the past year?  I just wondered if there’s been some settlement in the line or something; but you’d know that right away.”  Stephen, “Yeah, there’d be wet spots in the drive, or he would have had ten-foot beans and one-foot beans.”  Council Member Luke, “We’ll look at it, blow it out if it needs to be blown out, run some dye through it, run some water through it, and then run the camera through it to check it out when we get it.”

      Stephen, “But my thing is, I don’t want to burn up another pump because it didn’t get blown out.  If it’s on a weekly schedule like we were doing for a couple weeks – and I never got informed that they weren’t going to do it anymore.  My pump sits there and just runs, runs, runs and boils sewer until it burns its bearings and it’s gone.”  Council Member Luke, “We’ll make sure that the line stays clean; and we will run the dye through it to make sure we’ve got flow; and when we get the camera, we’ll run through with the camera as much distance as we can from whatever directions we have to.  It records the data so it’s easy to monitor, save, and look at.”  Stephen, “Can the camera do ninety-degree turns?”  Council Member Luke, “It does turns, but I can’t guarantee you how much.  I know it will do some, but we may go from one ninety, and we can go at it from another direction and cover as much of it as we can.  I don’t know if we’ll get all 1,400 or 1,500 feet of it.  I cannot answer that question.”  Mayor Merry, “It’s not wide in some of those corners?”  Stephen, “I didn’t put it in, the City did, I have no idea.”  Council Member Luke, “I don’t have any idea either.”  Stephen, “I would assume they’re probably brass connections; if they’re compression that is, wouldn’t they be?”  Mayor Merry, “Hard to tell.”  Calvin, “They should be.”  Stephen, “That’s what we put on past compression fitting backflow when we tie on to them.”  Mayor Merry, “You said we had a drawing?”  Stephen, “Well, I’ve been showed.  I think there’s one.” 

      Council Member Luke, “I don’t know if we can make the turns or not.  I don’t know the qualifications of the camera.”  Stephen, “It runs straight up to Pamida (Shopko) and then turns east before it heads back south.”  Calvin, “It depends on the size of the line that’s in there where you make the radius to turn on.”  Council Member Luke, “Where you make the turn, the size of the camera – there’s a multitude of things that go into that play, because they’re pretty small.”  Calvin, “I don’t know what size of line is in there on the city’s side.”  Mayor Merry commented, “It shouldn’t be three inch.”  Council Member Luke, “The camera’s supposed to fit inside a tube.”  Calvin, “How many feet of cable does this camera have?”  Council Member Luke, “We haven’t ordered it, so I don’t know.  Several hundred feet I know for sure, but I don’t know how many.  I can’t answer that.  And I don’t know if there’s - I’m going to use the word, ‘extentions.’  I can’t answer that either.  No comment.  It’s something we will look at when we look at the specs on which particular camera we’re going to order.”

      Mayor Merry, “In the meantime blow it out.”  Council Member Luke said we would blow it out if it needs to be blown out, run some dye through it, and run some water through it and see if everything is flowing through.  Stephen, “What’s the dye going to do?  If it’s a squashed line and it’s not plugged the day you run the dye, what will that tell us?”  Mayor Merry, “We need to run a pig through like you do a pipeline.”  Stephen, “Well, if it’s a solid pig. I mean, if it’s a squished line some of the pigs could shove through that.”  Council Member Luke, “We’ll see what we can do.  I don’t know.” 

      Stephen, “Well, next time will somebody give me a phone call instead of shutting my --- yanking my water meter out of the ground?  Can you tell me that?”  Council Member Lenard, “Let me say this because one thing that appears to not have happened properly is communication; and it’s been my position that the Superintendents need to work with the public.  If there is an issue that can’t be resolved, then take it to the committee and go from there.  So, my expectation would be for the Superintendent and you (Stephen Freeman) to bridge whatever gap you have in communications and do a better job of getting to where you guys want to be at the end of the day.  I mean, it’s going to take both of you to do that; so that’s my belief.”  Stephen, “Don’t put this on my shoulders now.  I’ve done nothing but….”  Council Member Lenard, “Everybody needs to do their part.”  Stephen, “I’ve done nothing but communicate.  I have to.”  Mayor Merry, “I’ll verify that.”  Stephen, “I have to.  I run too many businesses not to be a communicator.  I communicate very well.” 

      Freeman Subdivision II - Property on Lynx Lane:  (Note:  Shortly after this meeting, the property was assigned a tentative address of 1055 Lynx Lane.  This is in the Freeman II Subdivision.)  Stephen, “I’ve got another one.  I’m going to come tomorrow and request a water meter be put out on my ground south of town and to have electric run to the property on Lynx Lane.  Are there going to be any issues there?  It’s $3,000 for a water meter, correct?  And I sign a letter of annexation – a waiver of annexation saying I won’t….”   Superintendent Hawkins, “The only closest water that I have is a twelve-inch main – if I’m in the correct place.  I’m assuming you’re talking about where you’re building behind Mr. Hugunin (South Haven)?”  Stephen, “Nope.  I’m talking about on Lynx Lane.”  Council Member Luke, “On the south side of Alan’s (Schneider).”  Superintendent Hawkins, “We’ll just have to make up the infrastructure and run a line out there.  I don’t have lines out there to the south.”  Stephen, “Well, we ran a line down to Schneiders.  How many feet was that?”  Council Member Luke, “We don’t have anything south of there?”  Mayor Merry, “Right, it stopped at the fire hydrant.”  Stephen, “You didn’t stop where the fire hydrant is.”  Council Member Luke, “It stops at the fire hydrant? Okay.”  Stephen, “That’s why I want to resolve this now so we don’t have to have another meeting.”

      City Clerk Kewley, “Its $3,000 for the water meter if it’s not going to be in the city limits.”  Stephen, “Right.  Are there going to be any issues with that, is what I’m asking?  Unless I want a waterline out there. I believe we ran a four-inch to Mr. Schneider’s property.  Is that what we’re going to do?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “I don’t know; we’ll have to address it.”  Stephen, “With who?  I’m here to address it.”  Superintendent Hawkins, “If the City wants to pay for the infrastructure of it, then I guess the City will pay for the infrastructure.  If not, then the billing will be issued back to you.  I don’t know.  The Committee meets and we talk as a committee as to how we want to do that.”  Stephen, “Well, let me make this comment.  How many feet was it to run it out to the current location of the hydrant?”  Superintendent Hawkins, “I don’t know.”  Stephen, “Twelve hundred foot?  Freeman’s second addition is 600 foot long.  We went across an eight foot road, so there’s six hundred and eighty feet; and there’s two other properties before it gets to the hydrant.  I’m guessing about twelve hundred foot.  And that was all put in – okay, I’m going to tell you, it was between eleven and twelve hundred foot, I’m pretty close – for $3,000.  So what I’m asking is, am I going to get treated the same way when I request water to go out to my property?”Council Member Luke, “As far as I’m concerned you’ll be treated no different than anybody else.”  Stephen, “Perfect, that’s what I want to hear.” 

Council Member Curtiss, “You’d have to be.”  Council Member Luke, “I don’t know where we set electricwise.  I know we’ve got high voltage across the street.  I don’t know what we’ve got on that side.”  Superintendent Schneider, “It will depend on where he’s going to want his service.  We’ve already got an engineer through Allgeier Martin & Associates for the multiple housing.  We will just – wherever he wants, we will go overhead to that point.  I assume you’re going to build a house.”  Stephen, “I’ll come chat with you tomorrow.  I’m not concerned with my electrical.  That has always been the best utility to deal with.  I’m not concerned about that”  Council Member Luke again stated, “You won’t be treated any different than anybody else.”  Stephen, “Okay.  Did everybody hear that?”  Mayor Merry, “It’s on the record.  Anything else?”  Stephen, “Nope.”  Mayor Merry, “I want to thank you all for coming down.”

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported personnel have been replacing poles, doing work orders and line locates, trimming trees, repairing equipment, and painting inside the shop.

      Lift Stations:  The Electric Department added services to the new liftstations (LS#2 and LS#6).  They will install services on the other liftstations when they are ready.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      Generator #6:  Superintendent Schneider provided an update on issues they have been having with Generator #6.  Generator #6 has been installed since the 1980s and problems have been there since the 1980s.  They had X-line from Saline come in to do a checkup.  The biggest issue was the main bearing in that motor was just the same as being gone.  If the checkup and repairs had not been done, we could have had a crank fly out of the power plant.  Everything is working and ready for the summer season.  A few other recommendations for repair were made and will be addressed sometime in the next two years.

      Automatic Meter Infrastructure:  Superintendent Schneider reported, “As you know we spent some time in Atlanta doing some training on the AMI; that is complete.  The class was very in-depth; and we came back with some excellent training tools.  The infrastructure was commissioned on the 14th and 15th of February; so the system is up and working and communicating with the software.  We installed a few of our fat meters and replaced the 2013 meter order yesterday.”

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Sewer Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the electrical is complete for the new Lift Station #1; and Lift Station #2 forcemain has been connected to the new liftstation.  Base rock has also been put in around the new liftstation so personnel can get in to check the liftstation. 

      Old Lagoons cleanup:  We are now working on cleaning up the junk piles down at the old sewer lagoon.  We’ve been hauling some of the trash to the Coffey County Landfill and hauling some to the steel plant in Emporia.

      AMI Training:  Superintendents Hawkins and Schneider and Utility Billing Supervisor Mast attended the AMI training in Atlanta, Georgia.  He explained, “We are going to basically piggyback off the Electric meters.  We are kind of at their mercy because our water meters need to have a signal as close as we can to the electric meters.  We will try to replicate Alan’s; and this year we will install around 359 meters.”

      Waterline Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins has been busy with Bartlett & West concerning our permitting for the Waterline Replacement Project.  He said, “We want to begin on 6th & Cumberland and go west to 9th Street, which is a little under 1,300 feet.  We were told that anything over 1,000 feet has to be permitted through the State of Kansas; so I visited with Bartlett & West before getting that started.”  He continued, “Our intentions are to move the waterline on the south side of Cumberland Street versus keeping it on the north side.  We’re intending to do the work ourselves this year.  We budgeted $100,000 this year, so we’re going to try to see if we can do it ourselves.  There will be some areas where there will be some housing units, so we will do some boring around these units.We don’t want to disturb a lot of the driveways and sidewalk areas.  We will bore each of the roads, so we don’t tear up Doug’s (Superintendent Mast’s) roads.”

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Plant Efficiency Project - Chlorine System:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “The Water Department has installed a new chlorine system.  The guys got it up and running and it’s running good.  Tom Lasser came over and provided our training with it.  Right now we are working with Hydro, a company that is giving us a ninety-day free trial of their chlorine analyzers.  We’re looking into them versus our HACH analyzers because the reagents we buy every year are a little more expensive.  We’re hoping to go in that direction because it will save us roughly about $2,500 for the year in chemicals and reagents.  It will depend on whether it is KDHE permitted.  In other words, when Greg Taylor goes in the Water Plant and checks all our machines, we want to make sure we meet the criteria of what KDHE has given.”

      Water Plant Efficiency Project - CO2 Feed System:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We’re also having a technician from Hydro come to look at our CO2 Feed System.  This is the company that installed our Chlorine Analyzers.  Since we have completed our CO2 Basins, we’ve seen a tremendous change in the PH control of the Water Plant.  We’re getting good control now within the system.”

      Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Update:  Superintendent Hawking stated, “We are finally getting some precipitation.  It’s good to see some rain and snow.  We’ve had up to two inches of rain in the county over the last couple of weeks.  We’ve had no new restrictions placed upon us.  We are still attending any drought meetings that come up and want to keep the people aware of it.  For the month of February, we’ve pumped 10,548,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 555,157 gallons; which is pretty good.  It is up a little, but we do have 1,200 to 1,400 people here for the Wolf Creek Outage, so a little increase of water use is anticipated.” 

      Council Member Scott, commenting that we’re supposed to get a significant amount of moisture, asked what it will take us statewide to get us out of Stage 2, Water Warning of the drought emergency.  Superintendent Hawkins explained, “Actually, the pool levels on the Neosho River Basin reach above the drought level, the Chief Engineer will notify all of the assurance districts that we have reached standard pool levels.  Then he will tell us that we don’t need to be addressing it any longer.  Right now we do weekly reports and let the State know how much water we’re pumping on a weekly basis.”  Council Member Scott, “So the Neosho assurance area could get out of the Stage 2.”  Superintendent Hawkins, “Depending on the rains and how the reservoirs are; when you have the Marion Lake and Council Grove where we get a lot of our assurancy water.  If we do get some spring rain, it is a possibility.  It’s mainly what we see go downstream.  If it reaches the level that is above drought, it will release us from the Stage 2 water warning.” 

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Purchase two Pick-up Trucks

      Superintendent Hawkins mentioned discussion on January 17th concerning purchasing pickup trucks from Federal Surplus, and referred to quote sheets on two trucks that have been looked at for the Water/Wastewater Department.  Superintendent Hawkins said, “We went up to look at trucks and reserved these two.  We don’t have to purchase them, reserving them just gives us the first opportunity to purchase them.  They are used vehicles; and we did inspect these two trucks.  We budgeted $29,500 this year to purchase a vehicle.  We are basically trying to kill two birds with one stone by replacing our Chevrolet pickup truck, which we want to transfer to the Street Department – if they still want it; and the motor has been out of our Dodge for quite some time, and would put it up for sealed bids.  These two trucks would complete our fleet of vehicles for several years to come.” 

      Superintendent Hawkins said the total package deal to purchase both vehicles is $25,006.  The trucks already have the installed toolboxes on them and have overheads.”  Mayor Merry asked about the usual cost of the toolboxes.  Superintendent Mast said they are usually worth a good $8,000 each.  Mayor Merry, “So you’re going to a comparable use truck?”  Superintendent Hawkins said that was correct and that two of the Water/Wastewater personnel are basically body men and workers in the motor vehicle field and maintenance is not a major issue.  Mayor Merry asked if Federal Surplus did any kind of check on the trucks.  Superintendent Hawkins referred to the handouts, saying that it shows where they took the trucks to the dealerships where they were checked out and some maintenance was done.  There is no warranty and once the trucks are taken off the lot, they will be our responsibility.  Mayor Merry asked, “Would it make sense to buy one and try it out?”  Superintendent Hawkins replied, “That’s why we’re talking this evening.”

      Mayor Merry stated, “I went down and talked with the local car dealership.  I didn’t want the local car dealership to think we were buying trucks in Missouri, and said this is what we’re looking at in used trucks.  I wanted to know what the cost of a toolbox was because they would have to add that on.  I don’t think they can touch anything like this through a federal program.”  Superintendent Hawkins, “Vehicles purchased through Federal Surplus have to be retained by the purchaser for three years before you can sell them or get rid of them.”   Mayor Merry said he went to the Crow Moddie dealership three times to see the owner, but ended up talking to Brian Steffens and said if they have any issue at all to give him a call.  He hasn’t received a call back, but Brian didn’t seem too concerned. Council Member Luke, “We’re fully aware.  We’ve repeatedly bought vehicles through the local dealerships.  Since I’ve been on the Council, we haven’t bought anywhere else except when we bought the big truck for the Electric Department.”  Mayor Merry, “This isn’t the first time we’ve bought pool cars.  We bought Highway Patrol cars, probably before you were here.  It’s something we’ve done in the past.  I just wanted to make sure I communicated to the dealer that if you’ve got something on the lot that’s comparable, I don’t think we’d do this.  That’s my two cents.”

      Council Member Lenard, “My concern is number one, the warranty.  I understand we’d be under the budget with purchasing the two vehicles; but my input also is that if we do move forward with two vehicles, we take potentially the local sale a number of years out of cycle – whether it be two years, five years.  After what happened with the County, I don’t want to get calls complaining about us cutting out our local business man.  So, I would be favorable for looking at one vehicle and seeing how it works.”  Mayor Merry, “The other thing is, I assume they’re going to use it more for a

meter truck and it wouldn’t be something you’re going to take out on the road to go to a meeting.”  Superintendent Hawkins, “Right.”  Council Member Lenard suggested keeping in mind that with the installation of the new meters and the automatic meter reading system, there will be a savings in mileage and vehicle use.”  Superintendent Schneider agreed.  Council Member Lenard continued, “It will be pretty significant over a period of a year.  So, we may say this is going to save us for five years, but with the automatic meter reading and reduction of travel time, it could take you even further into the future before you need to get a new vehicle from a local dealership.  Those are all things that when we have dialog, they come out.”

      Council Member Curtiss asked, “Were you given the price for each one rather than just a package price?”  Superintendent Hawkins answered, “Yes. They all came in, I believe, from Oklahoma City.  They traded in a fleet of them, and they (Federal Surplus) bought them.  We were really fortunate the way it happened because K-State always gets the reserve on them, and while we were standing there and wanting to look at the vehicles, we were told we could reserve them if we wanted to.  It gives us the opportunity to pick and choose which vehicles we want.”  Council Member Curtiss verified with Superintendent Hawkins that both trucks are the same price and are the same year, but one has more mileage.  Council Member Lenard, “So, we wouldn’t have a vehicle in the budget for the Water Department for how long?”  City Clerk Kewley said, “Years.”  Council Member Rhodes commented, “It seems to me that's our job, too – to minimize cost.  We make phenomenal savings by getting two vehicles.”  Mayor Merry, “I think they’ve already worked a trade inside the departments, too.  I don’t have a problem; it’s whatever you say.  I just wanted to make sure we did the ground work.”

      Council Member Luke stated, “I make the motion to authorize the Water Department to purchase two used vehicles for the package price of $25,006 from Federal Surplus, to transfer the 1997 Chevrolet ¾ ton truck from the Water Department to the Street Department, and to offer the 2001 Dodge 3/4 ton truck up for closed bid auction.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Council Members Scott, Curtiss, Luke, Rhodes, and Griffith voted in favor of the motion; and Council Member Lenard voted against the motion.  Mayor Merry declared that with a 5:1 vote, the motion carried.  Superintendent Hawkins, “I appreciate it.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General;  Superintendent Mast reported that over the last couple of weeks personnel have been working on the storage building they are putting up by the Street Shop.  The utility poles are in, and they started putting up tin.  With the weather, they had to stop and get equipment ready in case we get the winter storm that is being predicted.  They bladed a few alleys.  People put rock in one dirt alley, and the Street Department spread the rock for them.

      Chevy transfer from Water Department:  Superintendent Mast said, “If we do transfer a Chevy truck from the Water Department, we would have a truck that we would like to put out for bids with their old Dodge truck.  It is one we picked up and is an old broken down truck, and it’s one we would just upgrade with the Chevy.  The old truck still runs.”  (The 1988 Chevrolet truck belonged to the Electric Department before it was transferred to the Street Department.)

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported it’s been normal business for the Police Department – juveniles, suspicious activity, nuisance properties, and some trash complaints.

      In-car Video System:  Chief Jones told Council the new digital in-car video system from Digital Ally that was approved a couple of weeks ago has been installed in Unit #10 and the Officers are pleased with it.  He said, “I am very impressed with it.  The system I took out is what they call the vault system and is in a big steel box about two feet to a side.  This new system has an external camera, and everything else is incorporated into the mirror that replaces the rearview mirror.  That’s all there is to it.  It records on an SD card, has an excellent picture, and good quality audio.  I’m quite impressed with it.”

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Parks personnel have been cleaning public buildings and restrooms, maintaining equipment, and doing other normal duties.  It’s the time of year they do a thorough cleaning of the 4-H Building and Kelley Hall, including cleaning the tops and bottoms of all the tables.  Parks personnel cut some unwanted trees below the bridge at Veterans Park in Rock Creek, and burned them.  They also attended the Employee Benefit Meeting.

      Banners:  The banners are ordered to extend to the Coffey County Museum and two each for Veterans Park and Caboose Park.

      Caboose Park – Tower Clock:  Superintendent Boyce reported he had a new clock installed in the Caboose Park restroom tower.  He had to realign the gears to reset the old clock on a weekly basis and if he was gone, it would be off time until he returned and reset it.  (The clock was purchased from and installed by Regulator Time Company for $4,225.00.)

      4-H Building Exterior:  Superintendent Boyce worked with the contractor on putting the three-foot rock wall on the front of the 4-H Building.  The weather has caused a delay, but if it is nice next week, the contactor should be back.

      Fair Board Building:  Superintendent Boyce has heard nothing more about the Fair Board’s plans for location of their new building.

      Training – Emerald Ash Borer:  Superintendent Boyce attended a tree class in Ottawa on the Emerald Ash Borer.  We do have it in Kansas.  He explained that due to what it would cost, there is nothing we can do about them.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-04

$308,691.74

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-04

$  73,066.70

                                   TOTAL

$381,758.44

      CLAIMS 2013-04:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-04 in the amount of $308,691.74 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “Over half of that is for electric for the month.  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, Kansas Power Pool; and also a bond payment for refinancing our debt last year.  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-04 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-04:  Council Member Scott “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-04 in the amount of $73,066.70.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-04 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Training – Emerald Ash Borer:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin attended the training in Ottawa on the Emerald Ash Borer. 

      Oak Park – Grant:  Superintendent Boyce had asked Zoning Clerk Hugunin about grants available for getting solar lights for Oak Park, and he is checking into that.

      Riverbank Fill Permit:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin is working on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Riverbank Fill Permit to allow us to dump concrete from sidewalk projects as was discussed at the December 5, 2012 meeting of Council.

      Tree Board:  Burlington Tree Board met yesterday, the 19th of February.  Zoning Clerk Hugunin reported City of Burlington was once again recognized as a Tree City USA.  We have received this recognition for twenty years in succession.  The recognition day will be on the 28th of March.

      City’s New Web Page Design:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin talked with Scott of IM Design, and he will be getting the verbiage to us for the contract so our City Attorney can look it over.

      General:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin reported he has been updating our permit log and getting the permits ready to send to the County Appraiser.  He also attended the Employee Benefits meeting.

      Vacating Alley:  At the last meeting, it was mentioned that Larry Crotts had decided not to proceed with his petition to vacate an alley.  Nancy Raymer has also decided not to do anything with her petition to vacate an alley right now, and may get back with us later.

OTHER BUSINESS:  Reschedule Council Meeting from March 6th to Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

      Council Member Luke stated, “March the 6th is the first night of the State Tournament and it is the night of the BHS girls play.  Since they are rated number 1 in the State, it is quite possible they will be in the State tournament.  We would like to move the Wednesday, March 6th meeting of Council to March 5th, which is Tuesday.  That will allow anybody who wants to attend the games to represent the City of Burlington. 

      Council Member Luke stated, “I move to reschedule the Wednesday, March 6th meeting of Council to be held on Tuesday, March 5th so anyone who wishes to can attend the State Tournaments on the 6th of March to represent the City of Burlington.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second it.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Mayor Merry stated, “The first Council meeting in March will be on Tuesday, the 5th.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin

      2013-004  Gary Parker, 1505 Mohawk Street, for a Garage

      2013-005  Coffey County Road and Bridge, 1510 S. 6th Street, for a shop addition

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      None

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff have been busy preparing for the utility billing this month.  They prepared work orders, vouchers for bill paying, payroll, and minutes from council meetings; and also handled calls and inquiries. 

      Annual reports:  Year end reports are being finished on the state, federal social security and KPERS.

      Sewer Project:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Sewer Construction meeting on Tuesday, February 12.

      Water Use Report:  City Clerk Kewley worked with Superintendent Hawkins to complete the annual Water Use Report.

      City/County Funds:  City Clerk Kewley completed the City/County Funds Report showing how funds allocated for Parks and Recreation and for Infrastructure were used in 2012; and prepared the letters to the County Commissioners showing what we did last year and what we plan to do in 2013.

      Finance Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley scheduled a meeting of the Finance Committee for 4 p.m. next Wednesday, February 27th in the meeting room at 303 Neosho.

      Withholding Forms:  W-4 forms and K-4 forms were distributed to employees and to the Governing Body to complete and sign.

MAYOR’S COMMENT:  Spending limits for Department Heads

      Mayor Merry said he received an email request from Chief Jones for permission to purchase batteries.  He asked, “The point is, the Department Heads have a limit of $500 in committing to something?”  City Clerk Kewley explained, “The Police Department might; but if it’s repair and replace, Department Heads don’t have a spending limit.”  She continued, “I know the Chief has his own internal policies he’s had previously.”  Chief Jones, “That I had placed on me, yes.”  City Clerk Kewley, “That’s between him and his Committee.”  Mayor Merry, “So what are the limits on Department Heads?”  City Clerk Kewley, “If it’s repair and replace, you can go ahead and replace or repair it.  If it’s a completely new item that costs $500 or more, of course they have to ask Council.”  Chief Jones, “I need Police Committee approval for purchases over $500.  The Police Committee can approve for over $500 and up to $1,000.  Council approval is needed for anything over $1,000.  That is what was put on me.”  Mayor Merry, “On repair.”  Chief Jones, “On any purchase.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Was that put on you by the last Mayor?”  Chief Jones, “The last administration, yes.”  Mayor Merry, “I’d like the Finance Committee to take a look at that, and maybe make a recommendation back to Council.”

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  None

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

CITY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 6, 2013

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday February 6, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:    Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                 Yes Jane M. Griffith                        Yes Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                       Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                     Yes  Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)    No Alan Schneider (Electric)   Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
Yes Doug Mast (Street)       No Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)          

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)            Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)         Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Bryant Presley (Phatal Attraction Car Club); Rural Water District #2 representatives:  Mark Haas, Rodney Breeze, Dale John; Don Rees, and Lee Hendricks (RWD #2 Counsel).

AGENDA:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of January 16, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

APPOINTMENT 6:05pm: Bryant Presley, Phatal Attraction Car Club Cruise Night,  June 22, 2013 in Kelley Park

      Bryant Presley requested permission for the Phatal Attraction Car Club to hold their Annual Cruise Night at Kelley Park from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 22.  This will be the fifteenth year of the Cruise Night event.  He stated, “Kevin, Jerame Hugunin is wanting to know if there’s any way to build a concrete pad or something for the burnout contest over by the cattle pens.  He said he could get everything donated for that.”  Superintendent Boyce, “That’s a liability.”  Mr. Presley, “It used to be done in a neighbors lot; but it’s been getting kind of dangerous because if the wind is blowing in a certain direction, the smoke/dust hinders driver’s vision.”  Attorney Smith, “As long as the Phatal Car Club provides insurance.”  Superintendent Boyce, “We’re working with the Fair Board right now on their new building; and Jerame and I had talked about the concrete pad; but that is where the stage will set, so we won’t have to deal with weeds growing around it.”  The stage could be pulled out of there during that process (the Cruise-In Burnout).  Mr. Presley, “That would be fine.  Then, I will get with Jerame and see what deal he wants to work out and let you know.  It will be a lot safer down there than up by the highway like it has been.” 

      Council Member Lenard stated, “I move to approve Bryant Presley’s request on behalf of Jerame Hugunin for the Phatal Attraction Car Club to hold its annual Cruise-In at Kelley Park from 6 to 10 p.m., June 22, 2013, with the proper coordination with the City’ Superintendents, and insurance.” Council Member Curtiss, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried. 

APPOINTMENT 6:10 p.m.: Shane & Vicki Wolford – Fair Board, Derby – April 20, 2013

      Shane Wolford, “I’m here tonight representing the Coffey County Fair Board.  We’ve been approached about having a spring demolition derby this year.  In previous years, this person has held one in Lyon County.  Last year he ran into some difficulties with the Fair Board – security issues; basically, it wasn’t cost effective for him to have it in Lyon County any more.  He wondered if we would be interested in doing it in Burlington.  The Coffey County Fair Board spoke with him, and would like to ask the City’s permission to use the Kelley Park Fair Grounds on the evening of April 20th.  We will probably start inspections around noon; cars will be coming in most of the day.  We do not need any of the rental buildings, but if we could have quite a bit of parking towards evening.  My wife spoke with somebody and as of the 5th, the buildings have not been reserved; but like I said, we don’t need those.  Are there any objections?  May we use the park?”

      Superintendent Boyce stated, “I visited with Scot Jeffers (USD #244 Recreation Commission) and he had a big concern about encroaching onto the ballfields.  By normal Fair time, he’s pretty much done with the kids ball season, and it doesn’t cause much problem.  He’s worried now about if we do put ruts in the area where we have bleachers on the south side that will cause an issue.”  Mr. Wolford said he doesn’t plan on moving the bleachers because it is the wet time of year and the equipment he would use to do that would definitely leave tracks, even if it didn’t leave ruts. Superintendent Boyce stated, “As far as I’m concerned, being the first derby, we would not move the south bleachers at all.  At the very most, we might put one on the west side; but if we do, we can go between the ballfields to set those.  One of the committee members met with Scot, and he (Scot) wanted to be present when we set up fence.”

      Mr. Wolford continued, “The Electric Department – Mike Skillman said he doesn’t know if there is a need to tie the blocks.  I think it would be safer if we did, but he said being where we weren’t putting bleachers on the south side that he didn’t see a reason to tie the blocks together.  Would the Electric Department be interested in working with us to tie them down?  Also, we will be carrying insurance on it like we do the Coffey County Fair.”  Superintendent Boyce stated, “If you’re not setting the south bleachers, then I don’t have a problem having the derby.”  

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to approve the Fair Board’s request to hold a Derby in Kelley Park on April 20, 2013.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Mayor Merry asked if it was starting at noon.  Mr. Wolford answered, “Pretty much, let’s just schedule the day for events and stuff.  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.  Mr. Wolford thanked Council and left.

      Suspend Ordinance (discussion):  Council Member Lenard asked, “At this time, we usually ask for suspension of the nuisance vehicle ordinance?”  Chief Jones answered, “For the regular derby, we usually waive the nuisance vehicle ordinance for derby vehicles for four weeks before and two weeks after.  It would be entirely up to Council if they want to do something like that for the month of April for this derby, or do it for the whole summer.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I’d say just for the month of April.”  Council Member Lenard, “The same timeframe around this as we do in August is what we should consider.  We don’t have to do it tonight.”  Mayor Merry suggested, “Why don’t we wait until they request it.”  Chief Jones stated, “The number of derby builders in town has decreased each year.  Actually, that was going to be my recommendation – that we wait and see if anybody requests that.”

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution Updates

      Council Member Luke provided the update on behalf of Superintendent Schneider who was in AMI training in Georgia.

      General Distribution:  Personnel have been replacing some of the power poles, doing maintenance on all the trucks, cleaning and painting the interior of the distribution shop, and doing other normal duties.  They have been doing all the reporting due this time of year, and the inventory is completed.

      AMI:  Personnel set the pole at the Power Plant for the collector for the automated meter system that is being installed.  All the routers are installed and the software.  Testing of the actual routers and collectors will be done on the 13th and 14th of this month.  It should be all tested out prior to our next council meeting.  No meters will be ordered until that is ready to operate.

      Electric to Payne’s Property:  Council Member Luke stated, “We met with Mike and Janet Payne with respect to electric service to their property near The Meadows.  That’s a dedicated underground area, so the service to their property line if they choose to be annexed will be an underground installation at the City’s cost.”

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production Update

      Generator #6:  Council Member Luke explained, “We thought we may have had a major issue with Generator #6, which has been there since the 1980s.  There have been metal filings found in the oil samples.  We had a company come in to do an analysis and they put computers on all the rotating parts, took all that data back.  They did not think we have a major issue, but they’re doing a check on all the perimeters to make sure they are all within standards.  If they are, all of our units will be ready for summer peak load testing.

      Water Plant Water Circulation System:  Work is finished on the circulation system for the Water Plant, so it will have proper circulation and generators will not be kicking off for excess heat.

      RICE/NESHAP:  Council Member Luke reported, “There have been inquires with respect to the R.I.C.E./NESHAP compliances.  Those calls have been forwarded to Larry Holloway at the KPP, as all of our stuff is being handled through the Kansas Power Pool.  He will have an update at our next KPP meeting on the 21st in Hillsboro.” 

      AMI Training:  Superintendents Hawkins and Schneider and Utility Billing Supervisor Mast are all in Atlanta, Georgia this week for training for the Automatic Meter Infrastructure system.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Council Member Rhodes provided the update on behalf of Superintendent Hawkins who was in AMI training in Georgia.

      Sewer Pump Station Replacement Project & SCADA System:  The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System has been hooked up to Lift Station #1.  Also, the Water Department received two hours of training for LS#1.  The contractors have installed all of the air louvers for the building.  The sewer project is still on schedule.

      Council Member Griffith asked if the little buildings that are being built are part of the sewer project.  She was told they are and agreed they look much better than what we had and are a good improvement.

      General:  Personnel have been repairing water leaks as needed, along with doing regular duties of locates, rereads, work orders, etcetera.

      Training:  Superintendent Hawkins and City Clerk Kewley attended a Coffey County Emergency Preparedness meeting on concerns of the ongoing drought.  There are plans to hold another meeting in a couple of months.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Plant Efficiency Project:  Water Department personnel have completed construction of the CO2 baffles.  The chlorine system has been installed and is up and working.  The staff is also working on installing the new Carbon Eductor System.

      Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Update:  In January, we pumped 16,104,000 gallons of water.  We are still under the Water Warning, with no new restrictions from the State; however, we need to get the information out to our consumers that the water supply is diminishing and conservation is necessary.  Council Member Rhodes referred to a note from Danny that we ought to consider conserving water, and said, “I hope everyone knows we are at Level 2 right now and Level 3 is painful.  That shuts the valve – people can’t take their cattle to get water, that cuts us off at the pass.  We’re not there, but when people start talking about it and if we keep going without any rain, it’s going to happen.  I hope it doesn’t.”

WATER DEPARTMENT:  Rural Water District #2 – Water Billing Credit ($77,194.80)

      Rodney Breeze, RWD #2, stated, “Basically, I’m sure you are aware of what happened over the last six to eight months.  Computer error – we’ve actually been over-paying for water.  Basically, we’re here tonight to make a formal request for a refund of the overpayment, which comes to the total of $77,194.80.”  City Clerk Kewley explained to Mr. Breeze, “Actually, Carol (Utility Billing Clerk), Danny Hawkins, and myself set down and visited a couple of times, and got with you a couple of times after that, visited with our Auditor, and talked with Steve (City Attorney).  Our policy in the past is that we give refunds in the form of credit on the bill.  This last month, your bill was roughly $14,000; you’ll have it used up in four or five months.  That’s what I was recommending, and I informed you that it’s going to be a big hit on our Water Fund; and you know, the credit accumulated over an amount of time, not quick and instant like you are requesting a check.  So, I believe Steve submitted a letter to Council (dated 1/24/2013) requesting the recommendation of a credit back on the bill.  I did want to work it out – maybe pay some and put some on the bill, but nobody wanted to work with me on it.” 

      Mr. Breeze, “It was just a matter of timing trying to get my Board together and figure out what we wanted to do.  We can definitely understand that’s a large amount of money and it might have a negative impact on the City.  I propose maybe meeting in the middle – give us a 50% refund and 50% cash to us.  We’re not here to demand that we get our money right now.  We definitely would like to have some kind of a cash refund, because that would allow us to take some cash and do projects we are looking to do rather than have to space our projects out over the next four, five, six months or whatever it is.  That’s basically what we’re here for.  We’ll take all the money you will give us back.”

      Council Member Curtiss inquired, “How much was their bill last time?”  City Clerk Kewley answered, “This month it was $14,765.21 with all their meters.”  Council Member Griffith asked, “What is it usually that you do?”  City Clerk Kewley explained, “We have done refunds with USD #244, the cable company, the hospital and everybody had a sizeable credit on different issues, not necessarily the water - the electric as well.   Our policy is that we put it back on as a credit.  That’s what we’ve done and it had been our policy in the past.”

      Mr. Breeze, “Has any of them had a refund this large?”  City Clerk Kewley, “One of them was $12,061.”  She added, “We have mechanisms in place right now, so it won’t happen again.  I guess what happened, is that Rodney wanted to reroute some water last year, so we took the flag off the system; and somehow it was corrected for a couple of months and then the flag got removed again for about a year.  That’s what happened and we’ve taken care of the problem.”  Mr. Breeze, “Like I said, we’re not trying to point fingers and say you’re to blame.”  City Clerk Kewley, “We’re taking full responsibility, and that’s why I said ‘I’m so sorry’ when we did meet.” 

      Council Member Griffith, “My question was, how much credit would you give; would you spread it out over a year?”  City Clerk Kewley, “Actually with the way their bills are (the amount), their credit would be used up in about four or five months.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Five and a half months at the most.”  Mr. Breeze gave an example that if you were overcharged at the gas station, typically you’d want your money back.  City Clerk Kewley, “But it took months for you to accumulate this, and you want it back immediately.  I’m thinking of the consumers.”  Mr. Breeze, “We want to try to compromise.”  City Clerk Kewley, “It’s up to the Council.”

      Council Member Lenard, “What’s the position of your Board?”  A RWD#2 representative said, “We would like to have all or some of it.  I’m not implying we don’t want credit.  It’s a paperwork nightmare for both sides – for the City and for us.  Right now, we’re installing a new system, too; and we’ve got a lot of headaches with it.  We’re hoping this doesn’t happen to us.”  Council Member Lenard asked, “You’ve already set your budget for the year?”  Don Rees introduced himself as Treasurer for RWD#2 and said, “That’s a lot of money to your water budget.  It’s a tremendous amount of money.  It’s our operating budget every month; and like you, we have a duty to our customers.  We’re pretty tight on our budget, too, because we’re not allowed to mark up our water any more than necessary to cover our delivery cost to our customers; and we do run a pretty tight margin every month.”

      Council Member Curtiss, “But if you’re talking $15,000 a month…”  City Attorney Smith, “We are on the same contract with them.  The charges to them are the cheapest we give.  They are the cheapest customers we have.  Our contract with them is our cost of producing the water, and we don’t make the profit with the Water Districts that we make with other commercial users or residential users even.  We’re operating on the same budget, the same thing you’re talking about; the same thing applies to us.  That’s the contract we have.  The contract just doesn’t have any provision for refunding.  It doesn’t address this language other than if they owed the City money, how they are going to repay us.  That’s it - it’s just entirely at your discretion.  All the light bill tells anybody is that they always use the credit option because that’s how they do it.  Because they’ve already paid for it, they are not going to have any money going out for the next four or five and a half months, so if they’ve got a budget, they’re going to be paying themselves back.”

      City Clerk Kewley, "You were talking about wanting to take the check and get a garage or whatever and I said the money you get back on credit, you could set that aside for..…”  Mr. Rees, “There’s something else I want to bring up.  I am on the Board, too.  We’re going into the season where we’re going to be using less water, not more with normal rainfall.  I realize we haven’t been having normal rainfall, but traditionally that $14,000 is not going to pay half our bill, especially when we go into spring because a lot of our customers are farmers and ranchers, and if they didn’t have to use the water, they wouldn’t be using it.  They’re forced to use our water, and that’s why we have such a large use of water right now.  If we get a two-inch rain Saturday night, this thing is over for a lot of farmers because they will do anything they can to quit using Rural Water.  So, it might be drawn out for seven or eight months.”

      Mayor Merry asked about the history of the bill.  City Clerk Kewley, “They run pretty consistent.  The busy time will be coming up in the next three months.  The consistency when you look back, the refund amount will be used up in four or five months.”  Mr. Rees discussed the amount and usage and stated, “So, it will be seven or eight months before we recoup anything.”

      Mr. Breeze commented, “My other question is about the water supply in Burlington.  We hear all these rumors that we’ve got 90 days left.  We can’t afford to let those lines go dry.  It will bankrupt you, and it will bankrupt us.”  Council Member Scott stated, “It’s not going to happen.  I was at the meeting (Coffey County Emergency Preparedness).  If you look at the data they presented to us, they said John Redmond is at 40%.  If we don’t get any rain, it goes to 0%, in like you’re saying – 90 days; and that looks pretty gloom and doom.  Then they put up Council Grove and Marion.  Both of those are 80%; so, we’re going to have water.”  Mr. Breeze, “That’s different than what we’ve been hearing.”

      Council Member Curtiss, “What do the water people think?” Council Member Griffith, “Where are we on this?”  Council Member Lenard, “This is not necessarily water as a utility because we produce it and it’s sold – it’s more of a ….”  Council Member Curtiss, “What about the budget?”  City Clerk Kewley, “It’s going to impact our budget.  I talked to the auditors, and they said we’ll have to do a debit as revenue because it’s cash we’re not going to have.  We have $288,000 in there.”  Council Member Griffith, “What would be the difference if we paid them cash and we give them credit?”  City Clerk Kewley, “It depends on what you work out.  That’s up to all of you to decide.”  Council Member Luke, “It’s going to be the same total dollars no matter what whether it’s repaid one time or over six month’s time, part payment/part credit – it’s a variety of different options.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Sure it is.  It’s going to be $77,000 no matter what.”   Mayor Merry commented, “There are basically a couple of different ways you can do it:  1) You can do like our policy has been and do the credit.  2) The request that half be cash and half spread over credit. That’s your other option.”

      Council Member Griffith, “And your reason for cash is what?”  Mr. Breeze, “Basically, we’ve got some projects we want to do, and so we’re taking money and basically making payments on the project.  If we had a lump sum – even if it was half, we could put that money down on the project and make smaller payments.  Like on a house, the bigger the down payment, the less interest you pay over time.”  Council Member Lenard, “Looking through the water contract, it’s really like Steve Smith summarized it.  It addresses the billing procedures, but there’s nothing in the contract – it addresses modifications, but everything else is done with mutual agreement.  In my opinion, since they have a budget and there’re no damages so to speak, I would suggest that we provide credits and establish a ‘not to exceed’ date of so many months so they can budget the rest of the year – whether it be six months, eight months.  I kind of lean back on what Gina’s data shows.”  Council Member Griffith, “What we owe them is about half of what they use monthly?”  City Clerk Kewley, “The bills range from $12,000 to $15,000 a month on bills; so it will be paid off in about five months.”

      Council Member Rhodes, “It seems to me we made this bill over time, it kept adding up.”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes, and that’s what I was saying,  I believe when Rodney came in and wanted to reroute some water, that’s where the flag came off the system; it got put back on; and then somehow it got taken back off for quite a few months.”  She added, “It is our fault, and we’ve taken all the responsibility of it, and we want to make it right; but then we called our auditor and he recommended we call our lawyer, and Steve has recommended we need to do the credit.  That’s what I was recommending, as well, because it did take a while to accumulate.” 

      Council Member Luke stated, “Let me put a motion on the floor.  I move to authorize City of Burlington to reimburse Rural Water District #2 the amount of $77,194.80 in four equal payments for their overpayment for water, commencing with the next billing period.”  Council Member Griffith, “I’ll second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion on the motion.  Council Member Lenard, “How’s that fit in our….”  City Clerk Kewley, “We’ll make it work/fit in; we’ll just key in the credit.  I’ve already dealt with the computer programmers (Thomson Reuters), and however you want to set it up, they can work with us.”  Council Member Luke, “Dale, you’ll have all your money in four months.”  When asked whether it would be cash payment or credit payment, Council Member Luke answered, “You will get a credit of whatever your bill is and the remainder of the payment in cash.  You will get everything in four months.”  It was agreed that the total amount of the reimbursement would be divided into four months, with some being credit and some being cash.  City Clerk Kewley said they will get paperwork every month showing the transactions.  City Attorney Smith stated, “You will get your bill with the credit, and then you’ll get a check for the difference.”

      Council Member Luke summarized, “However that divides out in equal payments; but for the motion I will use the round numbers of $80.000.  $20,000 a month would be available to the Water District.  Whatever the water bill is will be subtracted from that as a credit; and the remaining portion will be issued by check to the Water District.  After four months, it will revert back to its normal billing.”  RWD #2 representatives said they understood.           Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote on the motion:  Council Member Luke, “I move to authorize City of Burlington to reimburse Rural Water District #2 the amount of $77,194.80 in four equal payments for their overpayment for water, commencing with the next billing period.”  Council Member Griffith, “I’ll second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

      Contract outdated:  Mr. Breeze stated, “I do have one more item.  The contract is actually out of date.  Basically, we are going to have our attorney draw up some new contracts and get them to you after we review it; and work out the new contract with you.”  City Attorney Smith, “If he wants to contact my office and get copies of the contracts we have with LeRoy, Gridley, and everybody else, he’s welcome to do that.”  Mr. Breeze, “We’ll give him your contact information.”  They thanked Council, and left.  Attorney Smith then commented, “I told them we had litigation back in the 1980s over the water bills and what we could charge them for it and everything, and we let them pay us on installments.”

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Superintendent Mast reported personnel have been sweeping streets, painting barricades, installing culverts, working on equipment, and doing normal duties. They built a new pad for the new building.  He thanked the Electric Department for their help to set the electric poles today. 

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Sidewalk Application 2013-01, Mike Skillman for 318 S. 7th Street

      Superintendent Mast reported Mike Skillman submitted an application at the end of 2012 and since the work wasn’t done last year, he needed to reapply for this year.  He recommended approving this one, as he had the previous one. We are starting out a new year, so there are funds available.   Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve Mike Skillman’s Sidewalk Application 2013-01 for 720 St. Lawrence. 318 S. 7th (correct address).  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported Officer Riley Morgan and his wife, Meghan, are the proud parents of a daughter, Reghan.  Mother and daughter are doing fine.  Officer Brandi Charlton and daughter, Olivia, went home from the hospital last night and are doing fine.

      Prescription Drug Case:  Chief Jones reported the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office has been working on a case involving prescription drugs.  They did a search of a house in town this morning and ended up arresting two persons and detained and questioned two other adults.

      Pornography Case:  They also issued a search warrant involving an eighteen year old showing pornography to underage minors.  That report is on his desk and when he gets the accompanying videos of the interview copied, the report will be going to the City Attorney.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Equipment – In-car video Systems, and Tasars

      In-car Video Systems:  Chief Jones told Council that a couple of used Kustom Signal in-car video systems that were four years old when purchased from Allen County Sheriff four years ago and are now close to nine years old; and both have reached their end of life expectancy.  One system had some work done last year for over $600 and the other is not working.  He didn’t think it would be cost-effective to put more money into repairing the system that is not working.  He stated, “I got costs of in-car video systems; and the best option I found, which is also the option the Sheriff’s Office is installing and both Lebo and Waverly are using, is a system from Digital Ally at a cost of $2,795.00.  It will be replacing an existing system, but that dollar amount is sufficient that I do have to ask Council’s permission to spend that much money. So, I would like to ask permission to purchase a digital in-car video system from Digital Ally for $2,795.00.”  City Attorney, “I’d like to really support that request because it’s really embarrassing to have the defense counsel want the video and I call the Chief and find out the video system was not working again and they don’t have a video.  We haven’t lost any cases because of it, but we could in the future.”  Council Member Luke verified, “We just need one?”  Chief Jones, “We just need one for right now.”

       Council Member Scott stated, “I move to authorize Chief Jones to purchase a digital in-car video system from Digital Ally for $2,795.00.  Council Member Griffith, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Tasers:  Chief Jones informed Council, “The Sheriff’s Office upgraded their Tasers this year and sold their two-year old Tasers, five of them, to me for $200 apiece.  They are about $900 new.  Steve authorized using Diversion Funds to purchase five Tasers and new batteries and cartridges for them.  We do appreciate that.”  City Attorney Smith commented, “Criminals paying the community back.  We’re taking their money and buying equipment.”  He added, “We really haven’t had to use a Tasers very often.  When it became known Tasers had been deployed, that the officers had them available, the number of instances involving resistance of subjects has decreased dramatically.  They really don’t want to find out what the five-seconds are like.”

      Animal Shelter – HVAC:  Chief Jones said the HVAC project is done.  Animal Control Officer Stice has done a little remodeling work.  The new furnace is in and after talking with Calvin Freeman, the gas hot water tank was taken out and a smaller electric one was installed.  The ductwork and electric upgrades are done.  The forty gallon gas hot water tank that was taken out was only two years old, so the Police Department asked Mr. Freeman to keep it in his store room and give it to someone who needs a hot water tank and doesn’t have the means to pay for it.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Personnel have been cleaning public buildings and restrooms, maintaining equipment, and doing other normal duties.  They replaced the fluorescent bulbs in the 4-H Building, did normal truck maintenance, and trimmed trees.

      Training:  Superintendent Boyce attended the Dig Safe class on January 29th in Emporia. 

      Signs:  Line locates were done for the ‘Welcome to Burlington’ signs. 

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Banners - Quotes

      Superintendent Boyce presented the quotes below to 1) Extend banners to Coffey County Museum; 2) Put two banners in Veterans Park; and 3) Put two banners in the Caboose Parks. He requested Council approval to accept the quotes as presented so he can move forward with the project. 

TOTAL QUOTE FOR BANNERS AND BRACKETS IS

$2,938.00 plus shipping on order from Temple Display.

Holiday Banners

Quantity

Unit Price

Total

Temple Display, Ltd.

French Horn Christmas Banners

10

$68.00

$   680.00

 

Brackets

14

$67.00

$   938.00

Shipping Charges will be added to invoice

 

 

 

TOTAL

 

 

$1,618.00

 

Welcome to Burlington Banner

17” x 45”

Quantity

Unit Price

Total

Street Décor, Inc.

Welcome to Burlington – 1 ink custom on burgundy

10

$63.00

$   630.00

 

Welcome to Burlington – 2 ink stock Fall design on Jockey Red

10

$67.00

$   670.00

Shipping

 

 

$     20.00

TOTAL

 

 

$1,320.00

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to accept Temple Display’s quote for holiday banners and brackets in the amount of $1,618.00 plus shipping, and the quote from Street Décor, Inc. for ‘Welcome to Burlington’ Banners in the amount of $1,320.00, including shipping.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Personnel – Hire Parks Maintenance Worker

      Superintendent Boyce reported that twelve applications were received for the position of Parks Maintenance Worker.  Three applicants were interviewed on the 24th of January by Council Member Scott, City Clerk Kewley, and Superintendent Boyce.  Council Member Curtiss was out of town.  Superintendent Boyce made the recommendation to hire Heath Birk at $13.35 per hour.

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to extend an offer of employment as Parks Maintenance Worker to Heath Birk, at the hourly wage of $13.35.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  He asked, “This is above entry level and is based on experience?”  Superintendent Boyce, “Right.  We feel he will be able to come right in and use any equipment we use from other departments and step right in.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I think it will be a great hire.”  Superintendent Boyce said Mr. Birk will need to give his current employer a two-week notice.  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-03

$229,624.02

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-03

$  67,214.70

                                   TOTAL

$296,838.72

      CLAIMS 2013-03:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-03 in the amount of $229,624.02 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley stated, “This big ticket item this time is for Midland Contractors for $152,208.20 for Phase II of the Sewer Project.  Keep in mind this is three weeks worth of bills and is really not too large of a price.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-03 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-03:  Council Member Scott “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-03 in the amount of $67,214.70.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-03 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      General:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin said people are starting to build again so he has worked on several permits. 

      Mike and Janet Payne property:  He had a meeting with Superintendents Hawkins and Schneider and Mike and Janet Payne about some land they are thinking about building on.  They looked at utilities and the possibility of annexing, if they decide to do that.  The Paynes are not sure whether they want a lagoon or sewer, but it is lined out as to what they can do and how they can do it.  He explained that if they want sewer, they would need to be annexed to the city right away.

      Welcome to Burlington signs:  Zoning was checked for the ‘Welcome to Burlington’ signs and no problems were seen with the locations.

      Web Design for City:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin completed paperwork to change the City’s webpage domain to ‘.gov’ (burlingtonks.gov), and will get it mailed tomorrow.  (Our emails will be i.e. zoning@burlington.gov).  IM Design has provided us with a mock up of the website, with just the basic format of the mapping at the moment.  He offered to email the link to the Governing Body if they want it.

      Mayor Merry wanted to be sure that the contract with IM Design contains language that City of Burlington will own every piece of the website.  Zoning Clerk Hugunin stated, “We will own every piece of it.  Now, if there is a photo we want of theirs to put on the website, they will probably have a copyright on the photo.  As long as we use our information and photographs, etc., we do own the website.  We haven’t done anything in writing with them yet for the contract, but I’m sure it will be in there; because that is one thing that Sue and I did stress – is making sure we own the content.”  Mayor Merry, “I want to be sure Steve looks at the contract before we sign off because it’s a nightmare trying to go back and pay all the fees, especially photos.”  Zoning Clerk, “Okay, we will do that.”

      Vacating Alley: The petitions for alley vacate discussed last meeting have been pulled for now.  Larry Crotts has probably decided not to do it.

      Coffey County Economic Development Committee:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin went to the Committee meeting yesterday, as did Mark Petterson.  Mayor Merry said they are deciding whether to have a full-time Director.

      Tree Board:  Burlington Tree Board will meet on the 19th of February.

      Floodplain:  Council Member Griffith asked, “Jimmy, where are we on the floodplain deal, on getting new information?  Did we hear anything back?”  Zoning Clerk Hugunin replied, “They haven’t done another study, so there’s no new information.”  He told her we still operate on what we currently have.  He said, “I think that was done in 1996.  I have had several people ask me questions about it – like Country Club Heights.  I talked to several people on that, and it’s like who paid for it?  There’s been no study done on that.  Fred Walrod’s talked to me several times, and I don’t know if some of those people down there (CCHTS) would really want to have that done.”  Council Member Griffith, “But doesn’t the Federal Government have one?  Doesn’t the Federal Government know where the floodplain is?”  Mayor Merry, “They’ll extend it out there and say, ‘Oh, it will be $3,000,000.”  Council Member Griffith asked, “Why is that allowed to happen?  Where are our legislators?  That could be a real problem.”  She was told, “You don’t want to know.”  Mayor Merry, “They did a national adjustment, when was that?”  Zoning Clerk, “The last one we have was done in 1996.”  Mayor Merry, “Those are in the original floodplain.  We went through this when I was mayor before.  They wanted $2,500,000 to extend it out to Rock Creek and out south.  We don’t have very much to the south.  But they deal in billions of dollars, so to them three million dollars is cheap.”  Council Member Griffith, “I agree, we don’t need to be spending that; but I kind of wonder what we’re paying for.”  Mayor Merry, “We’re getting nothing from the Federal Government, from FEMA but headaches.  I’m six inches in the floodplain and pay $1,200; and I could sandbag it and be out – that’s their philosophy.”

OTHER BUSINESS:  Goals & Accomplishments  and  Proclamation for Peace Day

      Goals and Accomplishments:  Council Members were given copies of the 2013 Goals and 2012 Accomplishments.

      Proclamation – Peace Day:  Mayor Merry will sign the Proclamation for Rotary Peace Day, February 23, 2013.

ORDINANCE 817, Authorizing Issuance and Delivery of $3,360,000 G.O. Bonds Series 2013A

      City Clerk Kewley explained, “This is the Sewer Improvement Project Phase II permanent financing through Rural Development.  We will be closing on the 27th of February, so to move forward with the closing, we need to adopt this Ordinance 817.  Council Member Luke stated, “I move to adopt Ordinance 817, An Ordinance Authorizing the Issuance and Delivery of $3,360,000 Principal Amount of General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2013A, of the City of Burlington, Kansas; and Providing for the Levy and Collection of an Annual Tax for the Purpose of Paying the Principal of and Interest on the Bonds as They Become Due.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Ordinance 817 unanimously adopted.

RESOLUTION 2013-01, Providing Form & Details of and Authorizing Issuance & Delivery of G.O. Bonds Series2013A

      City Clerk Kewley explained that this Resolution tells what we are doing with the Ordinance.  Council Member Luke, “I move to approve Resolution 2013-01, A Resolution Prescribing the Form and Details of and Authorizing the Delivery of $3,360,000 Principal Amount of General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2013A, of the City of Burlington, Kansas, Previously Authorized by an Ordinance of the City.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Resolution 2013-01 approved.

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin

      2013-001  Sandy Lewis, 404 N. 3rd Street, Garage

      2013-002  City of Burlington Street Department, 901 S. 10th Street, Storage

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      City Attorney Smith reported he has been working on the bond paperwork with the City Clerk and our Bond Counsel, and with Police Department business.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff have been busy with customers paying their utility bills.  They prepared work orders, vouchers for bill paying, payroll, and minutes from council meetings; and also handled calls and inquiries.

      Kansas Set-off Program:  In February we will be sending $2,917.27 of delinquent utility accounts for collections through the State of Kansas Set-off Program.

      Sewer Improvement Project Phase II – Permanent Financing:  City Clerk Kewley said there is quite a list of documentation that Rural Development requires to close on their loans; so there will be a lot of additional information we will need to submit to Rural Development by the 27th of February.

      City/County Funds:  City Clerk Kewley informed Council we received the City/County Street Infrastructure and for the Parks & Recreation money from the Coffey County Commissioners.  She will be preparing a report to the Commissioners with a brief statement of what we expensed for 2012 and of what we are planning for 2013.  We received $54,967.50 for Parks and Recreations and $209,864.50 for City County Street Infrastructure, which comes to a total of $264,832.00.

      Interviews:  City Clerk Kewley participated in the Parks Department interviews.

      Drought Update:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Emergency Management meeting on the 30th of January, along with surrounding water agencies, and the Kansas Water Office to discuss the drought concerns.  Mark Petterson, mayor of New Strawn was also there.  The main goal is to inform and educate the public on conserving water and on the potential future drought concerns with respect to Stage 2 and possibly Stage 3 of our Water Emergency Plan.  City of Burlington will enclose information with the Annual Water Quality Report that will be mailed by the 1st of July, probably earlier.  We will continue to put drought updates and suggestions for conserving water on our webpage, on Facebook, and in the newspaper as we have been doing on a weekly basis.  We are doing our best to get the information out to the public.

      Staff Meeting: City Clerk Kewley attended the Staff Meeting on Friday, February 1.

      Handouts:  Financials for the last quarter of 2012 were handed out, as were the Goals and Accomplishments.

      Employee Benefit Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley reminded everyone that the Employee Benefit Meeting will be held from 9 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, February 13.  City Hall will be closed from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. 

MAYOR’S COMMENT:  Goals & Accomplishments

      Mayor Merry suggested the committees and all the employees take a look at all the goals of 2012 that were accomplished.  He said, “It’s amazing.  We were looking at dollars tonight; and for as the amount of dollars we spend on different improvements, we’re really not too far from being even with the total funds year over year.  So, that’s even more amazing.  A lot of these things will fall off now, like the sewer project – start finishing up and we’ll start seeing the revenue side.  We need to be very thankful - all the staff, including Council – that we’ve really accomplished a lot.” 

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  None

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by City Clerk Regina R. Kewley.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


CITY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 16, 2013

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday January 2, 2016.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

  Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                  Yes Jane M. Griffith                        No Lewis Lenard
     
Yes R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                       Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                     Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

  Superintendents Present: Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)    Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)    Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
                                            
Yes Doug Mast (Street)       Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)         

  Also Present:   Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)            Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                          
Yes  Stephen Smith (City Attorney)         No Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

  Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  Larry Crotts, Nancy Raymer

AGENDA:  Council Member Rhodes, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Luke, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Scott, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of January 2, 2013 as presented.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

APPOINTMENT:  Harry Huff, CDBG Loan Review

      Harry Huff referred to the letter he sent on January 7th asking for an extension until April 15th on his Community Development Building Grant Revolving Loan for Huff’s Gardens, Inc.  He stated, “I am still trying to finalize the SBA Loan through his banker.  I would be willing to pay the interest tomorrow to keep that current with you at least.  I am asking for an extension until April 15th, and if I haven’t received a loan, you will receive payment in full.”

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to approve Harry Huff’s request to allow Huff’s Gardens, Inc. to pay the interest on their Revolving Loan (CDBG 2008) on January 17, and to grant an extension on the loan until April 15, 2013.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  Mayor Merry, “The interest amount is $490.11 through tomorrow?”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes.”   Mayor Merry called for discussion on the motion and hearing no discussion, he called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

APPOINTMENT: Larry Crotts, Vacate Alley (Hudson & Miami between 14th & 15th) & Nancy Raymer Vacate Alley (4 lots)

      At 6:10, Mayor Merry recognized Larry Crotts.  Mr. Crotts offered to wait until later in the meeting for his discussion.

      At about 6:15 p.m., Mayor Merry turned the floor over to Larry Crotts and Nancy Raymer.  Larry distributed drawings/descriptions of what he and Nancy want done.  He explained that on his property he would like to vacate the alley at Hudson & Miami between 14th and 15th Streets.  He said, “Yesterday, I had a guy come in and bulldoze this all up and plant trees, but at least it looks a little bit more decent now; but I didn’t pay any attention to the alley in the middle of it.  I can’t see any reason why that couldn’t be vacated, but that’s up to you guys.  I’m not telling the public what I want to do, but I put the reasons on the sheet for you to see what I want to do with it.  I’ll leave it with you tonight.  (City Clerk Kewley asked him to give the Zoning Clerk a copy.)  I want you to go out and look at it.”  Mayor Merry asked him if he marked property lines and alley.  Larry said he didn’t have time.  Nancy thought it was marked on her side.  Larry explained, “There are two steel posts.  Also, my name is not on any of the maps because I bought the Abendroth place in May.  I fixed the building up and put new siding on it to match my trailer houses.  I bought the Newkirk land there.  It will be where the former Abendroth and Newkirk land is, and will be ten lots.  Anyway, I’ll flag it out in the alley at Hudson and Miami between 14th and 15th Streets.”

      Nancy Raymer said, “I have eight lots actually, across 15th Street.  My petition is for four lots across 15th Street, which will finish up our property.  If I remember right, we still have a stake – maybe – in there.  When we had ours surveyed, we had them survey where the alley was.  My property ends right before the creek, and the other side of me is Billy Moss and Chris Bahr.  The way I understand it, there are no utilities in there.”  Larry agreed.  Nancy continued, “Utilities run up and down 15th Street, so we can never vacate 15th.”  Larry, “Yeah, that by Newkirk, I’ll probably clean that up and bulldoze that and make it look good in that part of town.”  When asked about the right-of-way on 14th Street, Superintendent Mast answered, “Eighty-foot.  Most of our right-of-ways are eighty foot, and our alleys are sixteen foot.”  Larry said, “There’s also eighty foot – there is a liftstation right in the middle of it.”  Council Member Griffith inquired about the location.  It is east of the Country Club and across from the trailer park.  Larry explained, “I figured in that area, it wouldn’t be interfering with new homes.  Anyway, that’s all I want tonight is for you to look it over and see what you think.”  Nancy and Larry discussed the petition and signatures.

      Mayor Merry asked if anyone had questions for Larry and Nancy.  Council Member Griffith asked Larry, “Are you planning on developing?”  Larry answered, “I am looking into it, yes.  It all depends on costs, how hard Jimmy (Zoning Clerk Hugunin) is on me over there with zoning requirements.  I’ll have to get a plat to do this, though, that’s the thing.  I don’t want to go to engineering first and get a plat made, if we can’t close it out (vacate the alley); so I just need to find out where I’m at.”  Nancy, “I think vacating the alleys will make the land more useable.  The property - the houses and structures that are sitting on there right now are grandfathered in where they’re sitting, but they’re not sitting proper; and so by vacating the alleys, it will help us adjust that and make it a better building property and to build correctly for setbacks.”  Larry, “Anybody who goes to look at it can call me, and I can show them exactly what I want.  Thank you. 

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution and Production Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported personnel have been doing normal duties, attended the KMU Safety Training, read electric meters, and installed new service for a new duplex on Merrimac. 

      Animal Shelter:  The Electric Department did some upgrading on the Animal Shelter’s electric service.  Installation of an A/C panel that had to be installed to accommodate the new furnace was done by a licensed electrician.

      Signal Lights at 4th & Cross:  Superintendent Schneider reported that the timing on the signal lights at 4th & Cross got out of sequence somehow for east/west traffic.  After getting some support and running system diagnostics, they were able to reset the controller; and it is back to normal functioning.

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution:  Personnel

      Superintendent Schneider, “We have four Apprentice Linemen who are ready to advance.  J. J. Jasper and Andrew Lawrence have completed their Second Year Apprenticeship – all their required testing and skill demonstrations, so we are ready to move them to Third Year Apprentice.  Thomas Hess and Eric Gifford have completed their First Year Apprenticeship - all the required testing and skill demonstrations they need to do to move to Second Year Apprentice.

      Second Year Apprentice Lineman to Third Year Apprentice Lineman.

      J. J. Jasper:  Council Member Luke, “I make a motion to move J. J. Jasper from Second Year Apprentice to Third Year Apprentice at the hourly pay rate of $17.53.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “That is the minimum starting level for the Third Year Apprentice, and J. J.’s salary currently is $16.50, so it’s $1.03 an hour increase.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Andrew Lawrence:  Council Member Luke, “I make a motion to move Andrew Lawrence from Second Year Apprentice to Third Year Apprentice at the hourly pay rate of $17.53.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “Andrew is also at $16.50 and will be going to $17.53.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      First Year Apprentice Lineman to Second Year Apprentice Lineman.

      Thomas Hess:  Council Member Luke, “I make a motion to move Thomas Hess from First Year Apprentice to Second Year Apprentice at the hourly rate of $16.50.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “Thomas is currently at the rate of $15.47 so that would be $1.03 per hour increase.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Eric Gifford:  Council Member Luke, “I make a motion to move Eric Gifford from First Year Apprentice to Second Year Apprentice at the hourly pay rate of $16.50.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  Council Member Luke, “Eric is also at the rate of $15.47 so that would be $1.03 per hour increase for him also.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Superintendent Schneider stated, “Thank you, the guys will appreciate it.”

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Production

      Superintendent Schneider reported Electric Plant personnel have mainly been busy with normal daily duties. 

      Generator #6:  The boiler for Generator #6 burned up the coils after roughly twenty years of service.  It is back in service and everything is back to normal.  We no longer have to worry about a radiator freezing; and should we have outage event, startup will be much quicker as well.

      Generator #2:  The water recirculation pump for the #2 Generator.  It has been in service for thirty years.  It has been leaking for a long time and did not allow us to have the water pressure necessary to get the engine running like it is supposed to.  The control panel would sense something was wrong and would shut down.  The pump had to be sent to Olathe for repair, and we should have it back tomorrow, at which time it will be put back in service. 

      Control Panel Project:  Superintendent Schneider reported, “A good note is the Control Panel Project.  When the project was started, $200,000 was approved; and with the final invoice the cost came in under budget.  That worked out well, and was even with some extras we had to do – the relays were fixed under that cost, as well.”

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Automatic Meter Infrastructure (AMI)

      Superintendent Schneider provided an update on the AMI project for meter reading for both electric and water utilities.  He stated, “We had a kick-off meeting yesterday with five Landis+Gyr representatives who flew in to see us.  Kritz-Davis’ representatives were also here.  The purpose of the meeting was to review the project and itemize the process of how the project is going to be done.  There will be some site visits for routers that had been in our system for getting that data back.  We approved all those sites and will have those installed.  The command center software that will actually be hosted on the Landis+Gyr server was installed today.  The software will enable us to read meters from City Hall.  Commissioning date for the outside network will be on the 13th or 14th of February; so once that’s commissioned and we get the file transfers from Landis+Gyr to the City Hall software, we will start installing the meters.  We are looking at seven to nine weeks for most of our meters that we have budgeted for this year.  Things are moving along very well.” 

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      Lift Station Replacement Project – LS#1:  Superintendent Hawkins the sewer project is still ahead of schedule.  Midland Contractors went through Pump Station #1 on south 2nd Street and did a great job.  They gutted the building and bypassed around the pump station.  Water/Wastewater personnel help them today with priming pumps.  The contractors epoxied the wet well and epoxied it.  The new Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are installed on the pumps so we know when they come up and come on line they’ve got even flow instead of slamming on and slamming off.  The contractors said our check valves were pretty much just junk because of the way our system was set so they were coming on and off so quickly that the check valves were wearing out.  That is completed, and employees will have about an hour to an hour and a half of training on that pump station on January 16 to go through the VFD and title boards.  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “It is going rather well, and as soon as Midland Contractors take the bypass off, we’ll take control of the pump station and we will be responsible for it.”

      Hoover Stores – Warehouse on S. 6th St.:  Superintendent Hawkins reported they did the water service for Hoovers’ Warehouse south of the COF building.

      AMI:  Superintendent Hawkins said he’s ready for him and Alan going to the AMI training in Georgia next week.

      General:  Personnel repaired a few water leaks around town.  They completed their 2012 Inventory, and have been doing normal duties.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Plant Efficiency Project:  Superintendent Hawkins stated, “Within the Water Plant, we’ve got a lot completed, and we’ve got a lot of materials.  I’ll visit with the Water Committee after this meeting to discuss some big projects that will be coming up in the near future.  We have all the CO2 baffling on site and we have the valves in place waiting to be installed; but we’re going to need to do those after hours when we’re shut down, so I am going to visit with them about that tonight.  We’ve completed the awning.  The sludge press room is done. We’ve got all the protective gear and they’ve welded an awning over the top of it.  We got our eductor in today for our carbon feeder, so we’re going to do some plumbing on it tomorrow.  That will eliminate electric bills on pumps because we won’t have to buy pumps anymore because it (the carbon feeder) will be fed with water-fed jets.  It will be a big advantage to not have to continually need to buy pumps.

      Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Update:  So far for the month of January we’ve pumped 7,410,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 529,285 gallons.  We are still under the Water Warning, with no new restrictions from the State.  We have had up to half an inch of snow/rain/sleet around the county, but there is no precipitation in the forecast.  We know we are getting some higher usage from the ranchers/farmers, but we can’t discourage them from watering their livestock. 

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Mast reported personnel have been installing culverts, working on equipment, painting barricades, and cutting and burning brush on the drainage ditch north of Huff’s property on 6th Street, sweeping streets.  They helped the Water Department with a leak repair. 

      Supplies from Federal Surplus:  Superintendent Mast said the Street Department got some good deals on supplies from Federal Surplus.  They got some tin to use to roof the building they want to put up by the Street Shop to house the rest of their equipment.  It started off at being $10 a sheet for 37 sheets 32 feet long and 3 feet wide, and ended up paying only $2 per sheet for 68 sheets.  He said they have vehicles for sale – like pickup trucks with a utility bed; a 2005 Dodge with around 30,000 miles on it was priced at $12,500.  He said he talked with City Clerk Kewley about that because he would like to get one, but one is not budgeted; so he told Superintendent Hawkins about it because he does have one budgeted.  Next week, they will have more with fewer miles on them.  Federal Surplus has a lot of things and they have a website, as well.  If the City buys something from the Federal Surplus, we have to guarantee we are going to keep it for three years without selling it.  Anybody can buy things from State Surplus; and they mostly have office supplies, furniture, etc.  Federal Surplus has a lot of tools and the Street Department saved a bunch of money on hand tools.  Superintendent Mast picked up three locaters for the Water Department for about $125 each.  Water personnel told him locaters usually run about $4,000 each.  Superintendent Hawkins said, “When he called me, we needed a locater.  We went up today and looked at equipment and trucks.  It’s amazing what they have and what their prices are.  It’s not open to the public.”  Mayor Merry mentioned that the tin is normally about $50 per sheet.  Superintendent Mast added that they got the deal of only $2 because they were willing to take a free load of bricks.”

      Mayor Merry asked if it is possible to put a truck on a seven-day hold until a meeting can be held by the City Council.  Superintendent Mast said that is what he did – he put one on hold and a secondary one on hold with low mileage.  If we

can’t do it, we just need to call and let them know; and if necessary, we can call and extend our hold.  Mayor Merry clarified that even with a municipality we have to keep purchases from Federal Surplus for three years before we can even trade it back into the private market.  Superintendent Mast said, “Yes, you do.”  He added that the trucks up there are better than trucks we have now.  The utility beds alone are probably $8,000 each; so they’re a very good deal.  When Superintendent Hawkins found out they were getting four more trucks in, he put a hold on all four until he gets a chance to go look at them.  Superintendent Mast thought the trucks must be rotated out on years because they don’t have that many miles on them and the only thing they could see wrong on any of them was where the driver’s side seat was broken in and worn down; other than that they looked almost new.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported it has been normal run of calls for the Police Department.  He got fifty permits printed at the Electric Department printer for the unconventional vehicles for this year.  Forty-nine permits were issued in 2012, which shows there was actually quite a response for use of unconventional vehicles in Burlington.

      Stolen Vehicle Case:  Chief Jones reported they are working a case involving a stolen vehicle.  It came to an officer’s attention when the vehicle with the windows completly frosted over rolled through a stop sign.  When the officer went to stop it, the people got out and started running, got away and stole a second car.  They are still at large.  We found a stolen car that came from Lyndon; Lyndon found a stolen car that came from Shawnee County; Shawnee County found a stolen car that came from Iowa; Iowa found one that came from Wisconsin; and the culprits are now somewhere in Texas.  Chief Jones said, “We were able to identify one person that was involved, and Judge Fromme signed an arrest warrant for that individual with a $25,000 bond on it.  We will continue to work this and see how far we get.  A number of other agencies are involved.”

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Personnel – Maternity Leave Request

      Chief Jones informed Council that Police Officer Brandi Charlton is requesting a maternity leave of absence for four to six weeks, starting around 1st of February.

      Council Member Griffith, “I move to grant up to six weeks of Maternity Leave for Brandi Charlton, tentatively to begin on February 1 and end on or before March 15, 2013.”  Council Member Scott, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried. 

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Vehicle

      Chief Jones presented the following Bid Sheet of January 14, 2013 for a new patrol car.  Bids were requested from the local Chevrolet and Ford dealerships as per the bid request sheet.

Option 1 Patrol car. (standard police package equip)

               Ford                                                    Chevy.

        Base Bid $25,273.00                             $27,456.80

        With Factory upfit.                             

        $29,265.00                                             

Option 2 Patrol car.   Not available in inventory from either dealer.

Option 3. Mid size 4wd SUV

               Ford                                                    Chevy.

        Explorer police package                      Traverse (like city hall)

        $27,332.00                                              $25,654.00

        With factory upfit

        $31,120.00

Option 4. ½ ton 4wd pickup. (same specs as 2011 pickup)

              Ford                                                     Chevy.

        $30,720.00                                              $30,802.50.

=    =    =    =    =    =    =    =    =    =    =    =   =   =    =   =   =

        We did not request pricing on a trade-in.  Chief Jones would like to keep the 2007 Ford patrol car in service for one more year. Trade in pricing is usually in the 2K range.

        Both vehicles were spec’d for front cloth seats, vinyl rear bench seat, power drivers seat and front windows, drivers side spotlight, power door locks, cruise, heated mirrors.

        The Ford Factory UPFIT listing adds equipment that is usually purchased separately and installed by third party equipment upfitters.

        This list of equipment includes. POLICE decals already installed, interior lights in the grille, siren speaker, siren and light control head, headlight wigwags, tail light flashers, interior lights in back window, rear window power disconnected. The package also included a service package. (oil and filter changes, tire rotation and inspection over 100000 miles at 5000 mile intervals, $965.00 cost)

        The cost of the Factory upfitted package appears to be worth the extra on the bid.  We will spend that and more on purchasing and paying to have equipment installed.   With the factory upfit, a lot of the install and some of the equipment is already done, making the final install simpler.  What remains would be to install light bar, radio, camera, radar and rear seat cage.

        So it would appear the most cost effective for a car would be the Ford Taurus, base bid of $25,273.00,  and do the Factory upfit for about $3000.00 (minus the service package cost) and then have the vehicle finished.  

        If we keep the 2007 in service, we will need to purchase another lightbar ($1000.00), radio ($1800.00), move the camera and radar from my truck over to the new car, then purchase a new cage to fit ($900.00).   with installs, that would make the total price to put the Ford Taurus in service about $5000.00 on top of the bid price, so around $35,000.00.

        Option B,  would be to put the 2011 truck I’m driving on patrol as is.  Upfit the new truck for me, with interior lights, siren, radio, push bumper and a bed cover, which would put the price around $35,000.00.

= = = = = = =

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to accept the bids presented for a patrol vehicle as bona fide.”  Council Member Curtiss, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

      Chief Jones discussed the bids received and his statements included in the bid sheet.    He stated, “My recommendation, based on the amount of space the vehicle has and the amount of resale value when we get done with it, is to purchase the Ford ¼ ton 4 wheel drive pickup for $30,720.00 (Option 4).  I visited with the Police Committee before the council meeting, so they are aware of my recommendation.” 

      Council Member Scott moved to accept Chief of Police Jones’ recommendation to purchase the 2013 Ford 150 ½ ton 4 wheel drive pickup from Crow-Moddie Ford for the bid price of $30,720.” Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Chief Jones said it would be basically the same specs as the 2011 pickup we already have.”  Council Member Luke asked if the other patrol vehicles are also Fords.  Chief Jones replied, “We have three Ford Crown Victorias, but they don’t make those any more; and we don’t have a Dodge dealership, so we didn’t look at Dodge.  There are concerns with the Chevy Impala – among other things, they put the gearshift into the center console which really limits where you can put equipment.  When I asked Chevy to bid an SUV, they gave me a bid for a used Chevy Traverse like City Hall bought last year.  It had 28,000 miles on it, and I wasn’t pleased with that.”  He really thought the Ford 150 would be the best of the vehicles for the Police Department.  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Parks personnel have been doing normal duties such as cleaning public buildings and restrooms, patrolling the parks picking up trash, and trimming trees.  They have been working in the Park Department Shop moving things out to the new storage building.  The inventory is completed.  Holiday banners have been taken down and ‘Welcome to Burlington’ banners were put up.  The six concrete flower boxes that were in the 300 block of Neosho Street are being acid stained those to dress them up a little. 

      Chamber of Commerce Building:   To stop the door at 305 Neosho (Chamber of Commerce) from sticking, they cut some off the door.

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Fair Board Lease Extension for Kelley Park

      The Board of Directors of the Coffey County Agriculture Fair Association has requested a one-year extension to their Lease for use of Kelley Park for the annual Coffey County Fair and other events.  The letter also requested to reserve the 4‑H Building for one day each month from 7 to 9 p.m. for monthly meetings.  [Kelley Park 1991 Lease renewable for 15 years (per City Code Art.2 12-202), is still honored.]

      Council Member Luke, “I move to approve the one-year extension of the annually renewable Lease with the Coffey County Fair Association for the use of Kelley Park.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second it.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-02

$491,510.08

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-02

$  73,078,72

                                   TOTAL

$564,588.80

      CLAIMS 2013-02:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-02 in the amount of $491,510.08 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley stated, “This includes the Kansas Power Pool bill, Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project, and Mid States Energy Works for finishing the Control Panel Replacement Project.  Actually, the 2012 Budget, we will be spending $444,926; and then $46,583.45 out of the 2013 Budget.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-02 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-02:  Council Member Scott “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-02 in the amount of $73,078,72.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-02 approved.

FINANCE:  Utility Billing Charge-offs for 2011

      City Clerk Kewley referred to the agenda attachment, ‘2011 Utility Billing Charge-offs.’  She stated, “This year the amount we are writing off has decreased to $13,064.28.  In 2012 we wrote off of $20,111.27 for 2010 delinquent bills; and in 2011 we wrote off $28,440 for 2009.  So, utilizing the State of Kansas Set-off Program has really helped us recoop our delinquent accounts.  We also continue to collect by not allowing people who move back to get utilities turned on until they have paid their delinquent bills in full.”  Council Member Luke moved to approve the 2011 Utility Billing Charge-offs.  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

FINANCE:  Employee Insurance – Blue Cross/Blue Shield Renewal

      City Clerk Kewley referred Council to the agenda attachments for employee health insurance.  She reported she met with Donna Pashman from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and we do have a 3% increase this year.  We actually have a 5% increase with the pool, but we had a 2.2% decrease for age gender; so that’s where we got this 3% increase.  Last year we had a 3.4% decrease; so really with everything that is going on, we are doing really good with our policy because we get to keep everything (all the coverages), our deductibles are low.  We are in a good insurance pool, so we are fortunate we can keep our health care cost down/manageable.

      Council Member Griffith, “I move to accept the contract with Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance policy for employees for 2013.”  Council Member Luke, “Second.”  Hearing no discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

FINANCE:  Close and Consolidate Funds

      City Clerk Kewley referred to the agenda attachment (below), ‘City of Burlington Close-Consolidate Funds’, which is a worksheet on the funds to be closed out.  She has been working with the Finance Committee and Brian Nyp, our Auditor, for over a year now to close out these very old funds.  She explained, “Essentially, a couple of the funds listed are the same but with different titles.  For easy tracking, it is better to have fewer funds – it is better bookkeeping; so, our Auditors have said I need to have you approve this worksheet through a motion so we can proceed to closeout Funds 501, 518, 519, 701, 715, and 717.  We are going to transfer three of these funds into existing funds.  We are keeping Funds 502, 702, and 716.  They are old funds that we are consolidating.”  City Clerk Kewley asked for one motion for all of the funds and assured Council the worksheet will be included in the meeting minutes. 

CITY OF BURLINGTON  CLOSE-CONSOLIDATE FUNDS

January 16, 2013

CLOSE & TRANSFER FROM:                                                                  TRANSFER TO:

 

FUND

 

FUND NAME

CURRENT

BALANCE

 

FUND

 

FUND NAME

CURRENT BALANCE

NEW BALANCE

501

ELECT.03-1 REV.BD.DEP/REP FUND

$99,470.91

502

ELECTRIC UTIL DEP/REP INV.FUND

$526,000.00

$625,470.91

701

WATER UTILITY DEP/REP FUND

$305,993.74

702

WATER UTILITY DEP/REP INV. FUND

$165,000.00

$470,993.74

715

WATER 2003 LOAN RESERVE FUND

$58,101.56

716

WATER LOAN P & 1 FUND

$181,968.42

$240,069.98

518

ELEC.03-1 REV.BD PRIN-INT FUND

$0.00

 

 

 

 

519

ELEC.03-1REV.BD RESERVE FUND

$0.00

 

 

 

 

717

WATER PLANT PROJECT FUND

$0.00

 

 

 

 

      Council Member Scott stated, “I move to consolidate Funds 501, 518, 519, 701, 715, and 717, as presented in the Close-Consolidate Funds worksheet dated January 16, 2013.”  Council Member Rhodes, “Second.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion on the motion.  Council Member Scott asked how the funds are established:  City Clerk Kewley explained, “Funds 518 and 519 are old bond payments.  Fund 717 is the old Water Plant fund.”  Council Member Scott, “I mean, it takes our action to close these, but you can open up a fund?”  City Clerk Kewley, “I tell you that I am going to open a fund for a project.  Funds are actually established through ordinances and resolutions.”  Hearing no further discussion on the motion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Construction Permits:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin said he did the first permit for 2013 for a house.  He filled out a form on new construction in 2012 for the Census Bureau.  We did six homes and two duplexes last year.

      Vacating Alley: Zoning Clerk Hugunin is working with Larry Crotts has been discussing an alley vacate.  He is also working with another landowner purchased property on Mohawk Street and has either an alleyway or a utility easement and wants to build a garage.

      Web Design:  Scott Bolley, with IM Design Group, will be here on Tuesday to meet with Zoning Clerk Hugunin and Administrative Assistant Stroh to discuss the new website design for Burlington. 

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin – NONE

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update

      City Attorney Smith reported he has working with some things with Chief Jones.  At Municipal Court they had a witness who perjured himself, so the proceedings were stopped and he was charged on the spot.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff have been preparing meter readings for utility billing for this month.  They prepared work orders, vouchers for bill paying, payroll, and minutes from council meetings; and also handled calls and inquiries.

      Sewer Construction Meeting:  City Clerk Kewley attended the Sewer Construction Meeting on Thursday, January 3.

      Sewer Improvement Project Phase II – Permanent Financing:  City Clerk Kewley reported she has been in contact with Dotty Riley, our Bond Counsel with Kutak Rock, on our permanent financing for Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project, which has been completed; and we will probably have the bond ordinance and resolution ready for the February 6th meeting of Council.  We have to close on March 8th for that.

      Close-Consolidate Funds:  City Clerk Kewley has been working with our Auditor, Brian Nyp (Mize Houser & Company) on consolidating funds.

      Blue Cross/Blue Shield:  City Clerk Kewley met with Donna Pashman (BC/BS) to review our 2013 health insurance policy for employees.

      Emergency Planning;  City Clerk Kewley attended the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meeting on Wednesday, January 9.

      Automatic Meter Infrastructure:  The AMI Kick-Off meeting was yesterday with representatives from Landis+Gyr and Kritz Davis.

      Employee Benefits Meeting:  The annual Employee Benefits Meeting is scheduled from 9 a.m. to Noon on Wednesday, February 13th at the 4-H Building.  What this entails is  our benefit providers meet with employees and review what services they provide and any changes to the benefits or changes being considered.  It is also open enrollment for our employees.  Benefit providers will be BC/BS, KPERS, Security Benefit, ING Financial, and the Employee Assistant Program.

      Closed January 21:  City offices will be closed Monday, Januray 21 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Stan Luke – Topeka, January 15

      Council Member Luke stated, “Yesterday, I was in Topeka.  We are in deep trouble.  There are so many deep paths that the people up there want to take.  You can herd cattle, but you can’t herd legislators.  It’s interesting there is some leadership that has experience.  In the last two elections, they’ve lost around 750 years of legislating experience.  They lost the three primary energy environmental and utility people, who together had close to 100 years of utility and energy experience – nationally known experts in that area.  We went to the reception last night, and it was like….I think we need to check IDs because I’m not sure these people are old enough to drink alcohol.  The Whip in the Senate is twenty-six years old; he’s been in government for four years, is an entrepreneur and a Washburn graduate with three degrees.  He is an intelligent individual, but he needs to work seriously on his communication skills. 

      Council Member Luke continued, “We are going to be bombarded with items with respect to finances and budget.  They anticipate 80% of their time is to be spent on establishing a two-year budget.  The only bills they will be working are those bills that were started in the last session.  They don’t anticipate starting any new ones, at least until near the end of the session.  It’s absolutely scary.  I talked with one of the guys on the Energy Committee – he doesn’t know the difference between distribution systems and area distribution for homes.  He has never heard of next-day market, and he doesn’t know what the Southwest Power Pool is; but yet he is partial leadership of the Utility and Environmental Committee.  There are twenty-one members on that committee.  They split utilities out from Energy; there are twenty-one members on that committee as well.  There are four common members – four members that set on both committees; that’s the only tie they have.  We asked what the Energy Committee was going to be looking at, and the comment from the head of the Committee was, ‘Whatever we’re told,’ because they don’t know how things are going to be done yet; so , it’s scary.  The municipal bond taxing is going to be a major discussion.  We need to stay on top of that.  They don’t understand it is a multifaceted cost.  Yes, ‘rich’ people buy the bonds with people’s money – investment groups, whatever – and it’s tax free income; but if you tax it, the rates are going to go up.  They’ll need to have a higher return; so therefore, when we borrow money our rates are going to go up for cost of money – which means our cost to our citizens and constituents are going to go up.”

      Council Member Griffith asked, “Are they still trying to do away with income tax?”  Council Member Luke, “That’s totally in the financial budget area.  If you listened to the presentation last night - I did not, but yes that’s part of what they are looking at.  They’re also looking at what they call a ‘transparency’ tax, which has to do with assessments and our ability to raise or lower the amount of revenue we receive based upon assessments – which I thought we already had the authority to do anyway.  It’s a scary, scary environment.”

      Council Member Griffith, “Are they still talking about putting all the elections at the same time?”  Council Member Luke, “No, that’s way down the list.”  City Attorney Smith, “That comes after defunding schools.”  Council Member Luke stated, “It’s going to be a matter of watching and seeing what happens; but they estimate that over sixty days will be spent on nothing but budget – and they’re looking at an eighty to ninety day session.”  He added, “Watch your KMU and KMEA newsletters – anything that comes out from the League.”

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  Coffey County Economic Development Committee

      Council Member Griffith asked the Mayor, “Where did we go with the Development person in the County?  Can you talk about it?”  Mayor Merry, appointee to the Committee, said he got an email today trying to get dates for the Committee to meet.

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by City Council.  Signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

CITY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 2, 2013

City of Burlington Governing Body met in Regular Session at City Hall, 301 Neosho Street, Burlington, Kansas at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday January 2, 2013.  Mayor Gene L. Merry called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL:  Yes Mayor Gene L. Merry

Council Members present:

      Yes William C. Scott (President of Council)                   Yes Jane M. Griffith                         Yes Lewis Lenard
     
No  R. Standley Luke (Stan)                                             Yes Forrest T. Rhodes                    Yes Jerilyn Curtiss

Superintendents Present:  

      Yes Kevin Boyce (Parks)       Yes Alan Schneider (Electric)        Yes Doug Jones (Chief of Police)
     
Yes Doug Mast (Street)        Yes Danny Hawkins (Water/Wastewater)

Also Present:      Yes Regina Kewley (City Clerk)               Yes Jimmy Hugunin (Zoning & Grants Clerk)
                               Yes Stephen Smith (City Attorney)           Yes Susan Stroh (Administrative Assistant)

Media Present:  Mark Petterson, Coffey County Republican

VISITORS:  None

AGENDA:  Council Member Curtiss, “I move to approve the agenda as amended.”  Council Member Lenard, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

MINUTES:  Council Member Rhodes, “I move to approve the Draft Minutes for the regular session of December 19, 2012 as presented.”  Council Member Curtiss, “I second the motion.”  Motion unanimously carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: None

APPOINTMENTS:  None

ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT:  Distribution and Production Updates

      General Distribution:  Superintendent Schneider reported personnel have been doing some much needed vehicle maintenance, cleaning and waxing all the hotline tools to make sure they are safe, fixing streetlights, normal duties, work orders, and line locates.  Other work includes figuring the power cost adjustment for utility billing, and working on KPP generator status reports.  He explained this is the time of year that (Energy Information Agency (EIA), Kansas Department of Health & Environment (KDHE), and Kansas Power Pool (KPP) open the website for all the end of year reports that we are responsible to submit to keep the permits updated and in effect to keep the Power Plant operating.  The majority of the reports are to be submitted before April, so the next few months will be busy.  They are working on end of month reports at the Power Plant.  Mid States is still on site to finish up some work on the control panels.

      Generator #4:  A line ruptured on Generator #4 the other day and was repaired.

      R.I.C.E. Upgrades:  Parts are arriving for the R.I.C.E. upgrades. 

      Kansas Power Pool:  Superintendent Schneider mentioned Council Member Luke was re-elected to the Board of Directors of KPP.

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Hawkins reported personnel have been doing normal duties in the field with water and wastewater, doing re-reads, line locates, and things like that. 

      Hoover Stores - Warehouse:  They have been doing several sewer taps around town; and they will be doing a water service for Hoovers Stores, Inc.’s warehouse on S. 6th Street. 

      Sewer Liftstations:  Superintendent Hawkins reported, “We have been working on the sewer lift stations and cleaned out a couple wet wells to remove some of the grease and grit that gets built up in them.  Since we began the grease trap inspection plan about a year ago, we haven’t seen near as many problems.  I want to thank the businesses for pitching in and helping reduce problems with grease.”

      Training:  Philip Decker passed his exam for Wastewater Operator Level II.  In February, Norman Foster will re-take the exam for Water Operator Level III.

      Pump Station Replacement Project:  Superintendent Hawkins reported the sewer project is still ahead of schedule, and with the holidays being over, the contractors are starting to come back to resume work.

      Water Plant Efficiency:  Superintendent Hawkins said that personnel have spent a great deal of their time on Water Plant improvements for efficiency and safety.  They have done a fantastic job of plumbing and fabricating.  They have the sludge press air receiver done, moved the receiver and dryer unit over into the sludge press room, and did re-plumbing.  He stated, “The sludge press is working better than we’ve seen since the day we got it.  That’s a big plus for us.”  The employees got the catwalk completed within the dry pit; so, that safety part is done.

      Storm Damage:  The storm that came through a couple of weeks ago caused lighting damage by knocking out three of our turbidometer; and it put down our CV32 valve that controls our activation to our clearwell.  We had the parts on hand and were able to make repairs.  Superintendent Hawkins, “I want to thank Alan and Stan.  We talked  with them about maybe doing some surge protection to help with the Water Plant; so we’re taking some advice and will implement it so we don’t lose as much in the future due to lighting.”

WATER/WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT:  Production – Water Treatment Plant

      Water Emergency/Drought:  Referring to the email letter received on December 21, 2012 from the Kansas Water Office, Superintendent Hawkins stated, “I called the KWO today and was told the Governor wants to heighten each community’s awareness to let them know there is a lack of water, and they want to know if a community is concerned.  Of course, we’re concerned.  Water at John Redmond is at the lowest level we’ve seen since the dam was built.  We are aware that our assurance of water comes from the Council Grove area; they are aware of that.  Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant has water they pull off of too.  We are aware of it, so we went through the criteria today with the KWO – told them what our water supply is and that we have our Contingency Plan set up and in place.  KWO’s letter is more concerned with the Rural Water Districts and small towns that do not have contingency plans in place.  They put us on the website, so they will be sending information to me at the Water Plant.”

            Water Emergency Stage 2, Water Warning Update:  We are still under a Stage II Water Emergency, with the same restrictions.  Within the county, we have only had up to three-quarters of an inch of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet).  For the month of December, we pumped 15,707,000 gallons of water, giving us a daily average of 506,677 gallons.  Usage is up a little more than usual.  We searched to find where that extra 80,000 gallons has been going the last few weeks and visited with Rodney Breeze (RWD#2) because their usage was higher.  He said a lot of farmer’s/cattlemen’s ponds are frozen (or dry), so they filling their tanks and hauling water to their cattle.”  He explained that the Governor passed it so a farmer with the capability can pump directly from a reservoir to take water to their livestock.  Also, Burlington and some of the other cities in the county have bulk water sales set up so farmers can fill up their tanks.  By making this phone call, Superintendent Hawkins has met the requirement to report to the State by the 8th of January.

STREET DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Superintendent Mast reported personnel worked two snow events.  They have been building new barricades, maintaining equipment, and doing inventory.  It’s business as usual.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Chief Jones reported it was calm for the holidays, with no major issues.  Year-end reports are being done.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:  Vehicle

      Chief Jones requested permission to go out for bids for the patrol vehicle that was budgeted for this year.  Council Member Scott stated, “I move to authorize Chief Jones to go out for bids for a new patrol vehicle.”  Council Member Griffith, “I second it.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry called for a vote.  Motion unanimously carried. 

PARKS DEPARTMENT:  Update

      General:  Parks personnel have been doing normal duties such as cleaning public buildings and restrooms, removing snow and ice from sidewalks, cleaning mowers for winter storage, and doing inventory.

      Welcome to Burlington Signs:  Superintendent Boyce reported the north and south signs are complete and he will pick them up on Friday.

FINANCE:  Claims Ordinance & Payroll Ordinance

a.        Claims Ordinance    2013-01

$621,694.30

b.        Payroll Ordinance    2013-01

$  69,364.08

                                   TOTAL

$691,058.38

      CLAIMS 2013-01:  Council Member Scott, “I move City of Burlington pay Claims Ordinance 2013-01 in the amount of $621,694.30 for payment of city bills.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Mayor Merry called for discussion.  City Clerk Kewley stated, “A big item we are paying for tonight is the first payment of $250,000 on of Phase I of the Sewer Project; and on Phase II we have Midland Contractors for $169,305.  Another is ANI Technologies for $132,901.  Council Member Curtiss asked, “Is Kan-Seal the last of our signs?”  City Clerk Kewley, “Yes.”  Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  All votes were in favor.  Mayor Merry declared Claims Ordinance 2013-01 unanimously approved.

      PAYROLL 2013-01:  Council Member Scott “I move City of Burlington pay Payroll Ordinance 2013-01 in the amount of $69,364.08.”  Council Member Rhodes, “I second the motion.”  Hearing no discussion, Mayor Merry directed City Clerk Kewley to poll Council for a vote.  Motion carried unanimously.  Mayor Merry declared Payroll Ordinance 2013-01 approved.

PLANNING & ZONING:  Update

      Tree Board Meetings:  Zoning Clerk Hugunin has been doing normal duties, including updating the permits log in Excel.  He submitted the Tree City USA application.  He has been talking to someone who is interested in one of the lots we have for sale by Crow-Moddie in the Industrial Park. 

PERMITS:  Zoning permits issued by Zoning Clerk Hugunin – NONE

LEGAL DEPARTMENT:  Update –

      City Attorney Smith reported he has been handling normal things and dealing with the police officers in a couple of cases involving out-of-staters.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  Update

      General:  City Clerk Kewley reported City Hall Staff have been busy with customers paying utility bills, handling work orders, preparing vouchers for bill paying, preparing the payroll and the minutes for the council meeting, and handling normal calls and inquiries.

      Set-off Program:  In January we will be sending $1,139.20 worth of delinquent utility accounts for collections through the State Set-off Program.

      Sewer Improvement Project Phase II – Financing:  City Clerk Kewley reported she has been in contact with Christy McReynolds of Rural Development to prepare the permanent financing for Phase II of the Sewer Improvement Project because the Temporary Financing (Temp Note G.O. Bond Series 2012A) on that loan comes due in March; so we will be getting with Dotty Riley, our Bond Counselor with Kutak Rock, to work that up.  That will be $3,360,000.”

      Sewer Construction Meeting:  The sewer construction meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Water Plant.

      Elections in 2013:  The deadline to file for candidacy for the city elections is noon, Tuesday, January 22, 2013.  Burlington City Council Position 2 for all three wards are up for election.  Incumbents of those positions are:  Ward 1: Jerilyn Curtiss; Ward 2: William C. Scott; and Ward 3: Jane Griffith.

REPORT BY CITY OFFICERS:  None

Mayor Merry declared the meeting adjourned.

Approved by the Governing Body and signed by Regina R. Kewley, City Clerk

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Email: sburlington@mchsi.com  


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January 17, 1998