MONDAY
FEBRUARY 19, 2019
The
Governing Body of the City of Pratt met in Regular Session in the Commission
Room located at City Hall.
PRESENT:
Doug Meyer Mayor
Gary Schmidt Commissioner
Don Peters Commissioner
Jason Leslie Commissioner
Zach Deeds Commissioner
ALSO PRESENT:
Roy Eckert City Manager
LuAnn Kramer City Clerk
Diana Garten Finance Director
Nate Humble Police Chief
Brad Blankenship Building Inspector
Bruce Pinkall Recreation Director
CALL TO ORDER:
The
regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Meyer. The Mayor instructed the City Clerk to note
that all Commissioners were present.
Mayor
Meyer reminded the audience that this meeting may be taped and/or recorded.
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE
OF ALLEGIANCE:
Mayor
Meyer led the staff and audience in the invocation and the Pledge of
Allegiance.
CONSENT AGENDA:
·
February
04, 2019 Regular Commission Meeting
Commissioner
Schmidt made a motion to approve the consent agenda. The motion was seconded by Commissioner
Peters and carried unanimously.
BUSINESS:
DISCUSSION CONCERNING
THE PIT BULL BAN BEING LIFTED:
Mayor
Meyer informed Mr. Troy McEachern that the Commission had been briefed by
Commissioner Leslie about the attack on his dog in the park by a pit bull. Mr. McEachern stated that he would like to request
that the ban be brought back and he explained that his dog had been attached by
a pit bull that had kjumped out of a truck.
Mr. McEachern commented that his dog does not bark; however, the pit
bull took his dog by the throat and they could not kick him off. Mr. McEachern stated that he had a gun and
told the owner that he would shoot the dog if he did not get him off. Mr. McEachern added that he would have shot
the pit bull, but he could not get a good shot without hurting his own dog.
Mr.
McEachern questioned what the City gained by allowing these animals back in the
parks and added that the Commission should have listened to Commissioner
Leslie. Mayor Meyer stated that they had
modeled the new ordinance off of other Cities and their definition of vicious
dogs. Mayor Meyer commented that the
past Chief of Police told them that the ordinance was not enforceable and could
be lumped in as a vicious dog. Mr.
McEachern stated that pit bulls were not normal dogs. Mayor Meyer commented that the Commission had
talked about this in length, but they could talk about it again. Police Chief Humble stated that he had confirmed
that pit bull bites were double in 2018 compared to the prior years. Commissioner Peters asked what happened to
the owners. Chief Humble stated that
they get a citation and had to appear in court.
Commissioner Peters questioned if that dog had been removed from the
City. Chief Humble stated that he would
have to look and see.
Chief
Humble stated that, in Mr. McEachern’s incident, the owner would have to appear
in court. Commissioner Peters stated
that it should be removed from the City.
Mr. McEachern stated that this owner lived in Preston. Mr. McEachern commented that parks were a
public place that should be protected.
Commissioner Schmidt commented that the biggest issue the Commission had
was that they were told that the ordinance was not enforceable the way it had
been written. Commissioner Schmidt added
that the officers did not know what they were to do and they also wanted an
ordinance that they could enforce. Mr.
McEachern commented that this should be posted in the parks. Mayor Meyer stated that the dog should have
been on a leash. Mr. McEachern stated
that he had seen the owner walk the dog on a leash before and it took both
hands to keep it under control.
Mr.
McEachern stated that he was up to $750 in vet bills and he had gotten
stitches. Mr. McEachern added that this
was in the Commission’s hands now. Mayor
Meyer stated that they had lumped all breeds together and thought it would fix
things. Mr. McEachern commented that
they should pay attention to the stats.
Commissioner Schmidt questioned if it would have made any difference if
the original ban had been in place.
Commissioner Schmidt added that he did not know how you regulate it if
someone had one in their truck.
Commissioner Leslie stated that stats had increased since the City had
lifted the ban. Commissioner Peters
asked Chief Humble how many incidents there had been. Chief Humble stated that there were thirteen
in 2018 that involved pit bulls. Commissioner
Leslie commented that he had thought that this was not a permanent thing until
they saw the impact on the community.
Mayor Meyer stated that we would start gathering more statistics. Commissioner Peters commented that he wanted
to see more information about what happened after the bite, such as how much
the fine was.
Commissioner
Peters stated that we pass stuff and lay out what we need to do and then it
falls through the cracks because we had bigger things to work on. Commissioner Peters added that it was
important to enforce something and keep people accountable. Commissioner Peters questioned if Mr.
McEachern would be filing something against the owner in court. Mr. McEachern stated that he would not get
anything out of it. Commissioner Schmidt
stated that you could not solve all those problems no matter how strict. Mayor Meyer stated that we were not saying
that we were going to change things, but we could look at the increase in the
number of pit bulls after the ban was lifted.
Mayor
Meyer questioned what we would do when we get a dog park. Commissioner Deeds asked what the City’s risk
exposure would be going different directions.
Mayor Meyer stated that we were not the first community to not be breed
specific and we would not be the last.
Commissioner Peters commented that all liability should fall to the dog
owner. Commissioner Leslie stated that
it did; however, it also poses a risk with the City when something was lifted
that was for the safety of the citizens.
Commissioner Leslie added that it was heart breaking to hear about this
stuff. Mayor Meyer stated that we had a
new Chief of Police so we had a new opinion.
Commissioner Deeds stated that he would rather see a proactive ordinance
rather than a reactive one. Commissioner
Peters commented that they needed as much information as they could to make
their decisions.
Chief
Humble explained that this one was in town visiting so it would have gotten a
pass because it was not violating the ordinance since the owner did not live in
the City. Commissioner Leslie stated
that he would like research done to see both sides of the coin and to see about
leashes and collars and if they put the responsibility on the owner. Commissioner Peters commented that it should
make them accountable and maybe we needed to go a step further. Commissioner Schmidt commented that maybe we
should look at jail time instead of a fine.
Mayor Meyer stated that this would go on a future agenda for further
discussion once they get more information.
CONSIDERATION AND
APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION 021919A PROVIDING FOR A HEARING ON UNSAFE STRUCTURE AT
609 SOUTH OAK:
Building
Inspector Brad Blankenship stated that things had changed with this item since
the agenda went out. Mr. Blankenship
commented that the owner had come into his office and was willing to allow the
City to do what they normally do to abate the property and put a lien on
it. Mr. Blankenship explained that any
money made off of the house would go back to the City and the remainder would
go to the owner. Mr. Blankenship added
that this was a peaceful outcome and that the house should come down. Commissioner Peters asked if the taxes had
been paid. Mr. Blankenship explained
that he did not get that information and that would not affect us. Mr. Blankenship commented that the owner was
taking care of his ailing mother; therefore, he would start the process after
90 days which would be around May 10th. Mr. Blankenship stated that he would start
the labs for asbestos on May 13th.
After little more discussion, the Commissioners were all in agreement
with this arrangement.
CONSIDERATION AND
APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION 021919B PROVIDING FOR AN ABATEMENT OF INJURIOUS
RESIDENTIAL PREMISES AT 307 N. PEARL:
Building
Inspector Blankenship stated that the property at 307 North Pearl Street had
been a problem since he had been at the City and they had been to court twice
with past City Attorney Van Blaricum and once or twice with the current City
Attorney. Mr. Blankenship commented that
we were getting nowhere with this property and the owner did not have the money
to do anything. Mr. Blankenship added
that what some think as cleaned up and nice was different than what he
thought. Mr. Blankenship stated that
this property was a constant battle.
Mr.
Blankenship read 8.04.12 from the Code of the City of Pratt, Kansas that
pertained to abatements and a hearing before the Governing Body. Mr. Blankenship commented that the City could
remove the stuff and store the things that the owner feels are valuable for
thirty days; however, he feels that everything is valuable. Mr. Blankenship continued to explain that
anything left after the thirty days could be sold. Mayor Meyer asked if there was a lot of
stuff. Mr. Blankenship stated that there
was. Mr. Blankenship stated that he
usually did not take it this far, but nothing was going to happen on this
one. Commissioner Leslie commented that
the owner adjacent to this property felt that their property was still vacant
and had not sold in two years due to this property.
Commissioner
Deeds questioned who determines the value of the items. Mr. Blankenship stated that he could, but it
was not going to be easy and could take a court order or help from the police
department. Mr. Blankenship commented
that he had invited Mr. Hollister to the meeting, but he was not present. Mr. Blankenship stated that nothing had
worked in the last ten years and this was a disrespect for the law. Mayor Meyer thanked Mr. Blankenship for
taking it to this level. Mr. Blankenship
suggested that maybe the bite to the fine was not big enough and some did not
care about jail time. Mayor Meyer stated
that the owners had been opposed to KDHE cleaning up that other property, but
they had ended up being grateful.
With
no more discussion, the following Resolution 021919B was presented to the
Commission for their approval: RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR ABATEMENT OF
INJURIOUS OR DETRIMENTAL CONDITIONS ON RESIDENTIAL PREMISES PURSUANT TO PRATT
MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 8.04.020. Commissioner
Leslie made a motion to approve Resolution 021919B providing for the abatement
of injurious or detrimental conditions at 307 North Pearl Street. The motion was seconded by Commissioner
Peters. Mr. Blankenship added that City
Attorney Probst would take the process from here. The motion and second passed unanimously.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL
FOR APPOINTMENTS TO THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY BOARD:
Mayor
Meyer stated that there was a letter from the Airport Authority Board informing
the Commission that they had two appointments that were going to expire April
14th. Mayor Meyer commented
that the members were Skye Bare, who was willing to serve another term, and Sue
Peachey, who declined another term on the board. Mayor Meyer stated that the Board recommended
Mr. Mark McManaman as her replacement. With
the Commissioners all in agreement, Mayor Meyer appointed Ms. Bare and Mr.
McManaman to a three year term on the Airport Authority Board.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL
OF RESOLUTION 021919 PROVIDING FOR THE ADOPTION OF TAX AND SECURITIES
COMPLIANCE PROCEDURES RELATING TO OBLIGATIONS ISSUED AND TO BE ISSUED BY THE
CITY:
Mayor
Meyer stated that he had contacted City Attorney Probst about the Tax and
Securities Compliance Procedures and she had recommended that the Commission
approve the Resolution adopting them.
Mayor Meyer commented that the opinion of Mr. Kevin Cowan from Gilmore
and Bell explained it well. Mayor Meyer
asked if Finance Director Garten got her questions answered. Ms. Garten stated that the City had passed a
resolution in 2014 that was similar and she had questioned if this resolution
would replace that. Ms. Garten stated
that Mr. Cowan had stated that it would complement it by giving more
information on the tax side of it as opposed to the disclosure side. Ms. Garten explained that the Government had
requested or talked for several years about more detailed reporting by
non-profit organizations on their outstanding bonds to make it clearer to those
that had bought the bonds. Ms. Garten
stated that the City had been doing that through the 2014 resolution; however,
the IRS must be requesting additional information and that was why Mr. Cowan
wanted the City to pass the resolution.
Mayor Meyer clarified that we needed to do this due to the issuance of
the IRB’s.
With
no more discussion, the following Resolution 021919 was presented to the
Commission for their approval: A
RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE ADOPTION OF TAX AND SECURITIES COMPLIANCE
PROCEDURES RELATING TO OBLIGATIONS ISSUED AND TO BE ISSUED BY THE CITY OF PRATT, KANSAS. Commissioner
Peters made a motion to approve Resolution 021919 providing for the adoption of
Tax and Securities Compliance Procedures relating to obligations issued and to
be issued by the City. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner Leslie and carried unanimously.
OPEN AGENDA:
No one
in the audience wished to address the Commission.
REPORTS:
City Manager:
·
Absenteeism:
City
Manager Eckert stated that we had had a large run on absenteeism in all the
departments due to illness; therefore, we were short staff. Commissioner Peters stated that he had seen a
lot of ads in the papers and asked if that was causing any problem with the
departments keeping up. Mr. Eckert
commented that the City was in good shape overall and this was not out of the
ordinary. Recreation Director Pinkall
stated that he was going to be filling the position in his department that had previously
been held by Mr. George Brown. Mr.
Pinkall commented that he had waited until the beginning of the year. Ms. Garten also added that the water department
had delayed hiring until now as well and the street department had had typical
turnovers. Mr. Eckert stated that the
turnovers were not bad for a City our size.
·
Financial reports:
Mr.
Eckert stated that he was in the process of approving the financial reports for
January 2019 and the year end. Mr.
Eckert commented that he was happy with how our income had come out last year.
·
Agenda deadline:
Mr.
Eckert stated that he had been looking at ways to make our meetings better and
having a deadline for items to be turned in that were to be on the agenda. Mr. Eckert commented that the agenda items
had to be turned in by Wednesday’s at 5:00 p.m. or they would not be a part of
the meeting. Mr. Eckert explained that
this would also give the Commission more time to review the packet for the
meetings.
·
Website:
Commissioner
Deeds asked if there was any information on the new website. Mr. Eckert stated that the company was in the
process of going over all that was on our current website and it should be up
the beginning of April. Mr. Eckert added
that he was pleased with what we had.
Building Inspections:
·
Dollar Tree:
Building
Inspector Blankenship stated that he would be doing footing inspections at the
Dollar Tree tomorrow. Mr. Blankenship commented
that they would push the snow off since these were stem wall and were in the
ground and not exposed.
·
Dirt in Lemon Park:
Mayor
Meyer questioned why we had moved all that dirt again in Lemon Park. Mr. Blankenship stated that we were required
by CST to have a third party testing where it had to be 1500 lbs. per square
inch. Mr. Blankenship explained that the
third party would nuke it with a meter and then they will certified it. Mr. Blankenship commented that we thought
this would be an in-kind service, but we were going to have to get someone to
do it. Mr. Blankenship stated that it had to be done in lifts 6” down and
tested and then down 6” more and tested.
Mr. Blankenship commented that they would dig it out and do a profile on
the soil. Mr. Blankenship added that
there was water at about 14” to 16” down, so there might have to be some rock
underneath it for a cushion to build on.
·
Track and Soccer field:
Mayor
Meyer asked if they had drilled the test holes at the Track and Soccer field. Recreation Director Pinkall stated that
Terracon had completed their testing, but the final results were not ready
yet. Mr. Pinkall commented that those
results would be returned to The Law Company.
Mayor Meyer questioned if we would be able to salvage some of the trees
for Sandy Creek. Mr. Pinkall stated that
the water department guys were looking at options and that would be less
grubbing they would have to do to clear that area. Mr. Blankenship stated that Water
Superintendent Clay thought that there were two trees that needed to be
replaced on Maple Street as well as some sage apple trees. Mr. Blankenship commented that we had only
lost a couple of the eighty trees that we had moved.
·
307 N. Pearl:
Mr.
Blankenship stated that the owner of 307 North Pearl Street had made it to the
meeting and asked if he could have a few minutes to speak to the
Commission. Mr. Donny Hollister stated
that he had lumber in his yard because he was building a dog house for his neighbor
and he was not sure what the complaint was now.
Mr. Blankenship stated that he had pictures and he brought those up on
the overhead. Mr. Blankenship stated
that the issue was the doom buggy, a/c units, trash on the side of the camper
and stuff behind the doom buggy. Mr.
Hollister stated that he was going to make a playground area for his kids and
he had put tarps over it to keep it from getting ruined. Commissioner Leslie asked about his
intentions with the doom buggy. Mr.
Hollister stated that he could move it to another property, but they had had a
lot of thefts.
Mr.
Blankenship stated that there were also two non-operable vehicles. Mr. Hollister stated that they did not have
tags or insurance because he was in between jobs; however, he could move those
to the other property. Commissioner
Peters questioned what value some of that stuff had. Mr. Hollister stated that it was quite a
bit. Mr. Hollister commented that he
would have put cameras up at the shop to see who was stealing his things, but
he did not have the money for an electrician.
Commissioner Peters asked where his shop was. Mr. Hollister stated that it was at 1313
North Ninnescah Street.
Mayor
Meyer stated that a resolution had been passed earlier this evening that put
the wheels in motion for the City to clean up the property after twenty days. Mayor Meyer commented that this was past the
point of return. Mr. Blankenship
commented that the property was an eye sore and neighbors were complaining that
it lowered their property value and they could not get their house sold. Mr. Blankenship stated that his concern was
that they had been down this block before and nothing was moving. Mr. Blankenship commented that his idea of
cleaning was different than Mr. Hollister’s and he understood that it costs
money. Mr. Blankenship explained that
anything that was not in working order was a property nuisance and suggested
that Mr. Hollister move things to the back without junking it up either. Mayor Meyer stated that Mr. Blankenship would
be reasonable but firm; however, this was past the point that something had to
be done.
Recreation Department:
·
Fencing:
Recreation
Director Pinkall stated that the fencing in Lemon Park was almost done and they
were close to having things wrapped up.
Mr. Pinkall commented that they had a few more things going on, such as
replacing the scoreboards, and Director of Electric Utilities Huber would be
helping with the power. Mr. Pinkall
added that the high school would start practice next week.
Police Department:
·
Overtime:
Police
Chief Humble stated that his department had been down with sickness also and
there had been a lot of overtime. Chief
Humble informed the Commission that he had two new officers and all the slots
would be filled by the end of March.
Chief Humble commented that the academy for 2019 was full, but we were
in reserve for October. Chief Humble
explained that bigger departments reserve ten spots. Chief Humble stated that an officer could
work one year without attending the academy.
Commissioner Peters asked if the new officers were local. Chief Humble stated that one had been here
for two and a half years.
·
Regional Wrestling and Gymnastics:
Chief
Humble stated that one of his officers had worked during the regional wrestling
and gymnastics tournaments and the event was incident free. Chief Humble added that the City would be
reimbursed for the officer’s time.
·
Server project:
Chief
Humble stated that he needed to look over the server project soon. Chief Humble commented that Huber and
Associates would be putting in a bid as well as Q-Tech by the end of the
week. Chief Humble explained that this
was not like a regular service and that they had to be compliant with the
KBI. Chief Humble commented that the
router was used to get returns back and was very sensitive and it needed to be
checked regularly.
·
Humane Society:
Commissioner
Peters asked if he was getting regular reports from the Humane Society. Chief Humble stated that he had not gotten
one this month; however, he expected one by the 25th.
·
K-9 update:
Commissioner
Peters questioned how the K-9 was doing.
Chief Humble stated that he had been on several deployments. Officer McCarley stated that they had been
out fifty times and were involved in about fifteen to eighteen cases. Officer McCarley added that they had seized
about $20,000. Commissioner Peters asked
if that was due to the dog. Officer
McCarley stated that it was.
·
Working with County:
Commissioner
Leslie stated that there had been a resident that called dispatch about
something and they were told that the officers were busy and to call back
later. Chief Humble stated that that was
County and he had talked to Sheriff White and he would call him if anything
needed taken care of. Chief Humble added
that they were working well together.
Mayor
Meyer questioned if they had a process for a dangerous situation in the school
system. Chief Humble stated that he had
talked to Mr. Tony Helfrich at USD 382 and David Schmidt at Skyline and they
were going over that. Chief Humble
commented that their first priority in a major situation was to keep everyone
safe. Chief Humble explained that it
would take a phone call to tell the school to go on lock down and then an
officer would have to give the all clear.
Chief Humble stated that he had a good relationship with USD 382. Chief Humble commented that Skyline was out
of our jurisdiction; however, we would help anyway we could.
Finance Department:
·
Reports out:
Finance
Director Garten stated that she had sent out the year end reports as well as
the end of January reports.
·
Tax Lid Bill:
Ms.
Garten commented that she was following some things that were happening in Topeka. Ms. Garten stated that the House had passed a
regarding the tax lid; however, we were not sure what the Senate would do. Ms. Garten stated that the Governor had put
in some increased funding for transportation of about $160 million and the
connecting links, which we have 12.8 miles of, and that would mean that we
would get about $25,000 to help maintain our highways.
City Clerk:
·
Fire Truck:
City
Clerk Kramer stated that the new fire truck would hopefully be here sometime
this next week depending on the weather.
Mayor and Commission:
·
Energy Conference:
Mayor
Meyer stated that the Energy Conference on March 7th was going to be
bigger than anticipated and they were coming from everywhere. Mayor Meyer commented that Inovateus would be
doing most of the work. City Manager
Eckert stated that this was invitation only and lunch would be provided.
ADJOURN:
Commissioner
Leslie made a motion to adjourn. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Peters and carried unanimously.
Doug
Meyer, Mayor
ATTEST:
LuAnn Kramer,
City Clerk