MONDAY
MAY 21, 2018
The
Governing Body of the City of Pratt met in a Recessed City/County joint meeting
in the Commission Room located in City Hall.
PRESENT:Lucus Kumberg Mayor
Doug Meyer Commissioner
Gary Schmidt Commissione
Don Peters Commissioner
ALSO PRESENT:
Roy Eckert City Manager
Diana Garten Finance Director
Regina Goff City Attorney
Glenna Borho County Commissioner
Joe Reynolds County Commissioner
Dave Ward County Commissioner
Sherry Kruse County Clerk
Bob Schmisseur County Counselor
The
recessed meeting was called to order by Mayor Meyer. Mayor Meyer instructed the Clerk to note that
all Commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioner Leslie.
BUSINESS:
DISCUSSION
ABOUT CLEAN-UP WEEK:
County
Landfill Supervisor Jason Winkel provided a handout of data collected during
the free disposal clean up week. Mr.
Winkel reported that several tires were brought in; however, they were not
twenty inches in diameter like last year.
Mr. Winkel added that there were more tires brought in this year that
were attached to a rim which had a higher cost.
Mr. Winkel stated that they took in 37.87 tons of concrete, which was
more than last year by 25.52 tons, solid waste was down by 18 tons; however,
only eleven fewer customers were serviced.
Mr.
Winkel commented that the event was very similar to last year with customers
bringing in smaller loads of waste and that the total cost to the City was $6,781.20, which was $627.23 less than in
2017. Mr. Winkel commended the City for
the help that was sent out to assist with the event and stated that they were
very helpful and knew what needed done, which helped everything run very
smooth.
Mr.
Winkel also reported that the recycle center had taken in more hazardous
materials during the week than they did a year ago. Mr. Winkel also stated that the recycle
center had taken more HHW during the past year than in prior years. Mr. Winkel commented that the recycle center was
open seven days a week and had recently taken old paint from Skaggs Ace
Hardware, which they were able to stir, check it, and allow people to come in
and take it for use. Mr. Winkel asked
that they return any unused paint. Mr.
Winkel added that they also recycle paint from Barber County’s swap shop since
Pratt had a larger population and success in swapping out the paints. Mayor Meyer asked Mr. Winkel about single
stream recycling possibilities since it was brought up at the joint taxing
entity meeting last week. Mr. Winkel stated
that a plant would be needed and it was probably not feasible to build in a
community of Pratt’s size. Mr. Winkel added
that they had put out some recycling containers in an attempt to get more of
the community involved in recycling but it did not appear they were being used
much. Mr. Winkel stated that they needed
to do a recycling campaign to raise awareness.
Mr. Winkel also reported that they send electronics to a company in
Manhattan that test them and, if they work, they sell them on e-bay and the County
gets a portion of those proceeds. Mr.
Winkel explained that they only send electronics that did not have any type of
personal data or information stored on them; such as toasters, monitors and
towers without hard drives. Mr. Winkel stated that businesses were charged
$.10 per pound, but everything else was taken for free at the recycle
center.
HEATHER MORGAN:
Ms.
Heather Morgan passed out a set of information which included the County sales
tax distribution report for April 2018 and a report that showed that Pratt
County was down by 8.7% from 2017 and was the 4th greatest loss in the State, which
shows a downward trend. Ms. Morgan
reported that Kansas was up 4.4% statewide, which made Pratt County’s numbers
look pretty bad. Ms. Morgan also
supplied a pie chart of the Pratt County property tax distribution that showed
that the County receives 33.6%, PCC 25.2%, schools 29.96% and the City 8.85%.
Ms.
Morgan gave an update on legislative issues stating that the Airport bill
passed; however, the property tax lid fix legislation did not pass. Ms. Morgan reported that there was a big push
in Topeka to eliminate ROZ because it was not being run as intended and since
it was not truly an Economic Development tool, she expected it to be
repealed. Ms. Morgan commented that there
was also talk of re-instating opportunity zones for sales tax exemption of new
projects. Ms. Morgan added a warning to
expect a lot of changes from Topeka during the next year as the KDOC and the
Department of Agriculture were at odds over who should manage Economic Development
in the State. Ms. Morgan stated that post
audits were being performed and changes would be forthcoming.
Ms.
Morgan talked about a Local Arts Commission grant awarded to the Pratt Art
Walks allowing the purchase of banners to market them. Ms. Morgan stated that The Kansas Arts Commission
was coming to Pratt in August to highlight our museums and feature the
intersection of the arts and entrepreneurship in Kansas. Ms.
Morgan explained that there was another grant she had applied for and received a
grant through the County that helps businesses in our community develop logo’s
and put their products online. Ms.
Morgan stated there had been success in other communities. Ms. Morgan answered a question regarding
online sales tax, which led to a discussion on the availability of high speed
internet and rural broadband issues and how that impacted local ED
opportunities. Ms. Morgan spoke of
limited funding for internet service in the area because Federal funding was
regionalized and South Central Telcom receives that funding so it was not
available as incentive to other interested companies. Ms. Morgan suggested getting SC Telcom to the
table to discuss how the internet had been underserved or find a willing local
partner that would not require incentive money.
Ms.
Morgan stated that her contract was ending at the end of this month.
Ms. Morgan requested an executive session for attorney/client privilege to
discuss possible ED opportunities.
County Counselor Schmisseur stated that he knew that Ms. Morgan had
information to share about possible Economic Development opportunities that he
felt would best be relayed in executive session under the attorney/client
privilege. Commissioner Kumberg made a
motion to enter into an executive session not to exceed twenty minutes for
attorney/client privilege. The motion
was seconded by Commissioner Schmidt and it carried unanimously.
Mayor
Meyer made a motion to return from executive session with nothing to
report. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Kumberg and carried unanimously.
After
lunch, Ms. Morgan presented information on the Achievement Place. Ms. Morgan stated that they currently had
nine full time employees who were paid minimally, without benefits, and the State
was requesting RFP’s for two, ten bed facilities for juvenile offenders. Ms. Morgan commented that there were
currently three locations with a similar type of facility and added that the State
was imposing stricter guidelines and, if awarded, the facility would have more
serious offenders. Ms. Morgan stated
that they would require a new level of care and the expectation for outcomes
would increase. Ms. Morgan commented
that the school had requested that they also be educated in the institution and
not in the public school; therefore, Ms. Morgan was assisting Ms. Toni Perez
with a response to the State. Ms. Morgan
stated that the proposal was adding four additional employees and providing for
health insurance for all full-time employees increasing the budget by
$200,000. Ms. Morgan explained that the
RFP’s were due by May 20th, with the facility operational by July
1st. Ms. Morgan added that, if awarded,
it would be a four year contract with two options for an additional year
each.
GENERAL DISCUSSION:
·
Dr. Calvert:
Commissioner
Borho stated that she had invited Dr. Mike Calvert, Pratt Community College President,
to come to the meeting to make a presentation to both boards at once. Dr. Calvert stated that he was in attendance
to talk about expanding Green Sports Complex to include a track and field
complex. Dr. Calvert passed out a
handout of the plans for the expansion and pointed out that the original plans
included Phase 5 to Green Sports Complex, which was the track facility being
proposed. Dr. Calvert stated that the City
was gracious in applying for the grant for $300,000 in 2016 that had been
awarded and he also reported that the PCC Foundation was on an active capital
campaign to raise additional funds for the project. Dr. Calvert added that they had formed a
campaign leadership committee and Mr. Richard Kerschen of the Law Company was
on that committee. Dr. Calvert informed
the Commission that Mr. Kerschen would be the project manager. Dr. Calvert pointed out the event impact
details provided by Recreation Director Bruce Pinkall and talked about the
impact a track facility would have on the community. Dr. Calvert stated that there were various other
activities that would be able to use the facility. Dr. Calvert commented that the project had
expanded into a $3.5 million project and PCC was privately fund raising and
they had a $1 million anonymous challenge grant where the donor would like to
see others put some skin into the project.
Dr. Calvert reported that he had had some preliminary requests with the
schools, one County Commissioner, a City representative and the City Commissioners
and the formal requests would be coming in the next month. Commissioner Kumberg asked if there was a
long term viability plan for lane and turf replacement and general maintenance. Dr. Calvert stated that the focus was on the
construction of the facility at this time and he viewed the project as a
community project. Dr. Calvert commented
that the project would happen, but they needed some local skin in the game to
get there. Commissioner Kumberg questioned
how much was being planned for the lane and turf replacement. Dr. Calvert stated that currently the focus was
on funding the project and a long-term plan had not been made at this
time. Dr. Calvert stated that data
indicated that Pratt had the ninth highest pull factor in the State. Dr. Calvert added that the timeline and date
of completion had not been finalized yet; however, they would like to start
moving dirt in November or December of 2018.
Mayor Meyer asked if the facility could be used for multi-purpose events,
such as concerts. Dr. Calvert stated
that it could be, but the initial seating capacity would be modest at
approximately five hundred.
·
Sinkhole at Lake:
Commissioner
Borho informed the Commissioners of a sinkhole issue at the Pratt County Lake
and suggested that, if the waterline was going to be extended to KDWLPT, that it
be further extended to the Lake at the Counties expense. Commissioner Borho stated that Mr. Doug
Freund stated that the lake would have to be drained in order to address the
sinkhole issue and hooking onto the City waterline could benefit both the lake
and the City in perfecting water rights in 2021. Mr. Schmisseur suggested someone contact Representative
Greg Lewis and ask him to author a bill allowing municipalities to maintain
current water rights and to also contact the Ethanol Plant to discuss
perfecting the water rights and if they would need more water for future
expansion.
·
Jail project:
Commissioner
Kumberg questioned where they were at on the jail project. Commissioner Borho explained that there had
been a large change order due to the shower specifications.
·
Theatre:
Commissioner
Borho reported that they were still working on funding pledges for the movie
theatre.
ADJOURN:
Mayor
Meyer made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner
Schmidt seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
DOUG
MEYER, Mayor
ATTEST:
_____________________________
LUANN
KRAMER, City Clerk