MONDAY
March 21, 2016
The
Governing Body of the City of Pratt met in Regular session in the Commission
Room located in City Hall.
PRESENT:
Lucus Kumberg Mayor
Bill
Hlavachick Commissioner
Jeff
Taylor Commissioner
Gary
Skaggs Commissioner
Doug
Meyer Commissioner
ALSO PRESENT:
Russell Rambat Interim City Manager
LuAnn Kramer City Clerk
Ken
Van Blaricum City Attorney
Diana
Garten Finance Director
Gary
Myers Chief of Police
Brad
Blankenship Building Inspector
Jamie
Huber Dir. of Electric
Utilities
Bruce
Pinkall Recreation Director
CALL TO ORDER:
The
regular meeting was called to order by Mayor Kumberg. The Mayor instructed the Clerk to note that
all Commissioners were present.
The
Mayor reminded the audience that this meeting may be taped and/or recorded.
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE
OF ALLEGIANCE:
Commissioner
Taylor led the staff and audience in the invocation and Mayor Kumberg led the
Pledge of Allegiance.
MINUTES:
Commissioner
Skaggs made a motion to approve the minutes of the March 07, 2016 recessed Joint
City/County Commission meeting, the March 07, 2016 regular Commission meeting
and the March 15, 2016 Special Call meeting.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hlavachick and carried
unanimously.
BUSINESS:
PILOT CLUB:
Pilot
Club Member Linda Broce approached the Commission about replacing their storage
building since it stores their things for special occasions. Public Works Director Rambat stated that there
was dry rot in the old Putt Putt shed and moisture had come up from the bottom
into the partial board. Commissioner
Skaggs questioned if it was repairable.
Mr. Rambat stated that he thought that it was, but he would get with a
local contractor and have them look at it.
Mr. Rambat added that the structure was fine. Commissioner Skaggs asked if the size was
okay. Ms. Broce stated that it was
not. Pilot Club Member Anel Cox added that
she was storing the replica of the train in her building and it was on an 18’
trailer. Mr. Rambat commented that they
could look at extending the existing slab and he would get costs for that also. Commissioner Skaggs asked if the location was
okay. Ms. Broce stated that it was. Mr. Rambat stated that it would probably take
a 25’ X 15’ building to house the replica.
Commissioner
Taylor suggested taking care of the repairs first before we look at a bigger
building. Mayor Kumberg questioned if we
had any other storage that would be available.
Mr. Rambat stated that ours were all full and the Christmas shed was
full also. Commissioner Hlavachick
commented that we should look at an estimate for repairs and an estimate to
rebuild. Mr. Rambat stated that he would
do that and it could be a discussion topic during budget. Ms. Broce commented that they would
appreciate that. Mr. Rambat stated that
it would not take much to rip off what was there and replace it with water
proof particle board and paint it. Mr.
Rambat asked if the Pilot Club wanted to keep the windows. Mr. Rambat explained that they were not
sealed up and it was allowing moisture to get in there. Ms. Broce stated that they would rather not
have the windows so people could not see what was in there. Pilot Club Member Kay Sewell stated that they
would like to prevent the building from being vandalized. Mayor Kumberg commented that we would look at
the repairs first and then phasing in a new building would be discussed during
budget.
DISCUSSION ON ‘FIRST
DRAFT’ FLYER FOR CLEAN-UP WEEK:
Public
Works Director Rambat stated that he had gotten together with Mr. Jason Winkel,
Pratt County Landfill, on developing a flyer for the clean-up week that had
been discussed. Mr. Rambat commented that
they had tried to keep it small and to the point so that it could be put in the
City utility bills. Mr. Rambat added
that they had chosen May 9th to the 12th, but that could
be changed. Commissioner Taylor
questioned if that interfered with any graduations and commented that that
could hinder the help from civic groups and churches that would help with the
hauling.
Mr.
Rambat stated that they had toyed with the idea of changing the name, because
we did not want people to think that the City would be picking up their
stuff. Commissioner Taylor suggested
using ‘2016 City of Pratt Free Landfill Week’.
Mr. Rambat commented that he wanted to change the perception so that
customers would not think that they could haul it out to the curb. Commissioner Hlavachick asked if they would
segregate the trash before it gets out there.
Mr. Rambat stated that we would have extra employees out there to help
and they would designate where vehicles were to go. Commissioner Skaggs questioned if they were
going to turn away County residents since this was a City wide clean-up. Mr. Rambat stated that they were going to be
focused on the City part of it.
Mayor
Kumberg stated that the flyer looked good and he was curious to see how it all
works out. Commissioner Taylor commented
that we may find out that we do not want to do it again. Mr. Rambat stated that he would get with
Sanitation Superintendent Wright and inform him to have his crews pick up small
amounts of stuff at the curb and that would be one less place we would have to
send a volunteer. Mayor Kumberg
requested that the paper mention that there would be no curbside service during
that clean-up week.
OPEN AGENDA:
No
one in the audience wished to address the Commission.
REPORTS:
Interim City Manager:
·
New
Wal-Mart entrance:
Interim
City Manager/Public Works Director Rambat informed the Commission that the new
entrance into Wal-Mart had come together nicely. Mr. Rambat commented that they had taken out
the temporary drive and put in top soil.
Mr. Rambat explained that Integreen had come out and helped with a
sprinkler issue and the seeders should be here this week.
Commissioner
Skaggs asked if we were still drip irrigating on the south side of Sandy
Creek. Building Inspector Blankenship
stated that it had not been on for some time, but was still in place in case of
a long stretch of hot weather. Mr.
Blankenship commented that we had planted eighty-one tress and only lost one so
far. Commissioner Taylor suggested
irrigating them for one more year so that they would grow quicker. Mr. Rambat commented that that could not
hurt.
·
Department updates:
Mr.
Rambat stated that the street department continued to crack seal the streets
and the water department was staying busy repairing leaks.
City Attorney:
·
Legislative updates:
City
Attorney Van Blaricum stated that legislature was back in session and there was
a lot going on that could impact Cities and individuals. Mr. Van Blaricum commented that the City
should be more involved in having an impact, but he was not talking about a
lobbyist. Mr. Van Blaricum added that we
should do a letter to our legislators.
Finance Director Garten stated that the League and KMU do regular
updates and looks at what was going to be done.
Mr. Van Blaricum stated that it would not hurt for us to be more
directly involved.
Mr.
Van Blaricum stated that there was the issue of court costs changing so that we
would keep less and the State would get more.
Mr. Van Blaricum commented that we did not care for that idea and we needed
to tell them that. Ms. Garten stated
that she had visited with the League and they think that that would die, but
could come back up again. Mayor Kumberg
stated that there was a bill in committee concerning funding for the library
systems and it also addresses airport authorities, fire protection and
recreation and how you could tax those things.
Commissioner Taylor suggested a letter be drafted with the Commissioners’
signatures.
Inspection
Department:
·
Arby’s:
Building
Inspector Blankenship stated that he had a discussion with the owner of Arby’s
about finishing up things on the plans and it was now all squared away and out
for bid. Mr. Blankenship commented that
the owner had told him that Pratt had been on his radar for years and it finally
worked out.
·
Casey’s General Store:
Mr.
Blankenship stated that he had the site plans for Casey’s General Store that
would be located where Paso Junction is now.
Mr. Blankenship commented that they were moving forward and wanted to
get it going pretty quick and they would be starting with a clean slate. Commissioner Taylor asked if they would be
adding a restaurant and Mayor Kumberg questioned if the rumors of them buying
Super 8 were just rumors. Mr.
Blankenship stated that they gave him no indication that they were doing either
of those things. Commissioner Skaggs
asked if there would be truck parking available. Mr. Blankenship stated that there would be
ten to twelve stalls. Commissioner
Skaggs commented that that would prevent overnight parking. Mr. Blankenship commented that they want them
to fill up and go. Mr. Blankenship added
that it would all be concrete instead of the dirt it was now.
Mayor
Kumberg questioned if they would be closing down for a period of time. Mr. Blankenship stated that they had no
intention of using the old building while they were building the new. Mayor Kumberg asked if they had given any
indication of how long it would be out of business. Mr. Blankenship stated that they had
not. Mr. Rambat explained that the footprint
on the site plan covered half to two-thirds of the property, so there would be
extra room for more parking. Mr.
Blankenship added that they would be closing the closest entrance to Highway
54.
Electric Department:
·
Replacing conductors:
Director
of Electric Utilities Huber informed the Commission that the line distribution
guys were working on the conductors in the alley between Austin Street and
Thompson Street from First Street to Third Street. Mr. Huber stated that there were alleys that
needed redone and there was a safety issue with the conductors falling
down. Mr. Huber added that some of them
were still copper wire. Mr. Huber stated
that they were also working at Highway 64 and Highway 54 on a temporary that
was built in 1992 and they would be getting it back to the right-of-way instead
of on private property.
·
Power Plant:
Mr.
Huber stated that the power plant would be testing the generators next Wednesday. Mr. Huber also informed the Commission that
they would be tearing down the cooling tower on Tenth Street. Mr. Huber added that they had looked into
quotes to have someone demo it, but we were going to do it ourselves now. Mr. Huber stated that the tower was literally
falling down; however it had good footings and foundation that could house a
storage building in the future.
Recreation
Department:
·
Downtown walk through:
Recreation
Director Pinkall stated that he had done a walk through downtown with EBH
Engineering and Park Superintendent Eckhoff to see how things were going. Mr. Pinkall reported that one plant was not
growing, but Mr. Eckhoff was working on it and there was a good survival rate
for now. Mr. Pinkall commented that he
would let KDOT know this also. Mr.
Pinkall added that Mr. Eckhoff would get the sprinkler system going.
Commissioner
Skaggs questioned if the planter was salvageable that was hit by the
truck. Mr. Pinkall stated that the top
stone had been ordered and we had gotten prices to turn over to insurance for
the repairs. Mr. Rambat added that the
planter handled it well.
Police Department:
·
Full staff:
Police
Chief Myers informed the Commission that he was finally fully staffed. Chief Myers stated that he had one officer
that was off on a medical injury that had returned and one officer that had
graduated from training on Friday. Chief
Myers commented that that gave him twelve officers on the street. Chief Myers added that Officer Christopher
Tritt was the training graduate.
City Clerk/Utility
Billing:
·
Senator Moran:
City
Clerk Kramer stated that the Commission should have received an email informing
them that Senator Moran would be at the college at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow in the
auditorium.
Executive Session:
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to enter into executive session for non-elected personnel
for one hour. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Hlavachick and carried unanimously.
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to return from executive session with nothing to
report. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Skaggs and carried unanimously.
ADJOURN:
Commissioner
Hlavachick made a motion to adjourn. The
motion was seconded by Commissioner Skaggs and carried unanimously.
______________________________
LUCUS
KUMBERG, Mayor
ATTEST:
_______________________________
LUANN
KRAMER, City Clerk