TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 06, 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/Public Works Dir.
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
Meyer made a motion to approve the minutes of the August 15, 2016 regular
Commission meeting and the August 18, 2016 special call meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Taylor
and carried unanimously.
BUSINESS:
PRESENTATION BY
GRIDLIANCE ON AN ALTERNATE FEED TO THE CITY:
Director
of Electric Utilities Huber informed the Commission that the City was at a
point where we needed to progress and GridLiance had some numbers that they did
not have at their last presentation. Mr.
Kevin Hooper of GridLiance commented that there was no technology when he was
growing up, no air conditioning or remote controls and your telephone was owned
by the phone company. Mr. Hooper stated
that some technology that has taken place does not involve electricity. Mr. Hooper explained that, in today’s world,
outages could cause problems. Mr. Hooper
explained that, not by anything that Mr. Huber was doing or not doing, there were
reliability concerns due to outages due to the way we were fed. Mr. Hooper stated that it was mandatory to
have reliable electricity. Mr. Hooper
added that they were excited to do this presentation to see if we could potentially
work as a team to improve liability and the economics of the situation. Mr. Hooper stated that it was mandatory to
have state of the art liability for long term health, education and economic
development.
Mr.
Brett Hooton then gave a presentation on Pratt’s electrical challenges by the
way we are fed, solutions to that challenge and the value of a partnership with
GridLiance. Mr. Hooton stated that Pratt’s
challenges were not unique and you did not usually see municipalities have
large transmission systems. Mr. Hooton
explained that smaller Cities are fed by a single radial feed and larger
Municipalities do not put their larger Cities on radial feed. Mr. Hooton added that that requires the
Cities to have their own generation. Mr.
Hooton stated that transmission was becoming more burdensome on public power,
more expensive and building the transmission was expensive. Mr. Hooton explained that there were
seventeen zones and Mid-Kansas was one of those zones, so Pratt has a load
ratio share in the Mid-Kansas zone and that was about 5%, which means that
Pratt pays for 5% of all the transmission in Mid-Kansas and you pay for your
own.
Mr.
Hooton stated that future transmission requires future financial
investments. Mr. Hooton explained that
Pratt would eventually have to rebuild the current line since this one was
built in 1981. Mr. Hooton stated that
buying transmission was not a one-time payment, but more like a mortgage
payment that you pay over time. Mr.
Hooton commented that you not only have to make that payment, but you have
upkeep, maintenance, utilities and that was how transmission was paid for
also. Mr. Hooton explained that you have
an annual transmission revenue requirement (atrr) and, in the 1,100 miles of
Mid-Kansas, Pratt pays their 5% of the annual transmission revenue
requirement. Commissioner Taylor
questioned if 5% was all we pay even if there were repairs and
maintenance. Mr. Hooton stated that, if Mid-Kansas’
typical costs of transmission was $100 but they have a year that it was $110,
then you pay 5% of that. Mr. Hooton
added that only Pratt pays for Pratt’s transmission line because it is not in
the SPP tariff. Mr. Hooton stated that
transmission costs would rise over the next two years, so Pratt would pay the
transmission service charge that rolls through KMEA that eventually ends up in
the SPP of about $87,000 per month and that was Pratt’s 5% in Mid-Kansas. Mr. Hooton commented that there would be a
lot of new transmission being built in the next two years. Mr. Hooton shared some numbers with the
Commission concerning service within the SPP of fourteen states and the $2.6
billion worth of transmission service that goes into service. Mr. Hooton added that there was $424 million
worth of transmission charges and Mid-Kansas had $70 million. Mr. Hooton explained that these were not
charges that would be paid all at once.
Mr. Hooton stated that the typical cost of an attr on a transmission
asset is a $100 million project, with an annual cost of $15 to $20
million. Mr. Hooton commented that,
instead of $70 million in a year, the cost could be $12 million every year. Mr. Hooton stated that the cost of
transmission would go up no matter what Pratt does with their transmission
situation. Mr. Hooton explained that
this was the result of changing generation, wind development and load changes,
which were the drivers to the cost.
Mr.
Hooton discussed Pratt’s recent outage on June 16th and that it was
related to a Mid-Kansas equipment failure.
Mr. Hooton stated that you do not want to lose power, but these outages
resulted in damages that caused the power to go out again on June 21st
and then again on August 19th.
Mr. Hooton explained that you were never going to eliminate all outages,
but they would like to see where one single equipment failure does not result
in an outage. Mr. Hooton showed a map of
our current transmission line and he also pointed out the four points of
failure. Mr. Hooton stated that, if
anything happens at either of the four points, you lose transmission until you get
it up and running again and get the load down enough that you could carry the
City. Mr. Hooton stated that what you
want would be an additional option so that there were no single points of
failure.
Mr.
Hooton stated that there were three components to the solution, because this
was not only a reliability problem but a financial problem. Mr. Hooton explained that the first component
was to build a loop around the City and a new substation at the Industrial Park
and the last component was to rebuild the City’s current transmission
line. Mr. Hooton stated that the rebuild
of the transmission line would happen in the future or the second phase of the
project. Mr. Hooton explained that there
was a transmission line that runs east and west of the Ethanol Plant and they
would recommend cutting into that line, building a double circuit line to the
substation at the Industrial Park and from there it would be circuit down to
the current substation. Mr. Hooton added
that the transmission side of the line would need to be done, but the
distribution side of the improvements would be up to Mr. Huber. Commissioner Taylor asked Mr. Huber if we
could build the transmission line. Mr.
Huber stated that that was the plan and build the distribution back into town
at our leisure. Mayor Kumberg questioned
if the line placements would be an issue with the future bypass. Public Works Director Rambat stated that it
was better to get in there first, which was what we had done with the water
line to the Ethanol Plant. Mr. Hooton
stated that these things could be addressed, but would work out. Commissioner Hlavachick questioned if this
would be above ground. Mr. Hooton stated
that it would be. Commissioner
Hlavachick asked if it could be buried.
Mr. Hooton commented that they did not want to talk about how expensive
that would be.
Mr.
Hooton stated that the project would consist of a new substation at the
Industrial Park, a new substation south of the current substation and a new
115kv transmission line estimated to cost $12.1 million. Mr. Hooton commented that that does include
land that would need to be purchased from the City behind the current
substation and a couple of acres at the Industrial Park at an estimated book
value of $25,094. Mr. Hooton stated that
they would have to rebuild the current line that was now about a forty year old
asset that would not be able to handle the additional flows once looped
in. Mr. Hooton explained that the line
would be rebuilt after the looping project was complete. Mr. Hooton added that, if something
catastrophic happened and the line needed to be rebuilt, the City would be
without transmission for a while. Mr.
Hooton stated that the new equipment would be more technologically
advanced.
Mr.
Hooton commented that, by looping the transmission, it would qualify the City
for the SPP tariff. Mr. Hooton explained
that that would allow them to pay for that transmission in the same manner as
all other Mid-Kansas transmission. Mr.
Hooton stated that it treats the City’s rate payers in a more equitable
manner. Mr. Hooton added that it would also
include all costs for maintenance operations, debt payments and depreciation on
both the current line and the new line.
Mr.
Hooton stated that their proposal would be to have GridLiance build, own,
finance and operate the new looping project.
Mr. Hooton commented that they would also purchase Pratt’s current
transmission line at an agreed price.
Mr. Hooton explained that GridLiance would then rebuild, finance and
operate the City’s current transmission line.
Mr. Hooton informed the Commission that they would not be asking for any
transmission related funds from the City.
Mr. Hooton clarified that they were not asking the City to issue any
bonds; however, the City was welcome to do that if they wanted to. Mr. Hooton stated that they were open to
discuss how much the City would want to invest.
Mr. Hooton stated that GridLiance would be responsible for all NERC,
FERC and SPP obligations on the transmission, which was a very important
point. Mr. Hooton stated that the NERC
compliance on this was a big one since the City had the 115kv transmission that
was looped and there were a lot of compliance and reporting obligations that go
along with that. Mr. Hooton explained
that this makes it hard for smaller cooperatives and municipals to own NERC
type transmission assets. Mr. Hooton
stated that GridLiance would handle that and the SPP obligations for
transmission that had over sixty stake holder groups. Mr. Hooton explained that there would be the
opportunity to contract back to the City for operations and maintenance, but it
was not required; however, it was something they like to offer to their
partners.
Mr.
Hooton explained the current estimates based on current cost estimates and that
they assume certain information such as what rate the City could borrow
money. Mr. Hooton stated that any return
had to be approved by FERC. Mr. Hooton
reviewed the numbers if Pratt would do this by themselves and that the one year
impact in 2021 would be $1.1 million and $32 million over thirty years. Mr. Hooton commented that the rate impact on
Pratt would be $107,000 if GridLiance did it and, if the City went in at 10%,
the impact would be $71,000. Mr. Hooton
stated that the City already had people that work on the distribution system
and the short transmission lines now and GridLiance would contract back with
the partner. Mr. Hooton commented that
the maintenance in 2021 with GridLiance in at 100% would be $131,000. Mr. Hooton explained that that means that
they get a bill once a year for costs of maintenance and operations on the
transmission line and that would include a 10% add-on for their profit. Mr. Hooton stated that the $117,000 was the
third option and GridLiance would be responsible for 90% and the City had the
remaining 10%. Mr. Hooton stated that
that figure increases to $4.1 million over thirty years.
Mr.
Hooton stated that he had talked about the Mid-Kansas zone and right now the
annual transmission revenue requirement for all the transmission in the
Mid-Kansas zone was about $15 million.
Mr. Hooton explained that the numbers used were based on current
forecasts and were extremely low since they did not know what new projects were
being built. Mr. Hooton explained the
first scenario as Pratt doing the project by themselves and the cost of
transmission development being around $1.1 or $1.2 million starting in 2021,
which would be depreciated over the years.
Mr. Hooton stated that this would be the impact on the rate payers since
the City was the only one paying it. Mr.
Hooton added that, if GridLiance did it 100%, the atrr that would be added to
the Mid-Kansas atrr would be about $2.1 million a year. Mr. Hooton stated that the annual increase in
the City’s rate would be $107,000 per year for Mid-Kansas rate payers. Mr. Hooton explained that the City would
receive a cash inflow from the SPP tariff of $31,000 if they went in at
10%. Mr. Hooton shared a slide that showed the
impact on a typical customer’s bill when there were 4,500 meters. Mr. Hooton pointed out that the monthly cost,
if Pratt did this by themselves, would be about $22 in 2021; however, if
GridLiance did it by themselves the cost would be $1.98 in 2021. Mr. Hooton stated that he did not want to set
false expectations since fuel costs would be different and would impact this
project.
Mr.
Hooton stated that there were several reasons to partner and one was that
GridLiance was looking for partners and not customers. Mr. Hooton commented that they were flexible
to fix problems and that was why they were created. Mr. Hooton added that they had the expertise
in engineering in the regional planning process, construction and
operations. Mr. Hooton stated that they
bring financial backing with zero transmission costs to the City if that would
be their desire. Mr. Hooton commented
that they were here to solve problems and they look for win/win situations. Mr. Hooton showed a slide where the
GridLiance family and all that were related to public power cooperatives. Mr. Hooton stated that the City was familiar
with KPP who do similar functions as KMEA.
Mr. Hooton added that they also had Missouri and Oklahoma and Tri-County
Electric Cooperatives. Mr. Hooton stated
that they had purchased all 400 miles of transmission from Tri-County and they
would use those funds for distribution site enhancements.
Mr.
Hooton stated that the next steps would be a general agreement on the approach
and he commented that he did not even need to know in the next couple of months
if Pratt wanted to invest. Mr. Hooton
explained that they would draft a Letter of Intent and it was a non-binding
document, but it would give each party an idea of what kind of deal we would
like to reach. Mr. Hooton stated that
they would eventually like to purchase the City’s current facility and partner
with the City of Pratt in a new project for whatever percent they were
comfortable with. Mr. Hooton stated that
this would let them get started drafting the definitive agreements, such as the
asset purchase agreement and the joint development agreement.
Mayor
Kumberg questioned what the time frame would be if we were going to partner
with GridLiance right now. Mr. Hooton
stated that the construction would be ready to go in about eighteen months;
however, the unknowns were tough, but it would be at least a couple of years
before it would be energized. Mr. Hooton
informed the Commission that there was a lot of legal work, but they would move
through that as quickly as Pratt wanted to.
Mr. Hooper stated that they were excited to work with Pratt and they
were interested in each State and any project that lets them work with
regulators and the KCC. Mr. Hooper
commented that the City would have their full disposal of the various legal
regulatory engineering and they would do what they could to make this
happen. Mayor Kumberg asked if this
would make KCC our regulatory agency for our utilities. Mr. Hooton stated that it would not. Mayor Kumberg commented that we liked the way
it was now.
Commissioner
Skaggs questioned what would happen if we did not get along in the future and GridLiance
owned our transmission lines. Mr. Hooton
stated that they were looking for long term partners. Mr. Hooton explained that they like
contracting back the operations and maintenance because you are here and
available. Mr. Hooton stated that they
make money by the return on the investments through the SPP tariff. Commissioner Meyer asked how the return on
equity was determined. Mr. Hooton
explained that it was a formula rate that had to be approved by FERC, but they
look for about 10.3. Commissioner Meyer
stated that one of the things he had been worried about was the impact on our
electric rates, but it looks as though they would not be impacted. Mr. Huber stated that there were things that
were out of our hands, such as the price of gas. Mr. Huber explained that it costs a lot of
money when the City generates. Mr.
Hooton stated that they did not want Pratt to back themselves into a
corner. Mayor Kumberg stated that he did
not have a problem with moving forward with the Letter of Intent since it takes
a lot of time to get things worked out.
Commissioner Taylor commented that this had been on the back burner for
years. Mr. Huber stated that they had
looked at prolonging this a little longer, but it would be about two years out
even if we started today.
Commissioner
Skaggs questioned if there were other businesses doing this. Mr. Hooton stated that there were other
transmission companies, but GridLiance was the only one that allows investment
opportunities for our partners.
Commissioner Skaggs asked if they were getting too big and also asked
how much they could handle. Mr. Hooton
stated that they were backed by Black Stone Equity Group and they were the
largest energy investor in the world.
Mr. Hooton added that they had an open check book in terms of resources
spent. Mr. Hooton explained that the
transmission world was about $2.5 billion and this was a $12 million
project. Commissioner Taylor questioned
what percent of electricity sold to our customers was transmission
charges. Mr. Hooton stated that it was
around 5% to 10%.
City
Attorney Van Blaricum asked what the down side would be for the City of
Pratt. Mr. Hooton stated that there were
two road blocks and the regulatory process moving forward was a big one. Mr. Hooton explained that they want to be
sure that KCC was on board even though they did not regulate Pratt; however,
they could cause problems when we file with FERC. Mr. Hooton stated that the second part of
that would be the FERC process, but he does not see any problems there. Mr. Hooton commented that they want to work
well at Mid-Kansas since they were the dominating utility in the zone and we
would be interconnecting to their facility.
Mayor Kumberg stated that right-of-way acquisitions of land that was not
already ours. Mr. Hooton stated that
that was a big one along with railways.
Commissioner
Hlavachick questioned if we could upgrade our own transmission line, because he
did not like someone else owning our transmission. Mr. Huber stated that our problems were with
Sunflower and out of our control, but the outages would have been seconds if we
would have had this loop line built.
Commissioner Meyer stated that this would be attractive to businesses,
so it was a win/win. Energy Agent
Kreutzer stated that, if we built the loop ourselves and put it in the SPP, we
would be regulated the same no matter who owns it, because the SPP controls
it. Commissioner Meyer asked if
GridLiance would object to us contacting references. Mr. Hooper stated that Mr. Larry Holloway was
with the KPP and had worked with the KCC and he encouraged the City to talk to
any of the partners. Mr. Hooper stated
that the only reason this company exists was because it was formed by industry
veterans dealing with entities. Mr.
Hooper commented that the competitors were focused on financial profit and
GridLiance was created to solve problems and to serve public power.
After
little more discussion, Commissioner Taylor made a motion to move forward with
a Letter of Intent from GridLiance concerning the alternate feed to the
City. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Meyer and carried unanimously.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF
SELLING THE CITY’S EXCESS CAPACITY:
Director
of Electric Utilities Huber stated that they had been discussing selling the
City’s excess capacity for a while. Mr.
Huber commented that the excess capacity was a result of unit contracts over
the years. Mr. Huber explained that they
had been to Sunflower about the bad breakers and they talked about buying our
excess capacity. Mr. Huber stated that
Sunflower had sent a quote on what they would give the City for the next ten
years. Mr. Huber explained that they went ten years because our Jeffries
contract would be up in two years and we would lose the rest of the GRDA’s over
the next ten years and at that point there would be no more excess capacity. Mr. Huber commented that we would have to
start looking for a contract to purchasing power again. Mr. Huber stated that GRDA’s had kept our
costs down over the years.
Mr.
Huber informed the Commission that Sunflower had sent a quote to purchase the
excess capacity over the next ten years and, after reviewing this with Energy
Agent Kreutzer, they felt that the best option was #3. Mr. Huber stated that we had what they needed
and they offered to pay the City $1.7 million over the next ten years. Mr. Huber commented that they had contacted
KMEA since they had first rights and they were not interested. Mr. Huber added that everyone in the EMP
either had enough or had too much. Mayor
Kumberg questioned if they were going to do about $174,000 for the next two
years. Mr. Huber stated that that was
right and he did not know why we had not done this before.
Mr.
Kreutzer stated that everybody had waited to see what the SPP was going to do
and, when they did not do anything, Sunflower was going to be short. Commissioner Meyer questioned what we would
do if we got a big industry in here that needed a lot of power. Mr. Huber stated that we would have to buy
off the market. Mr. Kreutzer added that
they were buying all our excess capacity and not buying the numbers. Mr. Kreutzer stated that they had left the
City 1.7 megawatts for load growth, so we were not selling everything. Mayor Kumberg asked if we had a
contract. Mr. Huber stated that we did
not, but he would call Sunflower tomorrow.
Commissioner Skaggs commented that it was hard to visualize ten years
out so we might need the excess. Mr.
Huber commented that we would not sell them any excess if that was the case.
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to give the Director of Electric Utilities the authority
to get a contract for selling excess capacity to Sunflower. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Meyer
and carried unanimously.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF
A STREET DANCE ON OCTOBER 1ST FROM 7:00 P.M. TO 12:00 A.M. FOR THE
TEEN CENTER:
No
representative from the Teen Center was at the meeting; however, the street
dance was discussed anyway. Mayor
Kumberg stated that he had no problem with the Teen Center having a street
dance. After little discussion,
Commissioner Hlavachick made a motion to approve the request for a Teen Center street
dance on October 1, 2016 from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on East Fourth Street to
the alley. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Skaggs and carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION ON DISC GOLF AT
LEMON PARK:
Mr.
Jason Winkel stated that the Pratt Disc Golf Club wanted to have their end of
the year tournament at Lemon Park again this year and they would get ready on
September 9th and clean-up on September 11th. Mr. Winkel commented that they would have
signs throughout the course to keep everyone safe. Commissioner Skaggs made a motion to approve the
use of Lemon Park by the Prat Disc Golf Club on September 9th, 10th,
and 11th for their tournament.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hlavachick and carried
unanimously.
CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF
RESOLUTION 090616 PROVIDING FOR A HEARING ON AN UNSAFE OR DANGEROUS STRUCTURE
AT 911 SOUTH MOUND:
City
Attorney Van Blaricum commented that the City had done this before and this resolution
was concerning an unsafe structure. Mr.
Van Blaricum stated that this was a legal remedy to getting it repaired or torn
down. Building Inspector Blankenship
shared pictures of the property at 911 South Mound Street and stated that there
were holes in the roof that let rain in and the floors had rotted out. Mr. Blankenship added that the garage was
about to fall down and there were people staying there without utilities. Mr. Blankenship stated that the owner was
from out of State. Commissioner Meyer
stated that the cars had been taken care of.
Mr. Blankenship stated that they had been removed, but the house was not
in good condition. Police Chief Myers
stated that, at one time, they had an extension cord going to the neighbors’
and had surveillance cameras on both entrances.
The
following Resolution 090616 was then presented to the Commission for their
approval: RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR HEARING ON UNSAFE OR DANGEROUS STRUCTURE PURSUANT
TO K.S.A. 12-1750, et seq. AND PRATT
MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 8.08.010 et seq. Commissioner Taylor made a motion to approve
Resolution 090616 providing for a hearing at 911 South Mound Street. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Meyer
and carried unanimously. City Attorney
Van Blaricum stated that the hearing would be on October 17th at the
regular Commission meeting and then the process would move forward.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to go into executive session for ten minutes to discuss
non-elected personnel. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner Skaggs and carried unanimously.
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to return from executive session. The motion was seconded by Commissioner
Taylor and carried unanimously.
Mayor
Kumberg reported that the Commission had spent a lot of time in the search for
a City Manager and they had contracted with the League of Kansas Municipalities
as a hiring agency for the City. Mayor
Kumberg commented that they had collected thirty applications and, after very
careful consideration, interviewed seven by skype and four of those were
interviewed personally later. Mayor
Kumberg informed the public that they had come to the decision to offer the
position to Mr. Roy Eckert. Having said
that, Mayor Kumberg made a motion to extend a contract of employment for the
City Manager position to Mr. Roy Eckert.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hlavachick and carried
unanimously.
Mr.
Van Blaricum stated that he had been in contact with Mr. Eckert and he was
excited about the job. Mr. Van Blaricum
commented that he would be here tomorrow to sign the contract. Mr. Van Blaricum informed the Commission and
staff that there would be a reception on Monday September 19th from
2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to introduce Mr. Eckert to the public. Mr. Van Blaricum stated that Mr. Eckert’s
intention was to start as soon as possible, but they would need to sell their
current home and look for one in Pratt. Mayor
Kumberg thanked Mr. Van Blaricum and the staff for making all this go smoothly.
OPEN AGENDA:
·
Thank you:
Ms.
Glenna Borho stated that she and her husband had recently had a reason to buy
two plots at Greenlawn Cemetery. Ms.
Borho commented that the City of Pratt had a beautiful cemetery and it was well
run. Ms. Borho thanked Cemetery Sexton
Jeff Gilmore and Mr. Mike Wardlow for being very gracious to work with.
·
Problem with City employee:
Mr.
Michael Florez stated that this was the second time that he had been here to
address an ongoing problem with a City employee and City Attorney Van Blaricum
had knocked him off the agenda. Mr.
Florez commented that he had a letter requesting an investigation of Officer
Mike McAbee by the FBI. Mr. Florez
stated that he had been asked about a month and a half ago if he had a problem
with the department investigating one of their own. Mr. Florez added that this had been going on
from 2013 until now and it was not fair.
Mr. Florez stated that he wanted a way to get over the situation, but he
was not over it. Mr. Florez commented
that Mr. Van Blaricum was condoning McAbee’s actions and he would continue to
come back here. Mr. Florez stated that
this was not professional and he requested a KBI investigation and presented a
letter to Mayor Kumberg.
REPORTS:
Interim City Manager:
·
Speed limit changes:
Commissioner
Skaggs asked if we had heard anything on the speed limit changes. Interim City Manager Rambat stated that he
had not, but he had sent it to Mr. Scott Mullin. Mr. Rambat commented that Mr. Mullin had
stated that it could be thirty to forty-five days before we hear back from
KDOT.
Public Works:
·
Pool closed:
Mr.
Rambat informed the Commission that the pool was done for the year and he had
shut everything down and drained the pumps.
Mr. Rambat stated that he would let the chlorine settle and then he
would drain it. Mr. Rambat commented
that it had been a successful year mechanically.
·
Mosquitoes:
Mr.
Rambat stated that mosquitoes were a problem, but the weather was not
cooperating so we could spray. Mr.
Rambat commented that they were going to try and spray this weekend if the
winds were under 10 mph.
·
Boulders at Wal-Mart:
Mr.
Rambat stated that the large boulders placed at the Wal-Mart entrance had been
hit. Mr. Rambat explained that they had
been crowded all together and a couple had been pushed into the street. Mr. Rambat added that one had been broken in
half. Mr. Rambat stated that the Line
crew helped them reset the boulders. Mr.
Rambat stated that he was going to get a sign that had an arrow to let the
truckers know to use the south entrance.
·
New facility by Kincheloe’s:
Commissioner
Hlavachick asked what the new facility was being built out by Kincheloe’s. Building Inspector Blankenship stated that it
was the new Ninnescah Rural Electric and they owned about ten acres. Mr. Blankenship commented that the west side
of the property was exactly as close as they could get without being in our
transmission area. Mr. Rambat added that
they would have geothermal heating and cooling.
Building Inspections:
·
Wal-Mart boulders:
Building
Inspector Blankenship stated that the boulders at Wal-Mart were near a main
water valve and that vehicle had run over the top of that and the boulders had
been put there to help protect that line.
Mr. Rambat commented that the water main was about 8’ to 10’ deep and
that would be very costly to repair.
Commissioner Skaggs asked which direction the truck came in from. Mr. Rambat stated that it appeared that it
came in from the east if you looked at the tracks. Mr. Rambat commented that the truck left us his
fender, but there was no way to see who did it.
·
Amusement Right Act Notice:
Mr.
Blankenship stated that he had received the Amusement Right Act Notice from the
Department of Labor and that had come from the Schlitterbahn Water Park
accident. Mr. Blankenship added that
this would filter down to any City that had any type of amusement ride and the
train was part of that. Mr. Blankenship
stated that Mr. Rambat had filled it out and, as the owners, we were obligated
to fill it out and maintain inspection records.
Mr. Blankenship commented that he had had a local mechanic take care of
that and he looked after the tracks.
Mr.
Blankenship informed the Commission that he had contacted Chance Manufacturing
also and he would post a valid certificate from them after they had finished
the inspection. Mr. Blankenship
commented that this would have to be done annually. Commissioner Taylor asked how much that would
cost. Mr. Blankenship stated that he did
not know. Mr. Blankenship commented that
they had to have someone from Chance Manufacturing come out when there was the
derailing issue and it was $1,200 and he thought it would be somewhere around
that again.
·
City Hall makeover:
Mr.
Blankenship stated that the side of City Hall was being painted and repairs
were being made to fix holes and cracks.
Mr. Rambat commented that we would be taking down the wooden fence and
then the street department would be building a parking lot for the staff. Mr. Blankenship stated that we would need to
be looking at putting on a good roof if we planned on staying here.
·
Arby’s and Casey’s update:
Mr.
Blankenship stated that Arby’s would be opening on September 20th.
Mr.
Blankenship stated that Casey’s was still waiting on KDOT’s decision about the
openings on Dale Road and Highway 61. Mr. Blankenship commented that he had visited
with EBH Engineering and the Casey’s engineer and had found that it was only a
right-of-way for a certain part and Dale Road did not start until the back side
of Terry Hamilton’s old building location.
Mr. Rambat stated that he had been trying to get in touch with KDOT
because they had asked if Dale Street was an official City street. Mr. Rambat stated that it was not and he felt
that Casey’s wanted to improve to Highway 61.
Mr. Blankenship stated that this was holding up Casey’s moving
forward. Mr. Rambat added that he had
not heard anything negative from Casey’s.
Recreation
Department:
·
Memorandum of Agreement:
Recreation
Director Pinkall stated that he would have a Memorandum of Agreement with Pratt
Community College for the track and soccer field at the next meeting. Mr. Pinkall commented that he had met with
Dr. Calvert a few times to negotiate an agreement. Mr. Pinkall stated that he would have Mr. Van
Blaricum look at it also. Mr. Pinkall
stated that the City would provide the property and Pratt Community College
would provide the funding. Mr. Pinkall
added that we would be the grant applicant and the Commission had approved a
resolution for that earlier.
Commissioner Taylor asked if Skyline or Pratt were in on any of these
discussions. Mr. Pinkall stated that
they had been invited, but no one attended.
Mr. Pinkall commented that they were interested in using, but not
investing. Mayor Kumberg questioned if
we had a good chance of getting the grant.
Mr. Pinkall stated that we did.
Commissioner Taylor asked how many acres we were talking about. Mr. Pinkall stated that it was over 40 acres,
but he did not know the total design.
Mr. Pinkall added that the City would want to retain ownership and keep
to the north edge of the property.
·
Resurfacing gym floor:
Mr.
Pinkall informed the Commission that they had completed resurfacing of the gym
floor at the Municipal Building. Mr.
Pinkall stated that they were doing this on their own now.
Police Department:
·
Executive Session:
Police
Chief Myers requested an executive session at the meeting to discuss elected
personnel to last thirty minutes.
Finance Department:
·
Sales Tax:
Finance
Director Garten stated that the sales tax report shows that it continues to
drop. Ms. Garten added that we were
about 5% down from last year. Ms. Garten
commented that the departments were watching their spending.
·
Unemployment report:
Mayor
Kumberg asked about the unemployment reports that were in the packet. Ms. Garten stated that we were low in
unemployment. City Clerk Kramer
commented that Mr. Howard’s emails were being forwarded to her and she thought
this would be something the Commissioners would like seeing.
City Clerk/Utility
Billing Department:
·
MDA Boot Block:
City
Clerk Kramer informed the Commission that the fire department did their MDA
Boot Block and had raised $4,600. Ms.
Kramer stated that this was about $400 more than last year and people were very
generous this year.
·
Customer’s email:
Ms.
Kramer commented that the Commissioners had received an email from an unhappy
customer the other day and she wanted them to know that that was something that
her department handles daily. Ms. Kramer
stated that her employee was doing her job, which upset this customer. Ms. Kramer thanked Mr. Blankenship, Mr.
Rambat and Mr. Clay for stepping out and letting their presence be known. Ms. Kramer added that, with Mr. Blankenship
standing behind her, an agreement was reached later that afternoon.
Mayor and Commission:
·
Executive Session:
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to enter into executive session for non-elected personnel
to last 30 minutes. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner Taylor and carried unanimously.
Mayor
Kumberg made a motion to return from executive session with nothing to
report. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Meyer and carried unanimously.
RECESS:
Upon
proper motion, the meeting was recessed until Monday, September 19, 2016 for
the City/County meeting at City Hall.
_______________________________________
LUCUS
KUMBERG, Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________________________
LUANN
KRAMER, City Clerk