THURSDAY
JULY 27, 2017
The
Governing Body of the City of Pratt met in a Special Call session in the
Commission Room located at City Hall.
Doug Meyer Commissioner
Bill Hlavachick Commissioner
Gary Schmidt Commissioner
Don Peters Commissioner
ALSO PRESENT:
LuAnn Kramer City Clerk
Regina Goff City Attorney
Diana Garten Finance Director
Gary Myers Chief of Police
Russell Rambat Public Works Director
Brad Blankenship Building Inspector
Jamie Huber Director of Electric Utilities
Bruce Pinkall Recreation Director
CALL TO ORDER:
The Special Call meeting was called
to order by Mayor Kumberg. The Mayor
instructed the Clerk to note that all Commissioners were present.
BUSINESS:
DISCUSSION
ON THE PROPOSED 2018 CITY OF PRATT BUDGET TO LAST ONE HOUR:
Finance Director Garten stated that
she had made the changes requested from the last budget work session and had
also listed the donations that Mayor Kumberg wanted to discuss. Ms. Garten added that it was all
self-explanatory. Commissioner Schmidt
asked about the added budget authority for a 3% cost of living raise for
employees. Ms. Garten explained that it
had not been built in earlier, but was now on a request from the City
Manager. Ms. Garten added that there
would be no raises at all without it in there.
Ms. Garten stated that she had broken down how much would come out of
each fund for a total of $168,000.
Commissioner Meyer stated that he was okay with that; however, he would
suggest that they look at the financials again in November or December. Ms. Garten stated that she would make herself
a note to review this then. Ms. Garten
added that it did not have to be 3%, but they wanted to build something in
there.
·
ED Director:
Commissioner Meyer asked about the
economic director position. Ms. Garten
stated that that would come out of tourism and they had an amount that they had
budgeted for that. Ms. Garten commented
that County Commissioner Borho had indicated that this probably would not
happen until 2019 since the 2018 budgets were set. Mayor Kumberg questioned if we could hire
that position and not have it tied to ED.
Ms. Garten stated that we could do that.
Commissioner Meyer commented that he did not know if we wanted to wait
until 2019. Commissioner Hlavachick
stated that this had been on the back burner for some time. Mayor Kumberg stated that the biggest impact
would be here. Ms. Garten stated that we
have some money, but no enough for a fulltime person with benefits. Commissioner Peters commented that the City
would earn the biggest benefit, but we could get a better package with a
supplement from the County. Commissioner
Meyer asked who was in charge of them.
Ms. Garten stated that they would report to the ED Board, but they would
need money to help with entertaining, etc.
Mayor Kumberg commented that we were in an advantageous position and
primed for growth, but we did not have the right people in place. Ms. Garten added that we were lacking in a
work force and affordable housing along with no building for people to go
into. Commissioner Meyer stated that
there was the Machinery Link building.
Mayor Kumberg stated that the work force at the hospital came from the
four surrounding Counties. Commissioner
Meyer stated that we did not want the budget to hold us back and it might be an
expense we had to absorb.
·
3% increase:
Commissioner Hlavachick questioned
if we could do a 2.5% increase for employees.
Ms. Garten stated that we could; however, we had done the 3% every year
since she came and one year they did 6%.
Commissioner Schmidt commented that he thought that we were going to
keep the wages flat and the increase in health insurance would be part of the
raise. Ms. Garten stated that it would
not be built into the budget if it was not authorized. Commissioner Peters suggested that the higher
ups get 2% raises and the lower staff get the 3%. Ms. Garten stated that there were no
stipulations on how we do it. Ms. Garten
added that we had good people and want that option in there if possible. Mayor Kumberg reminded the Commission that
they and the City Manager did not get the increase.
·
Mill Levy:
Mayor Kumberg questioned when the
last time was that we raised the mill levy.
Ms. Garten stated that it had been flat for several years and actually
decreased the last four or five years.
Commissioner Meyer asked how we justify raising the mill levy. Mayor Kumberg stated that we were using our
own money to artificially keep the mill levy flat. Commissioner Peters asked what our peak cash
reserve had been. Ms. Garten stated that
it was $20 million before several large projects. Commissioner Peters requested a report that
would show how that $20 million was spent.
Ms. Garten stated that she had that list. Commissioner Meyer commented that this was on
the advice of our auditors so that we could start building up our cash. Mayor Kumberg stated that the money in
reserves had been earmarked for projects so that we would not have to pay
interest.
·
Water at the airport:
Commissioner Meyer questioned how
much it would cost to get water out to the airport. Ms. Garten stated that it would be about a
$1.2 million project with a 30% forgiveness.
City Attorney Goff stated that KDHE was going to get ahold of the Army
Corp of Engineers to get them to the table to help cover the costs.
·
Rate Study:
Mayor Kumberg questioned if we had
any idea on the anticipated revenue from the rate study. Ms. Garten stated that they were still
working on it; however, we did anticipate some increase in revenue.
·
Donations:
Mayor Kumberg asked if we had had
any requests for the donations. Ms.
Garten stated that she had not, but City Manager Eckert had visited with
Kristina Kaufman from Blythe Family Fitness.
Ms. Garten commented that she would like to have the same amount or
more. Ms. Garten added that the Humane
Society was contractual and built into the budget. Mayor Kumberg stated that, in lieu of what
was happening, we were going to spend some of the tourism money on Lemon Park;
therefore, we should probably put a cap on what we were giving. Mayor Kumberg added that they do contribute
to the community, but this was going to be a wait and see year.
·
Police Department:
Commissioner Meyer asked if any of
the requests from Police Chief Myers were going to be allowed to happen. Ms. Garten stated that a lot had been taken
care of when Chief Myers had given his presentation to the Commission. Ms. Garten commented that he had put in for
two additional employees, but we did not want to ignore his requests. Mayor Kumberg stated that he agreed 100% that
they needed more staff and that they had done without things for a long
time. Ms. Garten stated that all he had
down was in the budget.
·
ED:
Commissioner Hlavachick asked how
much of the $60,000 a year gets used by ED.
Ms. Garten stated that it depends on what comes to town. Commissioner Hlavachick questioned if they
use some of it every year. Ms. Garten
commented that they did not; however, they had already committed $250,000 to
the theatre and $60,000 to Dr. Hopkins along with paying for the new parking in
front of Kennedy & Co.
·
Lemon Park:
Commissioner Meyer asked if we had
money to spend on Lemon Park. Ms. Garten
stated that we had a $20,000 gift and there was a grant that had been filed for
two bathrooms.
·
Request form:
Ms. Garten stated that she would
add financial reports and updates to the request form that businesses receiving
donations would be required to fill out.
Mayor Kumberg stated that he would like for those to come quarterly and
also have the larger events do the economic impact study like Disc Golf does.
·
Removal of property:
Commissioner Meyer asked if we
needed to increase the amount in the inspector’s budget to have structures
removed from a property. Ms. Garten
stated that we had increased that to $50,000 a couple of years ago and the cost
to do one was estimated at $10,000; therefore, the $50,000 would do five
properties. Commissioner Peters
questioned if this money goes away if it was not spent. Ms. Garten stated that it does. Commissioner Schmidt asked if the
reimbursement from the South Iuka properties would go back into the general
fund. Ms. Garten stated that it would
and added that that property did not hurt us at all.
·
Increase in donation:
Commissioner Hlavachick stated that
he would like to see the Hope Center, Circles and the Food Bank get an
additional $100 a month. Commissioner
Meyer commented that he had visited with Ms. Siemens and Circles was happy with
what they were getting. Mayor Kumberg
added that he felt that the Hope Center was happy as well. Commissioner Hlavachick stated that the
shelves at the Food Bank were pretty empty sometimes and the number of people
had increased. Commissioner Meyer stated
that there were only two that came in last Friday, but you never knew what to
expect.
·
Motion to Publish:
Commissioner Meyer made a motion to
approve the publication of the 2018 proposed budget as presented and to have
the public hearing on August 21st at the regular Commission meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner
Hlavachick and carried unanimously.
ADJOURN:
Commissioner Hlavachick made a
motion to adjourn. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner Peters and carried unanimously.
________________________________
LUCUS
KUMBERG, Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________________
LUANN
KRAMER, City Clerk