City Council Faces A Wide Venue Of Projects

The Beloit City Council had a widely varied agenda for their Tuesday night meeting. During the Mayor and Council reports Mayor Tom Naasz commented on the number of people attending the Eagles 18th Annual Car Show. Councilman Matt Otte reminded everyone of the Candidate Forum to be held at the Beloit Municipal Building auditorium, Sunday evening, September 30 at 7 p.m. The candidates will be present to answer questions at 6 p.m. Councilman Bob Petterson said he was pleased that they had 550 people attend the VFW Breakfast this past week.

During the Staff reports City Attorney Katie Cheney reported they have successfully purchased the west lot of the old Port Library property from the Poindexter family for the accessed value of $5,000. The deed was filed this week so the city can now sell the property or whatever they choose to do with it.

In his report, City Administrator Glenn Rodden, told the council this stage of the Mill Street Project is nearing completion and should be finished by the end of this week. He said the person they chose to offer the Community Development Director position has decided to take a job elsewhere. They will be meeting again this coming Thursday to choose another candidate for the job.

Everything is wrapped on the cooling towers at the power plant and the next step is Phase 2, which is purchasing and installing two Catalytic Converters. The waterline replacement on Main Street will soon be finished. The water meter project is going well, Rodden said.

The riverbank stabilization project in Chautauqua Park is in progress and they hope to have it finished by October 25, Rodden said. Lynn Miller, Recreation Director said two sides of the bank will be finished with turf matter and the side by the walking bridge will be finished with rock. The park is still open but the road around that side of it will not be opened until this project is finished, Rodden said.

Administrator Rodden said they met with Mike Blass who purchased real estate on the North Campus to develop and build homes on the property. However, the development will run north and south instead of east and west as originally stated in the contract. Blass hopes to get something started yet this fall.

The council approved Ordinance 2120 No Parking by a vote of 7 to 0 with Councilman Rick Brown absent from the meeting. This ordinance is directed at solving a parking and access problem on North Hersey Avenue during football games. The problem is created when cars are parked on both sides of the street and emergency vehicles, including police vehicles, are blocked from using the only exit on the North Campus.

The solution is to not allow parking on the east and west sides of Hersey Avenue between Gaylord Street and 20th Street. Police Chief, Brennon Odle, said this is a dangerous situation and they will continue to enforce this ordinance because it is a mess getting in and out as it is now. This will reduce traffic congestion, increase and allow emergency vehicles safe access to and from the building located north of Gaylord Street, he said.

The Ordinance says no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle in said designated zone. The penalties for violation of this Ordinance shall be the same as those designated in the latest edition of the Standard Traffic Ordinance for Kansas Cities as adopted by the City of Beloit. The Ordinance will take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and one publication in the official city newspaper.

Under formal actions, the Council appointed Director of Electric Operations, Ronnie Sporleder, as Director #2 to fill the unexpired term on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Municipal Gas Agency (KMGA). Administrator Rodden said this agency has provided valuable assistance to the City of Beloit. They worked closely with them on the recent electric power supply issues.

Administrator Rodden said Paul's Tree Service was recently contracted by Cunningham Cable Company to trim trees throughout the cable system at a cost of $17,000. The cities electric department approached Paul's about also trimming trees for the city throughout the electric system at the same time. Rodden said the price provided is less than what city workers could do the trimming for. He recommended that the council approve the bid from Paul's for trimming the cities trees at a cost of $26,000.

Councilman, Lloyd Littrell, asked what part of the budget this cost would be taken out of. He was told they would have to do some shifting around to get it worked in. Mayor Naasz called for the vote and it was 5 to 2 to have this done, with Councilman Littrell and Councilman Otte voting not to hire this work done.

The Council discussed the FAA Grant Agreement for the AIP project, which would allow the city to request funds from the FAA up to $84,546.00 for the acquisition of these to-ground easements. The city's cost share is $9,394.00. The total project cost is $93,940.00. Funding for this project is available in the Capitol Improvement Fund.

The city recently reached agreements with two property owners for to ground easements for the Moritz Memorial Airport project. These are the final two property acquisitions the airport expansion project. Mr. Waller, Project Engineer will be at the next council meeting to talk to the council. The airport project did not receive funding this year but this should be wrapped up by December, Rodden said. The Council voted 6 to 1 to approve the Grant Agreement with Councilman Otte voting not to approve the agreement.

The Council adjourned and went into their Work Session. Only one item was listed for discussion. Ken Fairfield, of Olsson and Associates, briefed the council about the city's efforts to comply with federal emissions requirements or RICE-NESHAP (which stands for Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines - National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) which is a compliance set by the EPA.

Fairfield said his company was contacted by the City of Beloit to help them decide what the cost of this would be if they decide to comply with the regulations. The necessary equipment has been ordered and will be arriving in the near future. Their goal is to meet the specified May deadline, he said. He will keep working with the city on this in the future.

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