Beloit City Council Meeting Tuesday June 16th

Beloit City Council

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council took heed of an old saying of undetermined origin at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night. The quote says, “When you’re at the edge of a cliff, sometimes progress is a step backwards.” Most in attendance at the meeting would agree that things moved forward by taking a step backwards Tuesday night.

The issue of attention was Ordinance 2165 - The Comprehensive Plan. The Ordinance was on the agenda so that the Council could vote for or against its adoption. The Plan is used to help the City leaders work to improve the city by directing growth, expansion and the improvement of the current and future infrastructure of the city. The current Comprehensive Plan for the City of Beloit was adopted in 1996. According to City Attorney, Katie Schroeder, the plan is supposed to be updated every ten years, making the current plan outdated by nine years.

The major issue of contention for well over the past year has been a provision within the proposed Comprehensive Plan to allow for the City to zone areas outside of the City limits up to a three mile distance.

This item has been on the agenda at numerous meetings of the Planning Commission and the City Council. At every such meeting, crowds of 40, 50 or 60 people have attended to listen and to voice their displeasure at the city being able to zone land outside of the city limits with the landowners having a limited voice in the process.

Tuesday night’s meeting saw a crowd of well over 75 people attend to show their disapproval for the proposed zoning provision in the Comprehensive Plan. The meeting was moved downstairs to the Trail Room to accommodate the large audience.

In its last meeting the Beloit Planning Commission voted 4-1 to forward the final copy of the Comprehensive Plan to the City Council with their recommendation for it to be adopted by the Council in its current form.

The Council’s rules governing public comment at council meetings require that those wishing to speak notify the City beforehand so that they can be placed on the agenda. Each person requesting to speak is allowed three minutes to voice their opinion. Two people residing within the proposed three mile area made the proper arrangements to speak.

Carl Eilert was the first to address the Council. Eilert has spoken passionately and clearly at every meeting where this topic was considered. Eilert used a number of quotes with which to make his points. He reminded the Councilors that the meeting opened, as it always does, with the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Eilert made the point that the Pledge is an affirmation that governments are established to serve the people and to act in the best interests of the people. Eilert quoted James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, saying, “One of the major duties of government is to protect private property.”

Quoting Benjamin Franklin, Eilert said, “Those who give up some of their liberty to gain safety end up with neither.”

“Our Founding Fathers cautioned numerous times against tyrannical rule as they fought against the English government they believed to be repressive and would not/did not hear the voice of the people,” said Eilert.

He ending with a question as his time ran out, “How many citizens attending this meeting had the opportunity to vote for members of the City Council who will be making this decision?”

The next speaker was Rebecca Crumbaker who also has been a strong voice against the proposed three mile zoning. She pointed to the standing room only crowd and asked, “Look at all the people who keep coming to these meetings, peaceably assembling, and asking for you to hear them. If the governing body is blind to the desires of the citizens our process needs to be examined.”

Crumbaker went on to say, “Our country was founded by those who rebelled because the established government did not hear them. The folks back then wanted a say. The people in this room want a say.”

Crumbaker asked the rhetorical question of the Council, “How would the people of the City feel is they were governed by a group of people for which they had no opportunity to elect?”

She ended with the request, “Please, take out the three mile zoning provision from the Comprehensive Plan.”

Greg Drum, speaking as a member of the Planning Commission, was up next. He started by noting that numerous people had asked him, “What is taking so long to get this passed?” He said the answer was clear – Nobody was in favor of it. He pointed out that in all the meetings where the topic was discussed, many people attended and none of them spoke for the three mile zoning.

He said, “When you are trying to pass something that nobody wants, it takes a long time to get it done.”

“It is time,” Drum said, “for the City Council to step up and do the right thing. They should take out the three mile zoning provision and put it to rest.”

Councilor Matt Otte said, “The original wording in the document was poorly done and it was misleading. I am for the Plan because it will help with grant applications such as the grants for Neighborhood Revitalization projects downtown and throughout the community. I was elected to protect the citizens of Beloit and that is what I intend to do.”

Councilor Bob Richards made a motion to approve the Comprehensive Plan along with the three mile zoning provision as currently published. The motion failed by a 4-3 vote. Voting against adoption of the Plan were Lloyd Littrell, Rick Brown, Bob Petterson, and Tony Gengler. Voting in favor of the Plan were: Matt Otte, Bob Richards, and Kent Miller.

The Plan will be sent back to the Planning Commission for consideration of how to make the Plan more attractive to all parties concerned.

In the time made available at the beginning of the meeting for Councilor comments, Lloyd Littrell reported that people had asked him if the City would spray for mosquitoes again this year. City administrator Glen Rodden was not aware that spraying had been done in the past. Several of the Councilors remembered the City had done so in the past. Rodden will look into it.

Councilor Otte said he had been asked about the bathrooms at the Cookie baseball field. It appears they do not operate well or operate at all.

Councilor Bob Richards asked about the railroad track crossing project. He said, “We keep asking the same question but no action has been taken. Now, the railroad people will say that they can’t do anything until harvest is over and then they will say winter is coming and so on.”

Rodden said that he City does not own the bathrooms at the Cookie baseball field but they do maintain them. They are not in good condition and the Council will need to decide if we will rehabilitate them or to tear them down.

In other action, the City:

Adopted a formal agreement with USD 273 for a lease agreement on the Education Building at the North Campus.

Approved a special event license for Sharon Sahlfeld and the Rising River Music Festival to be held at the Chautauqua Park. No alcohol will be sold, but private consumption will be allowed.

Approved a Hot Well repair project at the Power Plant to not exceed $30,000.

Approved an oil bid in the amount of $10,766 for Engine #7 at the Power Plant. Some moisture had gotten into the engine oil and the experts recommended that the oil be changed.

Accepted a FAA Grant of $1,979,370 for the airport improvement project. Beloit’s share of the project will be $219, 923

The Council recessed into a closed session for the purpose of land acquisition. When the regular meeting resumed, a motion was made to make an additional offer to Shirley Ruetik for an undisclosed amount of money for easements in the K-14 improvement project.

At that point the regular meeting was adjourned and the Work Session was called to order.

City Attorney Katie Schroeder presented information for the Council to consider regarding Municipal Court Costs. In 2010, the City set the current rate for court costs at $75 per case. Of this amount, $38 goes to the state leaving the City with $37. Currently the court costs assessed by the District Court are $108 per case.

She asked the Councilors to consider raising the Municipal Court costs to $100 per case. She will prepare additional information for them in an action item.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA