KVSV

Beloit City Council Meeting Tuesday September 19th

 

Beloit City Council

 

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

 

By Terry Bailey

 


 

The Beloit City Council met at City Hall Tuesday evening, September 19, to oversee the affairs of the City. All Councilors were present as well as Mayor Tom Naasz, City Manager Jason Rabe, and City Clerk Amanda Lomax. City Attorney, Katie Schroeder, was absent from the meeting.

 

In the time reserved for comments from the Councilors Andrew Grabon commented that the Community Concert Sunday night was excellent. He understood the group was going to perform at Beloit Elementary on Monday which he wholeheartedly supported. Lee McMillian said he had attended the League of Municipalities yearly meeting and found it educational and motivating. Kent Miller said he attended the Water Meeting Sunday afternoon and believed everyone was doing a good job.

 

City Manager Jason Rabe reminded the Councilors of the special meeting on Tuesday night, September 20th in the Trail Room of the Municipal Building. The purpose is to discuss the possibilities for the new water treatment system and possible involvement by the Rural Water Districts. The meeting will begin a 6 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.

 

Rabe said he had once again engaged the Kyle Railroad in discussions about fixing the very rough railroad crossing on South Hersey/Highway 14. He believes he has an understanding with Kyle that they will repair the south set of tracks. Evidently, the north tracks belong to another railroad company and are only leased by Kyle. Getting the north tracks repaired may be a challenge. When asked when the tracks might be successfully repaired Rabe was unable to provide a solid answer.

 

Solomon Valley Economic Director Heather Hartman announced that the first Strategic Doing meeting, scheduled for September 25th, will initiate action on finding projects for the improvement of the Beloit Community. There will be three more meetings at 30 day increments. The meeting will be at the NCK Tech College in their conference room.

 

Rabe reported that the police department has been understaffed for the past six weeks. They have been operating three men short on the force. Recently two officers have been hired and are awaiting training at the Academy in Hutchinson.

 

The Council approved Ordinance 2213 dealing with the mowing of property with overgrown lawns. Efforts will be made to contact the tenant or landowner when mowing is needing. To encourage them to mow their lawns. If no action is taken, city crews will mow the lawn and bill the property owner. If the bill is not paid, the fee will be added to their County property tax.

 

In formal actions the Council approved a contract extension for Paul’s Tree Service. Paul’s will be granted an additional 60 days to complete the trimming of the trees in the alleys of Beloit.

 

Change Order #3 relating to the final specific work details on the East Main project was approved. In related action the Council approved a final pay amount of $1,444,785 for the East Main project. Finally, the Council authorized issuing a Certificate of Substantial Completion for the East Main Project.

 

At this point the Business Meeting was adjourned and the Work Session was called to order.

 

Stephanie Simmons, Executive Director of the Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation, reported that the Healthy Eating and Living group is meeting, planning and making progress. One of the major components of their efforts is a three pronged program of walking paths, hiking trails, and biking paths. She introduced Jesse Benedict who has been heading up the committee working on the creation of venues that allow folks to walk, bike, or hike on their way to increased healthiness.

 

Benedict led the Council through a visual discussion of the planned trails, bike paths and hiking trails in and around Beloit. He and Simmons acknowledge they had created a long range plan that could be built as various funding avenues became available. But, with a comprehensive long range plan to work from, the various parts of the plan could be implemented so that they all work together.

 

The final action of the evening related around a Bobcat machine currently used at the Power Plant. In the past, the City has rented a machine from Bobcat and pays a nominal fee each year. Every two years the old machine is traded for a new machine. However, the company does not want to continue this program. They have offered to sell the machine to Beloit for $32,000 which checks out to be a reasonable cost. The City could turn the machine back in to Bobcat but then they would have to find another machine which may or may not be as good as the one they have. After looking at the ups and downs of various courses of action, the Council voted to buy the current machine currently in their possession for $32,000.

 


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Beloit, KS 67420, USA