During the formal actions section of the Beloit City Council meeting held Tuesday evening the Council voted to approved Mayor Tom Naasz recommendations for members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee. This committee will work with a consultant to develop a long-range plan for the City of Beloit. The committee is made up of City Council members, Planning Commission members, Community Development Director, four citizens-at-large, the City Administrator and the City Zoning Administrator.
Those accepting positions on the committee are as follows:
City Council members: Bob Richard and Lloyd Littrell; Planning Commission members: Nick Richmond and Cathy Roberts; Community Development Director: Heather Hartman; Citizens-at-large: Dick Carrico, Karen Pahls, Jeff Zimmer and Mark Palen; City Administrator: Glenn Rodden and Zoning Administrator: Chris Jones.
During Council Reports Councilman Rick Brown questioned Police Chief Brenon Odle as to why the council wasn't notified that he was trading for two new squad cars for the department before the purchase took place. Brown questioned why the council had to find out about this transaction by listening to the radio or reading it in the newspaper. Brown said it would be nice if the council could know about this before they made the decision to do this.
Chief Odle responded he didn't anticipate making this trade but they were able to get two four-wheel-drive program vehicles for $5,000 less than they could buy new vehicles and they still have the cameras and radars from the cars they traded in held in reserve in case they need them. He was asked which Charger they got rid of and the Chief said they traded the one they had been having problems with. Councilman Brown said he still thought the Council should have had a heads up before this transaction took place.
City Attorney, Katie Cheney advised the council she is working on a revised animal code for the city and they should have it before them by their next regular meeting. She is working to bring the code up to date since they will not be requiring cat licensing in the future. Cheney said they have received the last easement needed for the extension of the airport runway. They are scheduled to close on this the last Tuesday in March. She hasn't heard anymore from Travis Lattin, Airport FBO about building the new hanger at the airport.
The Council approved Ordinance No. 2124 by a vote of 8 to 0 to exempt certain property from Ad Valorem Taxation for economic development purposes. They accepted the annual claim for exemption from property taxation from the Landoll Corporation, of Beloit for the year 2013.
The Council passed Resolution 2013-3 for the intent to issue revenue bonds prepared by Bond Counsel Gilmore & Bell. The bond issue fee is for $2,500. Passing this resolution authorizes the City of Beloit to issue bonds, which will be purchased by the North Central Regional Planning Commission at 0 percent interest for up to seven years. This is a resolution declaring it necessary to repair, alter, extend, reconstruct, enlarge or improve the electric utility revenue bonds for the purpose of paying the costs thereof and relating financing costs and providing for the giving notice of said intention to do so. This cost to improve the system is estimated to be $195,700. Sunflower Mfg. Co. will pay back their share of this amount within one year and Kohler will pay back his share within five to seven years. The council voted 8 to 0 to do this.
In other business the Council voted 8 to 0 to accept the bid from Municipal Supply Inc. for $7,160.3l for sewer pipe to be used in the final phase of the Mill Street project.
The Council approved the bid from Shilling Construction Company in the amount of $161,035.00 for the milling and overlay of K-14 Highway under the KDOT KLINK program. This project is funded on a 75/25 percent cost share between KDOT and the city. The city's share of the project will be $40,258.75 and funding is available through the city's CIP fund.
The Council approved a bid from Kriz-Davis Co. in the amount of $83,227.00 for transformers to be used for the Sunflower Mfg., Kohler, and North Campus projects. Funding is available under the Electric Systems Division.
The Council approved an updated agreement for economic development services between the City of Beloit, Mitchell County, the Chamber of Commerce and Solomon Valley Economic Development currently held by Heather Hartman. This is a three-year agreement defining the duties of the economic developer and outlined what each organization contributes to the position.
The Council approved the appointment of Tod Dunstan to the Beloit Fire Department as recommended by Fire Chief Steve Rugg.
During the work session discussion City Administrator Rodden advised the Council he is told the Senate Bill 109 he talked abut at the last meeting is stalled and hasn't gotten to either the House or the Senate floor. He also said they will get the meeting date for the Comprehensive Plan Committee set up for this next week, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Rodden introduced Dustin Avey, from Piper Jaffrey Co. who discussed refinancing the city's existing revenue bonds for the new aquatic center and what this would entail. Following Avey's explanation and discussion by the council instructed Administrator Rodden to draft a resolution to allow this process to move forward to proceed as long as they can realize a certain savings on the bond rates.
Stewart Porter, Schwab-Eaton Engineers discussed constructing the North Campus sewer system. He presented several different options that are available on this issue. Porter gave a preliminary cost estimate for Phase 1 of the North Campus Sanitary Sewer System in the amount of $456,379.00. After discussion Mayor Naasz said "I think we need to move forward with this and get that land back on the tax roll."
Kendal Francis, Director of Water/Wastewater Operations, presented a cost estimate for contracting the final phase of the Mill Street sewer project, which includes the last three blocks of the street. He contacted the company who completed the recent water line replacement project. Their estimate would be $243,000 for them to do this work. Francis says it would cost a lot less than this amount for the city crews to do the work themselves. He and Mike Haeffele, Director of Streets and Transportation Dept, discussed it and agreed it can be done. Haeffele said this project has been in progress ever since he first took this position and he just wants to get it finished. They will move forward from here.