Council Discusses Three Projects in Work Session

The Beloit City Council discussed three new projects during the work session portion of their meeting Tuesday evening. These projects included the East Main Street project, the North Campus engineering agreement, and the Kansas Airport Improvement Program. No final action was taken on these items since this was the discussion only portion of the meeting.

City Engineer Stuart Porter was present to discuss the reconstruction of the streets on East main. Porter presented a cost estimate to have an outside construction company complete this project in one overall project. In the past the city crews have furnished the labor and construction work of all of the projects and have divided them up into several different sections to allow the cost to be spread out over several different years.

Porter said the total construction, inspection and engineering cost to have this project done all at one time is projected to be $1,816,780. This would be to put in a concrete pavement with curb and guttering, storm sewers and rock excavation beginning at Baldwin Street and going easterly 2700 feet to US 24 Highway. He estimated the construction crew could complete the whole project in about six months time where with all their other responsibilities the city crew would take several years to complete the work.

Council members had varied reactions to this proposal. Councilman Bob Richards thought this would be the way to go. Councilwoman Pat Struble felt this was a lot of money to put out at once and Councilman Rick Brown felt it would be better to continue construction of the this project the way they have in the past. Brown asked about using the sales tax fund for this project. Councilman Matt Otte said if the project is let out to an outside construction crew they could use this money to pay the bond off at $120,000 a year for 20 years.

City Administrator Glen Rodden said the sales tax fund is bringing in about $50,000 a month or $600,000 a year. Porter said it would be the fall of 2015 before they could have final plans for the project in place to let for bids. Mayor Tom Naasz said, "We need to proceed with this plan and have Schwab-Eaton draw up a proposal and bring it back to the next meeting on September 17. This would give us until 2015 to build up our sales tax fund." The council agreed to this action.

Engineer Porter also discussed the North Campus engineering agreement. He discussed what options are available at this point in the project and talked about what needs to be done to bring all of the components together for the best outcome of the project. With the council's approval Mayor Naasz, told Porter to put the plan all together so they can move forward the project. Porter also said they have sewer project plans ready to submit to KDOT at the end of this week and can put out bids on this in three or four weeks.

Administrator Rodden said some time ago FAA put their Kansas Airport Improvement Program on hold due to lack of funds and this has pushed the proposed improvements at Moritz Municipal Airport back a year. He received word today that KDOT has a plan that will match what FAA proposed to do and this will push the plan up one year if their application is accepted. This would be a 95 percent match VS the 75-25 percent match FAA was offering. They could use KDOT money for the first phase and then go back to the Federal money if they need to. It was decided there was nothing to lose if the application is rejected. The council felt they needed to move forward with this and instructed Rodden to go ahead and apply for the KDOT funds and bring the information back at the September 17th meeting.

During the regular business meeting Administrator Rodden told the council caution signs have been put up at the Solomon River dam to warn people about the dangers of playing on the dam surface. Now it is up to those involved to heed the signs. Rodden has been to a seminar on the new concealed carry law this past week and will be going to another this coming week. He is not sure what rules the city will have to work out after the six-month option period. There will be a water meeting at the Municipal Building on September 9. Rodden said the Mill Street Project is in the final stages after being years in the making. Councilman Mat Otte thanked the city crews for a job well done.

Councilman Lloyd Littrell had questions about the cost of installation of the new catalytic converters at the water plant listed in the accounts payable section of the agenda. Rodden said the converters are all installed and passed the tests just fine. The heat shields still have to be put in place. The city will continue to make payments on the swimming pool project bond for the next 18 years. The three percent sales tax money will go to pay off the bond.

Two ordinances were approved by the council including Ordinance 2131, which the Standard Traffic Ordinance, that is approved each year and Ordinance 2132, the Uniform Public Offense Code, which is also adopted each year.

During formal actions the council voted to appoint Administrator Glenn Rodden and Kendall Francis as voting delegates to represent the City of Beloit in the conduct and management of the affairs of the League of Kansas Municipalities Assn. Several county employees also plan to attend the convention this year.

The following bids were approved as submitted by Director of Systems Operations. Ronald Sporleder for the Nordic Transformer Deferral Cabinets, Nordic Box pads and 2-way load break junctions in the amount of $12,813.00 from Kriz-Davis Company. The same companies bid was approved at a cost of $12,180 for electric poles to replace the ones used for the Kohler project.

The council approved the appointment of Tyler Dunstan to the Beloit Fire Department as recommended by Chief Steve Rugg.