The Beloit City Council voted to remove Police Chief Brenon Odle from his position as Beloit Chief Of Police at their meeting Tuesday evening. Following a 20 minute closed session that included the governing body, City Attorney Katie Cheney, Mayor Tom Naasz announced that no action was taken during the session. At that time, Councilman Robert Petterson, asked for the floor and moved that Beloit Police Chief Brenon Odle be relieved from all duties immediately without further compensation.
At that time, Becky Koster, came forward from the audience and asked to address the council and read a message Chief Odle sent to her husband's cell phone last April. Mayor Naasz said this was not an appropriate time to do this as there was already a motion on the floor that called for a vote and refused to allow Koster to read the message.
The Mayor repeated the motion as it was made and called for the vote. Councilman Frank Delka and Kent Miller voted no, with Councilman Rick Brown declining to vote. Councilmen Lloyd Littrell, Bob Richard, Matt Otte, and Robert Petterson voted yes to carry the vote to remove Odle from his position. Council woman Pat Strubble was absent from the meeting.
Chief Odle was in the room and asked if they had voted to remove him from his position. When told that they had, he called the names of the four councilmen that voted against him and said they better read the Thursday issue of the Salina Journal. Odle left the room and Mayor Naasz asked Officer Dave Elam, who was present at that time, if he would accept the position of Acting Interim Chief of Police. Elam accepted the position.
A 15-minute closed session was also held for Attorney-Client Privilege with the governing body, City Administrator, Glenn Rodden, City Attorney Cheney and Mitchell County Attorney Mark Noah present after which the Mayor announced that no action was taken during the session.
During the City Administrator Report, Administrator Rodden introduced Rick Ensz, Vice President of Cooper, Malone, McClain, Inc. Investment Bankers and Securities Broker Dealers, Overland Park, Kansas, to discuss the East Main Street project Financing. Ensz serves as the city's Bond Organizer when they need him.
He reported that as of yesterday the Kansas Department of Transportation were discontinuing their Transportation Revolving Project Fund the City planned to get funding from and concentrate on funding highways instead of acting as a bank handling money.
Ensz went on say the rates to borrow money are at an all time historic low in years and offered the council members information on four other options they can use to finance the project. There is no right or wrong way to do this Ensz said it just depends on how the council wants to handle it. The rates are not locked in until the day his company issues the actual bonds. Ensz also explained the "Call Feature" that can be used after a certain length of time if the City finds it has sufficient funds to pay off the loan. The city plans to use the funds they receive from Sales Tax which brings in about $50,000 a month to fund the project. Stewart Porter, an Schwab-Eaton, Engineer estimates the cost of the project will be 1.9 million dollars. The council will think about this and let Ensz know what they want to do.
Administrator Rodden said in discussing the Sturgis Street project that he received a letter from Paul Abram, earlier today. Abram said everyone he has talked to on Sturgis Street is against the concrete paving and improvements. Abram said he does not want to cause a hardship on any of these residents. He said Dennis Lutgen and Mike Blass are to ones wanting this project, therefore he will donate the concrete for the east side of Sturgis street from 4th to 8th Street if Lutgen and Blass will donate the concrete on the west side. Rodden said they would still have three blocks left to do after Abram finished his part.
Under Formal Agreements the Council approved the Addendum 2 bond Underwriting Agreement by a vote of 7 to 0.
The Council approved the Electric Wire Bid from Wesco Distribution Inc. for $23,125 that was the lowest of three bids received.
The Council approved the environment Assessment for the downtown Rehabilitation Grant by a vote of 7 to 0.
The Council approved the Asbestos Inspection agreement with the Department of Commerce for the block grant the city has been awarded for the repair of downtown buildings 7 to 0.
The Council approved the Cereal-Malt-Liquor license for Mac's Kwik Shop 7 to 0.
During the Work Session Administrator Rodden explained the North Campus Land Sale. Rodden said Brad Schroeder has a contract agreement with the City to purchase four lots at the backside of the North Campus land. They would like to swap these four lots with lots to the front side of the area. They plan to start their project early next year and could not do that with the lots they have an option on now. By switching to the lots on the front side there is already an existing road and they would be able to start much sooner. No decision was made on this, as it was a discussion item only.