Beloit City Council
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
By Terry Bailey
The Beloit City Council conducted their regular bi-weekly business meeting at City Hall Tuesday evening, June 20th. All Councilors were present. Also in attendance were Mayor Tom Naasz, Janson Rabe-City Manager, Katie Schroeder-City Attorney, and Amada Lomax-City Clerk
In the time allotted for comments by the Councilors, all Councilors were very complimentary of the final results of the Court Street overhaul between Mill and Hersey. They wished to extend their appreciation the City crews for their prompt and high quality work.
City Manager Jason Rabe reviewed sales tax income for the past few years for the Councilors. In 2011 the city received $949,000 in sales tax revenue. In 2012 that amount rose to $1.2 million. In 2013 it rose to $1.3 million. In 2014 it was $1.3 million. 2015 saw a rise to $1.4 million. In 2013 the tax revenue dipped to $1.3 million.
Rabe said over the years the cycle of ups and downs remain constant from year to year.
The discussions with KDHE and EPA are ongoing as they try to find common ground on how to best provide clean and safe drinking water for the citizens of Beloit.
The East Main project in on an up cycle. The contractor has most of his men and machinery on site. They are hard at work pouring curb and gutter and driveway entrances as well as doing the appropriate cutting of concrete. If the weather cooperates, they will make improvements on the days behind tally.
Rabe displayed photos and discussed the status of storm water drainage in the downtown area. The bottom line is the system is quite old but is doing an adequate job at this time. It should receive attention but it is not critical at this time.
Rabe said the Electrical Department is working to put technology to work to help solve short term electrical outages. Some of these are caused by squirrels or limbs and the contact is only of a short term duration, but the system is shut down until reset. They are hoping to find a technological solution to reset those short term interruptions quickly.
Tammy Kimminau from the Solomon Valley Transportation program appeared before the Councilors. Kimminau was accompanied by Harold Heidrick, President of the SVT Board of Directors. They thanked the Council for its strong support of the SVT program which fills a big void in the transportation needs in North Central Kansas.
In their first year of its existence, SVT traveled over 69,000 miles and served over 4,900 passengers. From July of 2015 through May of 2017, SVT vehicles traveled over 154,000 miles and served over 8,000 passengers. These trips include medical appointments, shopping for daily necessities, and entertainment opportunities otherwise unavailable without the service.
Kimminau asked the Council to consider maintaining or increasing their funding of the program. She believes there continues to be large unmet need for public transporation in our area.
The Kansas Department of Transporation has become involved with the Safe Routes To School Program which is a good thing and a bad thing. The good part is that the amount of money available is greatly expanded with being involved with KDOT. The down side is the slow speed with which KDOT programs can progress and the rules and specifications that are numerous. All in all it seems to be a positive move. The Council approved a Resolution in support of the Safe Routes to School program.
A request for LED Street lights was submitted by Steve Krier and Allen Mong. LED light are much more energy efficient that traditional bulbs. The Council approved a bid from Kriz-Davis for 100 Cooper LED Street lights in the amount of $10,795.75.
The Council accepted a bid from Bridgewell for 12 treated wooden utility poles at a cost of $13,372. The accepted a bid from Kriz-Davis for 15 poles at a cost of $11,146.
Because July 4th falls on the regular Council meeting date, that meeting will be held on Monday, July 3rd.
Alice Jennings was appointed to the Library Board.
Have dispatched will all the items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.