TUES FEB 17 BELOIT CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Beloit City Council

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council was in session Tuesday evening, February seventeenth, two thousand fifteen. All Councilors were present with the exception of Bob Petterson. Also in attendance was Mayor Tom Naasz, City Administrator Glen Rodden, City Attorney Katey Schroeder and City Clerk Amanda Lomax.

In the time for comments from Councilors, Lloyd Littrell reported that he saw graffiti and broken playground equipment at the West Side Park. He asked if the Police Department was aware of this and what was being done. Glenn Rodden said they were aware of the situation and would talk about it during the work session.

Charlie Wright, Commander of the Beloit V.F.W. Post addressed the Council during the time allotted for comments from the public. Wright reminded the Councilors that there are one hundred nineteen flag holders along the downtown streets of Beloit. On five separate occasions each year service flags and American flags are flown from these holders. The current flags are worn and becoming frayed. Additionally, they were being flown last Labor Day and many received extensive hail damage. Local veterans have already purchased replacement service flags so only the American flags need replaced. Flags can be purchased for fourteen dollars each and one hundred twenty American flags need to be purchased. The total cost for new American flags would be one thousand six hundred eighty dollars. Wright asked, “Could the city buy replacement flags?”

Mayor Tom Naasz said, “This looks like a good request. We will talk about it and let you know.”

Mike Blass spoke to the Council about property he owns on South Mill near the Solomon River. He has received notice from the code officer, Chris Jones, that this building is considered to be an unfit structure.

“I understand the problem is that all the windows are broken out of the building. At one time I replaced them all but that have been broken out again. In the past I asked for some help from Chief Ghent to monitor the area because it seems to be kids who are throwing rocks and breaking out the windows. I got no help from him in any way,” said Blass.

Blass continued, “I have new windows to replace the broken ones but I am hesitant to replace them if they get broken out once again by kids throwing rocks. Most of the damage has been done during swimming pool season when there is a lot of foot traffic by the building. I want to fix up the building but I need some help to monitor the area so that damage is not constantly done. If I can’t get any help with some kind of supervision, I will just board up the windows and leave it at that.

No immediate answer was forthcoming from the Council with how to prevent vandalism.

The Council approved Resolution twenty fifteen dash six, which declared the property at Four Oh Two South Mill to be an unfit structure. The owner of the building, Charlie Mears, has sixty days to demolish and remove the structure.

Resolution twenty fifteen dash seven was approved. This Resolution indicates the Council’s desire to not support the moving of City elections to the fall general election day with those filing for a City Council positions required to declare a political party affiliation.

A bid from Vogts-Parga Construction Company was accepted for the paving of the North Campus streets in the amount of nine hundred ninety-four thousand eight hundred twenty-three dollars. The work must be completed by September thirtieth two thousand fifteen.

In a related action, Schwab-Eaton was awarded the engineering contract for this paving job in the amount of sixty-six thousand dollars.

A cereal malt beverage license was approved for Shop Ko which will be doing business in the old Alco location.

The Council unanimously approved a resolution declaring February as Teen Dating Violence Awareness month. The resolution read, in part

Females between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence, experiencing abuse at a rate almost triple the national average and

One in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner and

Only thirty-three percent of girls abused ever tell anyone and

Young people victimized by a dating partner are much more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors and unhealthy dating behaviors.

After a thirty minute executive session the Council adjourned the formal meeting and entered into a work session.

Councilor Matt Otte asked Mr. Rodden if the state’s budget deficit will have any effect on the City’s budget. Rodden said that the City receives very little state money so it should not be an issue.

Rodden said that the West Side Park did experience significant vandalism last week. Playground equipment was not only broken, it was destroyed beyond repair. In addition, significant graffiti was noted around the park.

Rodden said the Comprehensive Plan was to be reconsidered by the Zoning Commission in their March twenty-fourth meeting. According to Rodden, only minor rewording and clarification of the plan is necessary and he expects them to forward the document as is had been presented.

Mayor Tom Naasz asked, “Will we be able to help the veterans by purchasing new flags?”

Rodden stated that Heather Hartman controls a Community Foundation Grant fund of seven hundred thousand dollars. He indicated money should be available from that source to purchase the new American flags.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA