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BELOIT CITY COUNCIL – Wednesday, September 4, 2024

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council conducted their biweekly meeting Wednesday evening, September 4, 2024. All Councilors were present. Also attending were Mayor Tom Naasz, City Administrator Halley Roberson, City Attorney Katie Schroeder, and City Clerk Amanda Lomax.
The Council dealt with a number of important issues in their business meeting. However, arguably the most important issue was examined in the Work Session.
City Manager Roberson lead a discussion entitled, "How the City of Beloit navigates the changing electric industry in the best interests of the community."
GRDA, the main supplier of electricity to Beloit, has, like most other electrical generation concerns, will end the generation of electricity by coal-fired plants somewhere in the next two to three years. The generation of electricity via nuclear generators will also come to an end.
Two questions arose from this presentation. 1) How much electricity will Beloit require in the future? And 2) Where will this electricity come from?
Roberson said, "We are in uncharted waters. This is a new and immediate concern for not only Beloit but everyone in the United States."
Roberson explained that due to government subsidies, wind farms have been built to fill the gap in the electrical generation grid. However, these subsidies provided money for the construction of wind farms. No money was provided for maintenance of these facilities. This means that as new plants are built and none are maintained, the windmills, in need of maintenance, begin to fail. This has created serious gaps in their generation capabilities.
In some respects, the City of Beloit is in better shape than most. We still have our electrical generation potential with the motors at the powerplant and we have a new 2-megawatt solar farm. Manny Milburs cautioned the group, "If we have to rely on the power plant to generate electricity for any period of time, the cost will be astronomical."
The solar farm has proven to be a reliable source of electricity, but, it does not generate electricity at night or on cloudy days. Along the same line of thinking, the wind generators do not create electricity when the wind does not blow. Roberson mentioned that advances in battery systems will provide a way to store solar and wind energy when it is created and be saved for use at night and during times when the wind is not blowing.
It was the general consensus of the group that Beloit needs to take a proactive stance to this crisis looming on the horizon and to take steps to deal with the problem before in lands on our doorstep.
Beloit Police Chief Chad Lackey reported two activities at the Elementary and Jr.-Sr. High School. Officers were on hand and examined the kids in their cars as they came to school in the morning. If they had their seatbelt secured, they award them a dollar.
He said he is involved with a local committee exploring the issued of mental health. He hopes this committee can raise awareness about how good and bad mental health can affect one's day-to-day functioning.
The Police Force will have a dunk tank at the Millapoolza affair. This "Splash the Badge" activity will allow citizens to drop a police officer into the 500-gallon tank with a well-aimed throw.
Community Economic Director Emily Benedict announced that the City Wayfaring signs should be here by the end of September. There will be 11 signs to direct visitors to locations around Beloit.
Benedict also announced that 10 radar signs have been made available to Beloit by the Hansen Foundation. They will be placed at strategic locations to help folks self-monitor their speed.
The Council approved two ordinances:
#2356 - Mowing assessment for the city mowing of overgrown property.
#2357 - A Special license for a Street Affair by Kettle.
The Council approved a change order for the bid to drill a hole under the Railroad Track for the RAW water line.
The bid originally went to Ditch Diggers in the amount of $102,000. Due to the delays created by dealing with the Union Pacific and Geneseo and Wyoming Railroads and the Rail Pros the job needed to be rebid. Ditch Diggers submitted the low bid of $187,00 which was accepted by the Council.
The Council participated in a phone conversation with Rural Re-Development concerning the building of apartments at the North Campus. This appears to be a work in progress and everyone is learning as the situation unfolds.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA