BELOIT CITY COUNCIL â€“ Wednesday, May 4, 2022

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council conducted their business meeting at City Hall Wednesday evening, May 4th. All Councilors were present with the exception of Gretchen Staples who was absent. Also present were Mayor Tom Naasz, City Manager Jason Rabe, City Attorney Katie Schroeder, and City Clerk Amanda Lomax.
The Councilors expressed their appreciation for the recent rains as well the prompt and thorough reaction to the recent storm damage by the City crews. It was noted that the City of Beloit is fortunate to have well trained and dedicated crews that respond quickly to emergencies in inclement weather.
City Manager Rabe reported that at the next meeting he should have an updated timeline for the water treatment plant and lake pipeline. This is good news for the progress of the project.
Rabe displayed an interesting time lapse video highlighting the construction of the solar farm. He said the energize date for the farm is on time and should take place by the end of the month. A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned to officially declare the solar farm as open and operational.
The milling (removal) of the top surface of the asphalt on the South Highway 14 project is complete. This will allow the engineers to examine the subsurface of the road to determine what additional "fixes" are necessary before replacing the road surface.
Rabe informed the Councilors that there was considerable damage to trees across the City and the crews are working hard to haul away all the damaged tree limbs. He said a number of utility poles had been damages and will need replaced.
The Councilors approved the renewal of the Western Area Power Administration Plan. This is an ongoing five-year plan of which the City is a part of.
The Council approved the following appointments to the Beloit Fire Departmentâ€¨: Fire Chief, Aaron LaCoe; 1st Assistant Chief, Dale Lewis; 2nd Assistant Chief, Erick Clark; Secretary, Steve Krier; Treasurer, Randy Stroede; 1st Captain, Nathan Lund; 2nd Captain, Adam Thompson; 1st Truck Driver, Brett Beck; 2nd Truck Driver, Jeremy Easter; 3rd Truck Driver, Greg Thiessen; 1st Trustee, Luke Cashatt; 2nd Trustee, Blake Miller.
The Council approved a demolition agreement with C-4 Construction for the demolition of the property located at 424 East South Street in the amount of $8,000.
A Special Event license was approved for the Class of 1992. The event will take place on May 28 at the Chautauqua Park from noon until Midnight.
The fourth phase of the Safe Routes to School sidewalk build program is an ambitious undertaking along the 8th Street traffic corridor. The original estimate for the project was $400,000 with the City's match being. Received for the program was $685,000.
City manager Rabe had these comments:
"In early 2021, the city put in for a fourth round of SRTS grant dollars. At the time, the estimated bid with construction engineering was $500,000 with a city match of $100,000. With the current environment, the bid came in around $685,000 and with construction engineering the total project was $815,000. The city match initially was going to rise to $417,000 but after requesting additional dollars from KDOT the city match is now $163,000. While the match has increased, the council still felt it was a good project to move forward especially with the current construction cost environment and with KDOT throwing in an additional $250,000 as the opportunity may be years down the road and still cost more."
Considerable discussion was given to the long-range plans for the Sports Complex. Rabe reported the extra parking for the Beloit Relays at the former site of the ballfield was very successful.
With the current new ballfield totally completed, Rabe suggested that the Council consider the construction of another field to the east of the new field. A number of possibilities were discussed and evaluated. Rabe believes there may be many possible grants for the building of a new ballfield. The Hansen grant program seems to have an emphasis on building structures such as ballfields to enhanced summer activities in home communities. Rabe estimated the cost at $250,000 for a ballfield that could be used for over twenty years.
The discussion of such a project will continue in future meetings. Community members are encouraged to express their views to their Councilors regarding this long-range youth project.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA