BELOIT CITY COUNCIL â€“ Wednesday, November 16th, 2022

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council met on Wednesday evening, November 16th, to attend to the affairs of the City. All Councilors were in attendance with the exception of Lee McMillian who attended by Zoom and Todd Adolph who was absent. Also in attendance was Jason Rabe, City Manager, Katie Schroeder, City Attorney, and Amanda Lomax, City Clerk.
City Manager Rabe announced that the City's engineering consultants were working hard to get the major details of the water treatment plant and pipeline "over the finish line" by the end of the year.
Rabe announced that the details for the water drainage project on West 8th Street near the old Chapman Veterinary Clinic are all coming together, and he hopes the project can be let for bids in the near future.
The Community Improvement Project is continuing its review as the City progresses into the future. Rabe said input has been solicited by staff members and front-line employees to gain widespread support for the projects chosen by the City for its attention.
Efforts continue to purchase the property located at 113 East 2nd. Rabe hopes to conclude the purchase by the end of the year.
Rabe also reported that the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk Building project along West Main is progressing well and will add to the improved walkways for kids going to and from school each day.
A Public Hearing was called to order to allow for public comment on the Water Budget Amendment. With nobody present to speak for or against the amendment, the meeting was closed. The Council then voted to accept the Amendment as printed.
Next up was the discussion of the cleaning of the Water Treatment Plant Lagoons. These are a collection areas for waste materials skimmed from the incoming water at the Treatment Plant. These lagoons were constructed in the 1970s and have never been cleaned out. They are nearing the limit of collection area. The material in the lagoons consist mostly of lime and sediment material. There are approximately 30,000 tons of material in the lagoons that will be removed and spread on farmland. The material has been tested and is safe to spread on agricultural land.
Rabe said companies that do this kind of work are not numerous and most are some distance from Beloit. Pumphrey Trucking of Mankato has submitted a bid for consideration. The Council directed Rabe to have the City Attorney draw up a contract using Pumphrey's bid and to return the final contract to them for their approval.
Considerable time was devoted to the North Walnut/East Main Street reconstruction project. Several months ago, this project was let for bids. Only one bid was received at that time, and it was considerably higher than the projected cost. A decision was made at that time to wait a few months and reopen the bid process in the hopes of getting a more reasonable bid.
Rabe said in the recent reletting process two bids were received for the work to be done. On the other hand, once again, the bids submitted for the work was higher than expected.
Opinions were offered by all Councilors on how to best proceed. One idea was to move forward with the North Walnut work and delay the East 8th Street work. Another idea was to pare down all the details of the work to cut the cost, but that might lead to a substandard final project. One idea was to wait and hope that costs and interest rates would be lower in the near future. On the other hand, they might continue to escalate. A thought was proposed to "bite the bullet" and do the project right now because the bids just received my never get any lower. Waiting might result in getting less work done at a higher cost.
Andrew Grabon offer a motion to table the decision for sixty days while the best route to proceed could be carefully studied. This way the many factors of the project could receive due consideration. Grabon's motion passed.
A review of bids received for a new police squad car was carefully examined. Six bids have been submitted ranging from $38,300 to $41,415. In keeping with their desire to buy locally when possible, the Council voted to accept the bid submitted by Beloit Auto Truck Plaza in the amount of $39,717 for a 2023 vehicle.
Rabe opened the discussion of Re-branding for the City of Beloit. The current logo is over 30 years old. He believes in would be in the City's best interest to adopt a more modern appearing logo. He displayed current logos from area cities that projected a more modern appearance. The Council authorized Rabe to continue with his research and report back to them.
In final action, the Council approved work to be done with the bathrooms in the Municipal Building. None are ADA accessible; they are poorly lighted and cramped. It was decided to proceed with work on the bathrooms on the first floor then proceed to the work on the lower floor.

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Beloit, KS 67420, USA