Click Here to Listen LIVE to

BELOIT CITY COUNCIL – Wednesday, November 15, 2023

By Terry Bailey

The Beloit City Council conducted their regularly scheduled meeting at City Hall, Wednesday evening, November 15th. All Councilors were present. Also in attendance was Mayor Tom Naasz, City Clerk/Interim City Manager Amanda Lomax, and City Attorney Katie Schroeder.
Councilor Lee McMillan expressed his appreciation to the Beloit Police Force for the quick apprehension of a suspect who broke into his daughter's vehicle and stole items.
City Attorney Katie Schroeder told the Council that Court costs had remain stable at $100 for the past ten years or so. She is recommending that Court costs be increased to $125.
Mandy Lomax reported that the last round of paperwork submitted to the state regarding the Water Treatment Plant was accepted with no problems.
Lomax introduced the idea of possibly increasing size of the solar plant.
Lomax also displayed artists rendering of what a replacement structure of the White Building might look like.
Lomax and Chief of Police Chad Lackey presented the topic of e-ticketing for the Beloit Police Force. This computerized system would allow the officer to scan a driver's license and that information would automatically be input into the system and a ticket could be printed in the officer's vehicle and presented to the offender. This would eliminate hand-printed errors and hard to read handwriting. Currently a traffic stop takes 12-15 minutes from pull over to drive away. This much time along highway 24 or other busy route poses danger to the officer. The e-ticket systems would eliminate five minutes or so in the process. Besides cutting down on dangerous time on the shoulder of the road, the lessened time would get the officer back to his job more quickly. Lackey said between 60-65 agencies in Kansas utilize the e-ticketing system.
The total purchase price of the e-ticketing system with hardware and software for the first year is $25,622. The Councilors were positively impressed with the presentation but wanted to take time to consider the pros and cons of the system.
Lackey provided the Council with information regarding the replacement of a police vehicle. The force's 2019 Dodge Charger was totaled when it was repeatedly backed into by a fleeing suspect. The suspect stopped fleeing and when the officer's vehicle approached the suspect's vehicle, the suspect rammed the Charger several times. Lackey has located two replacement vehicles in the state of Kansas. One is in Kansas City and the other is in Holcomb, Ks. The vehicle in Holcomb is already fitted with lights and other instruments and is ready to go. The price is $57,244. Lackey said insurance reimbursement would pay a considerable amount of that cost. He asked for the bid process to be waived to allow him to buy the 2023 Destroyer Dodge Durango in Holcomb. The Council approved the bid waiver.
Lomax proposed the adopting of a FOG (Fats, Oils, Grease) ordinance. She said, "I am reluctant to propose another restriction on our people, but the damage done to our sewer system by the unrestricted dumping of fats, oils and grease down drain is causing greater and greater problems." She told the Council that most if not all, of the callouts for sewer problems are caused by excessive grease build up. The vast percentage of the oils dumped into the system comes from food service establishments. Some have grease traps, some do not. The problem comes from the establishments who do not have grease traps.
The Council asked Lomax to bring back definite proposal so they could vote on it.

Other News

Beloit, KS 67420, USA