Beloit City Council Meeting Tuesday March 3rd

 

Beloit City Council

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

 

By Terry Bailey

 

 

 

The Beloit City Council held their regular bi-weekly meeting at City Hall Tuesday night to attend to the affairs of the city. All Councilors were present with the exception of Jamie Meier. Also in attendance was Mayor Tom Naasz, City Manager Jason Rabe, and City Clerk Mandy Lomax. City attorney Katie Schroeder was absent.

 

Councilor Lee McMillian noted that the Beloit High wrestling team had a very successful season and the Beloit and St. John’s boys and girls will be attempting to earn a trip to state this week.

 

Todd Adolph reminded everyone to keep Cooper Adams in their prayers.

 

 

 

Jason Rabe gave an update on the new Safe Routes to Schools project. This project is made possible in part by a generous grant from the State of Kansas. Rabe said this is the most ambitious Safe Routes projects to date. He said Katie Schroeder has negotiated 54 out of the 60 easement agreements.

 

Rabe said the Signage Committee is working of the details of the entry signs designed by last summer’s interns. There are lots of questions to be answered when building long term structures such as these.

 

Consideration is being given to selecting a new health insurance broker to handle the City’s health insurance. The insurance program continues to grow and grow and it may be necessary to secure a broker with experience in larger groups.

 

Sales tax receipts have continued to increase as the year progresses.

 

The Council approved Ordinance 2268 which amends the City of Beloit’s Zoning Code of Ordinances.

 

Ordinance 2269 – Relating to the Chamber of Commerce’s Banquet on April 4th at the Municipal Building was passed.

 

Resolution 2020 -3 IRB Release of Real Estate for the Porter House was passed. The buyer of the Porter House will assume the City’s debt for these bonds.

 

Resolution 2020 – 4 The North Central Hazard Mitigation Plan was approved.

 

In formal actions the Council approved the indemnification agreement for the Porter House bond payoff.

 


 

Work was approved through the Community Development Block Grant Program at the following locations:

 

620 West 5th

 

619 North Central

 

621 North Central

 

611 North Kansas

 

410 North Woodlawn

 

811 North 3rd

 

Representatives were present from the Wilson Communications Company based in Wilson, Kansas. They were attending to discuss their bid for a new and improved technology system. Currently the City’s computer and technology system is a hodge podge various computers and systems that vary from department to department and from office to office. City Manager Rabe has been attempting to standardize the program in order to get everything “under one umbrella.” He has solicited bids from Nexteck and Lockit as well as the bid from the Wilson Company. Rabe was faced with a great challenge of itemizing and standardizing the hardware and software so that the bids could be compared apples to apples.

 

After a wide-ranging and time consuming discussion the Council voted to accept the bid from the Wilson Communications company. Under this agreement Wilson will install computers, printers, wiring and all assorted software and hardware and provide 24 hour a day, 7 days a week service for $3,850 per month for 18 months. The changeover will take place as soon as feasible.

 

The purchase of a new airport navigation beacon for Moritz Airport in the amount of $8,540 was approved for Heiniken Electric.

 

The Council entered into a 15 minute executive session at 8:55. No action was taken as a result of that closed session.

 

Mayor Tom Naasz announced that the Council had authorized Jason Rabe to negotiate with the Mitchell County Fair Board for the purpose of buying property.

 

The business session was adjourned and the work session was called to order.

 

A great deal of the time in the work session was devoted to safety issues and school crosswalks. The new Safe Routes to School will cause kids to take the same safe routes to school but this will cause a lot of kids to be crossing the streets at the same time at the same place. Rabe and Chief of Police Elam have identified three intersections of significant concern for students walking to and from school. They are located at East Main at St. John’s grade school, 12th and Hersey, and 8th and Bell. The current flashing low brilliance amber do not seem to call driver’s attention to the school zones. Various new state-of-the-art signaling devices were discussed and considered. These range in cost from $5,000 to $20,000. No decisions were made but the safety of children was obvious in their considerations.

 


 

A change in the day for the Council meeting was discussed. Tuesday is a night for high school basketball and many of the Councilors have or will have children playing basketball. Barring objection, it was decided to move the Council meeting to Wednesday nights and remain starting at 7 pm.

 

Interest has been shown by two gentlemen to rent storage space in the old Administration Building at the North Campus. Rabe was directed to gain additional information before a decision will be made.