By Terry Bailey
The Beloit City Council conducted its biweekly meeting at City Hall Wednesday night, August 21. All Councilors were present with the exception of Lee McMillan. Also in attendance were Mayor Tom Naasz, City Manager Halley Roberson, City Clerk Amanda Lomax and City Attorney Katie Schroeder.
Several of the Councilors reported receiving positive comments from members of the public regarding the new drop off and pick up procedure at Beloit Elementary School.
City Attorney Schroeder reported the agreement between the City and Rural Water District #2 was getting close to being formalized. She also said revisions to the City assessments for such things as mandatory mowing of private property was also undergoing an update.
City Manager Halley Roberson informed the Councilors that the Community Improvement Program (CIP) workshop will be held on October 9 at the Severance Conference room at the Technical College starting at 5:30 P.M.
KETTLE has made an initial inquiry about permission to add outside dining to their seating offerings. More details will be available at a later date.
Community Development director Emily Benedict and Chamber of Commerce director Hannah Bowers will be featured in an upcoming commercial to be viewed on KSN.
City Manager Roberson reported that the large number of grant programs to be processed by the KDHE has slowed down the already slow process of grant approval. Lots of program improvements have been made available but few have been approved.
Emily Benedict reported the contractor building single family dwelling home in Clay Center started out slow but after a couple homes were built the program has gained a great deal of attention. The Contractor is enthused about taking a look at the possibilities for a similar program in Beloit.
She told the Councilors that the new office complex in the old Duckwall/Sperry building is complete with three of the six offices filled. An open house at the site will be held on September 13 all day long. Interested people are invited to stop by and take a look.
Chief of Police Chad Lackey related that the new driving pattern at the Beloit Elementary School has been very successful. He has had two officers on site to help motorists learn the new pattern.
Officer Cato will be a member of the upcoming Leadership Mitchell County training program. Lackey said Cato is very much looking forward to this training experience.
City of Beloit police officers will be teaming with the Mitchell County Health Department for a community Seat Belt Awareness activity.
An open Public Hearing was called to order to allow public discussion of the proposed 2025 City Budget. With nobody present to speak for or against the proposed budget, the meeting was adjourned.
The Council approved Ordinance #2354. This is a standard yearly update of the Standard Traffic Ordinances.
Next was a situation that had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie mystery novel. The issue at the heart of the situation is drilling a hole under the railroad tracks for a RAW water line to bring water from the river to the water treatment plant.
Because the rail roadbed is owned by the Union Pacific railroad, about two years ago the City of Beloit began negotiating with the UP regarding boring a hole under their roadbed. When all the details had been worked out after long and detailed negotiating, the UP said, and I am paraphrasing, "Oh by the way, this stretch of track is under lease to the Geneseo and Wyoming Railroad. The agreement we just came to will have to be put aside and Beloit will have to start all over again negotiating with the Geneseo and Wyoming Railroad."
Back to square one. The City went through the process again as they negotiated an agreement with the Geneseo and Wyoming Railroad. Time passed and work was done and an agreement with the Railroad was reached.
At that point the Railroad said, "Oh by the way, any agreement reached by the Railroad must be approved by the Rail Pros engineering firm."
So, the agreement just reached was sent to Rail Pros for their approval. As expected Rail Pros found numerous problems with the contract and the plans. Currently the City of Beloit and Rail Pros are negotiating what will be included in the final plans.
Charlie from Ditch Digger Boring Firm was present for the discussion. His company will bore the hole under the railroad track once the details are worked out. He said, "I bid this job very cheap so I would have work for my men. But, the job that is going to be created is not the same job I bid. It will call for me to use machinery I do not have. If I buy that machinery to do this job, I will never use those machines again. This job will end up being much more expensive than the job I bid at the beginning of the process."
The Council approved the purchase of a transformer for $22,248.
The Council approved the writing of a letter of support for the Rural Re-Development Company. The is a procedural step that indicates the City is in favor of the building of apartments at the North Campus.
The business meeting was adjourned, and the Work Session was called to order.
City Manager Roberson introduced the topic of pre-authorized spending limits for City personnel. It has be several years since this topic has been discussed. Since that time the cost of everything has risen dramatically.
She proposed the following spending limits.
Group Current limit Proposed limit
Department heads $1,500 $5,000
Electric Depart. Heads $3,000 $7,000
City Manager $10,000 $20,000
City Council $10,000 $75,000
Councilor Andrew Grabon indicated his belief that the spending authority of the Council should be equal to the City Managers authority.
These spending authority limits will be revisited at the next Council meeting.