By Terry Bailey
The Beloit City Council conducted their first meeting of 2025 at City Hall, January 15. With their regular meeting date of the first Wednesday of the month falling on New Year's Day, the Council conducted two meetings in one meeting last Wednesday evening.
All Councilors expressed their appreciation to the City crews for the fast and timely removal of the snow from streets and associated areas from earlier in the week.
Because of the number of items on the agenda, City Manager Halley Roberson presented an abbreviated account of the following:
• The EDA grant has been officially received. A planning meeting will take place on February 4.
• The City has applied for a grant for utility poles. Because Beloit was not chose in the last round of grant awarding, Roberson is confident that we will receive a grant is this awarding period.
• The Olsson architects were here earlier in the week to take soil samples for the proposed new hanger at the airport. They had to do some digging through the snow to find the soil.
• Progress on the replacement structure for the White Building at the Chautauqua Park has stalled. Roberson said Stuart Porter of Schwab-Eaton might help get the project off dead center.
• Progress, although slow progress, is being made on the renovations at Municipal Building. A critical issue is the replacement sound system. The poor acoustics of the building present many challenges. Staff is searching for a system that is adequate and user friendly. Most people from most groups are not experienced sound engineers so the goal is make it something everyone can easily operate. Add into that formula the cost of such a system and the options become limited.
• The City's "Suck Truck" needs replaced or a total update. Staff is figuring out whether it is cheaper to buy a new unit or conduct a bumper-to-bumper overhaul of the current unit.
Some challenges to the final details of the new Water Treatment plant have arisen. This is customary is such large projects and were expected.
Beloit Chief of Police Chad Lackey provided an update on his department. He reported that holiday travel in and around Beloit was without incident. No problems were noted with New Year's Eve celebrations. Lackey reported the new squad cars have been delivered and are patrolling the streets of Beloit. The mental health provider committee is deliberating how to help the greatest number of people. Lackey said he believed Senator Moran's office provided about $25 million dollars for local police departments across Kansas last year. He is investigating how to access some of that money.
The Council approved Resolutions:
• 2025-1 - Maintaining the fee schedule for the using of City property.
• 2025-2 - To adopt the GAAP waiver for accounting purposes.
• 2025-3 - Adopt the GRDA agreement for the 4 MG watt solar field.
The Council also approved a cost-sharing arrangement with Kansas-Department of Transportation for the Walnut Street project.
The Council approved an expenditure of $49,650 for water pipeline pipes.
The Council recessed into Executive Session to discuss non-elected personnel. No decisions were made as a result of this closed session.
The business meeting was recessed, and the Work Session was called to order.
The major topic was batteries for the new solar field. During the day, the field usually produces more electricity that what is used. At night time the field produces zero electricity.. The use of batteries could improve efficiency of the solar field's electrical production. Several varieties and styles of storage batteries were examined. A decision will need to be made soon regarding this issue.