December 19, 2011 LECOMPTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
7:00 P.M. Mayor Mark L. Tunstall brought the Lecompton City Council Meeting to order at 327 Elmore, Lecompton, KS. Council Members Tim McNish, Elsie Middleton, Christy Mallonee, and Jennifer Smith were present. The following were also present: City Clerk Lynley Sanford, City Superintendent Justin Van Winkle, Roy and Marsha Paslay, Vicki Bahnmaier, Bill Roberts, Paul Bahnmaier, Mike Coffman, Roger Guillory, Howard Duncan, Jason Dexter, Johnny and Georgia Trammel, Debbie and Gary Powell, Pat Gottestein, Karla Meyer and others. Council Member Jimmy Wilkins did not arrive until 8:22 pm
Elsie Middleton motioned to approve the November 21, 2011 minutes and December 5, 2011 minutes. Jen Smith seconded. Vote passed 4 yeas, 0 nays
Christy Mallonee made a motion to approve the bills before them. Tim McNish seconded the motion and the vote passed 4 yeas, 0 nays.
Public Comment:
Paul Bahnmaier – Brought forth new information regarding moving the Old City Jail and presented a letter from the State of Kansas Historical Society. The summary of the letter stated: “ As long as there is not a building permit required to relocated the Old City Jail, then the State Historical Society does not need to get involved.
Paul Bahnmaier then read a letter from State Representative Tom Sloan. Paul stated by the city not requiring a building permit it was really a “win”, “win” for everyone involved. The property owners (Myers) would get the building off of their property, City of Lecompton would gain another attraction helping to bring in more visitors, and the historical society wins because they want the building moved to a better location nearer and more comfortably accessible for visitors.
Karla Meyer – Property owner where the Old City Jail sits. Would like the City of Lecompton to have the structure, so they can use it to educate visitors. She also does not want to see it “fall apart” on her watch, and thinks by moving the structure to the projected location that visitors will get to experience it, where now they are cautious to walk up to the private residence to inspect the Old City Jail.
Elsie Middleton made a motion to amend the motion she made at the city council meeting on 11/7/11 approving a building permit for the Lecompton Historical Society pending State approval. Elsie Amends that the City of Lecompton retracts the previous building permit requirement and will allow the Lecompton Historical Society to move the Old City Jail from its current location on residential property to Lecompton Historical Society property. Jen Smith seconded motion. Vote passed 4 yays 0 nays
Jen Smith – motioned to amend Elsie Middleton’s motion for amendment that the Old City Jail is being moved onto Lecompton Historical Society property at the historical society and property owners discretion of moving it. Tim Mcnish seconded the motion for the motion amendment. Vote passed 4-yays 0-nays
Mike Coffman – asked the City Council for special payment variance, he had a water line leak which caused his water bill to be exceptionally high. Being on limited income, the council agreed to special arrangements which include Mike Coffman paying $50/month + his monthly bill until the bill is paid in full.
Roger Guillory – New Covenant Ministries – a Christian based outreach/fellowship organization – Would like to rent a portion of the old high-school to provide after school activities for up to 200 students. From 3:30-6:30pm. Including students from Perry, Lecompton, Ozawkie, Shawnee Heights areas. He is working on obtaining busing transportation. The charge for after school programs is $25/week, and they take 2nd graders – 8th graders – may be interested in taking on high school students as mentors and group leaders. Anyone hired or volunteering to work with the kids in this group will be screened. The council is seriously interested in this, they want to discuss it with a full council and run the idea by the city attorney. They requested that Roger Guillory come back for the January 16, 2012 City Council Meeting.
Pat Gottstein – no new reports for insurance quote on old highschool while vacant. He has applications out there, just hasn’t gotten any feed back from anyone yet. Replacement cost is roughly $110/Sq. ft. The building needs about 1/3 of it occupied to be considered for anything other than liability insurance.
In the case of renting out spaces in the building, know that each of the rentees will need to have their on insurance.
Pat will have more information and cost projection at the January 16, 2012 City Council Meeting.
Bill Roberts asked Pat G. – What rounds the point of occupancy?
Pat G. Replied – Occupancy is determined by how much space is being occupied, it’s a percentage. In most cases it is around 1/3 of the space that has to be used.
Lynley –
Announces Christmas Light decoration contest winners – 1st place goes to Joan Gowing on Issacks, 2nd place goes to Oglesby on Halderman, 3rd place goes to Sanfords on 3rd St.
Ascentia request to waive L/C because the sale of the properties did not go through and that delayed payment processing. Jen Smith motioned to approve the waiving of L/C Christy Mallonee seconded the motion. Vote passed 3 – Yay 1 – Nay
Reviewed new grants that are available for the city to apply for in 2012
Opened discussion on health care access point in old h/s – with the group Health Care Access from Lawrence – they are extremely interested – what is it going to cost, what will the equipment costs run? Put together a task force to generate questions and research answers.
Boiler Maintenance was previously provided by Lower Heating and Air – Topeka – Lynley call them Tuesday and schedule a date for them to look at it and correct a small issue we are having with it.
BG Consultants and Donna Crawford with G.A.S have the paperwork drawn up and are working to move forward with the 7th street improvements.
8:25pm Council Member Jimmy Wilkins arrives
Jen Smith – presented information regarding the elevator in old high-school. Working with her friend Brian who is an elevator maintenance technician, he will come out to inspect our elevator and make sure it is mechanically good for now. The federal government requires an annual inspection. We may get away with not having one this year because we are in a small town, but it is possible that if Thyssen Krup (previous company that provided elevator maintenance) reported us to the appropriate agency that they could come out and possibly fine us if we have not gotten a new inspection. Reading through the contract with Thyssen Krup – it says the old monthly service fee was $130/month and they were offering us maintenance at $80/month with a “fine print” stipulation that prices are “subject to change at Thyssen Krups discretion without notification”. It seems that elevator contracts are hard to get out of. The stipulations of the contract NKESC has with Thyssen Krup said that if NKESC gave possession of the building back to the City of Lecompton, the City had 30 days from the date of notification of transaction (property switch) to cancel the contract. If the contract was not cancelled then the contract picks back up with the City of Lecompton for the discounted rate of $80/month. Per City Attorney Lee Hendricks review on the contract on the Dec 5, 2011 council meeting, he indicated that Thyssen Krup did not actually have a contract with the City of Lecompton, and the City had not signed a contract so it was null and void.
8:35 Christy Mallonee motioned to adjourn the meeting. Jen Smith seconded the motion. Vote passed 5 yays