March 5, 2018 LECOMPTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
7:00 P.M. Mayor Sandy Jacquot brought the Lecompton City Council Meeting to order at 327 Elmore, Lecompton, KS. Council Members Tim McNish, Mary Jane Hoffer Jimmy Wilkins, Susie Hackathorn and Elsie Middleton were present at roll call. The following were also present: City Clerk Lynley Sanford, Superintendent Rance Roberts and City Attorney Jeff Heiman. Lecompton residents and township members included Clayton Payne, Betsy Springer, Jeremy Allen, Chris Huston, Pat Winchester, Jennifer and son Eric Lewis. Resident Shane Jones stopped in for a moment to express interest in the Jones street chip and seal possibility.
Jimmy Wilkins motioned to approve the February 20, 2018 City council Meeting Minutes. Mary Jane Hoffer seconded the motion. Susie Hackathorn added a correction. Resident and township member attendees weren’t included and need to be added to meeting minutes.
Motion passed 5 yeas, 0 nays
Susie Hackathorn motioned to approve the bills before the council. Elsie Middleton seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5 yeas, 0 nays
Clayton Payne approached the council regarding a letter he received about his dogs and owning Pitbull’s. He was able to provide proof of home owners insurance for $50,000 each incident on each of the Pit Bull dogs. For the remaining violations, Mr. Payne asked for some time to meet compliance. The council agreed they would allow Mr. Payne 30 days to meet the remaining requirements listed in the letter. Council agreed they would follow up at the first April meeting.
The council discussed Jones street chip and seal improvement. A few people who live on Jones Street that would be affected were in attendance and discussion about when the improvement would take place and how long the road would have to be closed was discussed. The attending residents indicated that they would make it work, and asked if a notice would be provided ahead of time so they could make appropriate arrangements. The Council indicated that some notice would be able to be provided, but we could not guarantee a full week. General consensus seemed to be to see where the cost of the road improvement comes in with the bid and if affordable to proceed.
Dog issues on Jones Street. Pat Winchester spoke with the Lecompton City Council regarding the dog issue between him and his neighbor Shane Jones. Shane has put up a fence between their properties; Pat indicated that the fence is over the property line (more located on his property in his opinion). He asked the council what could be done about it. The council stated this is a civil issue between neighbors. Pat Winchester said that Shane Jones’ dogs have attacked his dogs and bit his daughter on one occasion. There is a Douglas County Sherriff’s case number recording this incident.
The council asked if any of the dogs were registered with the City. The City Clerk indicated they are not. The council asked that a letter be sent to Shane Jones to provide proof of rabies vaccination for his dogs, register them with the City, and file for a Kennel License since he owns more than 4 dogs. The council also asked that Mr. Winchester register his dogs with the City.
Jeff Heiman –
– 334 Clark St. property clean up issue; Ragan and Thompkins have not picked up the certified mailings so first class notice was sent regarding the resolution allowing the City to clean up the 334 Clark St. property and bill to the property owner. The City Clerk has not received any response regarding quotes for this work. The City Council discussed the option of having the City Superintendent cleanup the property. The Superintendent felt like other than mowing and hauling off some junk, that the project wouldn’t be too time consuming and felt he could handle it with his current work load. The council reminded the superintendent that he would need to keep track of his and the assistant superintendents hours, fuel consumption, any rental of equipment costs and other fees to clean up the property so the City could invoice the property owner.
– 334 Clark St. A – Un-inhabitable residence issue. Jeff Heiman provided 3 options that he thought would be best. 1- Conduct inspections of both properties Lot “A” and “D” with the Douglas County Health Department, having them mark violation and put together a report for the City Council. Option 2 – Schedule a show causing hearing forthwith. This scenario, the council would declare the residence un-inhabitable, the council would hold a public hearing as to why they are considered as such and then the council can order the buildings to be repaired/demolished. Option 3 – the council chooses to immediately condemn the structure, the council may barricade the structure and with due process also can have the structures torn down. After discussion, the council would like to hold a show cause hearing, which would allow time to allow entrance to lot “D” to view/photograph interior conditions, and allow the City of obtain a search warrant for Lot “A”. Jeff will contact the Health agency and work with coordinating between tenants, after the report, look at continuing show cause hearing.
– Commercial water line sidewalk improvement issue with work not being performed to expectations. A copy of the letter was provided for City Council members to view. Councilman Wilkins informed the council that the concrete contractor had contacted him earlier that day to indicate that he would be out soon to try to make the sidewalk/curb better, and to knock off the high spots. The council further discussed concerns regarding the cracking of the sidewalk that is already happening. At this time no other action was taken.
Rance
– No updates
Lynley –
– Provided the spring newsletter for review, council had some change suggestions. They will review and then provide feedback at next council meeting.
Old Business
– Council woman Elsie Middleton asked if any other council members had looked at the roof of a home located at 520 E. 3rd street. Majority of council members had not driven by it. There is concern that the roof of this home has been damaged by falling branches and may be caved in on the west side.
New Business
– Elsie Middleton attended the conservation meeting last Saturday. About 50 people attended, it was a great turn out, and the group really utilized the building well. The core speaker gave many praises for how wonderful a building we have to be used as a community building. It was noted that maybe a sign pointing to the alternate entrance for the east doors to use the west doors might be nice for those who park along the street but would like to not climb the natural stone staircase at the east doors.
Susie Hackathorn motioned to approve the purchase of a handicap entrance sign with arrow pointing to south door. Elsie Middleton seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5 yeas, 0 nays
8:15PM – Susie Hackathorn motioned to adjourn. Mary Jane Hoffer seconded the motion.
Motion passed 5 yays, 0 nays
Lynley Sanford, City Clerk