MINNEOLA CITY COUNCIL MEETS                                    July 20, 2020

The Minneola City Council met in regular session July 20, 2020, in the Civic Connection. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m., with the following council members present: Marvin Jensen, Shawn Conard, Carol Tedford, Wesley Orr, and Dustin Laudick. Mayor Carol Sibley presided. The Council met with COVID 19 regulations being met.

Minutes of the June 8, 2020, meeting previously mailed out were reviewed. Shawn made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Marvin seconded. Motion passed 5/0.

Computer print-outs showing the financial status for the month of June were reviewed. There were no questions.

Guests

Amber Harder met with the Council concerning a code violation letter she received for having chickens. Amber stated that she has had the chickens for 3 years and that they are all small birds. She mentioned that their family eats the eggs and the chickens are a 4-H project. It was noted that other cities have changed their ordinances to allow chickens. The Council agreed to have Amber work with Patrick Williams on possible changes to the ordinance and bring it to the next Council meeting for review.

Diane Beebe from the Nutrition Council met with the Council concerning the Civic Center. There were also numerous citizens at the Civic Center to support the Civic Center for senior citizens. Diane brought up the following points:

• The Civic Connection kitchen was considered a satellite kitchen for Eldercare and fed 189 citizens from Minneola and surrounding towns when it opened.
• Currently the program is not running well because of the virus but we are still picking up meals from Dodge and delivering them to citizens in Minneola and Ashland also gets their meals from us.
• The Center is open daily from 9-2:30 for anyone wanting to visit or play pool.
• A list of programs that are currently offered or have been offered in the past was handed out to the Council.
• The Nutrition Council was asked by the City to leave the building due to not having Worker’s Comp insurance for the workers which they then obtained.
• Eldercare keeps changing the rules of what it will take to reopen the kitchen for cooking and tells two different stories to the Nutrition Council and the City.
  • Eldercare has stated to the City that the kitchen will never be reopened but told the Nutrition Council that they would consider reopening the kitchen after the 90 day probation period.
  • Eldercare has told the City that the kitchen must have a guaranteed number of meals at 200 and told the Nutrition Council 250 meals.
• Currently the Nutrition Council is serving from 20-40 meals a day. The cost for anyone under 60 is $5.75.
• In 1991, a CDBG grant was received by the City to build a senior center and the community raised 20% of the matching funds for the 80/20 grant.
• The state came in multiple times and the dishwasher did not pass due to it not reaching the temperature needed.
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• The Nutrition Council is trying to work with Eldercare to get the kitchen reopened.

Dr. Shawn Conard, Mayor Carol Sibley, and City Manager Patrick Williams spoke and wanted to clarify a few items:

• The Nutrition Council lost their kitchen license last October. The City was not told that it was being inspected or that the license was suspended.
• It was Eldercare, not the City, that shut down the kitchen and has not reopened.
• The worker’s compensation insurance did not go into effect until June 15, 2020.
• The City reopened the building as soon as the Governor lifted the meeting ban due to COVID 19.

All agreed to the following:

• Agree that we want the building opened for use.
• Cooperation with Eldercare has been a major issue.
• There is an Eldercare meeting on August 11 and the Nutrition Council has already asked to be on their agenda. It was agreed that the City should also be involved in the meeting.
• It was recommended that we include Southwest Area Agency on Aging on the issues that have taken place.

   

  Dr. Shawn Conard left the meeting at 8:03 pm.

   

  Diane Beebe and guests left the meeting.8:05 pm.

   

  Unfinished Business:

  The Swimming Pool, in the past, has had to close when school started due to lifeguard availability. It was discussed having the pool stay open longer if the Kansas State Board of Education accepts the Governor’s mandate to open the schools in September in lieu of August. The Council agreed to keep the pool open through Labor Day if school is still out.

   

  The Council agreed to send Galen Rankin a thank you note and gift certificate for painting the flag on the old fire station door.

   

  New Business:

  The City sales tax revenue is still looking fine compared to last year’s numbers.

   

  Clean Up Day will be held on July 25 and items will be picked up in the alleys.

   

  Carol Tedford made a motion to go into executive session for 10 minutes for discussion of acquisition of real estate, Marvin seconded, motion passed 4/0. Council, Mayor, City Manager and City employees were in attendance. Executive session started at 8:15 pm and ended at 8:25 pm. No action was taken.

   

  Patrick Williams handed out paperwork on the COVID 19 Relief Fund. This included County Resolution 2020-09, the breakdown of how the funds are being distributed, a list of COVID costs to Minneola to date and a listing of items that are still needed.

   

  Dr. Shawn Conard arrived back at the meeting 8:30 pm.

   

  Review of the COVID funding was continued. Patrick mentioned that there are some items not included on the list. This included pricing from B & D Lock and Key for keyless pads at the Civic Connection, 2 laptop computers and 1 printer. The funds we receive must be spent by December 31. The Council asked for clarification on whether we send the bills to the County or do we purchase and then get reimbursed. Patrick will get with Allison Kuhns who is in charge of the CARE Act to get clarification.

   

  Bills Submitted for Approval

  Carol T. made a motion to approve the bills, Dustin seconded, motion passed 5/0.

   

  Wesley made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Marvin seconded, motion passed 5/0. Meeting adjourned 8:47 pm.

   

   

   

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  City Clerk