MINNEOLA CITY COUNCIL MEETS                                    January 18, 2022

The Minneola City Council met in regular session January 18, 2022, in the Civic Connection. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m., with the following council members present: Marvin Jensen, Wesley Orr, Dustin Laudick, Chad Kirk, and Debbie Buckley. Mayor Carol Sibley presided.

Alan Luttrel, EBH, gave an update on the waterline project. The progress meeting was held today. The original project is nearing completion and should be done in 2-3 weeks. They are working on services to Cherry Street now. They will be working on abandoning old lines and then the lift station road. Cook Construction should be here to work on the well houses at the end of the month. He presented APAC pay estimate #9 for approval. Marvin made a motion to approve pay estimate #9, Chad seconded, motion passed 5/0.

EBH submitted drawings to KDHE for the Coop waterline change order and has already received approval. The project was submitted to the railroad for boring under the railroad and we paid the expediated fee to get approval quickly. The drawings will be submitted to KDOT tomorrow and that will take several weeks. Once we receive easement approval, we can start.

Alan then discussed the South well project. He handed out drawings and APAC’s proposal. When APAC went to hook the SCADA system up to the water meter at the south well, everything started falling apart. All of the piping is in real bad shape. The plan is to take all current piping out, including the floor, and replace with new piping, valves and appurtenances. This project will be a separate contract with APAC and not part of the waterline project. With the South well being the city’s main well and currently out of service, we really need it up and running before summer. The city is currently using both back up wells. The Council discussed the funding of the project. The City has received ½ of our ARPA funds and the remaining will not be received until July 2022. Patrick Williams and Brenda Stewart confirmed with Ranson Financial that we could use ARPA funds and Capital Outlay to fund the project and them reimburse the Capital Outlay fund when the second ARPA funds arrive. Wesley made a motion to approve APAC’s proposal at $65,695.00 and use ARPA funds, Marvin seconded, motion passed 5/0.

Justin Clowdis was unavailable and asked Patrick to present the Fire Department runs and meetings for 2021. The cost for meetings is $1550.00 and the cost for runs is $2000.00 for a total of $3,550. Wesley made a motion to pay for the runs and meetings, Dustin seconded, motion passed 5/0. Patrick also mentioned that the fire department plans to order 1-2 sets of bunker gear this year and the City usually splits the cost. Justin will get some pricing for the City.

Minutes of the December 20, 2021, and January 3, 2022, meetings previously mailed out were reviewed. Marvin made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Wesley seconded. Motion passed 5/0.

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

The Council discussed the EMS situation and what has transpired since the January 3, 2022, meeting. Some of the discussion was as follows:

Patrick stated that there are numerous people working on the EMS problems. Dr. Shuman, EMS Medical Director, has spoke with the techs and Patrick. He agrees that changes are needed. Dr. Shuman discussed to Patrick that he has identified several issues and that he takes part responsibility in that he should have been involved earlier. He is meeting with the County Commissioners during their meeting at 10:00 am tomorrow.

We lost another tech in Minneola, and it was noted that there have been several runs within the last week that Ashland had to cover.

Wesley spoke up and stated that he also spoke with Dr. Shuman. The goal was to discuss last week’s meeting and he (Dr. Shuman) is aware of the issues and is working toward correcting the issues. Dr. Shuman stated that he is not in the position to fix some of the issues.

Patrick stated that all EMS services have their own protocols based on the skill sets of the EMT’s. The protocols are not the only issue, there are also concerns with the ambulances being checked and how meetings are being conducted.

There was a meeting held last Thursday between two members of the hospital board, 2 members of the City Council, EMS techs, Deb Bruner (Hospital CEO), and Patrick Williams (City Manager), as a show of support for our volunteers and to let the techs know that we are working diligently to address the issues. It was also discussed to form a joint committee between the hospital and the city to see how to address these issues. The committee would meet and discuss what the best avenue would be to save EMS in Minneola.  Marvin and Wesley volunteered to be on the committee. Patrick is to get with the hospital board to see if they want to be part of the committee.

Law enforcement officer in Minneola was discussed. The Council decided to table the discussion until next month.

The swimming pool storage area (East area) will start being demolished this week. The plan is to pick up fencing materials tomorrow.

Reminder that the February Council meeting date was changed from Monday, February 21, to Tuesday, February 22, due to Presidents’ Day.

The Council elected Marvin Jensen as the new President of Council.

The annual Law Enforcement Contract with Clark County is up for renewal. Dustin made a motion to approve the contract, Debbie seconded, motion passed 5/0.  It will be mailed to the Commissioners for their approval.

There is a small access road to Front Street from Hwy 54. The east side of the road, closest to Front Street, is breaking down. Building Solutions is doing other cement work in town and gave us an estimate to repair the area, including rebar, for around $4,500.00. Chad made a motion to proceed with the repair, Marvin seconded, motion passed 5/0.

Patrick handed out a drawing of the Den/Visitor Center project. There are funds left over and the decision was made to move forward with cementing in the parking area to the west, add light poles, and add trees with irrigation if there are enough funds left over. The steel for the open-air shelter should be started this month. Brenda applied for a 50/50 grant to get tables and benches. We should know by April whether we receive the grant or not.

Marvin made a motion to approve the bills as presented, Wesley seconded, motion passed 5/0.

Wesley made a motion to go into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss personnel matters of non-elected personnel with Council, Mayor, and City Manager present, Debbie seconded, motion passed 5/0. Executive session started at 8:20 pm. Council came out of executive session at 8:35 pm.

Marvin made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Dustin seconded, motion passed 5/0. Meeting adjourned 8:40 pm.

City Clerk