The Beloit City Council met on Tuesday evening, April 3 at the Municipal Building. All councilors were present. Also in attendance were Mayor Tom Naasz, City Manager Jason Rabe, City Attorney Katie Schroeder, and City Clerk Mandy Loma.
Schroeder presented the council with a trio of options for an updated dog ordinance. Option A would keep a breed specific ban in place and update the language in terms of what constitutes a vicious dog in the ordinance. Option B would put in place breed specific language identifying Rottweiler and Pit Bull breeds as dangerous animals and update the vicious dog ordinance language. Option C would eliminate the breed specific ban and update the vicious dog ordinance language.
Each option addressed proper fencing, micro chipping, registration, and other specifications of owning what would considered a vicious dog and the consequences of violating the code.
Councilman Andrew Grabon moved to accept Option C as the new dog ordinance. Councilor Lee McMillan provided the second on the motion. Grabon, McMillan, Lloyd Littrell, and Matt Otte voted in favor of the measure. Voting no were Kent Miller and Tony Gengler.
Schroeder also readdressed a bill before the legislature which regulates amusement rides. She had brought this to light at a previous meeting as the bill, in its form at that time, would consider the Chautauqua Park Pool water slide an amusement ride by law. However, an amendment was made to the bill, and only slides over 30 feet in length would be taxed and more strictly regulated. The Beloit slide is less than 30 feet and will be exempt from the legislation.
City Manager Rabe said the city and rural water district representatives will meet again on April 12 to discuss the ongoing consideration for a consolidated water district between the city and rural water entities with a new water plant build near and sourced by Waconda Lake.
Rabe said he will be speaking with a Kansas Department of Health and Environmet specialist to report the latest test results for Beloitās water supply. Future actions on the continuing treatment of Beloitās water will be influenced by the context of that conversation.
Consideration was made replacing Yield signs with Stop signs at locations where drivers are perceived to not comply with yield consistently. The council voted unanimously to exchange the yield signs at Court and Pine Streets as well as 14th Street and Bell Streets to stop signs. This should be conducted within about two weeks.
The council then declared the existence of an unfit structure at 511 East South Street. The council also accepted a bid from Fouts Insurance for the cityās continuing insurance needs. The approved proposal from Fouts via EMC Insurance includes $315,870 for the main policy, up about $3,000 from a year ago. $2,765 for Moritz Memorial Airport property insurance, and $4,182 for fire department coverage. The fire department policy was switched to EMC from a different previous provider at a savings of a 50 percent.
A bid of $48,358 was accepted for the Airport Fuel System. There were two bids submitted, with the higher coming from a Dallas, Tex. based company. The bid winner was Stanās Petroleum Equipment of Salina.
Rabe provided the council with an estimate for the pending Court Street project. The projected cost, including a 10 percent contingency, is $91,752 for supplies and materials. The work on the drainage portion of the project will begin in the parking lot of Boettcher Supply. It will then follow south to near South Street.
The Council has recently tested two new potential street sweepers. The current sweeper was purchased in 1985 and its effectiveness is seriously compromised by age. The RAVO unit with straight line suction seemed to be the preferred unit. This comes with a price tag in the neighborhood of $200,000 depending on accessories. A lease/purchase agreement is available to spread the cost of the unit over several years. Rabe will have a firm proposal in the next few weeks.
The final issue taken up during the work session was a detailed cemetery ordinance compiled by City Attorney Schroeder. There is no singular ordinance that addresses all the issues relating to cemeteries. The council will review the proposed ordinance before taking up the issue at a future meeting.
The Beloit City Council will next meet on Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building in Beloit.
