Here’s a quick look at what happened Monday night at the Hoisington City Council meeting:
• The council approved a resolution to make changes to the city’s fees for services in light of the need to update sanitation franchise fees and wastewater fees in light of work beginning soon on the long anticipated wastewater lagoon project. The resolution also formalized auditorium and gym fees.
• Approved the consent agenda which included the minutes from both the Feb. 12 council meeting and the Feb. 20 special council meeting and two cereal malt beverage consumption permits for an April 20 Chamber of Commerce event at City Hall.
• Discussed possible opportunities for development at McKenna Meadows now that some of the land has been removed from the floodplain. City Manager Jonathan Mitchell was asked to move ahead with the replatting process for the area.
• Approved switching from the 2009 to the 2015 ICC building codes and the 2014 NEC codes.
•Mitchell updated the council on several points, including the high-density lime system, the fire district, the CDBG grant for the sewer lagoons, the cemetery fence, 800 radios, pool management, improvements to the little league diamond, fencing at the shooting range and crane operator’s licensing.
HOISINGTON — Three people vying to be appointed to the open Ward 3 seat on the Hoisington City Council attended the meeting Monday night. They included Becky Andereck, teacher and coach for USD 431, Richard Rubio, an accountant with I.L.S., and Don Doerschlag, part-time Hoisington Police officer and manager of the Hoisington Casey’s General Store.
Jim Morris, the other councilman for Ward 3, thanked all three candidates for their interest, and moved to give the position to Richard Rubio. He reasoned Rubio would bring a younger perspective, and noting that less than a year remained in the term, he hoped the other candidates would try again in November. Councilman Michael Aylward seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
After an oath of office was administered, Rubio took the seat left vacated at the beginning of the month by Karen Van Brimmer, who was required to resign after moving to a different ward. She was recognized at the Feb. 12 meeting, and presented a plaque by Mayor Dalton Popp.
Demand driving development
Land situated in McKenna Meadows recently redesignated as no longer in the floodplain has drawn interest from persons outside the community who are interested in building and moving to Hoisington, City Manager Jonathan Mitchell said. He asked the council to allow him to move forward with replatting the area for further development. At least two additional lots will result. After some discussion, it was determined that creating a through street at the far northern edge of the development was not viable, but creating a turnaround providing emergency vehicles better access would suffice.
One person who expressed interest in building there is intent on enrolling his kids in Hoisington schools, and want to have the house ready in time for the 2018-2019 school year, Mitchell reported. With that in mind, the council approved Mitchell’s request.
Code Update
Consideration of the pros and cons of updating Hoisington’s building codes led to several questions by council members, including what would happen if they did nothing and maintained the status quo. The origins of the question arose when the city was informed it’s ISO rating would be demoted from it’s current 7 to a 9 unless a more up to date set of codes is adopted. The ISO rating is tied to insurance rates charged to property owners. Mitchell said insurance providers he contacted seeking an answer had uniformly replied they did not know for sure.
He also visited with various contractors, who said whichever codes the city chooses to implement is not a concern, but they stressed the need to train inspectors to enforce the codes. Mitchell proposed moving to he 2018 International Contractor Codes and 2017 National Electrical Codes, which the council approved. The Kansas Association of Code Enforcement will provide training so city inspectors are prepared to enforce the codes.
Following Mitchell’s updates concerning several ongoing city projects, the council approved a motion to enter into a 15-minute executive session for confidential matters related to employer-employee relations and negotiations, relating to a potential employee negotiating committee. The council resumed the regular session at 8:10 p.m., and took no action. The meeting was then adjourned.
