City council will not impose Halloween curfew
Following discussion at the end of the Peabody city council meeting Monday night, the council voted not to change the city curfew Friday night, which is Halloween.
Young people under the age of 18 will be required to be off the streets at 12:30 a.m. as usual.
The collapse of a storm drain on Ninth Street in front of Peabody Sausage House created some problems for owners Mike and Cheryl Berger last week. They were at the council meeting with former Sausage House owners Roy and Arlene Unruh.
A private sewer from the Sausage House ran through the storm drain for decades, emptying across the street. Unruhs recalled that 20 or 30 years ago the city chose to allow that route because the technology of the time did not allow them to lay the line elsewhere.
Current city ordinances forbid a sewer line to go through a storm drain. The collapse of the drain was due to age and now that the problem has been discovered, it will have to be corrected.
In addition, state law requires a business such as Berger's to have a fully functioning restroom, which they now don't have.
After discussion, it was agreed that the city would share the cost with Bergers since the collapse was the fault of neither party.
On a motion by Tom Schmidt, seconded by Steve Rose, the council voted 5-0 to pay 75 percent of the cost of re-routing the sewer to bring it up to code. Bergers agreed to the proposal.
Greg Jones, representing the Peabody-Burns Recreation Commission, met with the council to discuss resurfacing the tennis courts and replacing some of the lights at the courts. A plan to jointly finance the project was discussed, but no final decision was reached.
Jones noted the Rec Commission had requested trash pickup, weed eating, and fence repair at the courts the first part of September, but most of the work had not been completed.
After discussion, the council instructed the city clerk to re-issue work orders for the completion of the work. It was noted that Stutzman Refuse probably had no way of reaching the dumpster to empty the trash because of the cars in the grade school parking lot. City Clerk Benbrook will contact the hauler about placing the dumpster elsewhere.
Mary Avery and Joanna Brazil presented a quarterly report on the Main Street program to the council.
A Governor's Award of Excellence presented to the city by the state Main Street office was displayed. It recognized Peabody for $3 million reinvestment in the downtown district since its entrance into the Kansas Main Street program.
Recent Main Street events were reviewed and plans for the holiday promotion and the coming year were presented.
The council met with veterinarian Dr. Virginia Skinner and Police Chief Jeff Pohlman about animal control issues. Responsibilities were clarified and future purchases of animal control equipment and pens were discussed.
No final decisions were reached and the council will have additional discussions before putting a final plan in place.
A lengthy executive session was held to discuss personnel. As with the session held at the last council meeting, topics discussed covered general employee issues. Negotiated benefits, evaluations, job descriptions, and procedures for updating these issues were discussed.
No action was taken on return to public session.
During a review of nuisance properties, the topic of the city's obligations on storm clean up was brought up. The council agreed to place the item on a future agenda for more discussion.
Council members also will review spring and fall clean up days and look at participation options for volunteers and city workers.
In other business the council:
— heard from Health and Safety Officer Deb Buser that several people sited for nuisance properties were cooperating with the city, while others had ignored the communications and would be required to enter the hearing phase within the next few weeks.
— heard from the mayor that the title work for the property at 203 Sycamore is nearly done. No decision has been made by the council in regard to the future of the structure.
— approved a request by Ron Madsen for additional time to get an untagged vehicle operable or concealed. Madsen will appear before the council Nov. 24 with a progress update or will contact the city clerk if the car is in compliance before that date.
— heard from city engineer Al Reiss that all but one of the easements for the sewer project have been signed. Easement maps required by Rural Development were signed and distributed to the city and city attorney.
The bid-letting process will begin after the first of the year with a project completion date in mid-summer.
— approved a motion to share the cost of a new flag pole at the fire station.
