Peabody city council to hold public hearings
Several public hearings and public comment sessions will be held by the city of Peabody in the next two months. The sessions are required by law to give citizens a chance to offer input concerning city projects and finances.
At the city council meeting Monday night, the council set the dates for the upcoming hearings.
On July 15, the city will hold a final review of the water project. The one-year warranty period will expire a month after the meeting so the 11-month review on Monday, will be the final opportunity for citizens and the council to express their concerns.
The meeting will take place at the city building at 5:30 p.m.
The city council will hold a special budget workshop July 22, also at the city building. The council will decide city budget matters for the coming year at this meeting. A public hearing date will be announced upon completion of the budget workshop meeting. The public is invited to attend and address the council with any concerns about city finance.
Another public hearing will take place at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 for public comment and input on the proposed sewer project. The city's engineer, Al Reiss, and representatives of Rural Water and the Community Development Block Grant will be present along with council members to answer questions.
At Monday's meeting the council heard from Reiss on the progress of the sewer project. It approved a contingency contract to purchase land for the sewer lagoons from Gilbert Loewen at a cost of $50,000 with the condition that the agreement to maintain the hedge row at the edge of the property be null and void with any subsequent owners of Loewen's property.
The council also agreed to extend the sewer to the industrial park area across highway 50 and instructed Reiss to come back with additional plans which would include that area.
In other business the council
— agreed to fund a portion of the cost to move a water meter for Tina Partridge at a rental property. The city's portion will not exceed $200. Future requests for this service are to be handled on a case by case basis.
— voted to accept a bid of $730 from Flint Hills Termite and Pest Control to treat the round house at the City Park for termites.
— removed the properties at 211 S. Olive and 405 N. Plum from the nuisance list after the owners did the required demolitions. They extended the deadline for the owner of the house at 310 N. Walnut to Sept. 9.
— agreed to purchase the property at 408 N. Locust for $5,000 with the intention of demolishing the structure.
Council members approved the city's personnel policies and guidelines with three exceptions. Employees will be informed that, effective immediately, compensatory time may no longer be accrued beyond the pay period following the pay period in which it was earned. Any compensatory time accrued prior to this policy change must be used by the end of the year.
The council also revoked the employees 12 days of sick leave and replaced them with 10 days of personal leave. (Employees received no personal leave in the past.) However, the motion also included a demand that if an employee uses more than three consecutive days of that personal leave for illness, a note from the employee's doctor must be presented to the city clerk's office and placed in the employee's file.
The general pay range schedule for employees was removed from the guidelines and the council decided to determine salary on a per individual basis from now on.
Tabled until a future meeting were discussions concerning a KDHE loan to get water to the industrial park and of the ditch in the 400 block on N. Olive, the decision to paint the trim at city hall, and changes to the new shelter house at the park.
Councilman Tom Schmidt commended the city and employees for the street cleaning effort and the mosquito spraying before the Fourth of July celebration.
Mayor Kevin Ensminger announced that the city revitalization plan was approved by the county commission last month. The city is awaiting final approval by the attorney general's office.
