Peabody council approves new cable TV provider
Council examines 'wish list' for capital expenditures
Cable TV subscribers in Peabody soon will begin receiving service and bills from a new cable provider.
During a special meeting Monday night, Peabody City Council voted 4-1 to approve transfer of the city's cable television franchise agreement from Cox Communications to Allegiance Communications in Herington.
"The council quickly came to the conclusion that this transfer was merely a formality," explained city administrator Jeff Benbrook.
Councilman Steve Rose cast the one "no" vote. He gave no explanation for the vote.
During the council's regular meeting March 8, a representative from Allegiance Communications said that Cox had transferred a portion of its ownership to the Herington company.
The company has plans to upgrade Peabody's cable TV system including new channel packages, high speed Internet access, upgraded hardware, and possibly new cable.
Wish list
Following the cable decision, most of the evening's discussion centered around preliminary 2005 budget plans.
"All discussion was related to capital expenditures," Benbrook said.
Benbrook presented a brief "wish list" and council members prioritized the items.
The biggest area of concern included replacing municipal equipment. Specifically, the council discussed replacing one dump truck and two various size pickups.
"These vehicles are old and need to be replaced," Benbrook explained.
Council decided to try and replace one within a year and phase in replacement of the other two later.
Further discussion included how to fund the vehicle purchases. Council discussed the pros and cons of outright purchase vs. lease agreements.
"Overall, the council tends to lean more toward outright purchase," Benbrook explained. "But when the time comes and we have some clear figures we may look at a cost comparison on whether to buy outright or look at a lease option."
Besides vehicle replacement, the wish list also included work which needs to be done on city-owned buildings.
For instance, the city is applying for Heritage Trust Grant to fund major repairs and renovations on the city shop. If the grant is not funded, however, the work still must be done.
Also, Benbrook said the city office itself is "in dire need" of a significant upgrade.
Another wish list item discussed was a request by the zoning commission for an updated survey of the city. Benbrook said currently the city has only one survey pin, located in the far northeast corner of the city.
"So, anytime someone needs a survey done they have to start there," Benbrook explained. "That makes each individual request for a survey very expensive. It would probably be a good idea to have the whole city surveyed."
However, the cost to place survey pins citywide would be prohibitive.
"Maybe we could do two or three this year and try to get them on every major thoroughfare," he suggested.
Benbrook said the purpose of the preliminary budget discussion and wish list was to help create a master plan which the council could follow year after year when formulating its budget.
"Like all elected bodies, the council changes periodically and they tend to lose track of what decisions were made (by previous councils)," the city administrator explained.
"If we have a master plan on file it will help when we see a substantial amount of money in a fund and we'll know that it has been earmarked for a special project," he said.
In other matters, the council:
— Granted Benbrook permission to attend a State of Kansas budget seminar.
— Discussed items regarding the Peabody Development Corporation, a corporation developed to handle business at the city's industrial park.
Since the land currently is not being used for industry, farmers are leasing the land. The city receives both lease money and a portion of revenue from the crops grown there, Benbrook said.
Some of that money will need to go toward paying property taxes, he said. Also, before the area could be used for industry certain infrastructure improvements would need to be made, including roads, sewers, electricity, etc.
"Lots of things need to be done to infrastructure," Benbrook said.
One of the bylaws of the Peabody Development Corp. requires a yearly annual meeting. Since several members of the city council are members of the development corporation, Monday's meeting also served as the annual meeting — fulfilling the corporation's obligation.
