Peabody moves forward on sewer project
Deb Buser, Jeannie Strotkamp, and Susie Schmidt addressed the Peabody City Council Monday night about their concerns for youngsters on motorized scooters and bicycles. The women had all observed children taking unnecessary risks.
They questioned whether riders on motorized scooters had to obey the same regulations as vehicles and if bicycle riders were required to attend bicycle safety classes.
After discussion, Mayor Randy Dallke agreed that he would talk with the police chief about the officers visiting with the parents of children violating safety rules.
The council agreed that it was not so much interested in punishment as education to keep youngsters in the community from being injured.
The council was informed that three applications had been received to fill a temporary position at the city office during the upcoming maternity leave of Cindy Harms, city clerk. Interviews with the candidates will take place Thursday morning.
Marilyn Jones was present to request that the city consider using red, white, and blue paint to create the traffic lines in the historic business district when the city repaints them. Jones said she saw this done in Essex, Conn., in honor of 9/11 and thought it was quite effective.
Jones checked with Marion County officials and the Kansas Department of Transportation and met no resistance in either office. The county said that each community is in charge of its traffic designations and KDOT said the color did not matter as long as the paint used was reflective.
Jones said that with the downtown historic designation and the country's recent return to patriotic fervor, she thought colored lines would be appropriate and unique.
The council directed the city attorney to research city ordinances before agreeing to consider the plan.
Nancy Hubble of Inland Paving presented the council with the bad news that Peabody's yearly street maintenance plan has fallen behind and repairs will be more extensive and expensive than the council previously thought.
Familiar with budget constraints being felt by small towns, Hubble recommended that the council concentrate on sealing the cracks in the streets that are not yet in bad condition to prevent them from deteriorating. She added that left over funds in the street budget could then be applied to some of the side streets in need of repair.
Hubble recommended that the city get itself back on an annual maintenance program even though budget cuts will make it difficult to catch up with all the repairs that need to be done.
Hubble will return to the next meeting with a maintenance plan.
Deb Buser, health and safety officer for the city, reported to the council about letters she had sent about mowing violations. The council approved a second group of letters being sent by certified mail. If the recipients do not reply or do the mowing, the city will do it and bill them for it.
In a related issue, letters will be sent to the owners of nuisance properties this week and a time-line given on clean up.
In other business, the council:
— heard from Dale Clark of Knudson and Monroe about the annual audit. Clark said the audit went well and that the city is in good shape. He cautioned the council about future cuts in revenue and told them to plan their budget carefully.
— appointed Kevin Ensminger to fill a vacant position on the Peabody-Burns Recreation Commission.
— denied a request to park RVs at the city park on the Fourth of July.
— selected 6 p.m. July 7 as the time and date for a special meeting to plan the budget for the coming year.
— went into a 10 minute executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel. No action was taken on return to open session.
— reviewed delinquent water account lists dating back several years to review the amount of revenue the city lost when delinquent accounts were not aggressively pursued.
— heard that a four-year warranty on the back-hoe can be added at any time before the initial one-year warranty expires.
— voted to close the city office over the noon hour and alter the hours of the city clerk and the maintenance crews. The city treasurer's hours will not change.
— approved city personnel guidelines with a provision to re-visit the guidelines in September to review the policy on employee "personal time off."
