VILLAGE BOARD MINUTES

The Board of Trustees of the Village of Shickley met in regular session on Thursday, August 7, 2008 in the village office as posted.  The trustees were notified in advance of the meeting and the agenda was posted in three public places as follows:  Clerk’s office, Geneva State Bank-Shickley Branch and Shickley Post Office.

Board members present were Chairman Walter, Goesch, Hochstetler, D. Swartzendruber and S. Swartzendruber.  Others present were Clerk-Roxie Schlegel, Jerry Casper and Patt Lentfer.

Chairman Walter called the meeting of the board of trustees to order at 7:30 p.m.  The minutes from the July 10 meeting and the treasurer’s report for July were available for board review in board packets.  The minutes were approved as presented to the board.  The treasurer’s report was approved as presented to the board.

Goesch made a motion, seconded by D. Swartzendruber, to pay all claims as they were presented to the board.  Roll call vote – 5 yeas. Motion passed.

Old business
Village Attorney Lucas Swartzendruber advised that the village needs to file a small claims court complaint in the county of the person that you are filing a claim against.  A physical address for the negligent party is also needed.  Clerk will try and get a physical address for a party we need to collect a utility bill from.
The injector pump at the sewer plant is working after being reported that it has been running for a period of time.
D. Swartzendruber reported that Van Kirk’s have given a verbal estimate of $25,000 for the drainage project for S. Railroad St.  They can break the project into two parts in order to keep the threshold for bids under the $20,000 mark.  They are proposing concrete ditches for the water to drain in this area.
Walter reported that Stan Tatro has cleaned up the trailer house on S. Market St.  Property owner at burned house site on E. Campbell Street, has plans to clean up that property on his own.
Walter reported that Biegert Feeds is working on cleaning up their property. The bulk bins are scheduled to be moved sometime this fall.
Walter reported that the village is at a standstill on collecting past due money on the mowing of the Jean LeGere property.  Several options remain for collections: *File a lien on the property. *Assess the mowing against the property. * Declare a nuisance. *It may not be worth the cost of the property to try and do any legal action.
Walter reported that Conley Frieden has taken care of the faulty transformer located by Busse’s warehouse.
Clerk reported that the registered letter that was sent to Thomas Renner, concerning the removal of a tree at his property, has been returned to the village as not being deliverable or not accepted.  The village will progress with the removal of the tree.

Norder ag land purchase
Walter reported that Norder Ag. has had a letter of response from the Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA is requesting for them to submit their plans for the land that they wish to purchase, showing elevation drawings, etc. and have these sent to Kansas City to make sure that it meets their specifications.

Delinquent utilities and planning administrator’s report
Clerk reported that all utilities are current with one exception.
Clerk reported that the planning administrator has contacted the village concerning a building permit for garage that is being moved into town.  The planning administrator is currently investigating this. 
The planning administrator left a map for clerk to check for accuracy.  This is for the county’s GPS system.
Discussion about another building that is being moved in for a storage shed. 

maintenance report
Casper reported that the pickup seat has been fixed.
Casper reported that he has been doing some work on the motor at the sewer plant and it is now done
The tractor that is used for shredding needs repairs.  It will be going to Eichelberger Service when he has time to work on it.
Casper reported that the trashcans are being emptied on a regular basis.  He threw one away that was recently smashed.  The board reports that Troy Thomas at Shickley Air Service has containers that will work well for trash containers.  We will look into getting some of these.

Patt lentfer for fillmore county development corporation
Patt Lentfer talked about accomplishments of the Fillmore County Development Corporation and made a request for contributions for 2009 from the Village of Shickley.   The contributions received from the communities help keep programs going and growing.  She also handed out a budget for FCDC, information about industrial sites in Fillmore County and a “Fast Facts for Fillmore County”.
Goesch made a motion, seconded by Hochstetler, to make a contribution from the Village of Shickley in the amount of $1,400 to Fillmore County Development Corporation for 2009.  Roll call vote – 5 yeas.  Motion passed.

Liquor license hearing for Kochie’s
A hearing for a liquor license for Kochie’s was declared open at 7:58 p.m.  No one from the public was present to comment or contest the license.  Goesch made a motion, seconded by D. Swartzendruber, to approve the renewal of a liquor license for Kochie’s.  Roll call vote – 5 yeas.  Motion passed.
The hearing was declared closed at 7:59 p.m.

garbage contract
Burton Enterprises has notified the village that it will be necessary to increase the rates for their garbage hauling services in the Village of Shickley due to the increase of fuel prices over the past few years.  They have proposed an increase of $1.00 per customer per month beginning on September 1, 2008 and have presented the Village with an amendment to be added to their present contract.  D. Swartzendruber made a motion, seconded by S. Swartzendruber, to raise the garbage rates per customer to $10.70, beginning September 1, 2008, with $1.70 to help fund costs at the Village tree burn site and $9.00 to Burton Enterprises.  Roll call vote – 5 yeas.  Motion passed.

Contracting ambulance service and storm watching service for the village of strang with the shickley volunteer fire dept.
D. Swartzendruber reported that he has been in contact with the Village of Strang board of trustees and they are interested in having the Shickley Volunteer Fire Dept. contract with them for storm watching and ambulance service.  They have discussed a price of $76.00 per person per year for these services.  There are currently 20 people living in Strang.  Their cost would currently be $1,520.
Discussion.
Walter reported that Lucas Swartzendruber, village attorney, recommends that we don’t have any research done on this proposal until we know for certain that they are willing to enter into a contract.  All legal fees will be charged to the Village of Strang.

Walter declared that this issue is on hold until we hear back from the Village Board of Strang with their intentions.

Metered lighting for street lights at Methodist church parking lot
It has been determined that the two streetlights in the Methodist Church parking lot are not metered.  Clerk noted that they have been paying a flat rate for electricity for these two lights for the past several years since the lights were installed.
Goesch made a motion, seconded by S. Swartzendruber, to increase the flat rate charge for each of the two street lights in the Methodist Church parking lot to $12.50 beginning September 1, 2008 and to also charge the Methodist Church for light bulbs that are replaced in these lights.  Roll call vote – 5 yeas.  Motion passed.

Bid proposal from jeff’s tree service for trimming trees
Walter reported that Jeff’s Tree Service has given a bid of $800 to trim trees for the Perennial Public Power electric rebuild project. Discussion.  It was suggested that the trees south of the Methodist Church parking lot be topped off to 4-5 feet below the electric lines rather than be removed.  We will have Jeff refigure his bid for us allowing for this change.  This may cause an increase of his original bid.  Board advised Jerry to drive around town and make a list of trees that need to be trimmed out of the electrical lines so we can give this to Jeff to do this fall.  Walter will be in contact with Jeff concerning these decisions.

Review of fire dept and library budgets for fiscal year 2008-2009
The board reviewed the fire dept. and library budgets that were available for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Discussion.  Clerk will present the budgets to auditor when he is here to prepare the next fiscal year budget for the Village of Shickley.  Walter will talk to Penny Zauha, library board member, concerning the library budget.

Review of budget items for the Village of Shickley 2008-2009 fiscal year
Board discussion of items to be included in the 2008-2009 fiscal year budget.  Clerk presented a rough draft of items that have been requested for inclusion in the next year’s budget.  Revisions were made to the requests and a final draft drawn up for presentation to the auditor when he prepares the budget on August 19.

Comments during this discussion: 1. We will have Noel Lawn Care spray the Johnson Feed Mill lot around Labor Day to kill the weeds that are there, and then seed the entire lot about 10 days later with grass seed.  2. We need to find out how many days Van Kirk’s will have the street tore up when they do the drainage project.  We don’t want to schedule it so it is torn up during harvest season.  D. Swartzendruber will be in contact with Van Kirk’s and with Ryan Noel.

Other business:
D. Swartzendruber stated that there are a lot of trees growing in the creek bottom behind Ethel Johnson’s property.  We need to spray them now, while they are small and while there are leaves growing on them so as to get a better kill.  D. Swartzendruber will visit with Noel about the possibility of having him spray this area to kill the trees before they become a bigger problem.

Chairman Walter asked if there was any further business.  As there was none, Chairman Walter adjourned the meeting at 8:44 p.m.  The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 p.m. with bill review at 7:00 p.m.