City commission approves fund for tree removal, bonds for taphouse project

Mar. 27—The Abilene City Commission met March 25 for their last regular meeting in March. During the meeting, the commission voted on two items.

Regular meeting

The commission first approved in a 4-1 vote establishing the Tree Board's request for a reserve fund. The fund would be filled with the board's remaining budget at the end of each fiscal year. The board will transfer $3,000 to the fund this year to start it out. The board voted at its Nov. 28 meeting to create a fund to aid citizens in removing trees within the public right-of-way. Since there is not a regulatory statute for this type of fund, it needed to be approved by the city commission. John Kollhoff, city commissioner, voted no because he thinks the fund is not a complete solution to removing the necessary trees. Brandon Rein, city mayor, said to Kollhoff the fund is a beginning of a solution.

The commission then approved industrial revenue bonds for the taphouse project, Rackets Tap House. The bonds are for a sales tax exemption for certain purchases for the project's construction, according to the agenda document. The tax will not abate any property tax.

The commission revisited the amendment to the community improvement district policy, which the city first adopted in Oct. 2016. The commission directed staff to make more changes to the document.

Over the past few meetings, the commission has been discussing whether the city should be paying credit card processing fees. According to the agenda document, the city currently pays all credit card fees, which they decided during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage people to pay online. After the city approved the contract with Tyler Technologies for municipal software, the commission asked the city staff to review processing fees. Staff presented four options in the agenda document: — Continue absorbing processing fees — Pass on processing fees to customers once the new municipal software is implemented. — Pass on the fees to customers immediately and absorb credit card processing fees after the software is implemented. — Permanently pass on the fees to customers immediately.

At the end of the discussion, the commission voiced they wanted to pass on processing fees to the payer once the new municipal software is implemented. The commission will vote on a resolution around August right before the software will go live.

City manager report

Ron Marsh, city manager, started his report by noting the concrete for the 14th Street project has mostly been poured. The walkway below the drainage structure under 14th Street is currently closed.

The Buckeye Avenue project between SW 6th Street and the Union Pacific Railroad is behind schedule by several weeks.

The waterline project for Oak, Olive and Kuney streets is almost complete.

The Union Pacific Railroad will replace the crossing at Elm Street. The project is scheduled to start April 29 through May 3.

The groundbreaking for the housing project Abilene Court will be at 2 p.m. April 9.

Work on the apartment building in Golden Belt Heights west section has begun.

The city applied for the Kansas Department of Transportation's City Connecting Link Improvement Program (CCLIP). The city wants to use the money to continue improving Buckeye Avenue.

The walking trail in Bicentennial Park is under construction currently.

Executive session

The commission then entered into two 15-minute executive sessions to go over the city manager's quarterly review.

Study session

The commission discussed discontinuing adding fluoride to the city's water supply. Trevor Witt, city commissioner, said a resident approached him about the flouride the city adds to the water supply. After his own research and talking with city staff, Witt said he wants staff to no longer add fluoride to increase safety and the potential benefit of the fluoride does not outweigh the risk of having it in the water supply.

According to the agenda document, the Public Works Department adds per month about 55 gallons of fluoride to an average 30 million gallons of water. Fluoride does naturally exist in water. Depending on the water source, the ratio of naturally existing fluoride and water is about 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million. The city spends between $2,200 to $4,400 each year. The process of adding fluoride to water is dangerous because fluoride is dangerous in chemical form.

The rest of the commission came to the consensus to direct city staff to create an ordinance to discontinue the addition of fluoride in the water supply and to repeal the current ordinance that instructs staff to add fluoride.

The Abilene City Commission next will meet for a regular meeting at 4 p.m. April 8 in the Abilene Public Library.