Members of the Trenton City Council on Monday night overrode a veto by the mayor to hire a tax counsel who will assist the city with documents needed to finance the purchase of the city’s fire training tower and related expenses.
On a vote of 6-0, the council overrode the veto by Mayor Dr. Nick McHargue and agreed to hire Gilmore Bell of Kansas City to prepare the documentation being required by Community Leasing Partners of Manhattan, KS, which is providing a $1.2 million loan to the city for the project. The council has already approved purchase of a burn tower at the cost of $730,000. The remaining money being borrowed would pay for development of the site where the tower is to be constructed, including concrete work, fencing, graveling and electrical service.
The money for the project is being borrowed over a 20-year period at a fixed interest rate of 4.68 percent, with annual payments being $90,000. The loan is being paid back from funds generated from the city fire tax approved by voters in 2017.
Toni Stegeman of Gilmore Bell told council members the cost to prepare the documents and issue a tax opinion to Community Leasing would be around $10,000. That cost would be rolled into the principal of the city’s loan with Community Leasing and would leave the payments at $90,000.
The initial vote to approve Gilmore Bell as special tax counsel was 4-2 with Glen Briggs, Lou Fisher, Larry Porter and Larry Crawford in favor. Brad Chumbley and David Mlika were opposed. Travis Elbert and Jennifer Hottes were absent.
Mayor McHargue then vetoed the vote, stating he did not like the additional cost and was unhappy that the loan interest to be paid by the city to Community Leasing would be tax exempt. City Attorney Tara Walker told the council that the documentation and opinion being required by Community Leasing were beyond her expertise. Fire Chief Brandon Gibler said that while he was not happy about the additional cost, the $10,000 was less than 1 percent of the estimated cost for the entire project and felt that moving forward “was the right thing to do.”
City Administrator Ron Urton said the city has until Feb. 1 to order the fire training tower at the $730,000 cost. He noted the cost of steel has risen considerably since that time and any delay would increase the cost of the tower.
On a vote of 6-0, the council agreed to proceed with the headworks project at the wastewater plant, having Burns and McDonnell begin the design phase of the work. With other improvements already being done at the plant, officials believe it would be more cost effective to integrate the headworks into the existing project while Irvinbilt, which is doing the project, is still on site. The cost for the headworks project has been estimated at around $2.8 to $3 million.
Although not discussed, the council has been given a letter from CPA Mark Higgins, who stated he would not recommend using utility funds from other departments to pay for sewer work. However, he noted that should the council decide to loan money between departments, there should be a written loan agreement that outlines specific payback terms.
The council approved a utility services shut-off policy, which will go into effect on April 1. The policy is being instituted to reduce the number of service shutoffs for non-payment of bills and to reduce the number of after-hour reconnect calls due to shutoffs. Under the new policy, reconnects will be made only between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). If a reconnect is required due to an emergency situation, there will be an after hours reconnect fee of $150 charged. To qualify as an emergency, residents must be on life support equipment and listed on the TMU emergency connection list on file at city hall. A copy of the policy will be made available to all customers in their bills prior to going into effect.
The council voted to purchase a force switch to be installed on a transformer at 10th Street and Harris Avenue, which will help with intermittent outages being experienced at the Nestle plant. The switch will cost $3,460. A recloser, to be placed on a pole at Second and Kitty Street, was also purchased at a cost of $17,670.
In other business, the council:
• approved two ordinances, purchasing sand and rock from Norris Quarries.
• agreed to eliminate the check ledger listings from the monthly financial packets.
• asked Urton to set up a meeting with the county commission to discuss projects on which the city and county can work together.
• asked the police chief and city administrator to look for a different location for the police shooting range, which is currently located near the water plant.
• reminded citizens that there is a city ordinance requiring property owners to remove snow from their sidewalks.
• was told the Normal Street road project was being rebid and discussed concerns about Ninth Street, which is to be overlayed by the state in 2020.
• recognized city personnel who assisted in any way with the snowstorm this past weekend.
• was told Suddenlink would be increasing its prices for its cable television services.
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