Skidmore agrees to sell city lot

At the March 9 Skidmore City Council meeting, it was agreed to sell lot seven behind Newton Hall to Monroe Township.

The Monroe Township board consisting of Wallace McGinnis, Scott Clement and Rodney Allen want the lot adjacent to the township building for use in parking equipment and perhaps building a shed for storage. After discussion, it was decided to sell the lot for $1,500. The township will pay for the survey.

Four people of the reformed youth baseball association members, Dennis James, Whitney Brown, Cody Brown and Kevin Volner, addressed the council. The committee is only going to have one half-pint team this year. They hope to build so that next year there will be pints and cubs as well.

There was a league meeting March 12 where the association will find out if there will be home games. Regardless, they want to use the ballfield for practice even if there are no home games. The youth association runs from the middle of May to the end of June. It is working with the Nodaway-Holt High School baseball team which is also using the ballfield for practice.

John Troener, Ciara White and Tim Sportsmen are also on the association board, but unable to attend the city council meeting. Alderman Tim Slagle suggested a $50 per game fee for this year. No action was taken.The council agreed to accept Sean Slocum of S&S Electrical, Mound City, bid of $850 to replace and repair the electrical box at the ballpark. Another bid had been received, however, the company had not provided licenses and insurance.

The DNR inspection report for the January 26 surprise inspection on the city’s permit was reviewed by Maintenance Supervisor Cassie Partridge. All infractions must be addressed in writing to DNR by Friday, April 7.

One of the infractions is a CMOM manual, an acronym for Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance. CMOM is a flexible, dynamic framework for municipalities to identify and incorporate widely accepted wastewater industry practices to: Better manage, operate, and maintain collection systems, according to Google.

Jonathan Eckstein of PeopleServices has offered to work on this for $75 an hour for four hours on his own time. Partridge is going to check with the Missouri Rural Water Association to see if something is available.

The current water tower company, Pittsburg, will work on the inside of the water tower, if the city will drain it. Alderman Teresa Carter hopes the water can be used for flushing the fire hydrants and sewer lines.

The city is looking for another company to do the water tower maintenance.

Discussion was held on having a code enforcer and what the pay should be. Resident Tracy Shewey said in the past the city council had written the tickets for ordinance violations. She doesn’t think the city can afford the extra pay.

Partridge said she would add on as part of her duties. The aldermen can step up, if Partridge doesn’t have time.

Slagle said when he surveyed the streets for the council, the residential properties were looking much better. “If we get the worst in line, the rest will get better.”

Resident Paul McGary poured concrete to the city park gazebo. He is making progress on cleaning up his properties.

Discussion was held on city mowing help. The city mows the three cemeteries, the parks, Newton Hall and City Hall. A resident suggested the city asked for donations for the cemetery mowing. The end discussion was Partridge needs weedeating help on a part-time basis. It was tabled until the April meeting.

At the March 3 city council meeting, the council opened the request for qualifications packets for sewer project engineers from Allstate Consultants, Lee’s Summit; McClure, North Kansas City; and Veenstra and Kimm, Liberty. The council approved a scoring committee of Jill Wieland, Slagle, Carter, Kim Fetterer, Partridge and Meagan Morrow. Each was to score the companies on their own time and return the scoring sheets to city hall by March 8.

The tally was made and the city voted to start negotiations with McClure.

Discussion was had on the Evergy rebate for replacing light bulbs and water heaters. The items will need to be purchased and then the rebate applications made. Prices will be explored.

Water loss for the past month was 17.76 percent. Partridge is monitoring the water scope daily and believes all leaks are fixed. At this time there are 79 water meters hooked up to the new billing system.