June 16, 2025 Commission Minutes

GOODLAND CITY COMMISSION

Regular Meeting

June 16, 2025                                                                                                                                    5:00 P.M.

Mayor Jason Showalter called the meeting to order with Vice-Mayor J J Howard, Commissioner Sarah Artzer, Commissioner Ann Myers and Commissioner Brook Redlin responding to roll call. 

Also present were Joshua Jordan – IT Director, Danny Krayca – Director of Parks, Jake Kling – City Attorney, Neal Thornburg – Director of Water and Wastewater, Jason Erhart – Chief of Police, Zach Hildebrand – Code Enforcement/Building Official, Shauna Johnson – Deputy City Clerk, Mary Volk – City Clerk and Kent Brown – City Manager.

Mayor Showalter led Pledge of Allegiance

PUBLIC COMMENT

1. Arts Council – Koal Artzer and Darla Mosbarger were present to give an update on the Arts Council.  Koal stated, at the last Arts Council meeting most of the board resigned; therefore, there is a new board with Darla and I.  They are Ron Harding, Jessica King, Brittney Whisnant and Gennifer House.  Darla thanked the City for the transformation of the south side of the property. There will be a Grand Reopening on July 24^th at 5:00 p.m. Mayor Showalter commended the new board for stepping up and volunteering. 

PROCLAMATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

1. Options Presentation – Dawn Gable was present with information on Options, a Northwest Kansas Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Service. She stated, this year in Sherman County there were 29 reports of domestic violence incidences, resulting in 38 arrests.  This data was from 2023 KBI information, and was a slight decrease from previous years.  There were 2 rape cases reported and 100% arrest on those 2 cases.  Here in Goodland, GRMC has a program that can process a rape kit; the hope is to get a dedicated nurse for those cases.  The program is not funded by tax dollars, but by the Victims of Crime Act and donations.  The request tonight is to continue the donation of $3,000 from the city.

CONSENT AGENDA

1. 06/02/2025 Commission Meeting Minutes
2. Appropriation Ordinances: 2025-12, 2025-12A and 2025-P12

ON A MOTION by Vice-Mayor Howard to approve Consent Agenda seconded by Commissioner Myers.  MOTION carried on a VOTE of 5-0. 

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

1. Resolution 2025-16: Set public hearing for 404 Harrison Av. – Unfit Structure – Zach stated, I was called to 404 Harrison with other agencies.  The inside of the house is not in livable condition.  Lee Dimmick is owner of the property and he is looking at different avenues for removal of the trailer from the lot. ON A MOTION by Mayor Showalter to approve Resolution 2025-16: Set public hearing for 404 Harrison Ave. – Unfit Structure to be held on August 4^th, 2025 seconded by Commissioner Myers.  MOTION carried on a VOTE of 5-0. 

FORMAL ACTIONS

1.  Planning Commission appointment – Curtis Penrod – Kent stated, Curtis has completed an application for planning commission and understands responsibilities of the board.  If the application is approved, he would replace Mary Coumerilh, who recently resigned. ON A MOTION by Commissioner Redlin to approve the appointment of Curtis Penrod to the Goodland Planning Commission seconded by Commissioner Artzer.  MOTION carried on a VOTE of 5-0. 

DISCUSSION

1. Electric pedestrian vehicle (scooters, bicycles, etc.) – ordinance and state statute review – Kent stated, as a result of a commissioner’s request Jason has produced an ordinance to begin the discussion on scooters, electric scooters, electric bicycles, skateboards, pocket bikes, etc. State Statute covers many regulations regarding these items. Jason also included some language that should be reviewed in City Code. Jason stated, the focus of the code is to layout where these items will be allowed to be ridden. If we ban these on the sidewalks at Steever Park, you would be banning them at the skate park and sidewalks up to the picnic tables. The biggest concern is Main Street sidewalks. I have personally stopped at least 5 of them since the last commission meeting.  Many cities ban bicycles, skateboards and other types of these vehicles in any business district.  I did not feel this was necessary in Goodland, but that is another option. Another concern is the trail off of Arcade near the pool. I added a compliance and parental responsibility portion in to hold parents accountable as well.  Vice-Mayor Howard stated, my main concern is someone coming out of a business on Main Street and getting hit or badly hurt. I do not have a problem having them on the walking trail or part of it as long as people are conscious and understand a person walking has the right away, just like a vehicle. Commissioner Artzer stated, I am unsure about banning them outright in parks because I understand children of a certain age ride them to the pool. Jason stated, this ordinance will be bare bones because many things are addressed in State Statute.  Vice-Mayor Howard stated, my thought is to take out banning them in the parks, and allow them on the walking trail. Commissioner Artzer stated, I do not believe the items should be allowed on the Main Street sidewalk. Mayor Showalter asked, for clarification on the pocket bike, currently State Statue does not allow those to be ridden. I am in favor of cleaning up some of the language and clutter in city code. I concur the city should allow them to operate on the trail and parks to allow children to get to the pool, but continue to take a tougher stance on Main Street. Commissioner Myers asked about section 16-406D, no person shall sell a pedal for use on a bicycle, unless pedal is equipped with a reflector.  Is this for anyone selling a bike at a garage sale? Jason stated, that is a State Statute and was probably put in there for businesses like Walmart when you buy an extra pedal.  Section 16-409 is completely removed, but this is where we would put anywhere you do not want to allow people to ride. From the discussion, it would be from the 800 block of Main to the 1700 block of Main and the 100 block of each street east and west of Main. 
2. Follow up on power supply contract proposals – Kent stated, staff is requesting further direction from Commission regarding the power supply contract proposals, the report completed by Midwest Municipal Solutions and specifically the request brought up by Sunflower Electric for an additional report and evaluation of the contract proposals at their cost. Commissioner Redlin stated, my personal opinion is if they feel the report was biased, let them put together a new report. Mayor Showalter stated, I personally do not feel it is necessary to have another consultant look at the numbers, I am comfortable with what was presented and recommended. It is a consensus of the commission there is no need for an additional consultant and they are ready for a presentation of the KMEA contract. Mayor Showalter stated in addition, see if KMEA can assist with a contract buyout for our last year with Sunflower.
3. 2026 Budget Presentation – General Fund – Kent stated, staff will start presenting the proposed 2026 Budget proposal beginning with the General Fund. The objective for the general fund it to have a balanced budget, sustain our operations and diversify the revenue base. In the economic overview, right now our local economy and sales tax remain steady. Inflation effects every purchase either by availability, price or delivery. Included in your packet you see information KMU sent out regarding electrical infrastructure. We have the estimated assessed valuation for the City of Goodland. For the 2025 budget we were just over 42 million and estimation for upcoming year is estimated at 43 million. That is an increased in valuation of about 2.8%.

General Fund has different revenues sources: taxes, fees, licenses, permits, charges for services, fines from municipal court, intergovernmental revenue, investment earnings and miscellaneous items that do not fit any of the other category. Expenditures in the General Fund include administration, police, municipal court, animal control, public transportation, fire, building, street and alley, airport, parks, museum, cemetery, economic development, recreation and the pool. There are three main legs of revenue which are property tax, sales tax and fund transfers. The sales tax revenue is very limited for City of Goodland. The sales tax is 9%, but 6.5% of it goes to the state, 0.25% is a pass through that provides some funding to the school district and then 2.25% the county and city share. The sales tax cannot be raised without a vote, so to increase that revenue we need to increase our sales.  The proposed budget has 32% of it funded by property tax, 28% by sales tax revenue which if you take the school district out would be end up to be about 21%, 20% user fees, 15% other revenue categories and 5% of cash balance, which the City has been spending down in past years. Total revenues increased by $38,000 not including property tax.  

For reference, our budget in January 2019 was $3.4 million for the general fund. If you use the inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we have the same buying power for $4.2 million. The proposed budget before you, is just slightly over that at $4,249,767.  Each year staff reviews and makes cuts to meet proposed budget. The assessed valuation history from 2003 shows flat in the City of Goodland for about 10 years, then we had a slow rise and a little bit of a jump and it is still rising. Staff does an awesome job putting together their department information, including the numbers and description. Mary does a great job putting that together showing line by line what is being spent and then answers a couple questions at the end. Information includes how they mitigate costs, number of people in department and what challenges they see for the next 3 to 5 years.  Some of them will also have their vehicles and equipment used for various things.

General government is for admin where overall personnel costs include a cost of living at 3%. Contractual services show the school sales tax receipts have increased. Insurance went up about $20,000 or more for all the different buildings and vehicles assigned within the General Fund. Professional services include the city attorney, the comprehensive plan and grant assistance. There is a small increase for equipment maintenance and repair for items within the city hall building. Capital Outlay includes repainting the Van Gogh easel next year for $15,000. CIRF has a little bit transferred to reserve. Police has some increased costs for personnel. All budgets will show the same cost of living increase and the financial system includes overtime costs in the salary line item. The software is significantly less because they moved to a different ticketing system. Professional services which include a variety of items is up $2000. The body/dash cam payment is on year 5 of 5. Included in CIRF is $10,000 for the roof on the armory building which increased from $5,000 last year.  MERF is additional cost for vehicle lease purchase. Municipal Court includes a retirement expense in the 2025 budget. We are considering changing it to a contractual judge and just salary for the municipal court clerk. Contractual we have the judge, special prosecutor, prisoner care and indigent defense. Both of those we have a certain amount that could be used up very quickly if we had a significant case. Animal Control has no significant changes to the contractual but there is a concern from staff about how much longer the current contract will continue. Jason put it in part of his description in both the police department and the animal control budget to start to put aside money to create a dog pound at the police department. It is not just the services of the animal control officer but will be care and housing area for the animals.  Van Transportation we have wages for two part-time drivers. Grant requirements and other advertising are in the contractual and there’s a slight increase in the commodities in this fund. We keep putting aside money for a new van in the future. The state has reduced their funding the last 2 years by 10%. Fire Department was a request from the fire board to increase the amount from the city 3%, which is included in this budget. If that was separately paid by a property tax mill levy it would be just under 6 mills. Building Inspection continues to share an administrative assistant with the building official, city manager and up front with the city clerk. Contractual includes testing and certification tests, professional services include weed abatement, building removal, nuisance abatement and tree removal. Currently over $50,000 set aside for these, which is a slight increase to match the actuals for advertising notices and the schooling. We have balances in CIRF for nuisance housing and tree removal; however, there are two hotels, Rescare and 17th & Main that need addressed. Those are three categories of properties that we may be asking the commission to go ahead with plans for demolition. It’s going to cost a lot more than $50,000 to take care of either of the hotels and does not include the four to six homes a year needing done. In Street and Alley bulk fuel remains a little bit higher level and other utilities increased $1000. Otherwise, there’s minimal changes to what’s included in the budget. We do concrete work, curb painting, alleys and valley gutters in Capital Outlay. What is put aside in CIRF is replace the underground tanks, crush concrete, chip seal and then a certain amount for the second part of Cherry Street. MERF is a number of equipment items. In Airport there’s a little bit of property taxes that we need to pay. There is a small amount for equipment maintenance which includes broom and blade replacement when needed. There is $5,000 set aside for the Eagle Med hanger which is owned by the city, but leased by Eagle Med. Parks is really not much different from the previous years. I will say that we do not have anything set aside for CIRF, even though people continue to bring requests for additional projects in the parks such as shade structure, pickle ball surface and basketball goals to name a few. MERF has a certain amount of money set aside for the next ZTR mowers, IT backbone and park equipment. In Museum the insurance is up. We do set aside $10,000 for the roof in CIRF. MERF includes a new alarm system and IT backbone. The Cemetery caretaker’s contract is up next year which includes a small increase. There is a little bit more on building maintenance for the chapel and the caretaker shed we continue to maintain. We started to set aside for the chapel roof. Mayor Showalter asked, in past years we had talked about trying to set aside money to purchase more land to expand the cemetery.   Mary stated, that is transferred from Cemetery Improvement.  Economic Development budget meets the requirements of the agreement for Sherman County Community Development. There’s a small increase in the draft budget. They did spend some money to make changes to the restroom coordinated with CVB because they make the money to help pay for tourism. Small amount set aside for the Welcome Center building. In Recreation there is a contractual amount we work out with the Goodland Activities Center (GAC). There’s no change from the revised amount that we receive from the director of the GAC. We put in two items to set aside money to resurface the tennis courts and infield conditioner. A balance remains to replace the tractor they use for the ball fields. Steever Water Park personnel expenditures is the majority of this fund, but that expenditure also depends on the weather. The insurance for Steever Water Park is up, and we increased a little bit on supplies. We do put aside $10,000 for pool improvements in MERF and CIRF. The water park basically operated $100,000 in the red in 2024. In summary we are changing one more position to contract as proposed for municipal court judge. We need to strengthen revenues long term or eventually we are going to need to reduce services.

REPORTS

1.  City Manager – 1. Manager Memo is included in packet. 2. May month end financial and Police monthly activity reports are included in packet.   3. Engineers for IdeaTek are continuing pole survey.  Dustin was contacted by IdeaTek with some concerns on utilities, like AT&T or Vyve, not being codes.  This is more because older homes do not have the clearance.  4. KMU has provided information regarding rising costs for electrical utilities that is in packet.  5. North Water Tower repairs and coatings report is in packet. 6. Commission was scheduled to have a work session, but with the length of the meeting consensus to set a new work session June 26^th at 5:30 p.m.

City Commissioners

Vice-Mayor Howard – 1.  No Report

Commissioner Artzer – 1.  No Report

Commissioner Myers – 1.  No Report

Commissioner Redlin – 1. There are some ideas on how to help with pool passes in the future. Asking for feedback on if the process this year worked.

Mayor Showalter– 1.  No Report

EXECUTIVE SESSION

1. Under the authority of KSA75-4319(b)(2) for consultations with an attorney for the public body which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship – Mayor Showalter made a motion at 6:43 p.m. to recess into executive session under authority of K.S.A.75-4319 (b) (2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship not to exceed twenty-five minutes. I request City Commission, City Manager and City Attorney be present.  Commissioner Redlin seconded the motion.  MOTION carried by a VOTE of 5-0.  Meeting resumed at 7:08 p.m.  Mayor Showalter made a second motion at 7:09 p.m. to recess into executive session under authority of K.S.A.75-4319 (b) (2) for consultation with an attorney for the public body which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship not to exceed five minutes. I request City Commission, City Manager and City Attorney be present. Vice-Mayor Howard seconded the motion.  MOTION carried by a VOTE of 5-0.  Meeting resumed at 7:14 p.m. 

ADJOURNMENT WAS HAD ON A MOTION BY Mayor Showalter seconded by Commissioner Myers.  Motion carried by unanimous VOTE; meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.  Next meeting is scheduled for July 7^th, 2025.

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ATTEST:                                                                               Jason Showalter, Mayor

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Shauna Johnson, Deputy City Clerk