Recycling bins arriving soon at Goessel

The Goessel City Council heard at its Aug. 15 meeting that Waste Connections would deliver bins to the city soon to begin single-stream recycling.

City Clerk Anita Goertzen said the bins will be placed by the fence south of the community building. Items for recycling can be delivered to the bins from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays.

The council appointed Councilor Larry Schmidt to monitor the drop-off site during those hours. He will be available to help people and to be sure that only acceptable recyclables are deposited in the recycling bins.

Goertzen said recycling guidelines would be like they have been, except more plastics will be accepted.

She said the service is for anyone in the community, not just for those who live in town.

?The more, the better,? Goertzen said, explaining that the city will not have to pay for recycling service if the city generates enough material.

Recyclables do not have to be sorted as this will be single-stream recycling. As had been explained at an earlier meeting, Marion County commissioners are starting a new county-wide single-stream recycling program, which will begin with a six-month trial period.

The goal is to place an 8-cubic-yard container in each Marion County community that participates. The county will pay the $125 monthly cost for the first six months for those cities in the county that collect at least an average of three tons of recyclables in all of those months.

Budget hearing

On another matter, the council hosted a budget hearing prior to the regular meeting. During the hearing, resident Tony Epp asked, ?How much did you budget for the attorney??

Goertzen said all ?contractural? services are budgeted together. Contracted services would include the attorney, judge, phone line, electricity and other utilities. The city is allowing $40,000 for all such services.

Epp also questioned membership in the League of Kansas Municipalities. Paula Flaming, deputy clerk, said membership in the league costs $216.51 per year.

The council approved the 2012 budget in regular session. The 2012 tax levy will be 54.89 mills, compared to 55.591 mills in 2011. She said the lower mill levy can be attributed to the city?s increase in valuation, from almost $2.029 million in 2011 to just over $2.079 million for 2012.

Goertzen said the projected total expenditures minus the transfers for 2012 would produce a budget total of $757,366.

Other business

In other business, the council:

? adopted a rule stating that the mayor will begin every meeting by giving instructions that anyone who has recording or video taping equipment with them will need to identify themselves and state their purpose for using the equipment. The equipment will have to be ?out in the open?; it cannot be used secretively.

? heard from Karen Dalke, public works director, that all city employees and council members need badges.

?I think that?s a very good idea,? she said. Badges will allow city officials to be identified easily in case of an emergency. The badges will cost $3.50 each.

? heard police chief Eric Reed report that the department issued one ticket, made 10 contacts and investigated four cases. Reed said Threshing Days ran smoothly this year.

Reed said information reminding parents and students about driving habits and seat-belt use would be sent out at the beginning of school.

? heard from Schmidt that people who used the park during Threshing Days ?cleaned up after themselves.?

? plans to contact the county to request an inspection of the property for health and safety violations at the house at 208 S. Buller St. Goertzen said gas, electricity and water have been turned off at the property.

Councilor Dallas Boese noted there is a leak at the property. Goertzen said if there?s a gas leak, the gas company will not turn the gas back on until it is fixed.

? heard that Goertzen has sent a letter to the owner of another house in town that was to be moved by Sept. 1.

? heard that Goertzen also sent a letter reminding a home owner that the porch of that house is supposed to be fixed and painted by Sept. 1.

? heard from Dalke that the county soon would start work on Main Street and State Street. The county will apply asphalt patches and will follow that sometime later with chip and seal.

Dalke said the county has to wait four weeks after the asphalt has been applied before the chip-and-seal process can be done, but the chip and seal process cannot be done if the weather is too cold or too wet.

? heard from Dalke that she had checked the rural flush valve, which is to be used in emergency situations.

?There?s not a lot of pressure there,? she said. ?There is some water…. The water?s clean.?

? heard from Dalke that the lift station at the Harvest Meadow addition had developed problems during the Aug. 12 storm. The generator needed to run in order to pump out the lift station. But Dalke said the generator would not shut off, and it had no power.

?Something is burned out,? she said.

? heard that ?something is wrong? at one of the city?s pumps. During the stormy weekend, one pump ran 28 hours, another ran 11 hours, and the third ran 10 hours. Dalke said all three pumps should have run the same number of hours.

? heard that Dalke had granted the recreation commission permission to turn its water back on after the rain. Previously, water use had been discouraged because of a lack of rain.

? heard that a section of sewer line had been cleaned.

? discussed the carpet and tile that had been chosen for the city building. ?Now would be an excellent time to paint this room,? Goertzen said. ?The nails are popping out…. There?s more than just painting over it.?

She added, ?It would be nice to have the whole project done by Christmas.?

? discussed the issue of too many dogs at a residence. The city had discovered the problem when the owners brought the three dogs for shots. The limit is two dogs per residence. There?fore, the dog owners had been asked to come before the council to explain their situation and request permission for the third dog.

The council approved the third dog, ?as long as all criteria (are) met.? But some opposition was voiced to the ?case-by-case? handling of dog issues, and that dog owners need to follow the ordinance.

Dog owners who have been granted permission to keep more than two dogs are reminded that they are required to come to the council on a yearly basis to renew their permission.

? heard from Dalke about a skunk problem in town.

? met in executive session to discuss land acquisition. The council took no action when the public session resumed.

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