City Commission Meeting Highlights 7.15.2019

Monday’s Atchison City Commission meeting featured appointments to boards, the creation of a new board and the City Manager’s recommended 2020 budget.

City Manager Becky Berger presented her recommended 2020 budget, pointing out that commissioners had until July 19 to recommend amendments before the budget would be sent for publication in the Atchison Globe.

The budget is scheduled to be published in the Globe on Wednesday, July 24. There will be a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 5, following which budget adoption is scheduled to take place. At that point the city’s mill levy will be set and the maximum amount of money the city can spend in 2020 will be established. The total levy in Monday’s presentation was set at 58.059, which includes the General Fund, Debt Service, the Library and the Watershed District levy since the district will no longer exist as of Jan. 1, 2020.

That total is actual a slight decrease from 2019. Those four levying funds combined for a 58.319 levy in 2019.

The budget also features total expenditures of $24,468,374 when accounting for all funds. Once that number is published and adopted by the Commission, the only way to increase that amount would be for a budget amendment – which would require another publication, public hearing and commission vote.

That total is a 1% decrease from 2019, when that total expenditures budgeted were $24,682,830.

In other action, Commissioners also approved the appointments of Stefanie Gardner, Casey Quinn and Jessica Rush to the Parks and Forestry Board, as well as a re-appointment of Derek Franklin to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Commissioners then approved the creation of the Board of Building Code Review, which combines two previously existing boards while adding a twist. The Board of Building Code Review will replace the Board of Examiners for Electricians and Board of Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. The new board will feature seven seats, with at least one electrician, one plumber and one insurance representative required. There will also be two seats for construction-related contractors, with two other seats open.

In addition to hearing matters that were previously the purview of the two boards being replaced, the new board will also review existing building codes and make recommendations to the City Commission.

Other items approved by the Commissioners included new concrete approaches at the entrances to Independence and Summerfield courts at their junction points with Grandeur Road. Those two streets are scheduled for inclusion in the 2020 Mill and Overlay project the City has planned and the project will help address storm drainage issues that would threaten the lifespan of pavement if not addressed.

Also, an Airport slurry seal project on the runway that is 90% funded by a federal grant and is designed to extend the life of the runway about five years was approved, as well as a memorandum of understanding between the City and the International Forest of Friendship regarding maintenance and responsibilities.

Two other actions included a resolution adopting a formal street surfacing policy and an ordinance repealing a habitual violators ordinance that had been on the books since 2010. The street surfacing policy calls for street improvements to consider the current status of the street’s make up – replacing brick with brick and pavement with pavement – unless a deviation is approved by the city commission.

Video of the commission meeting is available on the city’s Facebook page.