By BARBARA PROFFITT | March 15, 2023

The Mound City Council met on Tuesday, March 7, with Council President Fanchion Shadden running the meeting until the arrival of Mayor Wade Doering.

Their first order of business was the approval of the minutes of last month’s meeting followed by the reports from department heads.

City Clerk Shelby Murray reported they had quite a few egg donations for the Easter egg hunt, but candy was still needed.

Police Chief Paul McKee reported that Officer Chip More would be attending training in Emporia from April 4-6 and would need a per diem and hotel stay approved.

City Superintendent John Bruns noted they are gearing up for spring projects. Doering asked about the ball fields and Council consultant Josh Baldwin stated they had worked on them but there was still work to be done before the first game.

Codes Enforcement Officer Jake Bush reported he is working with Burton Harding, the new City Attorney, to finish writing the nuisance codes.

Harding stated that with an incoming city judge, the city may want to consider handling their own misdemeanor cases. He went on to explain that adopting the Unified Public Offense Code would address many of those situations and allow them to handle misdemeanor cases through municipal court while still passing felony cases on to the district court level. 

Council approved warrant checking in the amount of $70,082.08.

Council then discussed times for some upcoming events, setting the egg hunt to begin at 11 a.m. Discussion then turned to the cost of fireworks for Jayhawk Blast and with Baldwin reporting that costs for firework packages run as high as $10,000 for a good show, a decision was reached to put that money into something else for the event.

Council then discussed the applicants for the position of city judge and Mayor Doering nominated John Purvis; a motion was made and seconded to approve the nomination and offer the position to John Purvis, husband of District Court Judge Andrea Purvis, at a rate of $200 per court session.

Council approved Ordinance 590 adopting the Standard Traffic Offense Code and the Unified Public Offense Code.

Council approved a daily per diem for Officer More while away at training and up to $100 per night for two nights for a hotel along with the $75 cost of the training.

Council approved a $250 retainer and a$175 per hour rate for Harding with the retainer covering monthly meetings and the hourly fee to be used for the writing of codes, ordinances, resolutions and court, as well as, city legal matters.

Council then discussed paying $3,000 to have an engineering study done in order to apply for a CDBG grant for sidewalk improvements to and from the school. Following a brief discussion, council approved the study.

Council then held a 10-minute executive session for personnel matters. Upon resuming regular session council voted to increase the monthly pay rate for the mayor and council and Murray swore in Harding as the new City Attorney.