By JACKIE TAYLOR | July 13, 2022

The Pleasanton Council met Tuesday due to the July 4 Independence Day holiday celebrated on Monday; they went into 10 minutes of executive session for non-elected personnel with Aaron Portmann and Melanie Staton absent. The reason was employee conduct. Later in the meeting, they approved two weeks unpaid leave for Sandy Ward (Atkisson) for conduct unbecoming an employee.

They also held a 10-minute executive session for legal purposes to discuss potential litigation. No action was taken.

The council heard from City Administrator Teresa Whitaker who discussed fire department callouts that last over three hours; that discussion was due to the recent Carpenter Chiropractic fire that took 10-plus hours to extinguish. She said firefighters are paid a lump sum of $35 for the first three hours or the chief $45, whether a call takes that long or not. If a call is longer, they get paid $7.25 per hour after that.

Whitaker said longer calls happen rarely and said firefighters need to be paid more and suggested $10 per hour. After discussion, Councilman Jake Mattingley suggested they pay firefighters $15 per hour on long calls. That motion was approved 3-0.

Whitaker said, “There is way enough money in the fire budget to do it.”

The council also approved issuing one check for their monthly paychecks of $50 per month in December as some council members did not cash theirs, throwing bookkeeping into a problem.

Whitaker said the city received a $284.57 check from the opioid settlement the state entered into that is split between all 105 counties in the state. She said the city should get $12,896.25 over the course of the 17 year pay-out.

The city can use the funds to fight drugs and suggested they could purchase drug test kits that cost $1,800.

She said the budget was almost done and initial results showed that the city would not exceed the revenue neutral mark.

Mattingley gave condolences to the Josh Haynes family on the loss of the firefighter.

City Attorney Burton Harding said he had not spoken with the KDOT attorney on how the city could annex the highway to patrol it.

Police Chief Tristan Snyder reported 149 calls with one assist to another agency; 1,680 calls to-date or 75 percent of the calls received all last year. He said they assisted the Sheriff’s Department with an arrest of the suspect that robbed the Silver Creek Pharmacy in La Cygne.

Public Works is continuing work to fill potholes; they are also flushing lines to avoid the nasty water issue that residents faced last year.

Whitaker broached an idea of establishing a fund of approximately $10,000 to raze houses that the council approves for demolition. This idea was a suggestion to avoid pulling city employees away from their normal jobs to tear down houses.

Mattingley said in the past the city used to hire contractors to perform demolition duties and would not be opposed to the idea again.

The council approved an $8,566 per year charge for services at the water plant by Hach Service Partnership.

They approved resolutions 425 and 426 for the house located at 110 W. 5^th Street, Res. 425 for mowing and junk removal and 426 for dilapidated structure.