By ANNE JACKSON | July 12, 2023

Monday’s meeting of the Prescott City Council opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Karen Springer gave the food pantry report. There was neither Harvesters nor Commodities food in the month of June; Springer was very grateful for all the food that was donated: 23 dozen eggs by Curt and Dusty Laderer and 575 pounds of food, most of it coming straight from the gardens of several families. Springer also mentioned that sometimes when the truck from the Kansas Food Bank comes in, an extra 60 boxes of produce will be sent with it. The pantry does not have refrigerator storage space for that many boxes, so they like to give them out on the same day. 

In old business, progress has been made on tidying up the ugly properties in town, but the next court date remains July 25th.

Tuesday 9 a.m., Kathy Wood, Todd Mead and Nick Ingram met with the new water meter representatives to be shown how the whole system works. The plan is that the July bills (due in August), will all be from the new computer signal system, instead of each cover needing to be lifted manually so the meters can be read on the spot.

Clerk Wood said the city has paid for all the installation fees, but these were a little less than expected because the meters and signaling devices were not installed on every single one of the 120 lots in town because a few houses are empty and some of the lots have no houses on them, they are just grassy areas. The city did buy extra meters in case anyone ever gets around to building on the empty lots.

In new business, Dakota Harris from Globe Life gave a presentation on the benefits of the insurance they provide. Clerk Wood said she would give him contact information after the meeting.

Council Member Zach Gillis made a motion that a 15-minute executive session be taken to discuss applications for the job of helping Todd Mead and Nick Ingram with work for the city. 

When the city council reconvened, a motion was made and seconded to hire Josh Cougill to help catch the city up with their needs, particularly mowing grass. The motion passed, but one council member was opposed to it. There was a short discussion on how many days a week he should be asked to work. The final decision was that since he will only be temporary, this late in the year he would never work more than 1,200 hours, he might be asked to work up to five days a week until the work is caught up. A list will need to be made of all that he might do, including tree trimming or helping to get the street gutter on Highway 239 cleared out. Gillis said that when the gutter is cleared, he will find out if a fire truck could be used to wash it truly clean.

Mayor Kevin Wood said he had talked to Jerry Whitley who has the equipment that would be needed to cut down unwanted “weed” trees at the lake. Gillis said he would like Whitley to come in and talk to the council about it. Mayor Wood thought there was plenty of time to ask him to do that.

Clerk Wood reminded the council it is time for the annual payment for the renewal of the Jayhawk Software contract. A motion was made and passed unanimously to pay them.

There were a number of ideas about Prescott Day. Mayor Wood thinks it is time to put regular notices in the paper. Clerk Wood does not know who does bouncy houses any more. Since Hume owns their own, perhaps she could make arrangements with them. It was unknown if the planned parade could go over the railroad tracks or not. The railroad will have to be contacted and so will police. It would be fun if children could ride bicycles in the parade. 

For City Superintendent report, Kathy Wood said some mowing has been done, but also they are waiting for a part for the sewer lift station to arrive.

Clerk Wood said the county budget meeting is on Thursday at 2:30. Mayor Wood pointed out that anything that might be needed will be budgeted, but that doesn’t mean an obligation to spend the money if later on the decision is made that that item is not needed after all. 

A motion was made, and passed unanimously, to take the budget as presented to the council members over to Mound City on Thursday.

Next, a motion was made and passed unanimously to give Nick Ingram a raise to $15 per hour.