By ANNE JACKSON | July 13, 2022

The Monday, July 11 city of Prescott council meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

City Attorney Burton Harding was unable to attend.

Motions were made and passed unanimously to accept the minutes from the special meeting on June 6 and the regular monthly meeting of June 13th.

A discussion started on whether or not to pay the Vance Brothers bill for repairing roads in town. Council member Fritz Norbury contacted them informally on June 11 to explain the city was not happy with their work but he has not heard back from them. In the absence of the city attorney, it was thought perhaps they needed an official written record of why the city of Prescott did not want to pay their bills as they stand. Prescott would like either that the company come back to repair the holes, or they give the city a discount so another company could be hired to fix the holes. Council member John Maloney made the motion that the city send them a letter and not pay the bills. Norbury seconded the motion which passed unanimously. A motion was then made and passed unanimously to pay all the other bills.

Karen Springer reported the food pantry was open 12 days in June. A couple of extra days came because there was extra Harvesters' food that came from the Stilwell food pantry. Springer very much appreciated all the helpers who come to volunteer because, again, more new people keep coming to ask for help. Since for the last few months the food trucks have been arriving with less food than she ordered, she was grateful that this last month the truck had 42 extra boxes of produce, plus they cleared out some of their extra stock to make taking inventory easier and that extra food has helped Prescott restock their dry goods shelves. Also, five families have donated food to the pantry.

Springer ended with a reminder that since the Stilwell Baptist Church also serves as a polling place, their food pantry will be closed the first Tuesday in August so the Harvester's food delivery to Prescott will not be until the 9^th of August.

Under Old business, council member Zach Gillis talked about ditches. Every time it has rained recently, he has driven around town to study ditches and culverts and see where the problems are. A map made by council member Roland Grigsby has been very useful to make notes on. Gillis says that although a few culverts need to be replaced, most of the problems will be solved by digging out the ditches. His main concern is the small creek that runs through town. The rains continue to erode ground near a couple of power poles. He repeated the city may need to get riprap (rock walls) to protect them. When a motion was made and passed, to have the city look into comparing the costs of renting, leasing, or buying a Bobcat type machine to do the work of clearing out the dirt in ditches, Gillis agreed to see what he could find out.

In other old business, the cornhole participation seems to be going well. Also, the untidy property on the west side of town has been improved. There is a lot of trash still there, but some of the metal has been taken away.

Under new business, a motion was made and passed unanimously to pay the annual $750 Jayhawk software contract that the city clerk uses for generating utility bills for the townspeople.

A motion was made and passed unanimously that the council approved the city budget for 2023 so it could be taken to the court house on Tuesday, July 12 for the 3 p.m. meeting.

The Linn County Health Department sent the city a flyer asking for donations to help students in grades K-6 acquire school supplies. They are predicting that with so many basic living costs getting higher more families will have trouble purchasing school supplies. They are asking for volunteers to help ease this coming burden. A motion was made and passed unanimously to send the Health Department $250 for this purpose.

Coal Center Day discussion was next. James and Rocky Beltz were present. They presented their idea of volunteering to do a "chicken feed" from 5-8 p.m. on Sept. 24. Any profits would go to whatever fun, community event the city of Prescott would sponsor next, whether a movie night on Main Street, a Halloween Party, or whatever. They believe they can do a 2-piece meal for $9; a 3-piece meal for $15; or, a 4-piece of chicken wings for $6.

Instead of lots of hot sides, they plan on baked beans, bread and butter, potato salad and coleslaw (made using the original family recipe from Ford's cafe, back when Susy Ford ran it in Prescott.)

They will need reservations made by Sept. 2 in order to plan an appropriate amount of food.

The council members liked the idea so much, they made a motion which passed unanimously, to have James and Rocky prepare a chicken meal for Sept 24th.

More discussion followed. It was mentioned the 24^th is also scheduled to be citywide garage sale day. The comment was made, "Advertise, 'Come and stay all day!'" A dance after the meal and a parade were popular ideas. Mayor Kevin Wood particularly would like to have a High School marching band in the parade since school will have started by then.

City Clerk Kathy Wood reported she has ordered the Christmas candy. The worker's comp insurance sent a check for a $507 refund.  When the Prescott Alumni met they gave the city a $125 donation.

Mayor Wood said with the weather being so crazy this year he never managed to order new fish for the lake. Since it is now so hot, and many fish might not survive the move, he will wait until the fall when it is cooler to get them.

The meeting was then adjourned.