By ANNE JACKSON | November 16, 2022

The Prescott City Council meeting for November 14, 2022 opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

The City Attorney Burton Harding was unable to attend.

The first order of business was to make a motion to accept the minutes of the October 11th meeting. The motion, and all others,  passed unanimously.

The second item of business was to make and pass a motion to accept the payment of the bills.

Karen Springer gave the food pantry report. They continue to help many families, so they are particularly grateful for the donations and support volunteers give. Kurt and Dusty Laderer brought in 28 dozen eggs. Kathy Johnston made up 90 bags of candy for Halloween and brought them in. Shirley Camacho brought in 90 candy bars for the same reason. Between them, five other families donated 492 pounds of food. Springer sincerely hopes the Kansas Food Bank sends quite a bit of food on the truck this Thursday, the 17th. The shelves are a little bare and it didn’t help that Harvesters did not donate any food on the first of this month. Flour and sugar have been ordered to give out before Thanksgiving to help families make the day special.

In new business, Jason Shadden, manager of Shadden Septic, said that in the past when they have a client in the area, they have had permission to dump the waste in the Prescott lagoons. He asked permission to continue to do this. The council was agreeable and immediately a motion was made and passed to allow them to continue. The actual details of how they pay the city will be worked out between their financial person and City Clerk Kathy Wood.

Next, Wayne Gudmonson, a District Engineer with the state of Kansas brought in a new agreement about the rental of Highway 239 for the city to sign. In essence, it is the same as the old agreement which was last made in 1978. It says the state is responsible for the road between the two white fog lines only. A copy of the agreement will be in the office in City Hall for anyone who wishes to read it. A motion was made and passed to have Mayor Kevin Wood sign the agreement.

In old business, three weeks ago Mayor Wood went to the Commissioners’ meeting on October 24, 2022. They gave him approval to have a welcome sign for Prescott. He is ready to get quotes from people who might be willing and able to make the sign and he will co-ordinate with the fire fighters to make sure it gets placed in a good spot.

Since the council accepted the bid to get digital water meters, Mayor Wood was pleased to announce the new meters have arrived and are waiting for installation. Wood reported the city will still need to buy software and a tablet computer to go with it. He saw no problem with buying a new computer, the old computer being nine years old already. Comments were made again about how much nicer the digital meters will be, especially in winter when snow and ice have been known to make meters impossible to read. Also, a short discussion showed the council members were very much in favor of having the meter company do the installation and not waiting around and hoping the Prescott City maintenance crew could find the time to do it. Two motions were made and passed. One to proceed with buying the computer and software to get the meters up and running and the second one to have the company do the actual installation of the meters.

Mayor Wood mentioned the problem of the repaving of Main Street. The bill has not been resolved yet because the repairs have not been taken care of. He said he would like to get the money off the books and leave room for next year’s budget to start with a clean slate. Some grumbling ensued about the unprofessional workmanship and ugly results when what the council wanted was an attractive street to be proud of. A decision was made to contact the company again and hope for the best.

Council member Fritz Norbury mentioned the property at the western end of Elm Street still looks atrocious, but in the absence of Attorney Harding, no-one knew what, if anything, had been done about it.

Mayor Wood then said the Halloween party went very well. Almost 50 children were there and some of the costumes were “really good”. The “trunk or treat” event was mildly disappointing with only 27 kids coming by. The few candy bars left over at the end were taken to the food pantry.

City Superintendent Kathy Wood reported the bucket truck had an inspection. 

Several council members have noticed a lower water pressure than normal. City Council member Ron Roberts said he’d driven around town looking for wet spots in case of leaks, but had not seen anything obvious. Since no-one else had any ideas on the cause, Mayor Wood said he would make some phone calls tomorrow to see what he could find out.

Todd Mead has been working with the roto-rooter in a couple places.

City Clerk Kathy Wood said she had checked on the Christmas candy, ordered the “Cuties” and bags to put everything in. Santa Day will be December 10 at 2 p.m. Since that will be before the next City Council meeting, she wanted everyone’s approval for keeping the traditional citywide Christmas lights and decoration contest the week before that, which will be December 5-9. Everyone was in favor of that. They also agreed they could get together to bag up the candies the night before Santa came, in order to be ready for him.

Basketball will start this coming Wednesday in the gym.

The city maintenance men worked on the culvert on Oak St.

No Council Members had any reports.

Mayor Wood said he had been asked about having a dance in January. This would be the same band that gave the dance last Valentine’s Day, and it would be a community activity in winter.

A motion was made and passed to okay the idea and start making arrangements.