Council considers unsafe buildings, excess property and the Event Center

An unsafe building that plagued the City of Kimball for the last year was moved off of the registry for such properties, and pending litigation over the matter was dismissed, with approval from the Kimball City Council at the May 17 meeting.

The building, located at 301 S. Webster, was declared unsafe due to the sagging southwest corner, as well as loose bricks that had fallen close to the sidewalk and the potential for the south and west walls collapsing.

"The building has since changed hands and the new owners have been working diligently to repair and restore the building's physical appearance, as well as its structural issues," City Administrator Daniel Ortiz said. "John Heidemann and I spoke earlier this week. He has looked over the repairs they made and he is satisfied with what they have done."

Ortiz added that the new owners, Best Plumbing and Heating, has jacked up the sinking corner of the building and repaired the brick and masonry throughout the building.

Surplus city property was reviewed during the meeting as well. In addition to excess office furniture and electronics, the City listed various restaurant items, fencing and a diesel rough mower from the Park and Recreation Department.

"The process would be to place them at auction," Ortiz said. "We are currently looking at a couple of options for online or website-based online auctions. Public Surplus is one of the bigger ones. That would enable us to place some reserves and also have some flexibility on the time frame that some of these items would be auctioned off online."

Public Surplus also offers the ability to tack on additional fees such as sales tax to recoup some of the costs of the auction site according to Ortiz.

"I also think that it gives us more flexibility, in case you have property that doesn't meet the reserve, to extend that deadline and move forward," he added. "In the past we would advertise the items and take sealed bids."

With that process Ortiz said that there were items that went unsold or did not bring in the reserve amount.

Kimball Mayor Keith Prunty asked if it was possible for Kimball County to use a joint site for the same purpose and then potentially share the cost, to which Ortiz answered that a cooperative auction would be possible.

Some positive, revenue-generating changes are in store for the Kimball Event Center as members also considered, and ultimately approved unanimously, a lease agreement for the use of the Meadowlark Room at the Kimball Event Center by the directors of the Terry and Hazeldeane Carpenter Intergenerational Center.

According to Ortiz, he and Julie Schnell, special projects coordinator for the City of Kimball, were approached for an appropriate venue to start a tumbling program in Kimball.

"They are looking for a couple of venues in the community and they approached us about the event center, to use as their starting point," Ortiz said. "Over the past three years we have had a number of community forums and one of the big things that is always highlighted is the need for more community services and this certainly fits in with that goal."

Ortiz added that since this would potentially be a long-term agreement, and particularly because it addresses a community need, a lease agreement was negotiated for $350 each month on a month-to-month basis to begin in June for use of the room every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m.

"It is nice to see some things happening at the event center," council member Christy Warner said.

Council heard a Keno grant request from the Dead Eye Shooters 4-H club. Club leader Nicole Snyder was present with Jaren Winstrom, Taylor Terrill, and several other members of the club to present the request.

Five team members will compete with two alternates named as well. The team members are Jaren Winstrom, Bailie Brower, Julia Winstrom, Jared Barnes and Taylor Terrill. Alternates will be Chris Foster and Jessica Terrill, who will compete if one team member should become ill.

"Congratulations, you guys. I have been keeping track and you are doing a really good job," Prunty said.

"Just to let you know we have about 30-40 youth that participate in the bb gun and air rifle program here," Snyder said. "This trip is a big motivator for a lot of them. They like the idea of the opportunity of going to a national event. This will be our fourth or fifth time going."

The total estimated cost for the team's trip is $7,500. Daisy supplies the team with $1,000 towards that cost and the team is planning multiple fundraisers for the remainder. They were awarded $1,000 to go to the Daisy National BB Gun and Air Rifle competition in Rogers, Ark., scheduled for July 1-4.

Ortiz also presented a check to the Friends of the Goodhand Theatre for $375 from the ACE door hanger campaign.

"We appreciate the City's help. As you can see, if you look through the windows, we are gradually updating things and getting things going," said Adrian Fuss. "We will have another movie on Memorial Day weekend, so we hope everybody is able to attend."

Other items before the board:

A change in the state statute regarding fireworks prompted an amendment to the City Code regarding the same.

8 Received an update on the public swimming pool. See separate story regarding this issue.

The council received an update on the aging scoreboard and controller at the Kimball Recreation Area ball park.

Council discussed performance appraisals of appointed officials and entered closed session regarding the same with no decisions or discussion following closed session.