Remarks by Doug Rempp
88 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 4
I think we should keep doing what we have been doing. I think it was a great review. I think the best option is to table it to some day in the future if it were needed. but I think the message has been sent. One of the biggest, again, topics of frustration was pretty much taken care of tonight. We just continue on.
I Have a couple I my understanding the the rebate program change, maybe Jacob or somebody could speak to that. I know Jacob, you have mentioned a couple of months back about a water update, and I know we spent a lot of time on water earlier, but specifically as it relates to the rebate program.
Sorry. Follow up on that would be last meeting I mentioned, maybe it was a meeting before, but I'd like to see a water committee of citizens that can take a look at the testing, take a look at the parameters because we We put a policy in place that allowed a rebate that Commissioner Davis talked about going back to January 1 of last year. And as I understand it thus far, not one household has qualified. I think it would... I think it'd be better if we had a citizen committee taking a look at the data and maybe having some input on the parameters. Another topic. Sean, thank you for the…
Well, we always hear the bad. I just wanted to throw out an attaboy for you. I don't have anything else, Mayor.
I have a couple of comments, but no questions.
Commissioner Rupp. I was just gonna mention that we as a group, we as a commission should, we know that we had 33 people had or filled out expressions of interest. That should kind of tell us something right there. And out of the 33 people, Gary Norris was one of the nominees, and I think Gary would make a fine commissioner. But I do have to mention, and I think everybody in the room knows, that when it came time to make that selection out of 33, it took exactly 11 seconds. And that was just surprising, but that's my comments, and that's it. Okay, do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. I'll…
Starting out with, well, I think either one of you could answer the question. And again, well, I guess I'm not the newbie anymore, but second to the newbie. Commissioner Norris might know the answer to this question. I do not. Jacob or Debbie, total levy, does that include the county and airport and library and that's the whole enchilada? Yes. Okay. And Debbie, for you, Sales tax revenue, do we have June, July, or August by chance? Probably not August.
Okay, and do you know off the top of your head perhaps July and August, kind of where they were? And what I'm getting at, and I know I talked, Jacob about this earlier. I know these storms, while they created a lot of hardship, they also create a lot of economic activity for our community. And all those people are staying, they're eating, they're drinking, they're doing a lot of things in our community besides working. And I gotta believe in that. And shoot, out south, Where they sell automobiles, I gotta believe they're having a record year with all the hail inventory they had to get rid of…
So do we have any? Any idea what July or August were up over the previous year?
Okay, thank you. Another question, and kind of maybe the elephant in the room that would come up later, but Jacob, last budget I saw, we were like, We had a sure fall of, I believe, roughly three quarters of a million. 700,000 and change, maybe? Was that correct? Last... On the budget, on the initial budget, I remember.
That's correct. Well, where I was going with the elephant in the room is the, apparently we have five million extra lying around last year that we moved to the river renewal project. That was extra money a year ago. Things have changed. There's no consideration for bringing any of that back. I'm not against what was, I think, billed as a scaled down river project, but anything I've seen doesn't point in that direction. I don't... I have friends that are friends of the river, but I also want to be friends with the taxpayers.
Okay well I think The community as a whole has a different opinion on tightening the belt versus the city's tightening the belt. I mean, we're still putting Cheryl's on roads as far as I've seen where the new firehouse has a very fancy reader board, electronic reader board with the monument sign. And I just see opportunities where I think we could save hundreds. But we have, I guess we have to, I know we have to look long term, but these are tough times. I was talking with a taxpayer a couple weeks back, and she was worried about her elderly mother being able to stay in their home because of…
Well, yes and no. Okay. I mean, overall it makes sense, but I'll be done.
I have one. Debbie, as I read this, I'm looking at the hospital slash mill district. Maximum fee per business. The way I read that, if I had a clinic that's not related, this line of regional, and I have 12 employees, I have an $852 fee per business. as part of that district. If I'm Salina Regional and I have, I don't know, 750 employees, my fee is roughly $440 more. I don't know. Should we look at that? I mean, I know it was brought up earlier, all the tax-exempt property through the city that... Thelina Regional, got friends at Thelina Regional too. But I know property taxes being such an…
I would certainly ask them to do that. If I had that clinic of, say again, a dozen people, a smaller operation, and I have what is a giant in the medical field in the community, Percentage-wise, it is a dramatic difference.
Thank you. Quick question. So here this afternoon, if we don't approve this amendment, That money, that grant money or however you want to view it from the state grant money would be lost. Yes. It'd be gone, never to be seen here again anyway.
I address this on social media and I know some of my fellow commissioners have, maybe are less than enthusiastic about me participating on social media. I'm just trying to be transparent to the community, which I think there has been, maybe the information has been out there. But I think people really have to look for it a lot of times, and I'm just trying to kind of give them the meat of the meetings via social media. And I did address that to the people who watch what I post. At the same time, I do need to mention that I think most of us have probably heard the saying that there comes a…
Thank you, Mayor. I, kind of piggybacking on that just a little bit, it was about a month and a half ago we had a very emotional, emotionally charged meeting regarding water in our community. We had, well, I think probably everybody in the room was here. Emotions ran high from that meeting. We established kind of on the fly program to provide relief to households or perhaps block neighborhoods that their water wasn't meeting the standard, whatever that standard might be. And since that time, as I understand it, up to the moment, nobody has met the criteria for any sort of water relief. And I…
No questions. I have a couple of comments, but no questions. Okay, go ahead. Well, my comp has, they're more for the public. We've had at least a couple of executive sessions regarding this when we've gone into the other room and discussed it. The property is adjacent to the landfill. Landfills don't last forever. And I just want, just throwing that out there that it is a little bit above the appraised value, but I think the last thing we want as a city is for a private entrepreneur maybe to step in and buy that land and kind of hold it hostage for us for the future. I just wanted to throw…
I'll move that the city commission authorize the city manager to sign an agreement with Guy Swanson, trustee of the Harold E. Swanson Trust and trustee of the Harold E. and Donna J. Trust, number two, for the purchase of the property defined in the agreement in the amount of $725,000. Accept that.
Questions? I have a couple. Okay. First of all, is the ambassador property, is that cleaned up now? I went by it earlier and it seemed like a lot of piles all through the property. Yeah.
That's what it looked like when I drove by. Is that part of the bid for that project, or is that additional?
Okay, another question for you, sir, while you're right there. How many miles of water line have Your company, how many miles have you completed in our town or I guess any other town?
When was the last time you, have you done any water pipe in Salina?
This question might be more for Martha, and it's really more of a comment, but my guess for you both, Stanton, maybe this is appropriate for you. Stanton. Stanton, I see the project is in four different parts of town. Three. Well, I stand corrected. Three different parts of town, the two together up north. Do you have enough people for that type of work, or they'll have to do one part at a time and then move on to number two and then move on to three and four?