Minutes

The following minutes are from the Dec 22, 2025 special meeting. As of this upload the minutes have not been approved by council. Upon approval the approved minutes will be posted below.

AGENDA

AMERICUS CITY COUNCIL

SPECIAL BUSINESS MEETING

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2025 – 6:00 PM

CITY HALL

 CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL: The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Dustin Wright. Council members present were NUESSEN, HARMON, HINRICHS, HAMLIN and BURTON. Also present was City Clerk Dodie Doudna. City Maintenance Nick Gadino was present at 6:04 pm. 

VISITORS/PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: Tim Burton, Cindy Kearns, Jerry Voorhees, Angie Brotz, Tami Romeis, Shawn Swanson, Shawna Swanson, Tyler Hinrichs, Jarom Smith, and Danny Gerleman.

 ADOPT THE AGENDA: Moved by NUESSEN to adopt the agenda. Motion seconded by HAMLIN. 5-0 vote. 

1. Temporary Use Permit: Harper Homes; Mobile Home Park: Tim Burton speaking on behalf of Harper Homes stated that the temporary use permit should have been part of the agenda from the meeting prior and would like for it to be extended until this issue is resolved. Burton stated that he was upset over the working draft revisions of the ordinance in question. Burton states he was made to go Planning and Zoning to get the ordinance changed, stated no one voted on that change at all and ignored it. Burton stated that bylaws of the city state that council should only vote on the ordinance not to write one themselves. He would like this permit extended so everyone can have the time to educate themselves and vote on the ordinance that those who are supposed to write the ordinances wrote. HAMLIN responded that an ordinance was not newly written just changes that were discussed in the December 2^nd work session. She also stated that we were not here to talk about the ordinance only the permit issue.

      HAMLIN motioned to extend the permit 25 more days until January 16, 2026. NUESSEN seconded the motion. HINRICHS asked          for clarification on a point that WRIGHT made in the last meeting before she voted to extend.  HINRICHS wanted to know why            she should extend the permit when WRIGHT wouldn’t want someone staying in a camper next to his home for more than 30              days. WRIGHT stated that different rules apply to mobile home park was his reasoning for that statement. HARMON asked if              anyone else in the audience had anything else to say. BURTON spoke more on the mobile home park having different rules.                HAMLIN redirected back to the motion of extending the permit and call for a vote. HAMLIN motioned to extend the temp use            permit for 25 days. NUESSEN seconded. 2-0-3 BURTON, HINRICHS, and HARMON abstained. Motion failed. HINRICHS motioned        to extend the permit until January 5, 2026. HAMLIN seconded. 3-0-2 vote.  BURTON and HARMON abstained.

 Motioned to adjourn at 6:15 pm. by HAMLIN. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 5-0 Vote

The following minutes are from the Dec 9, 2025 business meeting. As of this upload the minutes have not been approved by council. Upon approval the approved minutes will be posted below.

AGENDA

AMERICUS CITY COUNCIL

BUSINESS MEETING

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 2025- 7:00 PM

CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor WRIGHT. Council members present were HAMLIN, NUESSEN, BURTON, and HINRICHS. Council member HARMON was absent. Also, present City Clerk Dodie Doudna and City Treasurer Dakota Hamlin.

VISITORS/PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: Tami Romeis, Eric Grayson, Glenn Grayson, Bobby Thompson, Joe Carl, Tyler Hinrichs, Tim Burton, Dan Gerleman, Cindy Jackson

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Moved by HAMLIN to approve the November 13^th Business Meeting minutes. Motion seconded by NUESSEN. 4-0 VOTE. Moved by HAMLIN to approve December 2nd, Work Session minutes. Motion seconded by NUESSEN. 3-0-1 VOTE. HARMON abstained. 

BILLS TO PAY: Moved by HINRICHS to approve the December bills to pay for $30,716.37. Motion seconded by BURTON. 4-0 VOTE.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES:

PROJECT PLAYSCAPE: Match Day was successful, funds received in the amount of $12,167.50. Parade went well, many people had positive comments amount the length of the parade. Cookies with Santa saw record numbers, 125 bags were prepared and we were not able to hand out to Jr. High and Highschool kids as in the past to have enough. We estimate that 160 kids were present.

MAINTENANCE: Tack truck repaired, repaired some streets. Grader has been repaired as well. North lift station has been fixed. Likely a sensor is going out however. Sewer lines have been an issue. Some issues reported with recycle trailer. Nick and Cody both attended Waste Water Treatment training. Cody can not test for 1 year.

CLERK: Doudna has requested approval to attend the City Clerk Conference and Court Clerk Conference both in March. Council approved both. Report that police cell phone is not used, council agreed to move it over to maintenance.

POLICE:

ADOPT THE AGENDA: MOVED BY HINRICHS to adopt the agenda. Seconded by Burton. 4-0 VOTE

1. CINDY JENSEN: Jensen presented the 2024 Audit. No substantial findings. Moved by NUESSEN to accept the 2024 Audit. Seconded by HINRICHS. 4-0 VOTE
2. FLINT HILLS GRAVEL RIDE: Bobby Thompson presented the council with Flint Hills Gravel Ride proposal with a few changes from last year. He will add more port a pots at the park to try to keep from the back up issues we had in the park bathrooms in the past. He would like the community center from April 9-13^th. Doudna will contact county to have Locust from Main St to Fifth St blocked on Saturday. 3 RV’s to be used from April 8-12^th. Basketball court used on April 11^th. Use of park April 10-12 and allowing tent camping on those days. Moved by HINRICHS to approve requests. Seconded by NUESSEN 3-0-1 VOTE. HAMLIN abstained. 
3. BUILDING CODE UPDATE: Joe Carl would like the council to look into adopting a more current code book than what we currently use. Council will compare the differences between them.
4. 360 DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS: 360 Document Solutions provided a second proposal that included a voice phone system with the copier lease. Doudna reported that Consolidated has had issues with static on the phone line since September with no resolution. The proposal would reduce the monthly cost we currently spend on the phone lines and copier agreement by approximately $50 per month. Moved by NUESSEN to accept the lease agreement with 360 Document Solutions. Seconded by HAMLIN. 4-0 VOTE.
5. TRASH SERVICE UPDATES: City of Americus will accept bid for trash service from January 1, 2026 to January 31, 2026. Council is asking that the bids include cost for the structure we currently use and a bid that would show costs if trash service became a requirement.
6. SEWER TAP or CAPPING PROCESS: Clarification of processes used. Doudna will refer to legal for further clarification of when each process is needed.
7. RV PARK: HINRICHS drafted potential changes to ordinances pertaining to RV/Camper use within city limits. These proposed changes were discussed in the Dec. 2^nd work session. WRIGHT is not in agreement with proposed changes and was asked what he would like to add or change. Nothing was stated. Doudna will send proposed ordinance to legal as next step and it will be brought back to the January 2026 council meeting. No further action was taken.
8. COMMUNITY BUILDING RENTAL: Questions were brought by BURTON whether or not council members are required to place the deposit listed on the Community Center Rental Application. Consensus was that everyone, including council, will need to place a deposit to rent the center.
9. LATE FEE FOR SEWER BILLS: Discussion about moving from the current $100 yearly late fee to a $10 monthly late fee. It was agreed that the $100 is a lot for someone that might only be late 1 time in the entire year. Doudna will make necessary resolution for the change. Moved by NUESSEN to move to monthly $10 late fee on sewer bills pending legal approval effective 3.1.26. Seconded by BURTON. 4-0 VOTE.
10. 2025 BUDGET: No encumbered purchases will be made.
11. CHIPPER: Doudna will check in with accountant on the funds that will be available for use in 2026 to purchase a chipper. Discussion on the high cost of this purchase, repair of current chipper may be the better option.
12. ACCOUNT MODIFICATION FORM: Moved by HAMLIN to approve the 2025 Account Modification Form. Seconded by BURTON. 4-0 VOTE
13. CONDEMNATION LIST UPDATE: 507 Elm- Doudna will reach out to the city of Emporia to find out process used to clean up a property. Will report back at Jan. council meeting. 401 Main- Tyler Hinrichs wants council to tell him what code he is violating. He stated that he has made tremendous progress on cleaning up this property since purchasing it. WRIGHT commented that his property is an eye sore for Main St and would like to see the siding on the building repaired/replaced or painted. Tyler would like to know exact steps and actions that will allow him to be removed from the list and stated that multiple properties are not on the list that should be for the same types of complaints. 7 Fourth St.- Eric Grayson reported that he is slowly cleaning up the property. Also wanted to know what ordinance we had that he was violating. The ordinance was shared with him and he was told to keep the council apprised of the progress.
14. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Moved by HAMLIN to go into executive session for 10 minutes at 8:41 with council, mayor and Clerk present. Seconded by NUESSEN. 4-0 VOTE. Moved by HAMLIN to go into executive session for 10 minutes at 8:52 with council, mayor and Cody Zeigler present. Seconded by NUESSEN. 4-0 VOTE. Extended 5 minutes. Moved by NUESSEN to go into executive session for 10 minutes at 9:10 with council and mayor present. Seconded by HAMLIN. 4-0 VOTE. Motion to adjourn at 9:27 by HAMLIN. Seconded by NUESSEN. 4-0 VOTE.