Minutes

The following minutes are from the June 9, 2026 business meeting. As of this upload the minutes have not been approved by council. Upon approval the approved minutes will be posted below.

MINUTES

AMERICUS CITY COUNCIL

BUSINESS MEETING

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2026- 7:00 PM 

CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by WRIGHT. Council members present were BURTON, HARMON, and GERLEMAN. HINRICHS was absent until 7:29 pm. Also, present City Attorney Steve Atherton, City Clerk Dodie Doudna, Code Enforcement Justin Arb.

VISITORS/PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: John Birchmeier, Freda Birchmeier, Laverne Soetebier, Devin Hollaway, Tim Burton, Carri Stewart, Bruce Boettcher. John and Freda spoke in regard to notice the received. Code enforcement will revisit the issues and discuss further with council next meeting. Birchmeiers left at 7:07 pm. Roger Birchmeier signed in at 7:28 pm.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: May 12, 2026, Business Meeting.  Moved by BURTON to approve the May 12, 2026 Business Meeting minutes. Motion seconded by GERLEMAN. 4-0 Vote.

BILLS TO PAY: Moved by BURTON to approve June 2026 bills in the amount of $26,714.92. Motion seconded by NUESSEN.  4-0 Vote.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES:

PROJECT PLAYSCAPE:

MAINTENANCE: Working on mowing, too wet to chip seal, breaking down a lot. Work on the dump pile to get ready to burn. Mayor WRIGHT questioned last months bill to Hoyts regarding the Dump Truck, he requested that clerk look to see if the amount was            approved by council. There was not a separate approval, however Legal advised that the May bills were reviewed and approved to be paid and it was included with those expenses.  

CLERK: Clerk confirmed that maintenance will do all the work required to get the Community Center ready for the election in                August. Reported that the cameras for city hall and the shop have been ordered but not installed.

CODE ENFORCEMENT: 35 notices been sent, 17 active right now. Work on condemnation list for next meeting.

 ADOPT THE AGENDA Moved by Harmon to amend the agenda moving item 11 to 3A and adopt. Motion seconded by Burton. 4-0 Vote.  

  1. FOOD TRUCK : Carrie Stewart- Park at the liquor store, approved by owner. Stewart requested the council to consider letting her park at the park. It was agreed that utilizing the park was the safest option for children, she is able to use the north or west side. Moved by BURTON to allow Carri Stewert to operate a food truck through October with proper permits secured. Motion seconded by GERLEMAN. 4-0 vote.
  2. COLLEGE BLOCK : Devin Hollaway- Devin reported that all 3 houses he built have sold, looking at the other 2 lots. Harder to sell than had hoped. Would like to split into 3 buildable lots instead of the remaining 2. Asked if a variance for set back on corner lot could be approved, would require sending letters to the neighboring properties. Will present a more solid plan to review.
  3. SEWER PROJECT : BG Consultants Bruce Boettcher here to discuss sewer upgrades. Discussed the time frame of major projects. Different options of upgrades were discussed. Council will review items from Bruce and have continued discussion.  

3a.  LIFT STATIONS: monitoring app- Bill discussed updating the alerting system at the lift stations. High tide- fully functioning monitoring system. SCADA- hooked to fiber. This system would allow maintenance weekends off- KDHE approved of this process. Charts pumps- 2-3 hours per week. This would monitor more than we can currently track. Quote $10,400 installation, first year monitoring for free Moved by NUESSEN to approve the Haynes Equipment quote in the amount of $10,400. Motion seconded by BURTON. 5-0 Vote.   

  1. EXECUTIVE SESSION : Non-elected personnel matters. Moved by NUESSEN to go into executive session for 5 minutes starting at 7:54 pm with council, mayor, legal, clerk and Laverne Soetebier present. Motion seconded by BURTON. Out of session at 7:59 pm. WRIGHT accepted the resignation of Dakota Hamlin.
  2. 2027 BUDGET REVIEW : Laverne Soetebier Discussed the highlights of the budget. She made the changes that were discussed in last meeting and increased the hours of the deputy clerk to 20 hours per week. Council agreed with items, Laverne will begin working on the final budget.
  3. 2025 AUDIT ENGAGEMENT LETTER Moved by BURTON to authorize Mayor Wright to sign the 2025 engagement letter. Motion seconded by NUESSEN. 5-0 Vote.
  4. CHARTER ORDINANCE 15: Moved by BURTON to approve Charter Ordinance 15 changing the official newspaper from Emporia Gazette to the City of Americus Website. Motion seconded by 5-0 Vote.
  5. LIQUOR LICENSE: Moved by BURTON to approve the liquor license for Harry & Lloyds. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 5-0 Vote.
  6. REDBUD SIGN QUOTE: Moved by NUESSEN to accept quote for $549.00 from Redbud Design for ballfield signs and Farmers Market sign. Motion seconded by GERLEMAN. 5-0 Vote.
  7. EMPLOYEE EVALUATIONS: Nicky will look for the form. Discussed yearly reviews in April/May prior to budget.
  8. Moved to 3A
  9. MOWING ORDERS: Bill proposed that we get bids for mowing of properties instead of maintenance doing them. Nicky would like to keep it with Maintenance. Overtime can be approved to get the mowing done. Authorize up to 8 hours a week overtime for mowing.
  10. TREE TRIMMING: Clerk will bid it out city right of way tree trimming and bid for park tree removal as well.
  11. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Police car was sold at the minimum. Evidence will be picked up by Lyon County to be destroyed.
  12. ARO: Discussion was had if the ordinance in question was still active. Burton would like to utilize youth betterment fund to help fund ARO. Concerns were had about council and ARO not having a good working relationship. Clerk will reach out to ARO to set up work session with council, to be scheduled in next 30 days.
  13. REZONING PROPERTY: Reach out to register of deeds for updated property lines. Variant use for commercial. 3 lots west of the property. Moved by HARMON to issue variance use at: (AMERICUS, S02, T18S, R10E, ACRES 2.6, LTS 1 & 4-15 BLK 7 & E1/2 VAC 6TH ST & N1/2 VAC HICKORY ST & VAC ALY ADJ.) 3 lots on northwest of the property. Motion seconded by NUESSEN 4-0-1
  14. RV/CAMPER ORDINANCE : storage refers to all trailers on any property- 15 feet off property lines road side. Use of easements for parking was discussed. BURTON will bring the other details from planning and zoning to July Council Meeting for review.
  15. CONDEMNATION LIST: 311 Elm has sold, they are securing the property and hopefully starting to remedy some of the issues. 408 Oak- Roger Birchmeier discussing what the letter that was sent to his parents was referring to. Stuff is being removed from the property. Selling the property to the State of KS. Code Enforcement will revisit and bring to council in July.
  16. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Moved by BURTON to go into executive session for 20 minutes starting at 9:04 pm with council, attorney and clerk present for non- elected personnel matters and account modification approval and 10 minutes with council, mayor, and legal present for non-elected personnel matters. Motion seconded by

Motion to adjourn at 9:26 pm by BURTON. Motion seconded by GERLEMAN. 5-0 Vote.

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