Minutes

The following minutes are from the February 10, 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

PUBLIC MEETING

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2026          

CITY HALL 7:00 PM

CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL: Moved by HARMON for BURTON to be acting council president for the February 10, 2026, business meeting. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 4-0 Vote. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by BURTON. Council members present were BURTON, HARMON, HINRICHS, and GERLEMAN. Mayor WRIGHT and NUESSEN were absent. Also, present City Attorney Steve Atherton, City Clerk Dodie Doudna.

 VISITORS/PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: Victoria Partridge, Kayeloni Davidson, Stephen Davidson, Steve Bechtel, Tim Burton, Preston Bechtel, Chuck Samples, Melissa Lowery

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Moved by HARMON to approve the January 13, 2026, Business Meeting minutes. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 4-0 vote. Moved by HARMON to approve February 3, 2026, Special Meeting minutes. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 3-0-1 vote. 

BILLS TO PAY: Moved by HINRICHS to approve the February bills to pay for $70,661.30. Motion seconded by HARMON. 4-0 vote

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES:

PROJECT PLAYSCAPE: Planning fundraisers, grant writing and prepping for Easter Egg hunt. Will be requesting funds next meeting for that.

MAINTENANCE: Chip seal pump got repaired, cost was much lower than the original estimate. North lift station will be around $2500 for the concrete build up, estimate from Seimers Construction. Bill and Nick are going to work on lift stations without calling for service with an approximate cost of $1500. Will order rock, cost $850.00

CLERK: Community center has new coded door handle installed.  

ADOPT THE AGENDA: Moved by HINRICHS to adopt the agenda. Motion seconded by HARMON. 4-0 vote. 

  1. ORDINANCE 632: Police Department Closure: Moved by HARMON to approve Ordinance 632 to close the police department. Motion seconded by GERLEMAN. 4-0 vote
    1. Next Steps: Add to March agenda process for records transfer and disposition of assets.
  2. TRASH CONTRACT BID REVIEW: Review closed bid. Council reviewed 3 bids. One bid from existing trash provider, Steve’s Trash Service and 2 bids from Dumpster Pros. HARMON moved to accept the one-year contract with Dumpster Pro’s. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 4-0 Vote.
  3. ORDINANCE 631: Vacate Alley: BURTON explained no public utilities are in that alley, all private owned. ATHERTON explained that the city reserves the right to ingress and egress upon the premises. Also stated that by Kansas State Law it can reopened as an alley way if the city deems necessary. Moved by HARMON to approve Ordinance 631. Motion seconded by HINRICHS. 4-0 vote
  4. SEWER RATE REVIEW: Annual review. Consensus was to keep rates the same.
  5. IT FINDINGS: DOUDNA presented the quote from Nerds & Numbers to replace both office computers. HARMON suggested that one of the current office computers be repurposed for maintenance. HINRICHS motioned to accept bid to replace both office computers to not exceed $4,600. Motion seconded by HARMON. 4-0 vote.
  6. PAYROLL: Automatic deposit: Council discussed the benefit to move payroll to automatic deposit. Tabled to March to allow HARMON to discuss with all employees what changes would have to be made to move to it.
  7. TNR UPDATE: Guest Street Cats Club: So far 22 cats have been TNR. Using a calculator used by many organizations it is estimated that Americus has a stray cat population of 189, 111 are unclaimed/free roaming and 78 are indoor/outdoor cats. February 24 is the next trap date and they hope to trap the remaining 4-5 cats we have funds for. Discussed ways to get residents to submit where the cat colonies are located. Will post on social media, website, newsletters, etc.
  8. SPLASHPAD SIGNAGE: HINRICHS showed proofs of the signs for the splashpad. Asked for input of the rules listed and shape and size of sign. She will bring quotes to next meeting from input.
  9. CONDEMNATION LIST: DOUDNA handed out new binders that hold the information on the properties on the list. She mentioned that she would like council to review the binder and let her know of any changes they would like to see. It was also mentioned that council should let her know when a property needs to be added to the binder.

Motion to adjourn at 8:17 pm by HINRICHS. Seconded by HARMON. 4-0 Vote

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