The Sabetha City Commission met at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, at Sabetha City Hall. Present for the meeting were Mayor Cody Bletscher, Commissioners Norm Schmitt, Nick Aberle, Maridel Wittmer and Julie Burenheide, City Administrator Doug Allen, Assistant City Administrator Bill Shroyer, City Clerk Steve Compo, Police Chief Robert Wahwasuck, and City Attorney Luke Sunderland. Guests present were Jason Enneking, Megan Bunck, Quillan Houser and Sabetha High School student Kalvin Evans, who was in attendance for his AP government.

Police Report

Wahwasuck presented the commissioners his written report.

Dogs

There was one dog call since Feb. 8. The call was for a dog at large, where city personnel or an officer responded. The owner was contacted and a citation was issued.

Codes

1322 Roosevelt St.: Unfit structure, maintenance and repair. Ready for abatement. The garage is the remaining issue as other parts of the house repair/removal have been made.

523 N. 14th St.: Unfit structure. Ready for abatement. The owners have contacted a company to make the repairs. The Sabetha Police Department (SPD) checked with the owners again and the contractor is just waiting for a nice day to do the work. They have hired a crew out of Morrill to do the repairs.

820 Florida St.: Health and welfare, blight premise. Ready for abatement. The owner and tenant have both been notified of the blight and some work has begun again. The city will begin a resolution process to follow up in case the work is not completed to a satisfactory condition.

401 Ohio St.: Blight premise. The SPD will continue to monitor, some of the items that were pointed out were picked up and moved, other items still need to be addressed.

Department

The SPD continues with the morning crossing guard duties, as well as performing daily walk-throughs at the school.

An SPD officer did attend a school board meeting simply as a civil standby and there were no issues, the officer did receive several “thank you’s” for their presence.

One SPD officer is off on sick leave. Wahwasuck will continue to monitor their progress and wish them the best, as of now a return date has not been set.

The SPD did receive an application from a certified candidate and began completing their background as quickly as possible. The candidate received their certification in 2013 and is willing to relocate to Sabetha if hired.

The SPD does continue to gather applications in hopes of the possibility of filling the last officer position.

Also at the meeting:

The commissioners approved the burn dates for March 1 through May 2.

The commissioners approved a wage resolution for Houser as a new Sabetha police officer.

Wittmer asked about the power outage that a portion of the city had on Sunday night, Feb. 26. Allen said it took awhile for city crews to find, but they eventually found the problem, with a reclosure, out by Triple C.

Aberle asked Allen about a bill — HB2150 — in one of the Kansas House of Representatives committees, which would “repeal zoning and planning authorities for towns like Sabetha and Seneca, that have exercised their three-miles [extraterritorial zoning].”

Allen said the House Bill had been rejected, but there is a Kansas Senate — SB 273 — bill, also. Allen said he would continue to monitor the Senate Bill.

Burenheide asked about the Sabetha Nutrition Center possibly being shut down. Allen said that it is funded by Nemaha County. Allen said he would reach out to Nemaha County Commissioner Ben Glace to express the commissioner’s feelings about continuing to keep the nutrition center open.

The commissioners went into a five-minute executive session for contract negotiations. Present for the executive session were the commissioners, Sunderland, Shroyer and Allen. No action was taken following the executive session.

The commissioners will meet again for their regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 13, at Sabetha City Hall.