Kimball provides KENO funds to Bushnell

The Kimball City Council provided KENO funds to the Village of Bushnell and discussed the roof of the Kimball Event Center at the regularly scheduled Oct. 21 meeting.

Bushnell approached the city council for KENO funds at the meeting. The village requested the funds for new traffic and street signs, which are required by federal law.

Norma Szobody, with the Village of Bushnell, has contacted 80 businesses and organizations within Kimball and Pine Bluffs. The village has raised $1,300 of its $4,575 goal. The village requested $3,275 in KENO funds, which is the remaining amount needed to complete the project.

“I think that Bushnell is in our area and they use our emergency services and they are a part of our community. I don’t think we can give the full amount because of the KENO funds we have going to other organizations, but I think we should give them something,” said Councilwoman Kim Christensen.

After looking at the KENO funds available for use, the council agreed that $2,000 could be given to the Village of Bushnell for the sign project. Tim Nolting of Bushnell, who was present at the meeting, said the funds would be very helpful.

“This would allow us to comply with the federal regulations for the traffic signage in the village. We can get the street signage done by the deadline, January 2015.” Nolting said.

The Village of Bushnell must install new street signs by January 2015 and new traffic signs by January 2018. After the approval of $2,000 in KENO funds, the Village of Bushnell needs $1,275 to reach its full goal.

The City of Kimball put in a request for $3,261.96 in KENO funds to replace the batteries and electro pads in nine Cardiac Science Powerheart Automated External Defibrillators (AED). These AEDs were acquired by the city, county and school district in 2010. While the units were never used, they are currently inoperable due to dead batteries and the need for new electropads.

The inquiry was made as to why the city did not use its budget in order to cover the $3,261.96 cost of the AED updates.

The city council decided to use the KENO funds that are on hold for the city to pay for this project, due to it not having been budgeted.

Mayor James Schnell signed a preliminary engineering service agreement in order to move forward with the underpass project. There is a redesign that will happen and the public meeting to attend concerning the issue will be on Dec. 16 before the city council meeting.

The next item up for discussion was the condition of the Kimball Event Center roof. Ryan Knutson, an account sales representative with Fisher Roofing, was present to give an update on the event center roof.

The roof was crudely patched and sealed back in 2010, which was a mistake, according to Knutson.

“More should have been done than what was done in 2010. I know that the reason for the limited work in 2010 was the city had little funds from the insurance company. We should have really pushed you to do more back then,” Knutson said.

According to Knutson’s examination of the event center roof, the northeast section seems to be the in the most disrepair. Knutson recommended covering the roof in insulation then sealing it with a solid roofing material atop that. The costs for this, including adding a gutter system to the building, would be between $100,000 and $200,000.

The council directed Daniel Ortiz, city administrator, to proceed with the process for accepting bids on the event center roof. A project that will cause some of the interior items of the event center remodel to be lost or cut back on.

Fisher Roofing is offering to handle patching the roof of the Kimball Event Center at no cost to the city until a bid is accepted. However, it was suggested that this be done quickly because the patch work cannot be accomplished in freezing temperatures. The temperatures will have no affect on working on the new roof, so that is a project that could be accomplished at any time.

“Well, I say we address the roofing issue now, because what’s the point of having a nice event center if we can’t keep it that way because our roof is damaged,” Councilwoman Ann Warner said.

Fisher Roofing was asked to prepare a bid to present it to the council, and Ortiz is to take the necessary action in order to get things in order so that the city might accept bids.

The next city council meeting is set to be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m.