CITY OF FORT SCOTT
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING
Minutes of July 16th, 2021 Special Meeting #15
A special meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission was held July 16th, 2021 at 7:20 p.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Pete Allen and Lindsey Watts were present with Mayor Josh Jones presiding. Kevin Allen was present on teleconference. Randy Nichols was absent.
AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: Travis Shelton, Rob Harrington, Susan Bancroft Janice Allen, Michael Hoyt and Trisha Prudon with Kansas Department of Commerce was on teleconference.
CONSIDERATION:
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Consideration of Eagle Block Building – Mayor Jones said that Rob Harrington with Bourbon County R.E.D.I. has some possible funding that could be available to assist with the demolition of this Eagle Block structure.
Josh said that the engineer and the City Manager are at the building looking at it currently.
Rob Harrington said that he knew that there was C.D.B.G. emergency funding available. He explained the process and the safety concerns to help with the shoring up of the building and assist with the process. He said that the first step is for the County to declare a Countywide Emergency Disaster which just happened earlier. The next step is the application process for CDBG emergency funding. He will complete the application himself. The third step is to admit to the State and the fourth step is for reimbursement. These funds can be used to reimburse the City for any shoring up of the building. The funding would be GAP financing. The County is working for FEMA declaration from the storm damage last night.
Susan Bancroft said that we need to show pictures of damage and the time our City workers spent on damage and callout to repair and clean up damage.
There could be possible funding options through Kansas State Historical Preservation Office also.
Pete said that the engineer is looking at the building to see if we can preserve it at all. The façade preservation could qualify for SHPO funding.
Rob said that the process has been started.
Josh thanked Rob Harrington for his assistance and Trisha with the State of Kansas.
ADJOURNMENT:
J. Jones moved to adjourn the special meeting at 7:34 p.m. L. Watts seconded. All voted aye.
ADJOURNED MEETING AT 7:34 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane K. Clay, M.M.C.
City Clerk
CITY OF FORT SCOTT
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING
Minutes of July 16th, 2021 Special Meeting #16
A special meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission was held July 16th, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Pete Allen and Lindsey Watts were present with Mayor Josh Jones presiding. Kevin Allen and Randy Nichols were absent.
AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: Dave Bruner, Pete Earles, Allyson Turvey, and Mike Cheney.
CONSIDERATION:
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Consideration of Eagle Block Building – Mayor Jones said that Peter Earles of Earles Engineering is here to discuss the results of his assessment of the Eagle Block building.
Mr. Earles gave his assessment of the damage of the shared walls between the Eagle Block and the CDL building. He said until this is stabilized it is not safe to have Sharky’s open due to the issue that the building could collapse further. There are joist bearing walls between the two buildings. He called Industrial Salvage Wrecking. One of his employees, Carl, will be here at 10;00 a.m. tomorrow morning. It would be very difficult to save the façade of the building.
ADJOURNMENT:
J. Jones moved to adjourn the special meeting at 8:47 p.m. L. Watts seconded. All voted aye.
ADJOURNED MEETING AT 8:47 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane K. Clay, M.M.C.
City Clerk
CITY OF FORT SCOTT
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING
Minutes of July 16th, 2021 Special Meeting #14
A special meeting of the Fort Scott City Commission was held July 16th, 2021 at 11:15 a.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas.
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Pete Allen, Randy Nichols, and Lindsey Watts were present with Mayor Josh Jones presiding. Kevin Allen arrived at 11:23 a.m.
AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE: Travis Shelton, Jim Harris, Allyson Turvey, John George, and Michael Hoyt.
CONSIDERATION:
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Consideration of Eagle Block Building – Ally Turvey, Community Development Director, informed the Commission that this morning they had a visit from the owner of the CDL building which is north of the Eagle Block building located at 14 N. National. There was a partial collapse of the Eagle Block building. The top portion of the northeastern section of the building collapsed into the CDL building and left a substantial hole in the CDL building and did cause some flooding in this building also. John George with AG Engineering is present also and has looked at the property.
John George said that the news is not good. He said that part of the Eagle Block building fell in. He showed photos on his phone of the collapse of the building.
Pete asked if that was a community wall. John George said yes it was.
Mr. George said that the building could have been saved if brick work could have been done. The CDL building is not in good shape either. The Fire Department has commenced barricading the alley and the street in front of the building. Dave Bruner, Fire Chief, proposed that CDL needs to get some heavy equipment in and get some of their property out. At that point, the electric needs disconnected except for the sump pump in the basement. If the building is abandoned, the sump pump may not be needed.
Josh asked about the buildings on the rest of the block.
Mr. George said that Sharky’s seems to be stable, but when you have these joists that are inset into the wall, there could be some damage. He said that men with equipment needs to remove the floors and sever the joists on the north wall so no loads are imposed on that wall. The CDL building is partially three stories and the Eagle Block building used to be three stories.
Discussion was held regarding who owns the CDL building. It was announced that they just lease the building.
Josh asked Mr. George if he had a suggestion. He asked if the front of the buildings could be saved.
Mr. George said that the City has a process to declare a building unsafe and dangerous. He said that the Eagle Block building needs to be torn down safely.
Ally said that the process has been started to remove CDL items from the building.
Discussion was held about Sharky’s. Kevin asked if we needed to vacate Sharky’s.
Mr. George said that we need to get these buildings stabilized.
Discussion was held about the upper walls and if they were in danger of falling. Mr. George stated that someone had put in new joists in the CDL building at some time.
Kevin said that we need to act on this and get the CDL building stabilized. He asked about insurance and if we were responsible for this.
Josh said that he was concerned about the wall that was still standing.
City Attorney said that he was concerned also. He asked the engineer how far out into the road the building would fall. Mr. George said that it would block the street. City Attorney said that we are only blocking off a third of the street and sidewalk. His concern is the building is failing and we don’t know how bad the failure is. If it comes out, people on that street could be hurt. He also notices that Sharky’s is fully open and operating. He said if that wall would go more towards their direction, it could be very bad.
Josh said that they aren’t experts.
Pete said that we need to block the whole street. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Kevin said that we need to vacate Sharky’s and all the buildings for safety reasons. Discussion was held about NuGrille also and if it needed to be vacated.
Discussion was held to shut down National Avenue and the alley and to shut down Sharky’s.
The Commission will meet again at 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. this evening to discuss this.
Jeremy Frazier, City Manager, said that we will have a better picture this evening.
ADJOURNMENT:
J. Jones moved to adjourn the special meeting at 11:40 a.m. L. Watts seconded. All voted aye.
ADJOURNED MEETING AT 11:40 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane K. Clay, M.M.C.
City Clerk