Council sets taxi coupon increase

Sarah Vanderbuilt, 1100 N. Adams told the city council Tuesday night that raising the taxi coupon price from $2.50 to $3.00 per one-way ride will have a big impact on the elderly and the handicapped.

"Fifty cents adds up" she said before the City Council voted 4-0, with Bill Gillette excused, to give tentative approval to an ordinance raising the cost of taxi coupons to $3 for the elderly and the handicapped and to $4 for the general public.

"I'm lucky, I can walk to the store and take a cab home. A lot of people have to take a cab both ways," Vanderbuilt said.

"I'm more fortunate than most of my friends," she said.

She told the council that even though there was a 5.8 percent increase in social security and disability payments this year, you hear from your insurance that your deductible is increasing by 5.7 percent.

"I wish we could continue to take a loss, but if we do we will have to close the program," council member Tim Wells said.

The cost of operating the city's taxi coupon program has increased over the last couple of years and the amount of state grant money that helps to pay for the program has decreased.

Wells said that people may just have to be more judicious about their trips.

"This is a hard decision to make," he said.

"To keep the program going, we have to do something to defray the cost or it will go away all together," Wells said.

In other business the council:

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the 2008 city budget and authorizing the payment of $2,452.65 to Enz & Jester P.C., Kansas City, for special legal services.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the 2008 city budget and authorizing the payment of $8,954 to McCaffree & Landoll, Attorney's at Law for special legal services.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the 2008 city budget and authorizing the payment of $2.375 to Schemerhorn Law Firm, Kansas City, for special legal services.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a general ordinance setting taxi rates at $6 per one-way non-coupon rides. Interim city manager Harlan Moore told the council that when the taxi coupon reimbursement rates were set earlier this year the non-coupon rates were not changed and they should be the same.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance accepting the bid of $6,802.66 from Waste Corporation of America, Joplin, for trash service for 2009 for the city of Nevada. Their bid also includes providing large trash dumpsters at a monthly cost per dumpster of $55 for 4 yard; $95 for 6 yards and $400 for 40 yards.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the 2008 city budget to add $73,668.48 to the street improvement program budget for completed street improvements.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance authorizing change order number 3 to the contract with Rosetta Construction LLC for improvements to the west interceptor sewer line to include improvements to the city's south interceptor sewer line. This will increase the total construction cost from $909,427.86 to $1,368,096.44, with the additional money to be paid by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources State Revolving Fund program.

Voted 4-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance authorizing the city manager to issue a request for qualifications for a street light project at the U.S. Highway 71 and Austin Blvd. interchange. The money for the project will come from a $203,795.26 Surface Transportation Program allocation the Missouri Department of Transportation has for Nevada.

Voted 3-1, with Jayne Novak voting no, to pass on first reading a special ordinance approving an agreement with M-NOD Taxi and Shuttle to provide subsidized public transportation services for 2009. Novak said that she voted no because she felt that On My Own, which had expressed an interest in bidding on the handicapped van, and the Vernon County Ambulance District were not given the same treatment as M-NOD in the bidding process. Mike Hutchens, Tim Wells and Joyce Wilson voted yes.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance adopting the proposal from DSWA, CPA to perform the city's 2008 annual audit for a cost not to exceed $20,900.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance accepting a $10,000 grant from the L.F. Richardson Foundation for purchasing furnishings for the new terminal building at the Nevada Municipal Airport.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance amending the 2008 city budget to put $200,000 of transportation sales tax money back into the street construction fund. This money had originally been put in the street maintenance fund to purchase a street sweeper. Doing this reduced the amount of money available for new street construction from the $500,000 the city is requried to spend on street construction to $300,000.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance authorizing supplemental agreement No. 4 to the construction phase services with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc. for rehabilitation of runway 2-20 at the Nevada Municipal Airport.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance authorizing the city manager to designate the Nevada Municipal Airport FBO to accept daily and monthly rental agreements for hangar space at the airport.

Voted 4-0 to pass on second reading a special ordinance conditionally approving participation in the Tri-state Fire Recruitment Alliance.

Voted 4-0 to adopt Resolution No. 1245 authorizing the city manager to issue a request for qualifications for design-build of the Community Center complex project.

Voted 4-0 to adopt Resolution No. 1246 authorizing the city manager to issue a Request for Proposals for the Earp Park project.