WILSON — The Wilson City Council has a new member. Dan Taylor, husband of former council member Lori Taylor, was appointed by Mayor Mike Peschka Monday during a regular meeting of the council and sworn into office. He made no comment on his appointment to the council. Taylor succeeds Ryan Stoppel, who resigned recently and is moving out of Wilson.

In other business:

• After a five minute executive session to discuss the Abandoned Building Ordinance No. 854, Peschka asked for volunteers to fine tune the database identifying all the buildings in town that are either vacant or abandoned.

“We’re stalled right now until we can do a database he said.

Council members David Criswell and Darcy Hubka-Vopat volunteered their time for the needed fine tuning.

• During an update on vehicles and properties deemed in violation of city ordinances, approval was given to list the property at 2211 Ave. D as having completed all the requirements of the board of health. The property will be removed from the list of those in violation.

• Approval was given to a motion to give the new owner of the property at 305 26th Street until Dec. 21 to prepare a timeline for improvements to the property, which was deemed in violation by the board of health. Either Peschka or Josh Turner, Wilson Police chief and head of the board of health, will contact the owner and discuss the matter with them.

• The council approved Franchise Ordinance 857 with Wilson Communications.

• Cereal malt beverage license extensions were approved for Wilson Foods, Stop 2 Shop and the Wilson American Legion.

• After a 20 minute executive session to discuss non-elected personnel (employee compensation), the council voted to table further discussion of a cost of living adjustment for 2021 until the Dec. 21 meeting.

• Gudenkauf and Malone of Russell were approved to perform the city’s 2020 audit for a cost of $7,000.

• Approval was given to spend $17,000 to finish crack sealing one third of Wilson.

• Approval was given to the purchase of new Filemaker Pro software at a cost of $540.

• City attorney Theresa Staudinger will draw up a contract between her and the city updating her relationship with the city. According to Kriley, Staudinger is currently paid a $500 per month retainer city council meetings and meets on Wednesdays with the city clerk and mayor. As of Jan. 1, Staudinger will not attend every council meeting and be paid on an hourly basis.

• Peschka said the city received $35,940 in SPARK funding from the State of Kansas to use for COVID relief. He said those funds must be committed by Dec. 31. Peschka noted the city still has some of those funds left and plans to spend them on touchless faucets, disinfectant, laptop computers for the council and the purchase of a 65 inch monitor to use during Zoom meetings. He hopes the new equipment will be ready by the end of the year.

• Approval was given to the following amounts for employee Christmas gift certificates:

Part-time employees — Trey Fink, $25; Jan Shaw, $25; Steve Ford, $25; Jonathan Lawrence, $50; Janiece Kornmeyer, $50; Cathy Smith, $50; Darrell Thrasher, $25. Full-time employees — Don Browning, $100; Susan Kriley, $100; Martin Prester, $50; Joe Soukup, $100; Joshua Tipton, $100.

Additional gift certificates were approved for Theresa Staudinger, $100; and Larry Soukup, $25.

The next meeting of the Wilson City Council will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21, at city hall.