WILSON — At Monday’s meeting of the Wilson City Council, consideration began of whether or not to eliminate the public forum.

“Really, all I wanted to do with this is talk about it amongst us,” Mayor Dan Taylor said. “I know that we have some concerns about the fact that sometimes we’re unable to say a whole lot during public forum. I think it all depends upon whether or not there’s any pending possible further litigation, etc. So, while it might look to us or seem to us or to the public that we can’t say anything or don’t say anything, or are aloof to those individuals who are maybe wanting an answer, we really aren’t privileged to say anything and shouldn’t say anything for the protection of our community. That’s basically what we signed up to do.”

Taylor said while it might look like the council members are avoiding things, they are really just protecting their community.

“And that’s not easy,” he said. “I know it’s not fun and it’s difficult at times.”

Taylor asked the council members to discuss it and talk with community members.

“We have a whole lot of community members that support us,” he said, “not just a couple of people who might show up at our meetings and say the community is concerned. The reality of it is we have a lot of people that support the council, that’s why it’s important that you go out in the community and talk to people about what their thoughts are.”

Taylor said the City of Wilson has no charter and no ordinance regarding the city council having a public forum.

“So there is no requirement for us to have one,” he said, “and there is no Kansas Open Meetings Act requirement for us to have it, so therefore, it could be taken off of the agenda.”

Taylor noted, however, that doesn’t mean the council will, or should, take the public forum off of the agenda, or that it would be done arbitrarily.

“I’m asking just for your input and your thoughts on it,” he said. “You can share those with Susan (Kriley, city clerk) or with myself at any point in time. Please consider it.”

Taylor said he appreciates the fact that the council members put up with a lot of stuff. He also noted that sometimes, that doesn’t necessarily get reported.

“It’s nobody’s fault,” Taylor said. “Alan (Rusch, Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter reporter) reports the facts as they are spoken. But, sometimes, the newspaper articles can come out to be one-sided, especially when we don’t give a rebuttal, and especially when we sit quiet because of the possibility of the potential for litigation. So we have to be cautious with that.”

“So if we eliminate public forum, say there is a community member that does need to address the council, would it be something that we would be willing to put on the agenda so whatever it may be can be addressed,” Council Member Jessica Loveland asked.

Taylor said there would be circumstances where, for example, someone approaches the council wanting to spend some of the bed tax dollars. That would be put on the agenda so the council could discuss and vote on it.

“I think outside of that, we would have to be careful on the limitations on who got on the agenda, because we need to make sure, there might just be some concerns depending upon the circumstances, because of favoritism or whatever,” Taylor said. “We don’t want that to happen either, where we put one person on the agenda and somebody else not on the agenda.”

Taylor said another avenue for that dialogue would be the individual approaching a council member of their choice and bringing the issue or concern to their attention. Then, if there was merit in it, that issue or concern could be brought to the council as a whole to discuss and be made part of the agenda.

“My opinion is that you can’t let a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch,” Council President Jeff Keith said.

Keith said during the public forum, members of the public have come in and praised the things the council is doing.

“If we take public forum out, we eliminate that availability for those individuals,” he said.

In other business:

• Earlier in the meeting, during the public forum, Kristofer Ritchie said he noticed that in the board of health write-ups, there are people being written up for having lawn mowers in their yard. He asked the council why are they being cited.

“Is it because they are broken they are not allowed, or if they operate, are they still not allowed to be parked in their yards,” Ritchie asked. “I think we need some clarification.”

Taylor asked if he had talked to the board of health members who wrote the citation.

“No,” Ritchie said. “Mr. Erdman and I attended a board of health meeting. We were told we were not welcome there, basically, and if we had any concerns, we were to take them to the city council.”

Ritchie said that was a while ago, and he has since made no attempt to talk to them.

“I don’t know what the circumstances in your case are,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he is not aware if that case has been sent to the city council for review.

“The question is to inform the people of Wilson what they need to do with their mowers,” Ritchie said. “Does that pertain to a mower that operates or just mowers that do not operate?”

“If it’s operational, it would have to be reviewed under the circumstances,” Taylor said. “And like I said, I don’t know what those circumstances are currently, but you would think normally, an operational mower would be fine. But if you have a mower in disrepair or broken down, a mower with flat tires, a mower with grass growing all around it, a mower leaking oil all over the ground, etc., then I would probably say we’d have a problem with it.”

Dan Erdman noted this concerns the average person with a mower parked in their yard.

“It seems like the letter of the law is being beaten upon our heads,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem to have any sense to it. The same thing with barbecues.”

Erdman asked the council if they consider the fact that they have to balance the needs of enforcing their ordinances with the needs of the public to come before the council for a few minutes to address them.

“We need to be able to discuss problems that we have with the city council,” he said. “Does the city council recognize that?”

“I don’t see any reason to answer that,” Taylor said.

Erdman asked the council to reconsider eliminating the public forum.

“The public has a need and a right to address their city hall,” he said.

• Resolution 12-2024, permitting open containers with alcoholic beverages in a designated area upon the public right-of-way and street closings during the 2024 After Harvest Czech Festival in Wilson was approved.

• Approval was given to have Chism Trash Service, Wilson, for the citywide cleanup July 1-12 and to pay them up to $1,000 to collect 20 loads at $50 per dump.

• Before the meeting, during a board of health hearing for 607 29th St., the property owner was given a two-week extension until the July 1 council meeting. An update of the progress of the cleanup of the property will be given at that time.

• The property at 611 29th St. was approved for removal from the board of health violations list.

• A resolution for the property at 817-819 30th St. was approved for the 12 vehicles served on May 30 under the inoperable vehicle ordinance.

• Approval was given to Amendment No. 1 of the agreement for professional engineering services with Wilson and Company for the sewer lagoon project.

• Approval was given to reimburse the City of Wilson for the engineering service cost of $46,938, pending receipt by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The next meeting of the Wilson City Council will be at 6 p.m. Monday, July 1, at city hall.