 |
|
SEARCH
IN THIS SECTION
Popular Pages in this Section
| MORE
SEARCH
IN THIS SECTION
Popular Pages in this Section
Archived Meeting Agendas
Every effort is made to ensure that the Agendas and Minutes provided on this and subsequent pages is timely and correct; however, users should keep in mind that this information is provided only as a public convenience. In any case where legal reliance on information is required, the official records of the City of Ballwin should be consulted. The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 7 p.m. in the Board Room of the Ballwin Government Center, 1 Government Ctr. Schedule and place subject to change. Meetings are open to the public. All citizens are urged to attend. Board of Aldermen Meeting and Closed SessionMeeting AgendaMEETING NOTICE There will be a closed session on August 19, 2013, following the Board of Aldermen meeting to discuss real estate. The Board meeting and closed session will be held at The Pointe at Ballwin Commons, #1 Ballwin Commons Drive. Robert Kuntz CITY OF BALLWIN 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Pledge of Allegiance 4. Approval of Minutes: July 15, 2013 Board of Aldermen meeting 5. Presentation: None. 6. Pending Issues: None. 7. Citizen Comments 8. Public Hearing: None. New Business: 9. Legislation Next Ordinance # 13-31 A. Bill # 3801 Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force Contract 10. Consent Items 11. Mayor’s Report 12. City Administrator’s Report 13. Staff Reports 14. City Attorney’s Report 15. Aldermanic Comments 16. Adjourn NOTE: Due to ongoing City business, all meeting agendas should be considered tentative. Additional issues may be introduced during the course of the meeting. BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING BRIEFS This is a condensed summary of the action items which will be considered at tonight’s Board Meeting. It has been prepared to give you a greater understanding of the issues which will be discussed. If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please call (636) 227-8580. If you would like to know more about the programs or services which we provide, please dial our 24-Hour Information Line (636) 207-2300, or visit us on the web at www.ballwin.mo.us. CITIZEN COMMENTS If you wish to address the Board during this meeting, please fill out the “Citizen Comments: To Address the Board of Aldermen” form and place it in the tray on the table in the center of the Board Room before the meeting begins. Topics of a global nature, such as requests for ballot initiative endorsements, should be submitted in writing to the City Clerk at 14811 Manchester Road, prior to the meeting. Please limit your comments to 3 minutes as an individual and 5 minutes representing a group. Please avoid repeating comments others have already made. Thank you for your cooperation. MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL DRUG TASK FORCE (Bill # 3801) This ordinance renews our current contract with St. Louis County, based on existing terms and conditions. SOLICITOR BACKGROUND CHECKS (Bill 3802) This legislation is intended to address the issue of securing relevant information in relation to the issuance of permits for the purpose of door-to-door solicitation. SHOOTING RANGE – ZONE CHANGE (Bill 3803) A petition has been received to amend the MRD site plan for the U-Gas Subdivision at Seven Trails and Manchester Road to permit a retail gun store and indoor shooting range. SIGN CODE AMENDMENT (Bill 3804) This legislation amends our code to permit identification designation on certain facilities such as the American Water storage tank. SIDEWALK GRINDER It is recommended that this equipment replacement be purchased from SASE Company, Inc., who submitted the low bid of $8,700. ROJEAN RECONSTRUCTION It is recommended that this contract for this joint project be awarded to Krupp Construction. ASPHALT SEALING / STRIPING It is recommended that this contract be awarded to Parking Lot Maintenance, who submitted the lowest of 8 bids, in the amount of $28,545. HOLLY GREEN WALL REPLACEMENT It is recommended that the contract for replacement of the railroad tie wall on Holly Green Court be awarded to Landesign, who submitted the low bid of $9,973.31. SALT It is recommended that this contract be awarded to North American Salt Co., who submitted the low bid of $48.32/ton. CRACK SEALING It is recommended that this project be awarded to the low bidder, Sweetens Concrete Services, in the amount of $95,887.54 for 18.5 miles. LIQUOR LICENSES The new U-Gas operation at 14807 Manchester Road has applied for a liquor license for carry out sales. Yo Sushi (formerly Sapporo Sushi) at 15583 Manchester Road has applied for a simple license transfer. CLOSED SESSION FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY PORTABLE MESSAGE SIGNS PICKUP TRUCK REPLACEMENT TOWING CONTRACT TENNIS COURT SEALING FERRIS PARK IMPROVEMENTS BUDGET WORK SESSION FUTURE LEGAL ISSUES In June, July, and August, there will be one Board of Aldermen meeting each month instead of two meetings. The meetings will be held on June 17, July 15, and August 19 at 7:00 p.m., at The Pointe at Ballwin Commons, #1 Ballwin Commons Circle. The normal schedule of two meetings per month will resume in September at the Donald “Red” Loehr Police & Court Center, 300 Park Drive. These meetings are open to the public and the building is handicapped accessible. Robert Kuntz, City Administrator Residents of Ballwin are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in the programs and services of the City of Ballwin regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, familial status, national origin or political affiliation. If you are a person requiring an accommodation, please call (636) 227-8580 (V) or (636) 527-9200 (TDD) or 1-800-735-2966 (Relay Missouri) no later than 5:00 P.M. on the third business day preceding the hearing. Offices are open between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Meeting MinutesMINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING The meeting was called to order by Mayor Pogue at 7:02 p.m. PRESENT ABSENT The Pledge of Allegiance was given. MINUTES The Minutes of the July 15, 2013 Board of Aldermen meeting were submitted for approval. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Terbrock to approve the Minutes. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. PRESENTATION PENDING ISSUES CITIZEN COMMENTS Transparency Portal: Jane Cunningham, 1602 Timberlake Manor Pkwy., Chesterfield, Director of the Monarch Fire District: Ms. Cunningham spoke in favor of the transparency portal. This was adopted by the Monarch Fire District a few weeks ago. She congratulated and encouraged the Board for choosing to consider this program. She said in Mehlville, people can clearly see how money is being spent. It not only helps the constituents but also the officials of the jurisdiction. As salaries are being reviewed, the Monarch Fire Chief is having to call every fire district to check on this information. If everyone had this transparency portal, it would be easily available to him and we could learn from each other in order to make good decisions. She is hoping that everyone in St. Louis County will use this program. Transparency Portal: Walt Young, 634 Lemonwood Drive: Mr. Young spoke in favor of transparency. This will allow people to see the transactions and won’t have to rely on negative and untrue information. This is important and he wishes this were also used in the Federal government. PUBLIC HEARINGS NEW BUSINESS LEGISLATION BILL # 3801 - AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CONTINUED PARTICIPATION OF THE CITY OF BALLWIN, MISSOURI, IN THE MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL DRUG TASK FORCE ORGANIZED BY ST. LOUIS COUNTY. A motion was made by Alderman Finley and seconded by Alderman Boland for a first reading of Bill No. 3801. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result, the motion passed and Bill No. 3801 was read for the first time. Alderman Harder said, “Item 5 says that the City remains responsible for detective salary, benefits, overtime, and workers’ compensation. If a person is working on the task force and they are injured or even killed, who is responsible for that person’s welfare?” Police Chief Schicker said that Ballwin is responsible. Alderman Harder asked, “If Ballwin is paying the salary during the time its employee serves on the task force, then it hopes to get a payoff of money coming back from the drug seizure money. Is there a cost benefit; is our investment greater or less than what we can get out of being a member of this task force?” Police Chief Schicker said, “It’s hard to gauge the return or investment. Ballwin receives an asset forfeiture sharing, depending on cases that are adopted by the Federal government, but what we also get, which is intangible, is the man hours and resources that are supplied by the task force in narcotics investigations, surveillance, and warrant execution within the city limits. Alderman Harder asked, “How many hours do we give of our detectives time to the task force per year?” Police Chief Schicker said, “These people are detached full time to the task force. It’s an assignment. They go there everyday. St. Louis County supplies their vehicle and fuel, as well as the other equipment necessary for them to do their job as it relates to task force operations. The individual assigned is assigned for a period of time, evaluated yearly on his/her performance by our department, as well as the command staff of the task force. We have a five year limit on this assignment. The current individual is to rotate out at the end of this year.” Alderman Harder asked, “If we invest $60,000, is it worth it? Are we getting $60,000 back in forfeiture?” Police Chief Schicker said, “There’s a huge unknown there. The forfeiture amount varies from year to year, depending on when those cases are adopted by the Federal government, and when the settlement money is finally released by the Feds to the Treasury Department. There is a large number of man hours that are used in these investigations. For us to be able to conduct narcotics investigations, we would have to have at least six additional detectives. There are safety issues that are involved as well as surveillance. We could not efficiently do these investigations. We did these when I was a detective in the 1980s. The investigations were not done safely or efficiently. Our backlog of normal cases to follow up were astronomical. This is a very worthwhile and prudent investment in manpower with regard to this element of criminal investigation.” Alderman Boland said, “This is a good program. Over the years, how much have we received?” Police Chief Schicker said, “It varies from $30,000 up. A lot of the cases may be years old by the time they get through the Federal system of appeals, final rulings, and disposition by the Federal government.” A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Leahy for a second reading of Bill No. 3801. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3801 was read for the second time. A roll call was taken for passage and approval of Bill No. 3801 with the following results: BILL # 3802 - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PROVISIONS RELATING TO SOLICITING, PEDDLING OR HAWKING IN THE CITY OF BALLWIN. A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Boland for a first reading of Bill No. 3802. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3802 was read for the first time. A motion was made by Alderman Boland and seconded by Alderman Fleming for a second reading of Bill No. 3802. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3802 was read for the second time. A roll call was taken for passage and approval of Bill No. 3802 with the following results:
A motion was made by Alderman Kerlagon and seconded by Alderman Boland for a first reading of Bill No. 3803. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3803 was read for the first time. Alderman Boland said, “He attended the Planning & Zoning meeting. The plans were very well laid out. What is very appealing is that the shooting range will be underground, thus, making it soundproof.” Alderman Dogan asked, “How is the space above ground going to be used?” Mr. John Henderson, the petitioner, said, “The shooting range will be underground, but the remaining parts of the facility will be a retail and office space. There should be no noise outside of the range. This will be designed by a sound expert.” A motion was made by Alderman Terbrock and seconded by Alderman Finley for a second reading of Bill No. 3803. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3803 was read for the second time. A roll call was taken for passage and approval of Bill No. 3803 with the following results:
A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Boland for a first reading of Bill No. 3804. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3804 was read for the first time. Alderman Boland asked, “Is this a PSC issue?” City Attorney Jones said, “No, this is a function of our sign code, which prohibits a wall sign in excess of 300 square feet. The direction of the Board was to make this as narrow as possible. I can’t think of any other way that it would be on a water tank and be regulated by the Missouri Public Service Commission. There are only four water service utilities that are regulated by the PSC. The one in the City of Ballwin is for identification purposes.” A motion was made by Alderman Finley and seconded by Alderman Fleming for a second reading of Bill No. 3804. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Bill No. 3804 was read for the second time. A roll call was taken for passage and approval of Bill No. 3804 with the following results:
A. Sidewalk Grinder Alderman Dogan requested that Items G and H be removed for further discussion. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Terbrock to accept Consent Items A - F. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. MAYOR’S REPORT Planning & Zoning Appointment: Mayor Pogue said that Sue Theodore has resigned from the Planning & Zoning Commission. He recommended the appointment of Olivia Pieknik to fill this vacated position. Olivia formerly served on the Comprehensive Planning Commission and is a current member of the Board of Adjustment. Olivia has stated that she is willing to serve on the Commission. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Harder to appoint Olivia Pieknik to the Planning & Zoning Commission. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Board of Adjustment: Mayor Pogue said that since Olivia Pieknik has been appointed to the Planning & Zoning Commission, her Board of Adjustment vacancy needs to be filled by a representative from Ward 3. There is also an opening for an alternate. Ballwin Recognition: Mayor Pogue said that Ballwin has been recognized by “Money Magazine” as one of the top 100 cities in the country to live in. This is the third time since 2005 that Ballwin has received this recognition. He congratulated staff for the good job of service to the community. Great Streets Meeting: Mayor Pogue said that during the meeting that was held today, he asked Councilman Matt Pirrello if he would step aside as Ellisville’s representative. Mr. Pirrello stated that he is not the official representative for the City of Ellisville because the Board had appointed someone else. Mayor Pogue and Wildwood Mayor Tim Woerther voted to approve this recommendation. Mr. Pirrello was not willing to step down. We were under the impression that Mr. Pirrello was the elected representative for the city. Alderman Harder asked who is going to be the representative from Ellisville? Mayor Pogue said that right now they are saying that Councilman Cindy Pool is the representative. After speaking with the Board and Mayor Woerther, there is concern about the perception of Matt Pirrello’s involvement with Great Streets. Alderman Fleming said, “The Minutes of the Ellisville meeting seemed to indicate that Matt was approved as a representative, but Matt is saying that this other person is the representative. Mayor Pogue said Ellisville’s website shows that Matt Pirrello is the representative since April, 2012. Alderman Fleming said, “My only suggestion is to make sure that the Mayor of Ellisville knows about the meeting that was held and will be up to the City of Ellisville to answer the question of his representation.” Alderman Terbrock said, “If Matt Pirrello is not the representative for Ellisville, I don’t understand why he is participating.” Alderman Harder asked, “If Mr. Pirrello has been on the committee but not supposed to be on the committee, is there anything binding based on recommendations that have been done in the past?” Mayor Pogue said, “The Great Streets Committee makes recommendations in an advisory role that are passed on to the City’s governing Boards for action. Alderman Harder said, “So, their Board is aware of what has gone on. CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT Liquor Licenses: Alderman Dogan said, “I didn’t receive any of the information prior to this meeting on these Liquor License applications.” City Administrator Kuntz said, “One was a simple transfer for a change of ownership for a restaurant and the other is a new license for the U-Gas facility that is being built at this time. U-Gas is the same ownership as the other location on Manchester Road. These are two separate licenses. There were no substantive changes in the process.” Police Chief Schicker said, “There was an updated background check done for U-Gas because the first submission was outdated by 3 or 4 months. It was handled just like a new license.” A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Boland to approve the Liquor Licenses as recommended by staff. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Financial Transparency: City Administrator Kuntz said, “We have investigated the data base application software relative to expenditures. This Board has clearly indicated that the additional reporting will be effective on the projection basis and not the other applications. Finance Officer Denise Keller has provided the Board with a payment register that we can provide on a monthly basis. I suggest that as a full-service community, you will see some things that are obviously unusual. The full-service golf course purchased soda and refreshments. To get involved in a more sophisticated program that provides notations, will be challenging from a staff time perspective to provide more detailed explanations. We did not find any municipal models on the local level. There are examples from the state of Texas and other areas. The check register is probably the most direct application that staff can use with the resource we have available. The reports are extensive and gives anyone that’s interested, a good indication of what we do with our resources. That is now going to be a permanent annual update on our website. Alderman Harder said, “The check register is a good first step. Even though this is a monthly report, it’s not searchable. If someone wanted to get annual information, they would have to go through 12 check registers, with all of the vendors, and add it up. By having a searchable transparency portal that takes the same data and apply it to a specific vendor, this would be more on target than the current proposal. We can lead the charge as a municipality in St. Louis with this type of information on our website. If the searchable data base is going to be labor intensive when it comes to notation, maybe if we were to do it that way, we could start on January that all transactions by normal procedure get the notation added to it so that in future years and months it would be up to date. I would be in favor of this approach. There should be a notation for anyone to find out what each item was spent with each vendor. If the public can search and find this information, they won’t have to call city officials to obtain the information. It will also provide information to other cities. This could move us to the #1 city since no one else is doing this at this time.” Mayor Pogue said with the current software, the current registry does not have descriptions. Finance Officer Keller said, “We have room for descriptions with the software.” City Administrator Kuntz said, “It’s not an issue of space, it’s an issue of the chain of command and the actual author of the notations. It’s the time restriction more than space.” Finance Officer Keller said that’s correct. Alderman Dogan asked if the payments can be separated by departments. Finance Officer Keller said, “The account code distinguishes the department.” Alderman Dogan said he would like to know what purchased are being made by each department. City Administrator Kuntz said that we get 13 Ameren bills each month. These are spread among the various departments. AT&T is another example of this. There are all kinds of accounts with AT&T due to the plans. We are going through our first year with the new software. If this is what the Board wants to do, he suggested that this be done in steps. Alderman Finley said he likes the idea of the payment register being used. If there’s a consensus of the Board to use the portal, perhaps to get this started, we could implement it gradually based on dollar amount thresholds. Do we really need to know what was spent on ping pong balls for The Pointe?” Alderman Harder said, “Details like ping pong balls expenditures could be aggregated under sports equipment, but this transparency would help in preparing the annual budget. We don’t need to know about the price of every styrofoam cup, but it should be accounted for in some category.” Alderman Fleming said, “We meet and exceed the regulatory reporting requirements that we currently have. There was an article in a local publication recently that said one of the neighboring communities said they should start being as transparent as Ballwin. Other people seem to think that we are doing a good job. We can push further if we can. Through the transparency topic, there are three options, The United Missouri transparency portal, there wasn’t much interest at the last meeting. The second option would be to spend money making our own transparency program . The third option is to use the already available check register, which seems to be the best practice recommendation that Ms. Keller found on the Texas website. Alderman Harder said he would like to see a description. Alderman Dogan said he would like to see the information by department. We could try to satisfy everybody’s interest and create a lot of work for no real benefit. There may be only one person who wants to see it by department. People can get a lot of information from the check register. I haven’t heard people asking why aren’t we being more forthcoming, why aren’t we providing more information on the website. People seem to think that we are doing a good job being transparent and communicating with the public. As far as I’m willing to go is to post the check register and not create a lot more work for staff at this time, until someone can prove that there is public clamoring for this.” Alderman Boland said, “Perhaps we could talk more about this at the September 9 Budget work session and consider the low-cost options. My recommendation would be to use the check register and discuss further options at the budget work session.” Alderman Finley asked, “Has anyone looked into whether the Mehlville Fire District has an estimate of how many man hours go into maintaining this? Do they have a dedicated clerk to do this? We should look into this.” Alderman Harder said, “It’s my understanding that they are provided a monthly spread sheet of expenses.” Alderman Terbrock said, “The check register provides enough information that if someone really wants to get more information, if it wasn’t too difficult to get the department information, but if someone has to dig through and add it up, there’s also the ability to just ask for the information. I don’t think more than 1% of our population is going to pick this apart. To spend a lot of money each month in staff time to do this, I’m not in favor of that. Adding the departments on the utility bills is a good idea.” Finance Officer Keller said the report could be modified by department. Alderman Boland said if there was an automatic report that could be generated, this would achieve our goal of having the report organized by department. Mayor Pogue suggested that the payment register be started in September. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Dogan to instruct staff to provide the check register on our website on a monthly basis. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Portable Message Signs: City Administrator Kuntz said this came up this summer when there was a concert in the park and severe weather was approaching. In 2011, an ordinance was adopted to regulate the portable message signs. Ballwin is fortunate to have the use of three portable message signs, through roadway projects from MoDOT. The problem is that those signs do not meet the message time that is required by the ordinance which regulates dynamic display signs. There are community events such as the drug take-back program, or a roadway being closed for a special event, that the portable message signs are helpful to the public. He asked that the Board revisit the legislation that is in place. Perhaps an adjustment might be appropriate to enable the City to use its public message signs for all city events and not be held to the commercial standard. These are temporary portable signs. Over time with experience, the legislation can be revisited, and if practical, can be changed. City Administrator Kuntz said the water tower is a good example. He believes that this is in the same category. Alderman Harder asked how far off is the timing of the message from our ordinance? City Engineer Kramer said the timing can’t be reduced to match the ordinance. Assistant City Administrator Aiken said it changes more frequently than is allowed by the ordinance. City Administrator Kuntz said that he does not want to have to purchase more signs because the signs were free. Alderman Harder asked what is the timing designated in the ordinance? Assistant City Administrator Aiken said 20 seconds. Police Chief Schicker said the signs are changing every 10 seconds. City Engineer Kramer said the signs are old. One is from 1996 and the other two are hand-me-downs from MoDOT. Alderman Harder asked if new parts can be purchased to slow down the sign. City Engineer Kramer said no because the sign is computer driven and the signs are old. Alderman Harder said that if we can’t change the technology of the sign, then we will have to change the ordinance. City Administrator Kuntz said these signs are for a public purpose, not for commercial applications. City Attorney Jones said, “The existing ordinance limits the exemption to warning motorists, providing notification of dangerous conditions, or otherwise operated in furtherance of the public safety and police power authority of the City of Ballwin. Canceling a concert because of a dangerous weather situation would have been okay, but not saying that we’re going to have golf tournament or a Ballwin Days event. My concern is that we could be criticized for advertising say a Pointe membership when there are other competing recreational facilities. We shouldn’t exempt the City when it is competing with private businesses. Alderman Leahy said, if we’re going to warn people about a road project, we’re going to want to tell them other important information. As long as we’re using it as a warning or for city services, he doesn’t have any problem with this. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Kerlagon to authorize City Attorney Jones to work with staff to draft legislation. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Pickup Truck Replacement: City Administrator Kuntz said this is the result of an accident insurance claim for a city vehicle, 2006 Ford truck. It’s proposed to utilize the settlement and purchase a replacement vehicle under State contract with the low bidder. A contingency could be applied or the Board could transfer funds at the end of the year to cover the $7,315 cost difference. Alderman Terbrock asked about the use of the half-ton truck. City Engineer Kramer said it was mostly used for carrying inspection equipment but was not used for hauling heavy materials. Alderman Terbrock asked if a ¾ ton truck would be more beneficial to have. City Engineer Kramer said it probably would, but it wasn’t budgeted. We’re replacing with a similar kind of vehicle. A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Dogan to purchase a new truck off of the State bid. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Towing Contract: City Administrator Kuntz said due to circumstances beyond our control, it is recommended that the contract that was approved by the Board with D& L Towing, be rescinded and be awarded to the second low bidder, McNamara Towing. The executed contract with D&L Towing was not signed. In the interest of creditability and reputation, we feel that this action is appropriate under the circumstances. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Harder to rescind the approval of the contract with D&L Towing. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Fleming to award the contract for towing to McNamara Towing. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Vlasis Park Tennis Court Sealing and Striping: City Administrator Kuntz said this is a project that is in dire need. To keep a first-class facility, maintenance is necessary. This type of project sometimes results in call-backs. For this reason, the second low bidder is recommended which is Frazier-Davis. This is a local firm and has done work for Ballwin in the past. This contract will be under budget for the project. Mayor Pogue asked if Frazier-Davis was used in Vlasis Park several years ago? Director of Parks & Recreation Bruer said they didn’t do the repaving, but they did the color coating. They were not the contractor that rebuilt the court. They also have done work at New Ballwin Park. Alderman Harder asked what is causing the crack in the court. Ms. Bruer said the cause of the crack is unknown, but when the crack is patched and re-sealed, it can last for a few years. It would be very costly to re-build the courts because of a crack. This is contract is for all the courts, which is crack sealing with two coats, and restriped. Alderman Leahy asked if Frazier-Davis has a good record in coming back for additional or follow-up service. Ms. Bruer said yes. Alderman Fleming asked if there is a charge for them to come back? Ms. Bruer said they come do the work, and if we’re not happy, they will come back at no charge as long as the call is made within a reasonable length of time. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Terbrock to accept staff recommendation approve Frazier-Davis for the Vlasis Park Tennis Court sealing and striping. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Ferris Park Improvements/Construction Phase I: City Administrator Kuntz said recently the contract was awarded for the playground component. This project is being done in pieces because we have a Parks Grant. We’re trying to get the most value possible within the scope of the dollars that were granted to us, plus the city’s budgeted share of the project for Phase I. The recommendation is the low bidder of 5 bids. This will be slightly over the amount of budget, but we will be getting the Phase I that we’re looking for to then move to the second phase in 2014, which we also have applied for grant funds for that phase. A few thousand dollars was budgeted, and will be the amount to make whole through a transfer at the end of the year. Mayor Pogue asked about the alternate #1, accessible parking space. Director of Parks & Recreation Bruer said they were going to construct two accessible parking spaces near the playground that had curb stops and a small wall. This can be done in-house rather than going through the contract for this to be done. It would be good to have these spaces until Phase II of the park redevelopment can be done to provide an accessible access from the new parking lot above, down to the playground. Alderman Harder said that if this is approved, which is about $6,000 over the budget for this phase, can we roll the $6,000 into the next phase, or does it have to be accounted for in this phase? Ms. Bruer said it will be paid for this year, when the work is done. City Administrator Kuntz said we can continue to show the City’s financial commitment by not just contributing 40%, but by dedicating the complete project. That will give benefit to the next application. The amount they approved is the amount we will get. Director of Parks & Recreation Bruer said the grant we are going to get is $310,000. It’s very specific on what we can use this money for. There are specific things in the park plan that the citizens approved. All of that is included in this contract that was bid and the specifications that were provided. We’re not taking any of the alternates because they were over and above the budget. We have a $10,000 parks contingency in the parks operations budget for unexpected construction situations. That’s where we plan to take the money from for the accessible parking spaces. Alderman Boland asked about the time frame for Phase I. Ms. Bruer said it it’s approved, we will begin construction in September and hope to have it completed by the end of the year, weather permitting. A motion was made by Alderman Kerlagon and seconded by Alderman Fleming to approve the Ferris Park improvements. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Budget Work Session: City Administrator Kuntz said the next Board meeting will be September 9 in the renovated Board room at the Police Station. It has been over 30 years since any renovation was done on the Board room. At 5:30 p.m. on that date, there will be budget work session, which is open to the public. The audio/visual is now greatly improved. Alderman Harder asked if there is going to be an open house for the public to see. City Administrator Kuntz said this can be done if the Board wants to do this. He recommended getting familiar with the room before an open house takes place. This meeting tonight is being recorded in-house because it cost $1,000 per meeting for the company to set up the equipment and record the Board meeting. Alderman Fleming agreed that an open house would be good. Alderman Fleming said that we are rerunning the date on employee compensation only 5 month later, will much have changed to discuss this again? City Administrator Kuntz said we’re not looking for a lot of discussion. We just want to provide a preliminary snapshot of what will be needed to carry forward. The big money was last year, and it’s not as significant on the catch up. Every city of the 10 cities, has now posted 2013 numbers. The Board will be provided an overview of the total cost with the FICA, pension, how many positions are affected by the 70% rule. It’s just a brief presentation as to what budget implications it may have on the Board’s comfort level. This is new data. STAFF REPORTS CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT City Attorney Jones said it is his recommendation that we do not opt out of the class and that we participate along with the class with the attorney who will be paid if there is a recovery, and they will not be paid if there is no recovery. He sees no reason for us to spend the City’s money to file a separate suit. A motion is recommended to remain a member of the class action suit and not opt out. Alderman Finley asked is the issue is that Ameren has been withholding? City Attorney Jones said that gross receipts taxes are self-reported. Certain categories of services that should have been reported are not being reported. These are categories that are assigned category numbers by the Public Service Commission, so, they are not outlandish kinds of demands. Ameren has already recognized that at least some of these numbers should have been reported. It’s very similar to the telecommunications litigation that we previously had. Categories of service were not previously being reported. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Harder to stay in the Ameren class action. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Cell Towers: City Attorney Jones said that two pieces of legislation that were passed at the last legislative session will require that Ballwin re-write some of its legislation. One is a far-reaching revamping of telecommunications tower site approval process. The ordinance that we now have from 2007 will no longer be an appropriate method for reviewing and approving cell towers. It refers to the length of time under consideration , the cost if it’s going to be on city property, the lease, and if an appraiser can be hired to do that, what kinds of costs can be passed on to the tower companies in order to get these kinds of approvals. It makes the number of sections in the 2007 ordinance framework that we have obsolete. We need to revamp that. The 2007 legislation was adopted after the consortium of cities, through the St. Louis County Municipal League drafted the legislation. It’s been workable all this time, but now it no longer will be. He asked for the Board’s permission to prepare legislation one of the September meetings. Alderman Fleming said the Municipal League asked the cities to submit letters to our State Representatives and Senators, but unfortunately they pulled away from us and rewrote the bills. City Attorney Jones said that is correct. There are two bills. They passed one in the Senate and one in the House. Alderman Fleming said that St. Louis County Municipal League wrote the old law and everybody has used it as a template. Do they have any plans to re-write based on this piece of action? City Attorney Jones said that they are not. We’ve seen nothing that indicates this. The legislation become effective on August 28. Curtis Hines drafted the legislation in 2007 at the request of the St. Louis County Municipal League. It’s essentially the same firm that’s writing the legislation. He said he will cooperate with the other cities that’s a good product, not just for the City of Ballwin. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Kerlagon to instruct City Attorney Jones to prepare legislation for our telecommunications. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. Amendment to Section 302.341 Revised Statutes of Missouri (The Max Creek Law): City Attorney Jones said Max Creek was a notorious speed trap. This produced legislation years ago that a village or county that receives more than 35% of its annual budget from traffic fines has to remit some of those fines back to the State. House Bill 103 amends that section and brings that percentage down to 30%. We still don’t come anywhere close to this in the City of Ballwin. That part doesn’t affect us directly. The part that does affect us is that the accounting to determine this particular percentage has to be part of the annual financial report that’s submitted to the State Auditor. If it’s not done in a format that shows exactly how much of the fines are from traffic violations, including ones that are amended by the prosecutor from a moving violation to a non-moving violation, how much of that is a percentage of the annual general operating revenue, then the cities risk losing the jurisdiction of their municipal court. This particular House Bill says that if you don’t report fairly, you’ll no longer be able to try the traffic cases in your municipal court, which would be a bad move. This doesn’t necessarily require legislation on our part, but it does require awareness. This needs to be discussed at the staff level to make sure that our annual financial report contains the level of detail so that our Municipal Court won’t lose jurisdiction over these kinds of cases. Alderman Fleming asked about the annual requirement. City Attorney Jones said it depends on the financial year of the City. City Administrator Kuntz said that we are in good shape with this. Contract for Pavement Striping Services to be provided by St. Louis County: City Attorney Jones said that this contract requires the signatures of the Mayor and City Attorney, but it does not require legislation. He said he prefers that either legislation or a resolution is prepared to authorize signing of the contract. Alderman Fleming asked, is this a contract for something specific, or a contract that sets forth what the cost will be if needed. City Attorney Jones said it’s for lane striping and traffic markings. This is not something we have done in the past. City Engineer Kramer said we have not done this in the past. They have offered it. There can be no profit, just direct cost only. Hopefully this will save money and maybe we can do this on an annual basis instead of every other year. We contract it out now. We will still do the stop bars, the crosswalks and arrows with our own forces. This would be good for lines because they have the equipment to do that. Last year, we spent approximately $16,000 for lines. City Attorney Jones said the contract can be terminated by either party with 30 days notice. This is an opportunity more than anything else. A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Fleming to instruct City Attorney Jones to prepare a Resolution for approval of the contract. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result and the motion passed. ALDERMANIC COMMENTS Closed Session: Alderman Fleming asked that the closed session also include the topic of personnel. Adjourn to Closed Session: A motion was made by Alderman Kerlagon and seconded by Alderman Fleming to adjourn to closed session to discuss real estate and personnel, State Statutes 610.0212 and 610.0213. City Administrator Kuntz said that the real estate discussion may take the form of action. If it does, it will be in open session. He said he does not believe any action is intended or proposed. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Ayes: Aldermen Boland, Kerlagon, Fleming, Leahy, Dogan, Harder, Terbrock, Finley. Nays: None. The motion passed to adjourn to closed session at 8:41 p.m. Closed Session: A motion was made by Alderman Harder and seconded by Alderman Terbrock to adjourn the closed session. A roll call vote was taken with a unanimous result, and the closed session was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. The Board reconvened in open session at 9:17 p.m. Mayor Pogue stated that the Board met in closed session to discuss real estate and personnel. A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Leahy to adjourn the open session. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m. TIM POGUE, MAYOR ATTEST: MC |
Contact Us |
(636) 227-9000 voice |
|
