Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Change chairs. I'm good.

Can I switch that chair a couple pages?

All right.

Get you out of line of fire quickly. I saw him. As we're going to . All in the freeze? Here. All in the turn? Here. All in the bill? Absent. All in the Lewis?

Here.

All in the Dean? Present. Can I get a motion for approval of May 7th, 2026 meeting minutes, please? So moved. And second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Can I get a motion for approval of the science agenda? So moved. I have a second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Special items, I see none. Appointments to boards of commissions. Appointment to Alderman Ward 1. At this time, we do not have an appointment, and we'll carry that out. Moving on to appointments of interim city administrator, Steve Rassman. Okay, present. Staff report, please.

As we've discussed, a few of you were able to meet with Steve last week. We conducted a nice interview with some of the department heads, as well as Alderman Freese and Lewis, and was there as well. Steve has been here, he was here most of the day on Monday, he was here all day today, he'll be here all day tomorrow. We're getting him up to speed as quickly as we can. I'll turn it over to Steve if he wants to give a little bit about his resume for those that would like to know a little bit more about him.

Okay, well, thank you very much, and I've had a chance at least to shake hands with everybody, but Steve, and I'll catch you maybe after the meeting for a second. Just as a quick resume, I spent 30 years in the Army. I retired as a full colonel and a base commander at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the 101st Airborne is. I was an airborne ranger and served in the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne and three tours in Vietnam. Fortunately, not a scratch on me, but then taking my daughter to college and she wrecked the car nearly had my foot cut off so you never know how that works and then I've been since then I've been 25 years in city management I've been in eight different cities among those recently Jefferson City and then I was in Cameron and then I have done three interims for interim solutions I was at the city of Fairview Heights Illinois just the other side of st. Louis And then most recently, I was down six months down in the boot heel at the city of Cameron. And that's six miles from the Arkansas border, so it's almost not in Missouri anymore. And that's an interesting part of the country, and I learned a lot there. And so I come to you, and I give you the benefit of that experience so that we can help move the city forward. And what we will try to do is make those recommendations that are in the best long-term interest of the city. And I've told the staff, we will make the best technical recommendation we make, and then you make the political decisions, and once you make those decisions, then we will carry them through just as if they were our own. And while I'm doing this, Interim Solutions, I'll be looking for a permanent city administrator, and I will stay as long or short as you need to, and simultaneously we'll be working with Jeff Hancock and the other members of Interim Solutions, so some of my time I will be spent also helping him do that. So I'll be working with the city and with that process. And I'll try to meet with each of you here one-on-one in the next week or two. And I'm available now to answer any questions you might have. But I'll tell you, it's a pleasure to be here. And it's a wonderful city you've got. And by the way, in the last couple of days that I've been going around here with Kyle and in the cities that I've been in, this in the top cities, people may say, well, we have problems here and stuff. When I look at it, you're in the top tier of those. Eight cities, you know, I'd put you in the top quarter of that for sure. Cities have advantages and disadvantages, but you've got a great staff and a good city, and things are looking very good, and I look forward to helping you. So I'm available for any questions you might have now or later. Did you say Campbell? Fort Campbell, Kentucky. No, no, in the Boothill. That was Kennet. Kennet. Kennet. Well, and they pronounce it K-N-E-T. Down in the Boot Hill, every square word has two syllables in it, and every sentence has a grammatical error in it. So I asked the street superintendent, I said, did you get those potholes filled on Fifth Street? He said, why ain't they damn shit? That's no. So I learned a lot down there. I'm from the Boot Hill. Well, you know that language. Yes.

All right, no questions for Steve. Can I get a motion to appoint Steve Rassman as an interim city administrator? So moved. Can I have a second? Second. Alderman Bill? Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Dean? Aye. All right. Scheduled public comments, we have none. Just a reminder, all public comments may be entered to the city clerk by Wednesday before the meeting. Public hearing, we have none. Moving on to introductions and first readings. Council Bill number 2026-21, in ordinance to amend chapter 10, building codes, construction, and property maintenance of Seacoast. Staff report, please.

As part of the annual review of our building permit fee structure, as part of the fiscal year 27 budget, we determined that the residential permit fee multiplier needs to go from 0.003, which is 0.3%, to in order to support the Community Development Department budget and more closely reflect current local market valuations. This makes the average permit cost for calendar year 2025, from calendar year 2025, increase from $1,295 or $1,295 to $1,411. This modification also includes the automatic adjustment of the ICC valuation. The proposal from the preliminary budget was for a multiplier of .0034. However, since then, the February 2026 ICC valuation table has become available, and with the associated increase from the table, and we decided to lower the multiplier down to .0032 to satisfy the Community Development Department's budgetary requirements. In previous years, this adjustment has taken place on May 1st. However, this year, it will take effect on June 1st of 2026. It's a recommendation to the board to approve the permit fee multiplier adjustment for fiscal year 2026.

Any questions for staff on this multiplier? Okay, can I get a motion to approve council building number 2026-21 in the ordinance to amend chapter 10 building construction and property and maintenance city of the city code. Second. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? All in favor? Yes. Okay. On the turn on the dean. All right. All right. All right. Council building two zero two six dash two two in order to rezone five, fourteen red button.

This is a request by the applicant Simon and strong engineering on behalf of property owners for a zoning map amendment. to CG General Commercial. The subject parcels are approximately 0.5 acres combined. These parcels are on the southeast end of Redbun Lane. Again, the current zoning is R2, two-family. Proposed zoning is CG General Commercial.

Can I jump in for just a second? Absolutely. Did we have an actual reading on Dash 2.1? Or did I dismiss it? reading in its entirety? No, well, I'm sure, but title only.

We had a vote. He introduced it by title. Yes.

It was just for one of those addresses, too. No, he was not referring to you. He's talking about the other one. Oh, that's it. All right. The 2020 Future Land Use Map shows these two parcels remaining or two proposed rezoning aligns with the long-term growth goals of Ashley by promoting infill redevelopment along establishment corridors. The proposed CG use is intended for franchise restaurants. The original proposed concept showed site access off of Redbud Lane. Due to complaints from the neighboring owners, the access may be removed as long as The site can accommodate emergency services with a senior access, and it's my understanding from the engineer that that is possible. So subject properties sit in a transitional zone where residential uses meet existing commercial activity. Its proximity to East Broadway and the US 63 makes it a logical extension of the city's commercial corridor, concentrating development by utilizing underperforming residential lots for high value commercial use. While currently zoned R2, the surrounding area is already characterized by a diverse mix of uses. The site is already serviced by municipal services. Commercial development will provide the necessary private investment to improve site drainage and curb appeal, which are often stagnant under R2 designations in commercial adjacent areas. As part of the development process, a traffic study will be required ensuring that site access, parking, and traffic flow meet all the City of Ashland standards to prevent congestion on residential side streets. Transitioning these two parcels to CG provide several measurable advantages to the City of Ashland unlike residential R2 uses. Franchise restaurant guarantees recurring sales tax revenue to support city services and infrastructure. A new dining option It enhances the quality of life for Ashland residents and control commuters passing through who might otherwise spend dining dollars in Columbia or Jefferson. Staff recommends approval of this rezoning. The rezoning of 514 and 600 Redbud Lane from R2 to CG represents a responsible and forward-thinking use of the lanes. It transforms two small residential tracks into productive asset that supports Ashland's economic task base. while remaining compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. Though the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend, there were two dissenting boats. This was due to the concerns from Redbud Lane residents about potential noise pollution from the drive-up speaker facing Redwood. The engineer for the project is open to solutions. One potential solution by Olderman Fries was to install a portico share, not to be confused with portico, otherwise known as a drive-through shed.

Any questions for Pat? Yeah, the two lots to the east, when I drove by there, it looked like there was no door on the trailer, and a big hole in the smaller. Are those occupied, livable at this point, out of the same owner as the 600 property, correct?

They were the same owner. It's now been acquired and owned by.

Okay.

But it was previously all three of those lots were owned by the same person? Correct. And those two lives livable as I sit down to my understanding, those trailers are going to be removed.

Okay. What about the one across the street?

It's like the blue tarp over it. Is that owned by the same owner as well? I'm talking on the north side of the street.

Yeah.

No, that's a, that's a different one.

Yeah.

Any other questions?

No.

Can I get a motion to approve Council Bill number 2026-22, an ordinance to rezone 514 Redbud Lane? So moved. Can I have a second? Second. On the Dean? Aye. On the Turner? Aye. On the Lewis? Aye. On the Freese? Aye. And on the Dillard? Aye. Council Bill number 2026-23, an ordinance to rezone 600 Redbud Lane. Now, I know you read all that. Yeah, yeah. It's all conjunction in the same place. It's all in the same place, yeah. So any other questions on 600? I'd like to hear Darren talk. Do that again. Thank you. Okay, I get a motion approving ordinance number, council bill number 202623, in order to read on 600. So moved. Second? Second. All in turn? Aye. All in Dean? Aye. All in Bill? Aye. All in Lewis? Aye. All in Freed? Aye. Council Bill number 2624, in order to rezone 613 North Henry Clay Boulevard.

Staff report, please. All right, this is a request by the applicant, Simon and Strump Engineering, again, on behalf of property owner Centroya Investment Group LLC for the rezoning of approximately 7.86 acres at the north end of Henry Clay Boulevard. Current zoning is CG General Commercial. will be IL light industrial. So the 2020 comprehensive plan anticipated this property to be CG general commercial. In 2016 these two parcels were approved to be rezoned from IL to CG from the previous owner. The intent for these two parcels since being purchased by the current owner was to be used as a self storage facility. Recently, it was noticed that the gravel was being added at the north end of the existing concrete drive aisles, previously used as a staging area for building materials for all the storage units to go in. It now sat empty. After a discussion with the owner, it became clear the owner desired to use the gravel for temporary outdoor storage. There is a requirement in code to provide screening of outdoor storage areas that are street-facing. The owner was made aware of this requirement and is willing to comply. It is always preferred when possible to have a parcel zoned correctly for its intended purpose. With the current zoning CG, the only way to have a gravel backlot would be to apply for a variance. Applying for a variance can be a time consuming process. And as previously mentioned, a variance is asking to use a property in a way not intended by the city code. With IL zoning, the owner would have the flexibility to use the back of the property for temporary gravel storage. Future phases would include removing the gravel parking and building additional storage buildings. Staff is supportive of this rezoning as this request means the intended use of the property. Because the surrounding parcels are already zoned IL, the transition does not introduce a conflicting land use to that area. There was some discussion regarding the continuing stormwater issues and continual runoff. Apparently the contractor responsible for the stormwater made an error with the detention outlet sizing. A correction is in progress and should be completed in the next few weeks. This was unanimously recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

So I guess my only question is on the stormwater runoff thing. I think we had a few constituents come in complain about the issues and kind of I think what was presented to the board was that everything was up to snuff and it had been built properly and to the above even what the city code is so what happened there with the difference in so it's my understanding after speaking with the contractor and the engineer that there are supposed to be a 20 inch diameter hole which is the inlet from the basin taking the water out to

the site and then floating it downstream but what they put in wasn't a 20 inch diameter it was a 20 by 20 square hole which for the mathematicians and here's a little bigger than the diameter so they are getting the steel plate made to shrink that orifice down so I guess somebody

So did someone from the city, I guess, sign off on that when they finished the stormwater detention?

So we don't necessarily check the structures to the plans because they're pre-designed and engineered as well. Something we could start doing in the future.

It's just one of those things. got through.

Now, I'm not saying it will drastically reduce the amount of water coming off the site per design.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like it's got the corners that would make the difference there. Do we have any videos that shows the water coming down up there and then all the way down? It seems like a pretty large distance for the water to traverse.

Well, it is. So this site basically sits at the top of a hill. And north of that is the Bullard Farm, and that's where it kind of levels out. So all of this water was sheet flowing down for years. And so the point of the detention is to detain any water that is created by impervious surface to release it at the same rate that it was sheet flowing down. But it's also my understanding that it's always been a drainage issue Talked to the owner of the end of Sunshine Drive, and they said it's always been that way.

Do you have any questions? He's planning on building more storage when it's not building? Yes. And that water will flow the other way?

No. That whole site will come straight south.

So we already got an issue now, and we're going to compound this issue by putting more... Well, all of it drains into that same detention.

So the detention was designed for the whole site. Yeah, but right now, you've got grass there soaking up some water. Correct. You're going to put asphalt there. Correct. It'll still go to the same detention, and the principle is that

hole so it only releases a little bit at a time so all that will go into the detention first before it's released out so should we look at reducing the size of that hole to more than 20 inches guys we're getting a little hot topic on the rezone so i mean he's going to have to come forward with a site plan for those future phases at which point he'll have to redo his couch make sure he's still meeting his couch and come forward with a proposal if he needs to amend or add more storm water improvements what's before you right now is the rezoning. If you'd like to have Christina come back again to have some board discussion around stormwater up there, we're happy to get that scheduled.

Yeah, I think we are off topic, but I also think that it's worth noting that we have an engineer in here telling us it was okay, and we have residents saying that it wasn't okay, and now we're saying that, oh, the residents are right, so it kind of makes us look like we weren't listening to the residents.

The majority of water that flows through some of these problematic areas, it's coming across the cemetery or the funeral home property. It's not coming necessarily from the storage facilities. Storage facility runs to the west before it comes down. It's certainly still ending up at the same direction, but a lot of the sheet flow is coming through adjacent properties. There's an issue there. As we've discussed in the past, there's no easements and or city infrastructure there, public infrastructure. So that's a whole multi-hour discussion if you want to get into that and explore possible involvement in the city and resources and solutions.

It's gotten a lot worse. I've got videos.

Corey, no comments. All right, so back to the rezoning. Can I get a motion to approve Council Bill No. 2026-24 North to rezone 613 North Interclaved Boulevard? So moved. I have a second. Second. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Freese? Aye. Alderman Beal? Aye. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Old Business, Orders Number 1557, Orders Amendment Chapter 12, Businesses, Occupations, and Professions.

So we have a second read of our business license amendment from last meeting. Again, this just adds some clarifying language with regards to temporary business licenses as they relate to special events occurring primarily in the park and refers it back to the park regulations. While we're not obviously taking action on the park regulations tonight, we have sent your guys' comments and feedback to the park board as well as some potential draft changes for them to work on prior to coming back to you guys next month. Any questions for staff?

All right, can we get a motion to approve Orders Number 1557, Orders to Amendment Chapter 12, Businesses, Occupations, and Departments? So moved. I have a second. Second. Alderman Bill? Aye. Alderman Bill, I'll freeze. Aye. Alderman Lewis? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. And Alderman D? Aye. Ordinance number 1558, in ordinance to amend chapter 10, building, construction, and property maintenance of the city code. Is that appropriate? This is just the second reading for the multiplier update. All right, gotcha. I give the motion to approve in ordinance number 1558, in the ordinance to amend chapter 10, building, construction, and property maintenance of the city code. So moved. And second. Second. All in favor? All in Dean? Aye. All in Lewis? Aye. All returns? Aye. All returns? Aye. All in favor? Aye. New business, resolution 2026-238, resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into agreement to provide law enforcement all through the services with the Calvins Rodeo.

Good evening. This is the same contract we did in the last two years, I believe, with the rodeo. It's a provision for the rodeo to reimburse the city for additional police presence during the rodeo. It's worked out really well. They've submitted it, requested we repeat it again this year, just like we did last year. So I recommend approval.

Any questions for Chief?

So one question for you, Chief. I know last year I think was the first year they did assigned seating. Did you see any difference in like, I mean I think it's a pretty peaceful event generally anyway, but did that make any difference? crowd control for you guys?

Absolutely, it was substantially better, yeah. So it was a much safer event. Again, we've been fortunate since I've been here, there's not been any serious incidents anyway. But it's absolutely a safer event. I think by design, the numbers were down a little bit, the attendance was down. But the people that were there were actually watching the rodeo. And so it was safer to move around. Would have been an easier evacuation had we had something in depth. And I think that was by design on the rodeo committee's part. And I believe it accomplished all the things they were trying to accomplish with both the way they did tickets and the seating. Yeah. Cool. I think they're adding TVs.

That's right. I paid for one. They're adding TVs to the rodeo, boys. There you go. Awesome. Watch an instant replay. Yeah. Watch that cowboy get kicked off parks. Wear the hat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. All right, can I get a motion to approve Resolution No. 2026-23, a resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement to provide law enforcement off-duty services with the Cabin and Rodeo Bay. So moved. I have a second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Resolution No. 2026-24, a resolution authorizing the purchase of side arms for the Police Department.

I got all the info there in your packet. This money was approved in our capital expense budget for this fiscal year. Based on the way the manufacturer does the pricing for law enforcement agencies, there's only two sources that we can get law enforcement pricing through. I've obtained pricing from both of them. And the actual weapon price is the same, because that's a factory established number. But Keesler's police supply had the cheaper prices on the accessories, meaning the lights and the holsters. And so they will be taking our current pistols in on trade-in. And I believe the total cost of the city was $14,010, what we're looking at.

And so that's that. All right. Any questions for Chief on guns?

So on the firearms, are there rules on, like, you have to sell them back to, like, a police-authorized retailer or whatever? Because it seems like they're not giving you guys, like, a ton of money for the guns you're trading in.

Well, right now, the market for used police Glocks is, number one, it's always been cheap. And because you just don't know what you're getting with those, some of them are very, very high-usage guns in terms of rounds fired. Some of them are low. They've all been carried a bunch, right? And right now, with The entire elite world and civilian world go into optic-equipped pistols, regular iron sight pistols. Prices are just way down. So that's actually not a terrible price. And from just a legality standpoint, it's just so much easier and cleaner for us to just trade them into a licensed dealer, which they are. Thank you.

Can I get a motion to approve resolution number 2026-24? a resolution authorizing the purchase of side arms for the police department. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Moving on to discussion of Kingfisher Speeding Issues Possible Action. Staff Court Leader.

You have a memo in your packet that outlines the history of the issue as well as staff's thoughts, opinions, recommendations. We started getting some discussion around this at our last meeting, which is why it's on the agenda for tonight so that we actually have it on the agenda for discussion and possible action. At this point, staff needs guidance from the board of what you'd like to see on Kingfisher. If anything, we have a variety of options that we've proposed. It's all coming up to you guys to let us know what you'd like accomplished out there.

I think the big thing is just we got to figure out a way to slow down traffic. I haven't looked, I mean, I looked at It was a main street interglade. They got those yellow ones there. I mean, they're not a total eyesore by any means. What do you think our chances of getting talked about bad about on Facebook about when we stick these polls up?

We have a wonderful group of neighbors that probably wouldn't say too much bad. I do know that I was very appreciative this morning when I went to work to see one of our finest sitting at Peterson, just right facing the highway. I still think that's the absolute best way to get people to slow down if they know there's a decent chance they're going to see a policeman on Peterson or Kingfisher anywhere. Especially Peterson. I think that goes a long way. What's going to satisfy? I'm not sure much will because like Kevin said last time and what you said as well, stop signs are not generally used any war to slow people down. The radar has good and bad, as soon as you take it away. I've seen plenty of memes out there that show high score under the radars. The police are smiling, I'm sure you've seen that before. So I'm not sure there's a perfect way, but I do know that I observe people slowing down, slamming their brakes when they see a police officer sitting somewhere on any of the streets. I don't know if we've noticed any difference in Liberty over the last decade with that second stop sign going in at Middleton. I do know I see a lot of trucks go down Peterson to go to Liberty North coming off the highway because they don't want to go through the Liberty and stop at those little stop signs. But yeah, just one of many. locations, I know we have problems with people speeding.

I think increased police presence on Peterson and Kingfisher, I think, would be helpful. I also think that if we wanted to put the maybe white barriers, right?

Pretty sure you can pick whatever color you want, but that'd be white because they're in the center line. Correct.

And we've been building them for years. I feel like we've got to do something to show that, hey, you brought us a problem. Here's the solution to that problem. I want the record to state, I think a stop sign is the best idea because I know they say that it doesn't slow down traffic. But I mean, my thought process by here is I would rather see someone rolling through a stop sign at 10 mile an hour than going through there with no stop sign at 40. That's my thought, but what do I know? I'm just a farmer.

So with the cost of the delineators, can we look at the HOA and see if we can have that developer pay for it?

We do have it. Legally, we have an HOA. The fees are only about $100 a year. I've been there eight years, and I think I only paid one year for it. I think the majority of people do pay very little. So it's not a very well-functioning HOA. Keith has been pretty relaxed on that. The only thing that's been important is design stuff. You know, make sure that in most of those, sometimes the two trees in the front yard gets missed.

They cut down a tree that was going to fall on my house. HOA paid for it. Appreciate it. Appreciate your one-year dues. You're welcome. It sounds like if you catch up on your dues, we can afford them. I know, man.

I was going to say that The house that we built out there, the two years we were there, we had to pay our dues each year in order to close on it when we sold it. So it'll catch up up with you, possibly. I'll die there if my kids can deal with that.

If you ever sell. My kids can deal with that when I die.

Yeah, with the number of houses that they have out there, that should be a pretty hefty little HOA balance. I don't think you realize how much that tree cost to cut down.

really small amount as well.

All right.

So the delineators are fairly cheap. If the board is in agreement that that's a suitable step one. Is your phone number changing when you get your new job?

Personally, I think it's a waste of money. We haven't had good luck with those anywhere else in town. That's true. You know, they're up for a month, they start getting knocked down, then they look like crap and they're in the way.

I'm definitely going to have a sprayer run at least once.

I think we'd just be wasting our money with that. I do think that increased patrolling, like you said, is the best deterrent. My wife can attest to the increase that has been happening.

Yeah. That's why I took a new job. That's why I got to run in with the law.

We had an issue a few years back at the roundabouts where people started running that roundabout right by the McDonald's and the highway. They'd plow through it, plow through it, and then the police started focusing heavily on it. I saw several people get pulled over there. I don't see that issue anymore. So I'm a big fan of increased, at least short-term, police presence there. Even if it's one that sits for some time, somebody's going to be there. I've been pardoning an empty patrol car or something, but I think it goes a long way.

Word spreads pretty fast. It hasn't been too many years ago that we were having the very same issues with Martha Crump and that area. How much does a stop sign cost, Carl?

The cost of the stop sign is not the issue. It's the legality of said stop sign. If we take somebody to court, that's the problem.

So it's a pretend stop sign. Yes. So let them hear me out. How would you know the difference between a real one and a fake one? I think the only issue is that the word is out. That's a fake one.

So as Steve said earlier, if we give you the technical, you make the political decision. You want a stop sign out there, that's on you.

The one person that watched these meetings is now on the board. Are we on right now? We're going to check.

You can't put a fake stop sign in.

I mean, I can call Dick right, and I can do it on one, I guess. The city might have to come take it down. Good, it's a quarter to one. It's for sale.

All right, so are you suggesting, or?

I'm not hearing much of a suggestion. If you still want to explore, we can certainly do the warrant study for stop sign. It's going to come back.

Do you need the chief to say whether or not he could add? much more patrol there in that area? That's a very good point. Or is he not having it?

I know that- Anytime we get a complaint like that, I always put an email out and ask people to put the attention there that they can. Keep in mind that at any given point in time, there's two patrol cars rolling around out there, one or two, most of the time. And so another way to say extra patrol means less patrol somewhere. And so that's the fact of the matter. But I think we do try to move around. And, you know, the next question is, how many hours do we want a patrol car sitting somewhere when there's maybe another place that, you know, where we have had accidents, we have had people hurt, that kind of thing. And so, like I said, we do. And I appreciate you noticing someone was there today. But I always pass on traffic concern. you know, to the folks. And when I'm out and about, I try to go through a little bit more often also. But, you know, the reality is you're talking about hours and hours of a patrol car presence to write a ticket, maybe. And ultimately, the ticket's not the goal. The goal is to slow down traffic. That's the mission. And so, but like I say, anytime then, you know, there's always so much we can do with, you know, seven, right now, seven full-time police officers.

I know speed bumps have gotten negative feedback in the past, but we're at the start of summer, and there won't be snow for quite a while. So speed bump might not be a bad idea. They get the idea that there's a speed bump there, and then by the time winter comes around, we can get one of those temporary ones and pull it back up. And then hopefully I can get one on Oak Street, too, because I continue to get complaints on Oak Street, and I know that I'm off topic. But speed bump or speed bump here?

I hate speed bumps, but, I mean, if it makes sense, it makes sense. I agree with you. Plus, I think the other thing, too, is do we know peak time for when we're having issues there? Like, is it three to five?

Kids getting out of school.

Kids getting out of school. So maybe then it's not a bad time. I mean, just to your point, I don't think we need to spend here all the time. Or, you know, if we know kind of peak time, maybe we can. Tell us one of them.

I appreciate you covering it. That's great. I'm having an issue here. We can't put a stop sign up because of legality. We don't want to waste money on these things that are just going to get ran over. We don't want to put speed bumps up because of snow plows. Like, how do we slow down traffic in our town?

We're proposing temporary ones because they're cheap. You can do permanent.

But you see the problem here? Like, you know, you just said we haven't recommended anything. Well, everything we recommended, well, that's a bad idea. I'm like, okay, well, recommend something that's a good idea.

I'm not saying anything. I think it's temporary speed bumps. Yeah, put in temporary speed bumps, the ones they can take out for the winter. lift them up when the clouds here already come through. Yeah, it's a personal thing. The permanent ones also, I mean, they just start to crumble when people run over them too fast. What's a temporary speed bump cost, Kyle?

Probably less than three grand a piece, I'd imagine. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. The question is, what roads do you want? Do you want them on both intersections, or just... I'm only aware. concern at Eagle Pass? Is it Natchez too?

I've only got complaints at Eagle Pass.

We're going to focus on that. We'll start with one.

Well, you have to also mark the street.

How far away does that have to be again? I forgot what Kevin said.

The offset is pretty substantial to get you the lead time. I don't know the technical particulars. That should be within something that I can approve and purchase without it coming back. So we'll just have Kevin get on it tomorrow and get him ordered. Thanks, sir.

Can we put it on the agenda for next time to talk about Oak Street? Or can we go ahead and agree to put a speed bump over there, too? They're going down the hill. That's going to go up the hill. Up the hill is where I want to go.

No, on both sides.

I know. So the problem is when they're coming off of the highway and going back and forth. Yeah, they're racing down, running to the stop sign, and then coming and shooting back up the hill.

They almost got hit by a car going the other way, going toward the driveway.

Okay. Well, whichever side we want to put them on. Whether it's on the Phillips 66 side or the speed bump. We're going to be the roundabout town.

We're going to be the speed bump town.

Did you guys, and I haven't been here for a while, but when Stephanie was here, you guys invested in a speed. That thing's dead. It's gone.

We sold it.

Yeah.

The radar trailer? Yeah. The 25-year-old one, and it died.

What about those, like, have you guys seen the new, like, liquid speed bumps, where it's, like, you drive over it at the right speed, it doesn't bump, and then if you hit it too fast, it, like, turns to concrete? That sounds awesome. That's what we need, right? Because then people aren't annoyed because they hit a speed bump, but then when they speed up too much, I believe this sounds cool. Let's talk about it in two weeks. That's good.

Yeah. Talk about Monday. Tuesday. Yeah. All right. Two weeks later. All right. Moving on to reports. Mayor's report. I want to thank whoever did it, but we're moving the dirt on Justin and Pacer in the middle of the road.

It's gone.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I noticed that we're building a house on Liberty and Middleton. Yes. Just make sure you put some trip testing. But right now, he's got it all tore up. And then also, thank you, Darren, for getting the lot mowed at the MU Extension lot. That's really nice. Thank you, sir.

I sent you out an email as the last reminder to possibly register for the NML elected official training on June 11th and 12th in Columbia. If you'd like to go and have the availability, please let us know, and we will get you signed up. As it relates to Steve, we're setting him up on the ground floor and the old bank space, so he'll be in the mortgage office over there. A little bit more room for him to work there, a little more accessible staff. He has his city email set up. I will email the board with that email so that you have it as well. We'll just be using the cityadmin at Ashland Mile. We'll just be using that while he's here. That is all I have from our report.

Moving on to the city attorney's report.

Mostly legislative stuff. First of all, I wanted to tell you that I have another city that wants to revoke the business license of a cannabis club. I beg them not to do that. The legislature has passed new hemp laws. That's gonna close the loophole that basically they were alleging existed in the one that we had. That is not going to kick in, though, until November. So my recommendation is that right before that kicks in, so we don't have to do it right now, but sometime in September, October, we adopt a new ordinance just outlawing all of that. Under the new laws, any percentage of marijuana, any percentage of THC, of any type of THC, you have to have a license to sell it. So that'll just wipe all of that out.

Does that include that Kratom?

No. We do need an ordinance on Kratom. There is no state law yet on Kratom. The Attorney General has been taking some actions on Kratom. But Kratom is a completely different substance. And I don't know if we've really talked about this. Kratom is this stuff they commonly refer to as gas station heroin. It is, in fact, more addictive than meth. And it's legal. right now to buy and sell. In small doses, it has sort of a sedative effect, but in larger doses, it's psychotic. So the federal government hasn't really done anything, and we had hoped the state would step in on it. They haven't. But it's pretty easy just to ban that, because there aren't any known reasons for it. Just as kind of an aside, I think when the state law and the federal law kick in in November, that probably you're gonna see CBD largely disappear as well. Either that or the people who manufacture CBD products will have to really step up their game because they're very sloppy. A lot of times CBD has a percentage of THC in it. What we like to call the gray machines, slot machines that aren't slot machines they've banned those and we haven't really checked here yet but I've seen in my cities all over the state that those are either being marked as we're not they turned off in March or sometimes just turned around and the torch the manufacturer of them has been coming and picking them up so it looks like that it's kind of bad a bad year for gas stations And there is obviously a bunch of legislation coming out. So for our next report, we will have a better analysis of the things that are out there that are affecting cities.

And I think that's all that I have to report. Thanks, sir. Please, Chief Motley.

Thank you. Kind of the usual in the statistics report that it's out again. One thing, probably beyond my scope and maybe even beyond the scope of the city in general, but one of the, just kind of on a bigger discussion level relating to the Kratom and stuff, there's just going to be a continual series of new synthetics made of different sorts. There's already some stuff out there beyond Kratom that, and so it's short of some sort of big 30,000 foot view down discussion and resolution is just going to be a constant new synthetic Opioid, intoxicant, something of some sort, every one of them will be new and completely legal until they're made illegal. And that's just going to be ongoing. Do you want to jump in for a second?

The problem is that in the old days, that was regulated at the federal levels. They would make those federal three drugs, and now they're illegal, and that was it. So we didn't have to list out every single one. But the feds have kind of stopped doing that really for 10 years maybe now, they've really just not been adding to that Schedule III list. So things come out. And then of course, the drug manufacturers are extremely clever people. They are constantly thinking of new ones that we hadn't thought of before.

They're getting better at chemistry. And so they just come up with a new synthetic and it doesn't fit the current laws. And that's just not going to stop. That's going to keep going. Unless you can come up with a way to word word of law that bans just everything you don't want. I don't have to do that. So anyway, that's beyond our scope, though. Right now, I have two openings. And we've extended a job officer to one applicant. Just extended that. Haven't heard back yet. So hopefully, we'll have one hired soon. Already has a post license. We'll be able to get him in training quickly. And we're hoping. And then we'll be on the look for another one. It's a great place to be a police officer, great town. So keep spreading the word for us. Any questions? Did we answer your question on the traffic stops? Yep.

Appreciate that.

So Alderman Freeze had a question on the traffic stop location. Those aren't where the stops happen. They're not where the violation happened, right? Now, normally in town, those two distances are very short. On the highway, they can be spread out. But again, it almost doesn't matter, right? It doesn't matter if they're going 95 at, Angel Lane or 95 at Liberty Lane. It's still kind of the same violation. And kind of related to that, I'll get complaints sometimes from people that want to know why there's an Ashland car with a car stopped at Deer Park or as far south as Mount Pleasant. Again, if you're sitting still and a car comes by at 95, it takes a while to catch up. And by the time you get there, you're well out of town. So that's why some of the traffic stops are out of town and violations. And the other thing, we continue to have a good relationship with With the school system, they've got a great video system on their buses. We wrote another summons just this week on a stop-arm violation. They've got a really nice system for catching those and transmitting them to us, and we go out and send them back, track people down, and write tickets for running those school bus stops. All right.

And I'll just add, for the new board members, the chief here organized for me to do a ride-along when I was little bit newer on the board, and it was absolutely wonderful to see how those guys patrol the city and just how well they do. Standing off. Making new business for you, Chief. Absolutely. No, we're proud to show what we do.

Absolutely. I'll let you shoot the gun. I'm in.

Say the word and we'll make it happen. Sounds good. Thanks. Community development.

I just want to add one thing, and that's I have an opening, the community development department has an opening for part-time employees, so for those that hate me, there'd be one other option.

Any questions in there?

Yeah, so I looked at a year ago, looked like we had 29 residential permits At this point a year ago, does that sound right? That sounds right. Okay, so we're definitely as much higher than a year ago at this point in time.

We are, but as I said, it's a big up-down. It depends on what's available, what's being developed.

Yeah, and I think I mentioned to you this before, I count about maybe where I guess you told me that not all of behind you is actually legally planted yet.

Okay.

All I want is those trees gone, brother. I know. The tree's gone. They knocked down those trees. They knocked them down like two months ago. I came home and I didn't have trees. I asked my wife, I said, we had trees here this morning, right? They were just laying out the trees. You know where to go. Right? Yeah, right down the road. Thanks, sir.

I got a couple of corrections to my report. We had hired a new utility billing clerk. However, that didn't work out. So we have posted that position again. The budget book is online. You'll be able to pull it up. And it's also been sent to the GFOA. We did that today. The annual audit is scheduled for June 9th, and then the Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance audit is scheduled for June 18th. We do have an applicant for one of the police officer positions. I did offer him a position here. As the chief said, he hasn't responded, and we don't have any other applicants at this time. We do still have two... Two sewer utility worker positions available. We're doing interviews on Wednesday the 27th. We're interviewing three potential candidates, so hopefully we'll get those filled. And then Darren and I are doing an interview tomorrow with a potential code enforcement candidate. Additionally, the SLWA flyers will be mailed out next month. And the only reason I bring that up is if you get questions about them, it's the same flyer that goes out every three months about purchasing utility insurance for your sewer and water issues. We do get a residual fee for that yearly. This year it was $1,400 based on anyone who signs up. It is actually a very good program. And if your homeowner's insurance does not cover sewer issues, this will. And they have somebody, they guarantee somebody out within 12 hours. So it really is a very good program if you get questions. And that's my report.

Any questions for you? Senator? We did that new program that was partnering with city staff to help you guys with home loans, I think it was.

Yes.

How is that working out? Has anybody used the program yet? Have you guys seen like- So nobody has used the program.

When he came and spoke the last time and he wanted us to do a 501C so he could do FHA loans. He also presented that to the city of Columbia. I'm waiting for the City of Columbia's attorney to review that. I am a real estate agent, and so there are some concerns with that, with the city getting into a 501 , electing a board for that 501 , and then disseminating FHA loans. There is a lot of conflict with that. So his proposal is with the City of Columbia attorney right now. They have not passed that either. As soon as that comes up on their agenda, we'll be looking into that and then talking to our city attorney.

Thank you. Any other questions? Moving on to the Board of Alderman report.

Alderman Dean. Not much to report. We've set up a Facebook page for constituents to give us feedback. striving to be transparent with my constituents, be able to get feedback from them to relate to you guys and vice versa. So outside of that, a lot of progress in Ward 1 in general with various houses going up and such, so not any complaints yet. I'm still young on the job, so we'll see how it goes. Thanks. Alderman Turner.

Yeah, I got a couple things. The first being there across from the dandelion, I sent Chief just some pictures a while ago people parking there on basically on the street, on Main Street, and they go walking across the street to the cafe or right there by Eagle Nutrition and everything. They're tearing up the road and some people concerned about that. Where are they supposed to park at and can they legally park in the street there?

At present, they can park there. Kevin Crooks and I have talked a couple of times And I talked to Kyle about having no parking on that west side of the street there.

And it just seemed from the pictures like it could potentially lead to problems if they're sticking out that far. Absolutely.

No, we get complaints everywhere, but yeah, that's something that we probably just need to step up and get going on that. Okay. Yeah. It's like you've experienced, though, doing anything with the street's never as simple as

or do we know?

Yeah, we think this one should be a little bit easier in terms of, if I'm understanding it right, that that quote-unquote engineering part's already been done based on with the roadway, so we can get that taken care of.

Still requires an ordinance, but it should not require any additional engineering.

That'll be something we can bring to you guys as a suggestion.

Yeah, I don't know what the solution is for the parking. I mean, they are a business. They you know, they're going to have to have parking for customers. I understand that. I just don't think it should be right there at that heavily congested area.

We have offered them to park here and use our parking lot. It's not a bad idea.

We've asked that they, especially for their weekend and evening events, use our parking lot. We told them to do that. Maximize the usage of parking spaces.

I'm totally fine with that. I just want to make sure that we don't have an accident there. So,

um i had a constituent reach out this week about behind that behind our houses there on tuscaloosa about the trees are there any updates on when they're going to be planning on pulling that out so it's my understanding that mobilization is very expensive and that's what they're waiting on to to start the construction process the construction drawings have been submitted uh there are comments going back and forth at this point so

It should be within the next month. They're saying they're supposed to have that done by the fall. That's what I was told. Like, have the streets in and everything by the fall. It's possible. I just didn't know. I didn't know. I think Amherst, App, and Suns is going to be busy. Well, they're not very busy right now with I-70. Well, if they want to take on more work, that's part of it. Last thing I got, just want to Take time to recognize this is Kyle's last meeting as city administrator. I appreciate everything he's done for the city. I appreciate him kind of getting me up to speed in the year that I've been on the board. I also appreciate that he also has a lower approval rating than me. So I'm glad that I talked to you there. But I appreciate you, Kyle. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thanks. All in favor? A couple things. I used the new code on our website. It's absolutely wonderful. Thank you for everyone who put it together. It's nice to put in a search term that pulls up everything you need to know. And that's very, very wonderful. I appreciate that upgrade there. Second, I looked at this month's, in the last three to four months of the Treasurer Reports. Thank you for putting that in there. Is the RoboCop slash recycling lot camera thing, is that like $1,100 a quarter? Did I get that right?

It's $1,100 a month.

A month, okay. I only saw two charges over, I didn't see it on the other one. So, okay, that's why I wanted to put $1,100. I was thinking $1,100 really is not too bad for a quarter, but obviously it makes a little difference.

The plan there, I don't know, did I mention it when we were talking recycling? So we'll leave that camera there through the end of June and probably two weeks into June.

Could that be used over at the park bathrooms at all?

We actually have a different camera solution being installed this week, so that's pretty addressed.

Yes. And that's all I got. And again, thank you for your work and thank you for being crazy fast in responding to us. I appreciate that.

Same comments, we're gonna miss you, Kyle. I think you've done a great job. The only other thing that I had was at the last meeting, Jim Pasciotti did speak concerning doing something to honor our former mayor, Gene Rohrer. I did speak to him today about whether he would be offended if a waste treatment plant was Named after him and he kind of laughed and he said He agreed that you know he pretty much single-handedly got that started back in the day And did tons and tons of work He said he would be honored for that to happen if we so choose So I'd like to see whatever we need to do to name waste treatment plant after Jean O'Rourke. Put that on an upcoming agenda.

That's all I got. Thanks, sir.

All in the mail. Oak Street, I mentioned it while we were talking about, I continue to get complaints, and I want to try and help my constituents as much as possible. And then, Kyle, thanks for kind of giving me good luck in the next role.

Thank you. Don't you feel bad, Steve? We didn't say it, man. But the thing is, is I've already told Kyle about it. Right, Kyle? I feel like I've told him at the end of time.

He says thank you every time.

I appreciate you. They all do. You've done a great job in the short time I've worked with you.

All right, moving on. General comments from the public. Anybody from the public like to speak, please. Approach the podium, state your name, address, please. Hartsburg, Missouri.

I'll just be quick. I've got 20-something citations that we went over last time. or if you want me to go to port one. What are all the citations for? For the same property of moving a tenant in there without an occupancy permit that I couldn't get because of a sidewalk that I tried to get.

Is there an agreement made between the city granted temporary occupancy? No, I never signed anything.

I wasn't there. Did your wife? I think she might have done something. I'd say let the judge handle it. Okay. And then I've got a, well, you've taken my building permits away for a Not being able to build, I've got a contract for a restaurant. So just let me know if I'm not allowed to build on false acquisitions that Kyle drew up. There's about 90% of them are false. So however you all want to handle it.

Would you be willing to fix the sidewalk if we got rid of the seditions? No, no, we're not.

All right.

Is that it, sir? Yeah. Thank you. All right, at this time, we'll take a motion to go into closed session to discuss Chapter 610-021, Legal Actions. Can I get a motion to go into closed session? So moved. I get a second? Second. Alderman Dean? Aye. Alderman Fritz? Aye. Alderman Turner? Aye. Alderman Beal? Aye. Alderman Lewis?

Aye. Oh, yeah.

I'll just, I have them in groups. I'll just add you.

I didn't find a story. Some, just the, um, I don't know. Yeah, I'll buy some off there.

Because some of them don't want it, but yeah, I'll definitely add you.

All right, appreciate this. Are you looking for old ones? Did you get it?

Yes.

What else did you get?

We're back in the open session, and at this time we have nothing to report. I can motion to adjourn. I enthusiastically move that we adjourn. All in favor? Aye.