City Council - Regular Meeting

Call meeting to order. Pledge of allegiance. Council member Johnson. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, [clears throat] with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Roll call, please. Mayor Larkkey, here. Council member White here. Council member Thompson here. Council member Davidson here. Council member Pryan here. Council member Lawson here. Council member Richardson here. Council member McCllum here. Council member Johnson here. We have a quorum. No personal appearances. Item E, presentations. One, Patty Claus Shyhopper.

Yes, please. So, after some questions about reappointing her to the to the MU extension, we uh thought we'd be good to have her come and give us five or 10 minutes. Okay. On on the extension for those that don't understand or don't know anything about it. So, here we go.

Okay. I'm Patty Claus Shrihalford. I think all of you have the annual report of our extension meeting that was last uh well our annual meeting that was last Thursday uh down in Harrisonville. I represent the city of Belton on for the m University of Missouri Cass County Extension Council. I was born here in Belton uh been a lifelong resident since 1949. I've been a business owner and operator of Klaus Rose Farm from 1919 to 2025. We closed this past year. our business and it was sold. I've been an active participant of the Cass County Extension since 1957 to the present, beginning as a 4 um beginning with 4 as a youth taking advantage of their programs and then I continued that through high school and and I was a member of the um Raymore 4 club in in um Raymore, Missouri because the other club was in Cleveland, Missouri. um Raymore was closer. Um I graduated from the high school in from high school here in 1967 following through that teaching various programs to our youth as they formulated their paths to various 4H leaderships experiences. I became an extension board member in 1984 after being asked by another board member to run for the northwest part of the CA Cass County. There are five districts. Uh there's four districts in Cass County, north, south, east, and west. And they're kind of the corner divided like across. Anyway, um and then there's two members at large. Um and then I became part of that Northwest County position and when my daughters um became 4 kids. I've held that position since since then to the president and and now representing the city of Belton.

The vision for the university extension is valued and trusted education solution to improve the quality of life in Missouri, the nation and the world. The mission statement, we are a land grant university where our mission is to improve lives, communities, and economics by providing relevant, reliable, and responsible educational strategies that enhance access to the resource and research of the University of Missouri and Columbia, which is our main campus. Um, our core values include respect, responsibility, discovery, excellence, and engagement in our vision and mission statement. My representation of these values have been in been an intricral part of my relation with the Cass County University Extension as well as other organizations here in Belton that I've been involved with. Many people are familiar with 4. Hold your hands up if you know what 4 is. Okay, good. I don't have to explain a whole lot there. Okay, this is an integral bar part and the largest part of the extension in all the counties in Missouri. Every county has their own 4 chapter and there's youth our youth are are involved as well as adults who teach our programs. Uh and you can and it's just a various there's like 300 programs the kids can go through and if that particular county or particular chapter in the county wants to offer an adult an adult comes in and as quote the specialist of the program and he or she continues to teach that program. I did it in sewing for almost 40 years um since that was my uh my u talent at that time. Anyway, um we have eight chapters in Cass County of

4Eers ranging from age 8 to 18 involving a membership total uh AC across of 2,412 youth with 136 youth and adult volunteers accounting for an estimated value of volunteer time invested about $4,750,000 um here in Cass County as well as the other chapters uh the other counties and this pretty much covers the state of Missouri. The 4ers are also the 4ers also enjoy a trip to Jefferson City for 4 day at the capital where they get to meet our representatives and sit in on a couple different sessions um there at the at the state capital which is quite interesting. We had one instant that um they were going to cancel out the university extension program period statewide in one of our legislative things down at Jefferson City. And that particular time when the hearing was going on, we had close to 4,000 4ers and parents and appearance in Jeff City for that function that particular day to instill as well as represent from the state of Miss uh the university to not let that program go by the wayside because it not only in our county it not only helps with with the other programs and I'll go be going through those programs, but it's the the program is for the people of the county in the state of Missouri, no matter what county you in you're in. And it's it's it's something that each county has a a extension council. Um, another program they have is um summer camp. This year it was called the surfing with the camp Bob White and they

had spend the night. They got to do two days uh for uh programming and then the the last night on the on the that last night they got to spend the the night at camp. All the kids do. That was that was a lot of fun. Oh my gosh, I keep thinking, boy, it's nice to where I am, but man, those kids have a lot of energy. Um, we also have had a 4 afterchool program started here in our own Belton school district uh by Virgil Poison and myself after an office visit and throwing out some ideas on how extension could better serve our school district. The program started in about mid 2004 began as began as a model for other district school districts to follow and use. The program consisted of programs that are within the 4 guidelines and there were teachers and and volunteered adults that came in and and talked the worked with the kids, you know, for their afterchool care. The kids didn't know they were really being educated, but they were sure having a lot of fun. So, that was that was an A+ for our school district to start. And since then we've had other school districts that come in and have um by implementation by our dear school board to to look at what we have done with the 4 program here as an afterchool thing and last I heard it's gone almost nationwide. So this was something that started here in Cass County in our school district and has spread like wildfire. So we're really happy about that. Um you can see why C County for more about Cass County 4 in the printout that I gave you. Um Delaney Coach is our 4 um MU extension specialist and she's associate faculty member responsible for our 4 program. Other areas the extension covers through

individual programs in agriculture, environment, pest management, soil and crops and soil testing. And I do know we use soil testing at at at the Rose Farm for many many years when we weren't getting the right reading. We would take the soils and take them down to extension office and they would mail them to campus in Colombia. And uh and a lot of the farmers in the area also use this particular program to analyze what their soil uh pH factors are. Uh you've heard about the Missouri Master Gardener program. Well, they we have a very active program in the county. Uh two uh one area is at St. Sabinas. Their their outdoor guard is part of that program. We have 28 master gardeners in in Cass County that have gone through certification. And the other uh master gu the other uh program that's under is under the 4 master gardener program is in peculiar. They have a designated park area that is for growing uh plants, vegetables, you name it for the summer. And um that is is quite an interesting thing to see see. Um other programs we have hero to high Missouri grazing schools Missouri show me select replacement heer program agriculture business and policy conservation educator of the year in agriculture in Cass County. David Hoffman is the Cass County field specialist MU faculty member in livestock for for this particular uh area of expertise as well as we have other faculty members that come in from other counties that may present programs on any of these particular item uh uh items. uh the MU career accelerator program. All these programs are led by MU faculty members stationed here in the extension and other counties

and it goes through campus in Colombia. The human and the health and human services program is headed by Kylie Brown, our field specialist faculty member in human development and family science and for Cass County and Ellen Bloomer Thornton in our nutrition program associate for Cass County. These two faculty members are responsible for stay strong, stay healthy, build strong families, mental health first aid, a ba matter of balance, focus on kids, which goes through a court system here in Cass County, show me nutrition and school uh curriculum, which is preschool to high school, and there it reaches close to f 600 students in in the smaller school districts in the county. um indirect education where you they you can go and sign up for programs, classes, uh college credits through the through the university. Um we have the Alzheimer's disease prevention and caretaking program, senior farmers nutrition program, community gu gardens, which I've spoke about earlier located here in peculiar Missouri and at St. Zitas Parish here in Belton. And then there's other master gardeners that have programs going on in their cities across the county. Oops, I'm holding too many pages here. We also have an extension honor roal honore this year was Erin Miller who was the president of our our extension council and he's from he pleasant hill and Scott Miller of gardenstead and he was just nominated for the stuff that he does for our extension council no matter what area his expertise is in. He just he's he's one of our major volunteers. Extension also recognized Cass County

farm family and this year was Clayton Ogle and his family of Archie, Missouri and that's been going on for um since 1964 I believe and then the the Fiad farms u started in 1925 was recognized as our Cass County Century Farm. There are 118 century farms here in Cal Cass County celebrating 100 years as family farms with three and four generations still owning and producing products on their farm acreage. Um, and you can see more about that uh uh in in the pamphlet. And what's neat about this, they get these these nice yard signs that they put out on their fences and um proudly show everybody. And I mean it's really there was one down in Peculiar that I used to deliver flowers to all the time and the guy would always greet. He says, "Call me when you get to my get to my driveway. I want to meet you. It's a surprise for my wife." And and he would always he knew who I was. And he says, "Did you see our sign? Did you see our sign?" And I mean it's it's something that's really neat. So and uh that that's that's probably a big plus is when you see these these farms that have been around for a hundred years. So anyway, um and then our annual report that I gave you, there's more about what our county did [snorts] uh in that and you can just read through that as you please. Shows how we spent our money. It shows our our other uh uh individuals uh that are involved uh in the different areas of the county and so forth on that are on the council board. We meet once a month uh with uh July off, December off, and um I think that's it. Yeah, July off because we do we have our our C County Fair that that

month at Pleasant Hill where we're quite involved in. And then in December, because of all the other commitments all the other members have, we've chose not to meet in December. So, I think you can understand. And finally, we have a special Cass Countywide celebration happening this weekend. The Cass County 4 fundraising back supporting our Cass County youth is going to be this Saturday, the 28th, beginning at 5:00 PM at the Parisville Ax Lodge on 291 Highway. Tickets and Ava and tables are still available to call. And if you want to call the extension office, it's it's in your it's I've got the the flyer in your brochure and the number. So, if you want to come and support and see what it's see what see our youth in action, this is probably the best way to see them all together. And um any questions?

Any questions?

Thank you.

It has been my privilege to represent the city of Belton through uh the many addresses we have had down in Carrisonville. We have we have moved seven times and now we are in the old old post office in Harrisonville and we can actually call it home for we hope the next hundred years and uh we've been in the courthouse on five four different levels their basement and the and the up and the upper floor spread all out. We would went to the Cass County jail and that was not suitable because it was we got moved in and we were required to move back out find another place. We've been at the park out on uh uh out by the community center. They used to have the park building, the barn out there where we had our [snorts] livestock shows. We've been in there. Um so, it's kind of nice to have a have a home in in Harrisonville where everybody can come in. They have a they have a a demonstration area where if if like some of our some of our kids come in for uh for special demonstrations that that instead of having them do it in the separate chapters, they come in and do it one that way they can draw countywide. Uh we've had classes there and it's all the classroom the the area is always booked solid with some event happening. So, it's been well well used and each of our specialists have their own office now, which is really nice. So, anyway, but it's been my privilege, you know, representing the city of Belton. I and I just um I hope I can continue until the day I die because it is I'm I'm the historian now for the for the council since I've been involved so long. But it's just been it's been a nice nice journey and to see our youth, you know, our future is our youth and to see our youth be productive in more ways than you can imagine.

That's that's an awesome site. So anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak. Thank you very much. [applause] Item F, unfinished business. One motion, one motion approving final reading bill 2026-02, an ordinance approving the Belton, Missouri Police Department Municipal Jail 2026 housing contract for inmates of the Greenwood, Missouri Police Department. Present. Second. A motion in a second. Any discussion hearing? None. Roll call. Council member Bryan. I. Davidson,

yes. Thompson, yes. White, yes. Johnson, I. McCllum, I. Lawson, I. Mayor Larkkey, I. Richardson, I. Motion passes. G. New business. One. Motion approving the first reading of bill 2026-03. An ordinance approving the Belton, Missouri Police Department Municipal Jail [snorts] 2026 housing contract for inmates of the Raymore, Missouri Police Department. Present. Second motion and a second. You're up. [clears throat]

Hi. Um, as I spoke about before, we're cleaning up a lot of our contracts when it comes to the use of our municipal jail and we are adjusting our uh contract with Raymore. And so their old rate was $45 a day. We're bringing them up to the current rate, which is $63.93. And so it's the same contract that you just approved. And uh we'll be back in a couple of weeks with Harrisonville and clean that up as well. And then we'll have all the individuals that we house for done. Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Item two, motion approving resolution 2026-18. A resolution approving an event permit submitted by Downtown Belt and Main Street, Inc. to close a portion of Main Street and surrounding streets for the 2026 car shows. Present. Second. I have a motion and a second. You're up.

Uh DBMSI is hosting the 2026 car shows the four Saturdays of April through October. There are no rain out dates. The street will be closed at 3:00 p.m. and reopen at 7:00 p.m. each of those Saturdays. The event itself is from 4:00 to 7:00. DBMS will provide the city with their liability insurance and waiver of subregation. Uh a representative is here this evening if you have any questions or would like further information. Any questions? Go ahead. Is this a fully sponsored uh by uh DBMSI? The event is being hosted by them. Yes, fully. Okay.

Go ahead. I just I appreciate the time. Um I had a lot of people fussing about it being closed so early in the so I appreciate the time. Anybody else? Go ahead. Well, just to the point about the times, people are probably still going to show up around noon and park and hang out, but that's not

sure. Gotcha. Um this Andrea might be more a question for you and I'm just thinking back to our last meeting where we approved the St. Patrick's Day parade street closure and I noticed that our permit applications for events and parades are different and yes I looked through them and I understand why. I was just kind of curious why events require anou but parade closures don't. Does do you off the top of your head have some reasons for that or maybe somebody else would speak to that? I think somebody else would be better

okay to speak on that. Well, one, I think this might be one of those unfortunate situations where we say it's that's how it's always kind of been done. But the other reason behind why anou is necessary for an event in instead of a parade is an event typically involves significantly more concentrated people in one specific area of the city and also potentially bringing in vendors and having additional other expenditures and issues that might arise over what your typical parade might [snorts] have. Sure, that makes sense. Some of our bigger, you know, Kerry Nation days, there's going to be theou piece makes sense. Um, uh, as we've talked about before as a council, there are certain events that have just gone on for so long that they maybe warrant sponsorship from the city. In the case of the car shows, which I'm advocating that we sponsor, it would save about $4,000 for them not to have to pay out of pocket for the barricades. And I would like to do that as this is something that has been going on for a long time and I'm just trying to gauge if there is any [snorts] agreement on the council to do that.

That item is actually the next resolution. Yeah. Sorry, got ahead of myself. You're ahead of yourself. There's like six of them in a row. I just wanted to You're just laying the groundwork. All right. This particular resolution is just for the street closure. The next resolution will address the MOU. Thank you. Go ahead. All right. So, I'm going to ask the probably extremely obvious question here. Um, but I'm gonna I just want to make it abundantly clear. This is replacing and in lie of what was formerly hosted by the Eagles last year and formerly hosted by the parks department the previous years. Correct. Yes. However, it is their own event. So, it's

The reason I asked that is this isn't like we're not expecting the Eagles to also show up and ask to to do the same. We're not having two car shows, right? or cruise nights or that. No. Okay. Just was cur and I wouldn't be opposed to that idea for the record. Uh but just was curious. I wanted to make sure I thought that was the case, but I wanted to make sure I believe that's the case. Thank you. Um potato.

And then so let's see if I can make sure I don't get ahead of myself. Um I'm I'll [snorts] just say I'm extremely glad to see continued interest in these cruise nights, especially after a slower year last year. Um, I had a lot of feedback from my residents, but also in general. Um, and so I'm really hopeful that DBMSI will take on some of the feedback from the event goers previous years. It appears they're already doing so, which I love to see, especially the timing. Um, I know that's a big thing, especially for older cars during the heat of the summer. You actually need it to be a little cooler and want it to be a little cooler so your car doesn't overheat. Um, and then so this is maybe I I'm I'm assuming this goes across multiples here, but I noticed some inconsistencies between the use of the word car show and car cruise. Um, I figured from a contractual standpoint, we probably wanted that to be consistent. Um,

there actually two different events. The car shows are the sat four Saturdays, April through October, and the car cruises in October. a standalone event in October. So, is this the next resolution?

So, from a so from a this is going to be something that's going to be extremely niche, but from a perspective of the car of show, cruise, whatever we want to call it, event goers. Typically, my understanding is those folk consider um a cruise night to be an open event. There's not there's not awards given out. there's not um there's not uh entr entry fee, that kind of thing. Whereas a car show, there typically is. There's awards, there's an entry fee or there's at least registration, that kind of thing. So, the verbiage might be a little confusing to people and and I don't

I would probably defer that to the DBMSI representative. So, I would just say I'll leave that to you guys, but you may want to clarify that just because I've been given that feedback myself. So, just wanted to throw that. This is what happens when you have me fill out the application. You have to you have to come to the lecture, please.

I was just making a smart comment that this is what happens when you have somebody who is not a car person fill out the application, but feedback received. Thank you. Yeah, I totally understand that and I don't I don't fault anyone for but I have like I said I've been given that feedback myself that a cruise night is the is is different from a car show in that the car show has awards and or you know at least registration even if it's free or whatever, right? Whereas a cruise night is kind of an open thing. Yep. Got it. Thank you. Just wanted to throw that out. Now I understand the inconsistencies on why it said where and what. So thank you for explaining that. I think I'm good. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I

I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item three, motion approving resolution 2026-9. A resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Belton, Missouri, and downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. for [snorts] the 2026 car shows. Present. Second. I have a motion and a second. You're up.

Let me get my notes. Okay. This resolution is memorandum of understanding detailing each party's roles and responsibilities for the Saturday car shows. It provides the cost for public works services. A DBMSI representative is here this evening if you have any questions or they can provide additional feedback.

Okay. to to clarify and be specific, I would suggest [clears throat] that as a city council, we opt to sponsor this event to save DBMSI $3,710 uh to charged by public works to provide the barricades. This is an event that's been happening for decades. Um there's I'm going to suggest the same when it gets to the show/crews in October, which is an all day event where they will also require the barricades at $530 an event. Um I just would like to see the city support this keep going. It's been a bit of a hot potato like to your point that um parks was running it and they relied on parks um board members and volunteers to come out and staff at Eagles took it over last year to keep it rolling and I'm glad DBMSI is going to pick it up and run with it this year. Um it draws people to Main Street. It's a free easy event. It's monthly. Um and it's a very light lift I think overall compared to some of the other events that go on. So why don't we throw a little support to it?

So you're making a motion to amend the resolution. Well, I guess it'd be amending theou in the resolution. Yeah. Amending the resolution to sponsor the event by paying for the public works barricades. Yes. I I again theou is part of the resolution. So if you're amending theou, you're amending the resolution and vice versa. I'm I just am trying to scroll to the part of the resolution that calls out the police or the public works barricades. I think it's page 23. 23. While that's occurring, I guess let me go ahead

ask the question I have followup there, which is public works is going to be putting the barricades in either way. The question is that correct? I mean the question is whether or not we charge for that service. Yes. Yeah. [clears throat] Okay. Um so it would be a motion to amend the resolution to remove the fee for traffic control from exhibit B of theou. Will you to remove the cost of the traffic? [laughter] Yes. You talk good. Thanks. All right. We have a motion to amend on the floor as presented. Is there a second? Second.

Second. Second. We have a motion and a second. All right. Any more discussion on the motion to amend? Go ahead. I We And I I know all this has just recently changed. Did we charge the Eagles for the barricades last year? We ended up sponsoring that. Okay. Go ahead. Why did we decide? It was something that started last year after the events of 2025 were approved. This was something that was already in the works, but we waited to bring it forward until everything was approved. So, it's starting with calendar year 26.

It'll be per event. Each event will be decided on its own merit. I mean, I Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the whole premise and idea of that was that we would be able to do exactly what we're doing. Correct. You know, we wanted to have a standardized practice, which was the idea behind city staff putting that in place and then we would still have the approval if we want to go from that standard. Correct.

Yeah. And we Oh, sorry. I was just going to say part of the conversation was that these sort of legacy events or these long-standing events that we're used to having, we would support as uh sponsors. The city council would review each one and decide if we want to sponsor it or not, but you know, we might get an application for a commercial type event and maybe we won't feel the same way. It'll be each one up to us. Well, and I also thought when we were discussing it previously that we were talking about that there would be some organizations that didn't have the funds to pay the fee and that we would consider waving it there. And I don't think that's the situation if I understand DBMSI's finances correctly that they do have the funds to pay this. We're not asking them to go above and beyond their resources. But that's just my comment.

Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor on the motion to amend. I I Any opposed? No. Motion passes. Now we're back to approving the motion as amended. Any more discussion on the motion as amended? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item four, motion approving resolution 2026-20.

A resolution approving an event permit submitted by Downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. to close a portion of Main Street and surrounding streets for the 2026 car cruise. Present. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Uh, yes. This resolution is for downtown Belton Main Street. They're closing the street for the 2026 car shows or the car show on October 11th and there is no rain out date. The street will close at 10:00 a.m. and reopen at 3 p.m. The event itself is from 12 to 3 p.m. Uh DBMSI will provide the city with liability insurance and a waiver of subregation. And if there's any questions, DBSI is here this evening to answer them.

Any questions? Go ahead. I'm sorry to ask you. I have a question. Yes. Um the uh for DBMSI most likely. Um sorry to make you I know you keep going up and down. [laughter] Um in [snorts] in regards to so historically there has been awards um at this type of thing and I believe at the very least registration for entrance is that still the plan or can you talk through um what the overall plan is for this particular event as it varies from the others?

That is my understanding. I am not chair or care co-chair of this particular event, but that is my understanding for the standalone show in October. Will there be um I don't know what the right word charge or fee or will it will it be free to enter into the show or will you have to pay? I'm not sure about that. Okay. It come on Connie.

Okay. car show. In the past, we have always charged the vehicles that were going to participate. They do not all have to participate, but those that want to participate to hopefully win an award, they pay $25 a car to enter. Those cars all have some sort of a designation on their windshield. We will vote. People will vote. We sell members or we sell uh plaques with business names, individual names, whatever. And those are normally judged by that business or those individuals. And then we have an awards ceremony around 2:00 in the afternoon. Only those people that paid the $25 fee to enter are the ones that are available for that. And we have done this. I mean, we started the car shows in 1999 once Main Street was totally redone and that. So, it's been going on ever since then. [cough] [clears throat] So, I mean, that's that's what we've done. The car show on Sunday draws kind of a different kind of a crowd. It they're not they're I don't want to say they're nicer cars, but they're cars that you don't normally see in the cruise that just come through, drive through. Some of them stop, some of them don't. These are cars that probably have been to several other car shows that have entered a car show and they're wanting that plaque. They they want to be able to say, "Hey, I won this." And so, it's a big deal to some of them. I mean, we've had some cars that have been very, very expensive in these shows. So,

and I'm gonna I know this is maybe a tall ask because I'm asking you to predict the future, but is this the type of thing that you would anticipate? um even if it's a very minor uh profit, but would you expect there to be a positive uh you know output here instead you know are you break even or negative or do you have any idea where you might expect from that?

It has pretty much been a positive. Um the plaques and the the we normally sell for $35 I think a piece. the money that the cars raise that goes back into uh DBMSI, but it also purchases some other things that we do for the car show. We buy we buy little plaques that they put on their dashboards and things like that. So, it's it's not just that we're getting $25 a car. We're spending money for that also. Oh, for sure. I But I want I just was trying to you know, if you had an idea there. So,

that's okay. And and the reason DBMSI kind of got away from it. um Richard Smith who had rich and riches on Main Street. When he passed away, he was the one that that's worked on the car shows for years. At that point, we were short of people that wanted to work on the car show. The park department had helped and they came in and said, "Hey, we'll take it." And then they wanted out. The Eagles decided they wanted it. They don't want it this year. So, it's kind of like coming home to us. this is DBMSI or we were at we were Main Street merchants for years. So, this has been going on for all these years. So, yeah, I'm I can't stress this enough. I'm excited about the fact that we have uh continued interest in this because I think it is a not only worthwhile, but I think it is popular. Uh even even if last year was a little tough um and some of that was out of their control as there's some bad weather in there, too. Um but [clears throat] uh so to well I guess I'll hold off but I just wanted to understand that. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Anybody else? [laughter] Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item five, motion approving resolution 2026-21. A resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Belton, Missouri and downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. for the 2026 car cruise. Present. Second. A motion in a second.

This resolution is memorandum of understanding to detail each party's roles and responsibilities for the October 11 event. It provides the cost for public works services. And DBMSI is here to answer your questions. Patrick, would you help me make a motion to amend this to sponsor the $530 for barricades? Yes. So, if you want to make the same motion as last time would be a motion to amend the resolution to remove the cost of traffic control from exhibit B to theou. Thanks. We have a motion to amend the resolution. Is there a second?

Second. We have a motion, a second to amend the resolution. Any more discussion?

All right. So, the only reason I just at this current juncture don't feel comfortable supporting this is because this could potentially be a very lucrative and I understand right now it's not may not be and I understand that might not be um the plan for DVSI as they just explained very well that that is, you know, it's about giving back to the community and whatnot. Um, but this could be a lucrative situation if there was a ton of entrance, if there was that type of thing. So, this to me is more of a situation where we would want to have um our services paid for. Um, so that's just my two cents on that.

Anybody else? Mr. Mayor,

go ahead. If I may, and may maybe I should have brought this up during the previousou, but um just to to reach back a little bit, obviously the city was a sponsor to help bring the the Main Street Coalition to the city of Belton. Um and this is they're not competing organizations. The Main Street Coalition is a member of the Missouri Main Street. Gives us access as a city to uh potential funding sources and the programming that that Missouri Main Street uh or does provide. Um, might we suggest that if the city's going to get behind this with a sponsorship, which I'm not necessarily saying we shouldn't, that maybe we get a a commitment from DBMSI to work with the Main Street Coalition so we're all working in the same direction um to for the betterment of our community and our downtown.

What may I ask what that looks like as you're proposing? Just a commitment to from from DBMSI as they I mean they're here. just a commitment from them to to work together where necessary or at least at the very least not work against the existing Main Street coalition. I'm sorry that just seems really inappropriate.

Yeah. Um like if you could give a specific of how you're expecting them to work together and why it ties to thisou for the car show. Well, I I think that in if we're going to provide support for for DBMSI, which again, I'm not saying we shouldn't. We should be supporting all lo local efforts to better our community, but we should also be fostering an environment where everybody's working together, at least not working against each other. And and there has been some, you know, instances where that's not been the case in the past. And so, I'd just like to get out in front of it and say, if if we're going to support this, that's fair, but let's all work in the same direction and try to work together to better the community. If I can be frank, that just feels like a paytoplay to me.

Yeah. I don't I think the support for the coalition from the city's perspective has been clear and abundant. Right. When we had the reimagining Main Street event, we had the coalition's logo on everything. Even though it was a city event, we pay for travel when council members go and participate in coalition events. I I don't think that us supporting this is exclusionary to the coalition or encouraging any non-compliance [snorts] or non-ooperation. I mean, this feels like like shoehorning that in. I think if there if if an organization is going to ask the city to support its efforts, it should support the city's efforts. In turn, it should be a partnership.

Sure. I I mean looking back at the history of DBMSI, which I'm not even the historian to to speak to, there has been a ton of support from DBMSI to the city and other groups, but I again, you brought this up, so I'm just kind of trying to pick apart what your goals just a suggestion to try and get everybody to work together, at least not work against each other. [sighs] Go ahead. So, Councilman McLuire, were you indicating that since this is could be a potential money maker that we should go ahead and continue theou with the charge? Yes, that is exactly what I was saying.

Okay. Just want to clarify. So, and to be clear, it had I just want to note that it's not a um it it has nothing to do with who whether it's the coalition, whether it's DBMSI, whether it's the Eagles, whether it's any organization. If it's a potential money-making venture, I don't know why we wouldn't have our tax dollars be um recouped from that. Uh you know, doesn't it doesn't I don't think to me it matters who's running it. Now, if there's a if it's a situation where we are concerned that we're going to get away, like something's not going to even exist, then I could then that's, you know, let's have that conversation. Um, that's my that's where I'm at. So,

go ahead. I guess my struggle is um I don't think we've done that in the past. I don't think we charged, you know, if the Eagles made some money, I don't think we were going to charge them. I don't know historically because I'm not a good historian uh if we've charged in the past for events like this. And so I'm struggling with um going back and forth with yes and no from a historical standpoint. From a historical standpoint, we didn't have this policy in place until last year. So I mean I can almost guarantee we've never charged

and often it was a it was a who can afford to pay and they can they couldn't afford to pay we didn't want the thing to go away so the city would support it right

and so again I think personally for me I think the distinction comes between a well there's a couple things to be in play to uh council member Lawson's point of we have some [snorts] things that are historical um in nature like the cruise nights in general right? Like that I I think we all or at least I'll just say I very much support and I there's other things like our parades and whatever and I think I would love to continue to see I'd love to see more of it quite frankly. Um those and as we've talked about then that couple comes coupled with those aren't money-making events. In fact, they're almost guaranteed money losing events. Um and those are things being done for the betterment of the community. So, this is what tax dollars, you know, are the purpose of. Whereas a potential money-making event, uh whether it's again this one or any other one, if Alex decides he wants to host a festival on Main Street, um then I shouldn't be able to have as part of my business plan, uh the taxpayer dollars for the services provided as, you know, part of my I'm going to, you know, have a beer 10 and make a bunch of money off of it. That's just my and I know that's not that. For the record, I'm not suggesting that is that [laughter]

but that's just where I'm drawing the line. Go ahead. I almost feel like it's blackmail you saying that they should agree to help you. I know the city has helped the coalition a lot. I don't think it's blackmail. I suggest people work together. I and for a money maker, they may make money, they may not make money. The money they do make does go back. They help downtown merchants. They help with the Christmas stuff. They help with the welfare association. The money comes back.

I'm not I'm not denying that it's that the organization has the ideology behind that organization is is of a good cause. I'm not denying any of that. It's it's I'm just I'm I'm just explaining where I'm drawing the line from a perspective that I think it should be drawn. I I don't I I just think it's just it's not appropriate to ask some group to do that. I just Go ahead.

I would just add that the the car show event in October is not going to be a money maker form. They get 21 entrance at 25 bucks a piece. That would just pay for the barriers before they get plaques custom made before they go out for sponsorships. Um to Brett's point, we haven't charged for these types of things in the past and for the existing events that we know have community value. I'd like to see that stay the same. Um and you know, I agree it it is staff time, therefore tax money. Um but these are the kinds of things that go away when organizations have to pass it around like a hot potato because they don't want to be on the hook to pay for any of it, then it just kind of stops happening. Um, and with a what since 1999 that kind of streak going, it just it makes me nervous that it's passed hands so much in the last couple years too. Um, so I'm just in support of of maintaining the amount of support the city has provided for these events. I will also add that the insurance, if we just base it off of last year's cost, because we did cover the Eagle's insurance costs last year, would be $762.

Yeah, there's all kinds of costs that aren't being accounted for here. All right, I'll I'll I'll admit you convinced me for this year, but I think I still think that line that I'm referring to I think is, you know, a valid Well, who's to say in a year we can't say, "Hey, how'd the car work out in October?" Oh, you guys made a grand. Awesome. That's my point. We're We're entitled to ask that when it comes back before us. Hopefully. Yep. Hopefully. I agree. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor on the motion to amend. I I Any opposed? No. [clears throat] No.

Motion passes. We're motion of resolution 2026-021 as amended. Any more discussion? Hearing [snorts] none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Item six, motion approving. Motion approving resolution 2026-22. A resolution approving an event permit submitted by downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. to close a portion of Main Street and surrounding streets for a Cinco de Mayo event. Present. Second.

We have a motion and a second. You're up. This resolution is for Downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. to host a Cinco deio event on Sunday, May 3rd. There is no rain out date. The street will close at 8:00 a.m. and reopen at 9:00 p.m. The event itself is from 12 to 8:00 p.m. DBMSI will provide the city with liability insurance and a waiver of subregation. And Stephanie is here. You have any questions? Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Seven. Motion approving resolution 2026-23. A resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Belton, Missouri and downtown Belton Main Street, Inc. for a 2026 Cinco de Mayo event. Present. Second. Have a motion and a second. You're still up. This resolution is the memorandum of understanding detailing each party's roles and responsibilities for the May 3rd Cinco deayo event. It provides the cost for public works, fire, police, and park services.

Any questions? Questions? Go ahead. I have some for the DBMSI representative. Hello. Um, this is the third year, fourth year of the SCO event. Do you know? Fourth sounds right. Fourth sounds right. Okay. Um, I am admittedly less versed in this than the car shows. Um, also we just haven't talked about it as much. Is theou the same as years past or are there increased costs this year because of the changes we've moved to implement?

Correct. Theou is completely new and it's the same as what was required for the car show and car cruise. Um, so the city share um would be $2,400. That includes the trash, barricades, police, and EMS. Um, [clears throat] DBMI's event cost, just so everybody is aware, is roughly $7,300. That includes our insurance, our trash, stage, etc. Is the event a moneym event for you? Nope. Yeah, that's not a complete loss case. Sorry. Go ahead.

I didn't if I Okay. Sorry. Um, is there I remind me because it's we're almost coming up on a year here. Um, so it's been a minute. I need my memory jogged. Are there vendors or anything? I know you have um Oh, there there are.

The first year there were no vendors. The second year we decided to try vendors, but we didn't charge them. And then I think the third year we had vendors decided to charge them but there was rain so most of them didn't show which I think it was $25 per vendor space so there's no significant income. Our plan is to have vendors this year um probably for just one block. I think I had two Did I have two blocks? I think I may have had two blocks in the the street closure is two blocks. But really, it just depends on vendor interest as to what we can fill.

Okay. So, that was my follow-up question. You answered it. Okay. I guess just a followup. Um, the 7,300 you quoted, does that include cost money to the city for support? No. Oh, that'd be an addition to it. Yep. Okay. That is just our cost. Our costs for the event. Anybody else hearing? None. All in favor? I I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Item eight. [snorts] Motion approving resolution 2026-24. [snorts] A resolution approving a renewal agreement for services with Oats, Inc. for weekly non-emergency transportation. present. Second. A motion and a second. You're still up. Andrea showed tonight.

In 2021, the city received a KCATA grant to expand the Oats non-emergency demand transportation to 4 days a month. It's been known as the Oats weekly shopping contract. After the grant period ended, the city chose to continue the 4-day a month service. It's budgeted each year. There's actually a slight cost decrease from last year. It went from $82 an hour to $80 an hour. [snorts] Good negotiating. Any questions? I have a question. Go ahead. Mhm.

When we were talking about enterprise and having another vehicle is that could that take the place of this or is that something in addition to it's completely different? I I mean, I know it's different, but could we use the enterprise car that we may rent to do this and save that money, or is that not Okay. All right. No, I don't I don't think that would work very well. Okay. Your microphone went on. Go ahead. Uh I'm old. H. Uh but wasn't that part of the discussion with Enterprise? was is that if we had a vehicle that we could use it for the the discussion was transportation to and from the senior center.

Oh, and since that was a property that owned by the city, operated by the city, it changes the the rules. Now, what the contract you're discussing this evening is specifically for picking up from someone's home and taking target those places like that and that very different set of rules. Thank you. Anybody? Go ahead. Related to the senior center because that's also I mean that was oats correct. It was the same group prior to this year. Yes. Yeah. Prior to when we started. Yeah. Yeah. So um

is this I hoping you can remember. Is this the same um amount of money they were charging us for that transportation to the senior center or is this a different rate? No, I believe it's the same. Without looking I believe it's the same. Okay. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Really? We couldn't go a whole night without you. Dang it. Sorry. Look how excited he is.

I know. Motion approving resolution 2026-25. A resolution approving task agreement number 2026-1 for services for the wastewater treatment plant air raator number 10 equipment and pump replacement between the city of Belton Missouri and JCI Industries Inc. present. Second. We have a [snorts] motion in a second. Hello, Gregory. So, I'm going to try to explain this in a way that won't have any questions. Good luck. Fantastic. Right.

So, uh we're replacing uh one of the pumps and the equipment that runs one of our airators. So, airators are those discs that spin that add oxygen to um the tank. There's those three raceways that go around. It adds oxygen to it. There's pumps in it that pump the fluid through it. And so we went to solicit bids. We did a design and came up with an estimate based upon what contractors told us the approximate cost of this project should be. Uh we have a budget of $140,000 for the project and we thought we could do it. We went out and bid the job and the bids came in over $200,000. Uh we got two bids for the project. Um first of all that we felt the price was way too high and second it was above what our budget was. So we were unable to do it. So we decided to back up and reduce the scope of the project and uh also consider one of our on call uh contractors who uh decided not to bid on it but bid as a sub in the first uh bid offering. So we took the bids that we had renegotiated them down to a smaller chunk which was just the piece that we thought we could afford to do and we got two prices from them the two people who bid it and a price from our on call contractor. Based upon that, our on call contractor was the lowest bid and we'd like to select him to do that work. So, we went through quite a bit of process to do it. We will also act as a general contractor now on the job and not have a general contra contractor do the work. That also saved us money in uh doing this bid. So, happy to answer any questions you have about it.

You made it so clear there shouldn't be. Right. Go ahead. I have no I'm joking. Um I did the only question is it sounds like there will be more work potentially in the future on this. Oh there is always more work at the plant because uh well but in this particular situation because we broke it down into Yeah. So this is just one piece of it and so then next year we're going to have to do more work. Yes. Fun. Okay. It it's the plant is a neverending place of doing work. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. 10. Motion approving the resolution 2026 2026-26. A resolution approving a contract for services with She Digsit LLC for the Mil Street and Lacy Lane improvements project. Present. Second. Motion and a second. You're up. [clears throat]

So, this project is our last of our storm water uh money and our stormwater projects that we have planned. uh that dates all the way back to 2019. This project is literally in the middle of the intersection of Mill and Lacy. Uh so in that intersection, there is a pipe that goes underneath diagonally across the intersection from the northeast corner to the southwest corner, but it actually doesn't line up with um the ditch that's there. So the water when it comes out, it actually percolates and then has to move over. It doesn't work very well. This intersection was going to be taken up for the water line connection. uh also that we're doing. And so the same contractor got the low bid on this that's doing our water line jobs. So they're going to be able to remove the intersection at one time, replace the storm water pipe, and put the water line in at the same time. Now, if you remember when I made a presentation a while back explaining how we're going to do this job, that intersection, as you know, is a diagonal road that doesn't line up with the north south road. We are actually going to connect them, make them line up, and make it seamless. So it actually you'll head north and you just keep going north and it looked like it was always planned the whole time. And so we're going to improve the road. We're going to fix the storm water and the water line all at the same time. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Any questions? Go ahead. Uh have we used this contractor before at the she digs at SDI? Yeah, they're doing our waterline contract right now. Okay. So far so good. Excellent. Yes, their uh online presence is uh leaves something to be well leaves a lot to the imagination. Their website just says under construction. Their social medias were all deleted. It just made me a little uh you know leerary of whatever was going on.

Yeah, they're a large contractor doing a lot of work throughout town. Um, for what it's worth, I had phoned a friend over at another municipality and they spoke highly of the contractor as well. So hopefully that doesn't hopefully, you know, like I said, their website literally just says under construction and I was like, what is this about? [snorts] So, okay. Thank you. I just was a little Maybe they're in the construction business. I was going to say they're in the construction. I I did find it uh I I caught the pun for sure. Anybody else? Who doesn't like a trifecta? Gonna fix all three at once. We're I like it. All right. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I

I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 11, motion approving resolution 2026-27. A resolution approving a contract for services between the city of Belton, Missouri, and Amno Brothers Company, Inc. for the North Cast Parkway Extension Project. Rosette. Second. A motion and a second. And it's Amino. Yeah, I realized I said that wrong. [laughter] Thank you. You're up.

Um, we're real excited. This is uh the next uh project for the uh Belton Cast [snorts] Regional TDD. Uh this is the connection of Peculiar Drive at um North Cast Parkway that goes over to Mullen and 187th Street. Uh it is a half mile road and it contains a four span bridge in the middle of it. Uh we're real excited because the uh prices on it came out uh lower than I had really anticipated them coming out at at uh about $3.5 million. And so we're real excited because this is going to allow us to actually do more work on Mullen between 187th and Cambridge in the future. And so, uh, this is going to be paid for by the TDD and there's also going to be an agreement between us and the county where the county is going to give us a half million dollars because we're also going to be doing the Olsen Acres um, sanitary sewer project which basically overlays in the south side of this project. So, we're going to be doing a lot of work in that area. Uh, it's exciting to get this thing uh connected. I know when I came it's real controversial that we did Mullen first. A lot of people wanted to do North Cast first. We're actually get both these jobs done and it's very exciting. H be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Go ahead. You said in the future, what what what does it mean? You said we maybe get some work done because of the said in the future with Mullen because you're going to have a nice going and then a nice starting and then I won't use the word in the middle. So, uh, we're so we're working on trying to design that right now and because of where the funds are at, uh, we should be able to try to get that this next fiscal year. Okay. Anybody else? Go ahead.

I'll just add from the TDD's perspective, it it is looking likely from the financial perspective that there will be the funds to be able to make that happen. And if there's not, we're hoping, you know, maybe the county or city will make sure it happens because that's who will benefit. But we're it it's it's, you know, as Greg said, it's looking very promising. Um, I just want to know what in the future meant tomorrow. Yeah. Or next year. Um,

anybody Go ahead. From a budget standpoint, uh I believe we had set aside some money for this project as a city is [snorts] that so I'm assuming we have some our better planned funds now. Yes. So that we had budgeted 2 million in those bond funds. So when you ask how soon will we have to spend it in the next two years? So it will be done soon. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. H. Consent agenda. One motion. None available to approve. Recommendation noted. Any member of the council may ask for it to be taken from the consent agenda for discussion and separate action. Present. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Reports information J. Communication for city council. Council member Johnson.

Just want to invite everybody to the town hall that's going to happen March the 3rd, which would be next Tuesday at 6 PM at Meet Me on Maine. Uh we're going to continue the conversation about reimagining Main Street uh as part of the coalition's partnership with the city and also with the Missouri Main Street Connection. um would like for everybody to come. There's a survey that you can take and um we'll have that information available uh at the meeting. Um we just want to get everybody's ideas, firm some things up and see how we can move forward with reimagining Main Street. Council member McCllum,

um I want to publicly point out that we have that new report in there where it shows code violations, has the maps. I actually really appreciated the maps personally as a guy who likes maps. Um, and I just wanted to publicly point that out. It it is uh it's good to look at and at least get a visual uh on that uh [snorts] situation. So, I appreciate that. Um, and I don't believe I I could be wrong. I want maybe Andrea or someone can correct me, but I don't believe we actually talked about the the chili cookoff that took place here recently. Has anybody mentioned that? Okay. [snorts] So, I want to take a minute, I guess, just to mention that we did have our annual chili cookoff there. the employees had their annual chili cookoff. Um the uh the winner um from

was not golf.

The winner was not golf this year. Um and uh and so what happens is each department submits a chili for city council to then uh try and uh and and we you know uh pick a winner. Um and it's all blind, right? We don't know who submitted what and um and yeah, so last year it was golf and uh there was a lot of good chilies, but I want to just take a minute to congratulate Municipal Court as they were the winners this year. Uh small but mighty uh Chile uh and Courtney Strumm. I want to give her a uh or Sturm. I probably said the name incorrectly. Courtney Sturm. Um as I I hear she was the chef behind the winning chili. So I wanted to just give a shout out to her here. Um I don't have anything else to update you on the TDD board. You just heard it all from Greg. Uh that's really where that's at. Um from parks, there is a lot. I have tried to parse it down um because parks is busy as always. One of the big things that I would like to share with everybody and please share broadly um is that they are hiring for lifeguards. There was a really good ad that was shared on social media that I would uh encourage everybody to go check out. It was pretty comical. Top Gun themed and uh they're also in need of grounds crew and concession workers. So, please, you know, help spread that word. Um, so I get asked pretty much every single day about when the new playground's going to be done because every time I drive by it, my kids are watching the progress. So, I'll just point out that um there is no official update, but you will see a lot of progress being made this week. And um and hopefully that will mean um when we have some nice weather, there'll be a a nice good update coming on that. But you you're going to see a lot of progress here. Already has been. We got the big slide is officially up. Um there's still some signups available for the youth spring

sports um that they are closing soon. So please get your application in. And if it already shows closed, um it doesn't hurt to ask because there might be still some spots um that they're accepting signups. And then in regarding events, so looking at March, on March 7th, uh the cardboard boat race at High Blue is going to take place. It is uh um gaining more and more popularity every year. So I anticipate this year it will be no different and uh it looks like it'll be exciting. Um March 14th, Murder at the Station, dinner theater. March 28th, [snorts] uh in the morning, there will be um a stream cleanup at Oil Creek, which is just south of Wallace Park. And then well technically still in the morning at 11 am later in the morning uh the the annual Easter egg hunt will take place in Memorial Park with over 10,000 eggs dropped and lots of lots of chaos. Uh so those are all the things that parks has going on and coming up.

Council member Richardson, I got nothing. Council member Lawson, I'll talk about chili, too. Um High Blue is hosting the annual Lions Club chili cookoff this Saturday. Really? Um, five bucks get you a sample of all the entries in a bowl of your favorite and the proceeds benefit the Bel and Back Snack and Ray Peek can programs. And I'm a judge. Um, and I like beans in my chili. That's the only thing I had to talk about tonight and you just put my thumb. Dang. Are you judging it, [laughter] too? Yeah. Fine. Council member Prime, I have nothing. Council member Davidson. Um it was cold Sunday night so we had the warming st um station open and I think we had about 10 people there.

Council member Thompson I had a real quick trip to Tennessee last week so I don't have much to talk about but it was very nice to come home to Belton. So Council Member White nothing today. I don't have anything because council member Lawson took my thunder. So city manager nothing mayor. All right. Items for review and discussion. Number one, blue envelope initiative. Cheap lines.

I did have Hi. The police department is going to initiate a blue envelope program. Uh Deputy Chief Ali Abdawad is passing out uh copies of the blue envelope that would be given out to the public. And so the uh police department um saw this program on local news and several agencies right across the border and Johnson County, Kansas are implementing it. We thought there was benefits to the program. Um but we also uh realized that some of those Kansas uh drivers or individuals might be bringing them over and showing them to our officers and we wanted to make sure that they um uh knew about this program. And so it's a program um like I said uh to enhance communication and reduce misunderstanding during police encounters and uh with individuals who may be exper may experience communication or sensory challenges. This program supports both officer safety aligning uh with community policing principles and it's at very little cost. This [clears throat] program is designed to improve interactions with between law enforcement officers and drivers or individuals with autism, intellectual or developmental disabilities, or other kinds of communication or sensory differences. It also aims to reduce uh misunderstanding, stress, deescalate the traffic stop or the police encounters. It um is a program that we believe will be instrumental in helping us reach a portion of our community and it is in step with our CIT program. A distinctive blue envelope uh which you've been

provided will be available for the public to participate. Individuals or family members can get it. Uh it'll be used to store uh the driver's license or ID, any kind of vehicle um registration or insurance and other documents that may pertain to their uh communication needs, triggers or calming strategies. So, on the front of the envelope, uh, which I'm calling the front is with the flap, you'll see that there is a section there that actually has instructions for the, uh, police officer that receives it, and it actually gives them uh, instructions that they can quickly go through. We're going to provide our officers with training over the course of the next two weeks on these envelopes. And then that'll give us also gives give us some time to put them out into the public. And I'll talk a little bit about that in a few minutes. And it also tells um you know gives some tips on what they can do to kind of reduce the uh stress of the person that's giving it. On the other side of the envelope, you'll see that there is a place there for their name, an emergency contact, um and telephone number. It also instructs the person what to do and what not to do. And then there's a simple checklist there that they can fill out that has some really quick information before the officer opens it up and looks inside. [snorts] And so the uh individual would present the envelope to the officer instead of just having loose documents. Uh the envelope signals the officer that the person may have difficulty with verbal communication, need extra time to respond um or is s may be sensitive to lights, sounds or even physical

proximity and officers are encouraged to adjust their strategies accordingly. Some of the key benefits officers uh it promotes officer and public safety, reduces anxiety uh for individuals and the family. It supports clear and calmer uh communication and encourages consistent and standardized responses for the officer and participation uh does not replace any kind of legal requirements. As far as implementation, we're going to be uh getting with local autism organizations. Uh chiropractors, a lot of individuals uh with autism go to chiropractors. It helps them kind of reduce stress. It also helps them uh realize uh BOF feedback for their ticks or what other uh mechanisms they may have that uh they can help de-stress. We're going to be talking to the school district and providing it with counselors and we're also going to be working with the license bureau. Uh we'll have these at community events. We also ask you to help us get the word out. Um and then we're planning on implementing this in two weeks. Uh probably on Monday, March 9th is what we've got circled. And we're going to be doing announcement in social media. Any questions about the program? Any questions? Go ahead.

Assuming you're trying to struggle with just being Yes. Right. So, is there a clue that the officer can maybe have this on their visually see it? I'm being told I need to put my headphones on since I didn't have it on this time. So, I will own that. Um, so but so that that the individual can be queued in

by just having it the officer having it on their clipboard or whatever so they could see that and then they go, "Oh, yeah." Because I know some of them are just going to be anxious and then forget they even have it. Yeah. We're continuing to talk to some of the other agencies on the Kansas side. We are the second uh Missouri city to implement this and so we're right on the front end of this and so I envision in the future there might be a bumper sticker or some type of window sticker. My thought is little window sticker maybe just a little blue envelope, you know, right? And then put on their back or on their front glass.

Yeah. And part of the education [clears throat] program is we want them to put this like in the visor right above them. Um where they can get to it easily and don't have to go digging for it, which would also, you know, that could be an indication to the police officer that something else is going on if they're digging around inside the car

or put it up on the dash. And so we'll be looking for something uh to try and get across in our messaging. But I have I have um I think a lot of other agencies, law enforcement agencies, especially those involved in the CIT programs in our area are going to be adding this and I could see the sticker or some type of indication or maybe it is it's simply up on the dash and once the officer makes contact, he sees it on the dash and then the the contact kind of takes a different even a sticker lets the officer know maybe wanting to ask for this. Yes. [snorts] Anybody else? Go ahead.

This just makes me think about how uh Belton police was on the front edge of their soft interview room. This this is just um some credit to you and and the police here in Belton for doing these kinds of things. Yeah, I don't I don't take the credit on this. Uh Deputy Chief Ali Abdel Gawad, he did the research. He's the one that uh reached out, asked questions, got the envelope, ran everything down. It was a topic that came up in staff because we saw the local media reports, but he really is the one that spearheaded this. Well, nice. Good hire. Yes. Go ahead.

I'll just I just the fact that you're even pushing off that and saying ah it's not me is a good leadership quality in and of itself. And and not that I'm here trying to toot your horn or anything, but I just um that is that's a it's a great the fact that we have our staff willing to speak up and say, "Hey, look, I saw this thing or whatever." It speaks to you as well. So, appreciate you and the team as a whole on on looking into these types of things to better our community. Thank you. [snorts]

Thank you, sir. Item two, short-term rental followup. Yeah, I wanted to give an update on short-term rentals since it's been three months now since uh the short-term rental ordinance was adopted.

Great presentation. Um questions already. There we go. There we go.

Um, and as you recall, the short-term rental um ordinance limited the short-term rental locations to uh properties in Oldtown and residential [snorts] properties over three acres uh subject to special use permit requirements. Um, since adoption, we have received multiple inquiries for short-term rentals. However, everyone has fallen outside of those parameters, uh, location standards. U, we've not received any applications that meet those standards, so we've not been able to bring anything forward. Um, one of the reasons why we initially brought short-term rentals forward, um, and why there was interest in it was being able to prepare for the World Cup. Um well since the November adoption, additional details have come out regarding the World Cup um including the host teams. Um and due to that there's been additional excitement um throughout the region with those announcements. And currently the estimated attendance is estimated at 650,000 um visitors over the two-month period. Um and we only have 36,000 hotel rooms in the entire region. Um so there um has been a lot of stories about the need for additional lodging opportunities. Um so through the through the adoption process of short-term rentals uh there were a lot of questions and concerns especially regarding these being code amendments which are permanent um and not temporary um not accommodating a temporary event. Um and therefore based on the number of inquiries that we have received, we do believe that there will still be property owners that are likely going to try to work around our current regulations um to utilize their property as a short-term rental during the limited duration of the World Cup event. Um, generally the way that the code is written is that there's once we determine that there is a short-term

rental, um, it's a 30 days notice to shut that down. Um, so during that process, it would be very difficult for us to they're still going to end up having people stay there during that time um, before we're able to um, issue citation and go through the municipal court process on that. Um, so as part of that, a a number of other cities in the region have enacted temporary policy changes to accommodate short-term rentals. They're not amending their codes. They're just adding a temporary ordinance that allows certain um relief to the standards um for the months of June and July. Um, not all of them are some of them are just fees. Kansas City is just doing reduced registration fees. Um but a number of other cities including we do county Independence Roland Park and Parkville have made some changes um on the short-term rentals essentially eliminating the short-term rental and allowing um basically open in terms of the locations allowing those citywide uh just for the duration of those events. [snorts] Um so the reason coming forward to council tonight is just to ask if that is something that the city of Belton should consider. Um it's it's been kind of in a lot of the local news related to cities that are, cities that aren't. Um and so if there is any interest in that um providing temporary relief, we would propose um based on some of the other cities, particularly Independence is probably the closest one to the standards that we already have in place. So we'd probably match something similar to them. there there's a two-page ordinance that just um provided specifically which items in the current code would be relieved um starting June 1st and ending on July 31st. So those could include um essentially eliminating the special use permit process that's currently a 75day process. So, looking

at our schedule, um, in order to get approval before June 1st, um, through planning commission and council, you would have to submit your request no later than March 5th. So, that's just next week. Um, and then this would only apply again to single family and two family units and upper floor units and mixeduse buildings, uh, which are predominantly on Main Street. So, doesn't, um, apply to other apartment buildings or multif family buildings. And then of course private HOA restrictions can still be enforced beyond that. Um all other registration inspection requirements, occupancy limits, inspection requirements and the hotel motel tax would still be required to be collected during that time. Um so just hear for any feedback if that is something that there is interest in staff bringing forward at a future council date. um just to better be better prepared for the World Cup event for the months of June and July.

Any questions? Go ahead. Um I have a question going back to your initial slide. Um you said that you have received inquiries but they weren't within the old town um or over three acres. Can you give a sense of where those properties were? Like where are we seeing interest?

Yeah, we've had some interest in Belray. Uh we had actually one um inquiry on South Avenue, but they were on the south side of South Avenue, so just outside of those. Um we also had some calls along Allen Avenue. So kind of just geographically all over the city. Um and even some of those uh specifically the house on Allen Avenue, the homeowner would still be there. Um so either it's a an accessory building, accessory space, or a finished basement or something like that. Okay. Um, and looking at the rest of your presentation, it sounds like we expect people to do this either way, like it's this is going to happen.

It's it's going to be difficult to enforce. Um, some of the in addition to not having enough hotel rooms. Uh, there was recently just a few days ago a Kansas City Star article that Kansas City has the um highest or the lowest vacancy rate of any host city. So, in terms of just the sheer number of housing units that are available, um, you know, there's there's not a lot of op options out there, uh, in addition to the hotel rooms that we already have. Mr. Mayor, go ahead. If I may. Go ahead.

Um, a couple things, just give some information to the council. Uh, one is if you pull up some of the listings that are out there in the metro area that this is, these are not cheap. I mean, they're you're getting one-bedroom uh essentially apartments that are going for 10 grand for 12 days. Um folks can see if they folks see that kind of money sitting out there, they're going to say, "Uh, I'll I'll deal with the code violations on the back end or whatever and and they're they're not going to mess with us. They're just going to go do it."

Um so, not to say that we should always act based on what people are going to do anyway, but um I think that that that's one thing. The other thing is the four host teams that are coming to the Kansas City area, the region, the three specifically in Kansas City. If you were to pick like the top five teams that as far as that would travel or five top five countries that would travel, we got two of them. If you to pick the top 10, we've got three of them. Uh England and Argentina are going to travel extremely well. The Netherlands travels very well as also they're all coming to Kansas City for their base camp. And that's where most of the time when these folks are going to these World Cup or going to go follow the World Cup, they go to where the the base camps are for those teams. And so they'll all be playing in Kansas City some of their matches. And so it's going to be a mad house. I mean, we're going to have a lot of people in this in the metro area. And we're going to be needing to look at what are we going to do when 10 cities pop up in the parks and you know those types of things because if there's 36,000 available hotel rooms and 635,000 visitors, you do the math, it's just not going to math. I mean, it's not going to work. To follow up on what Joe said, I actually pulled up Airbnb for the first weekend of games and in Raymore right now there are four available Airbnbs. Uh the lowest is a onebedroom and it is $800, but then the there are three houses with the average being about $4,200 for those three nights are Mac can correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe our fine is $500.

Yeah, it's $500 a day after 30. I mean, realistically after 30 days. So, so realistically, if you're just doing this on a costbenefit analysis, most homeowners, if they have the ability, I mean, you could make your mortgage or a couple months of your mortgage by renting your house out for three nights. Go ahead. And they're the the big boys are offering incentives, pretty big incentives. VBO and Airbnb, they're they're offering pretty big incentives for Kansas City, the Kansas City area. So, anybody else? Everybody good with this? Bringing it back.

Thank you. Item three, gaming machines and monetary prizes. All right, I'm not going to stand up, but each of you got some information. I believe um Patrick did a memo and then there's also another sheet which which kind of essentially outlines where we where the gaming machines we think exist in our community at this point um at least our best chance and I'll let Patrick talk about it but that you know just to give you a brief overview since we've pushed this off we're supposed to discuss this as I say I know we made a motion to postpone this but there has been developments with the federal government and the state that's why we're bringing this back to

well March March 10th is when we were postponed to anyway. So, I wanted to have this conversation today so that if we had to come back for something on March 10th, we we were in alignment. Um the big the big news is essentially there was a lawsuit and the dea de devices are considered gaming um based on uh federal court here a a court decision and and probably more importantly the Missouri state attorney general has said that this is gaming that this is uh and it should be treated as gambling and um that these machines are not legal so to speak. You saw that patter?

Yeah, obviously in preparing for this sort of stuff, staff is looking at what are our options. Let's provide the council with everything we can and then we start doing our research. And on February 13th, the Eastern District uh federal court specifically in applying Missouri law said that these devices are gambling devices and they are illegal under Missouri law. In reaching that decision, they actually brought a case from 1913 up, which, you know, you think something from 1913 would not apply to electronic gaming devices and gas stations. That was actually a slot machine in a restaurant in Moberly, Missouri, where before you pulled the handle, it would tell you if you won or lost. And in that case, the uh at the time it was the Kansas City Court of Appeals, now the Western District Court of Appeals, decided that no, that is that is gaming. So essentially, unbeknownst to most people since at least 1913, gaming devices that provide you with the initial preview of what the next play is are still considered gambling devices under Missouri law. Um, also prior to this, the Missouri Highway Patrol from 2019 to 2022 had begun enforcement actions. Um, a lot of the times local prosecutors were not interested in bringing those because this was a pretty difficult legal question and if you didn't have a lot of backing, there are a lot more important things for midmo county prosecutors to be dealing with than a couple machines in a gas station. Um, that came to a head in 2023 when the Missouri Attorney General at the time, Andrew Bailey, uh, recused himself due to a conflict of interest because he accepted around $600,000 in campaign funds from Torch Electronics

and then from the uh, gas station that was Torch's first customer that the Missouri uh, attorney general and the highway patrol were seeking enforcement against. So that kind of essentially killed that case. Um but however, we have a new Missouri attorney general and she has been to put it mildly unequivocal and her her determination that based on especially the Eastern District decision based on that prior decision out of the city of Moberly case that these are gambling devices, they are legal in the state of Missouri and she is currently investigating the providers and the stores with the FBI and the IRS. Um she has as of now brought five cases this month. She found a county prosecutor that the county was just as uh gung-ho about trying to stop these. Um they have five cases brought as of right now. Those are I think listed in the memo. Uh so at this point when we were trying to determine what options we have legally when a federal court applies Missouri law uses a precedent from Missouri that is based on facts eerily similar to what we're presented with that says no these are illegal gambling devices then the Missouri attorney general comes out and says I agree with that and I'm going to start enforcement measures and investigations into these entities. we are left with no option. I am not ever going to suggest that we ignore two kind of things like that. Um I would note that there is a House bill that has passed the House. It is now with the Senate that would regulate these and permit them. Um, based on what I've read, it seems like this is now the third straight year that a similar sort of bill has passed the House and got to the Senate, but it will

most likely, based on the other previous years, not pass the Senate. So, at this point, I don't think that there is any sort of regulatory framework we can develop when the head law enforcement official of the state has said that they are illegal and is beginning enforcement actions concerning them. Um, I think at best what we do here is we probably ask uh the county prosecutor what his take is whether or not he's going to begin enforcement actions because again a lot of county prosecutors this is they have a lot of issues to deal with that are a little bigger than some gaming devices. We [snorts] can reach out to him and see what's going on there and kind of take a wait and see approach. Um, as I noted in the current code, if these are gambling devices, which under the plain language of the statute, they appear to be uh gambling devices. Um, a person playing them is subject to penalty under section 151-179A. A business is subject to penalty under 15179C. Uh, a person that has a liquor license is subject to having their liquor license revoked under 3-17. and any business that permits them is subject to having their business license revoked under 696 A3 and five. I don't think we're going to all of a sudden ramp up to go out and close down all these businesses, but now there really isn't a method for us to provide a framework to them given the current position of the Missouri Attorney General and the City of Moberly case from 1913 and the recent case out of the Eastern District. there's not uh something to give them to keep them. Is that what you're saying? We

Yes. I mean, there is no again as a city of the state, as a political subdivision of the state of Missouri, our laws have to comport with state laws. If a court, granted, it's not technically a court of competent jurisdiction because it's the Eastern District, not the Western District. But if a federal court judge reached this decision, if the attorney general has reached the decision that these are illegal under state law, there is no way that we could provide it. I believe Joe and I were talking about this earlier and it'd be like, you know, trying to find a framework to allow them to operate would be like, well, we like drugs. Let's make it so that drugs are legal. No, we can't provide that framework. That's not something that we could do. So, here I think we're in a position where we probably at some point need to talk to Ben Butler, uh, the county prosecutor, and then we also need to start advising these businesses because if the Missouri Attorney General is serious about this, five cases, she's probably got 500,000 cases that she's going to need to file with local county prosecutors. And unfortunately on the city's end, the statutory provision that they're utilizing for enforcement uh is only directed to the Missouri Attorney General, the circuit attorney, or the prosecuting attorney of the county. It does not grant me as the city attorney or the city council authority to enforce them because under Missouri law, the section that they're utilizing uh declares gambling houses, places where gambling occurs, as public nuisances, subject to criminal penalty and an injunction to prohibit them from continuing to operate.

Go ahead. Did you just say that that that because I may have spaced out that we really don't have any authority to be able to do anything? We don't have any authority to provide a framework to allow them to operate a as I see it right now unless that House bill passes or unless a subsequent court decision comes down that says no, these are not gambling devices. What about enforcement?

We could begin enforcement. Um obviously there is still pending litigation. The Springfield case is still pending. Um the five cases that were filed by the attorney general were filed in midFebruary. I think only one of them the people have even been served their summons. Um in one and then in the other one where the summons was served they filed a motion to dismiss but not the count that these were illegal gambling devices. It was a another account under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. Go ahead. So, I mean, there's a storm coming. Yes.

Is is what I think the takeaway is. Um the so you know there's an we are potentially knowledgeable of a an illegal activity um at very specific locations that have been now identified. Um do does that put us at a liability for something like do we need to take some action?

No, there's no potential liability that arises out of that. The thing to think about is we don't catch every speeder either. We know that people speed. We know what streets people typically speed on, but we're not going to catch every single one. I think what would our best route, and this is all from a staff process, is to contact the county prosecutor, get their feelings on what's going on, and then based on that, either, you know, alert him to we know that these are occurring in these places or otherwise potentially send notice in a couple months to these businesses. If everything stays the same and the track that we're going down is the one that we are letting them know that we understand that they have these devices, these are illegal gambling devices. They need to be removed.

So, I definitely think that we should give some notice here. Um because not everybody, it's surprising to me, but not everybody watches city council meetings. Um, and uh, so I definitely think we should give some notice here to potentially help some of those because some of those businesses may not be 100% reliant on these devices. Um, so I think it's um, I would note that depending on what the county prosecutor does, they don't need notice. I understand that. But what I'm saying,

we can let them know that this is occurring, but ultimately if you know the county prosecutor decides that this is something he wants to pursue, he could come in tomorrow. Well, that's my point. And maybe that'll be enough to help persuade some of the business owners to change their ways is my point. And and I think it's behooves us as a community or a good neighbor to at least say, "Hey neighbor, I saw you speeding. Uh you probably shouldn't do that cuz the police are coming." You know. Yeah. Um so uh

I agree. Part of the wait and see not sending it out tomorrow is the fact that that House bill is still potentially something that could be passed. So I don't think we want to would want to take an action being like, "Hey, got to remove the machines." And then tomorrow because this stuff is changing. I will be honest. We talked about this a month ago, month and a half ago. This this has changed done a complete shift in the past 11 days from what we thought it was on February 12th to what we think it is today. So, it's one of those things where if we send out those notices and those businesses do remove those machines and then all of a sudden by mid-March, the Missouri House has passed its bill, which granted would not apply retroactively, there's a very difficult uh process to go through to get one of those licensed, but they could attempt to get a license and operate one of those. I think there's only one of the existing businesses that even under do you have the

I again I think it's just a maybe potentially a token of good an olive branch if you will of hey just maybe uh you know just something to be aware of is what I'm getting at is is all and I'm not saying we should make them aware of and say hey close up shop. I'm just saying, you know, at the very least it seems to make sense to me to say, hey, you should be aware of what's happening outside here in Missouri.

Yeah. So, under the proposed bill that's making its way through, three of your establishments could be just in violation of that. Um the bill says that they can have up to 10 machines but says local governments can limit it to five or fewer than five and so there's three with five in them already. So and then my so what I my big question then is it sounds like at this point we don't need to ban them. We don't need to do anything because the state's taking care of that for us. Yes. And again, your code already bans gambling.

And since this is this is no longer a question of a gray area.

Yeah. So actually these machines, the legal term I've seen thrown about or them referred to as is gray machines because of that kind of nebulous gray area. But I think most attorneys when we read that city of Moberly case and the fact that it explicitly deals with a slot machine like device that told you whether or not you won or lost before you put your money in, which you these they tell you whether or not you won or lost after you put your money in. You have to put your money in first. But and then that was declared gambling 113 years ago. That was kind of on once I saw that case and then read it, I was like, "Oh, this is we don't have to do anything because they are prohibited."

Okay. So, essentially, we at this point, we're not our postponement. Yeah. And even in talking with Andrea, um based on these decisions, that ordinance will not come back to the council. um it is going to have this memo attached to it and say C memo because we don't even have the authority to pass it if you wanted to or discuss it. So wouldn't let me ask you a question then um Patrick wouldn't if the legislature passes some way for this to have some kind of exemption wouldn't they they still would be regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission and so they would still have some sort of regulatory process they'd have to undergo. Correct.

Yes. And so that was kind of the point I was trying to get to with uh Council Member McCullum. Even if based on what every everything that's going on right now with the Missouri Attorney General and that decision out of St. Louis, if even if the Missouri legislature passes this bill, which it wouldn't be effective until August 28th of 2026, these businesses and the retailers would have to get a license to have one of these in their facility. they it's not just like an automatic oh you used to have them you can still have them it is there is now a full regulatory scheme that would be involved um so even at that point what would most likely what I would think our suggestion would probably be is to send them a letter saying please provide us with the information in your application regarding lure under I think it's called the state video lottery system is what the Missouri legislaturator is calling it.

But even that sounds like it'll be a big if we if we even get to that point. So

yeah, I think the major issue with all of this legislation always comes down to um there's a portion of the Senate that each year has voted no due to not wanting to um kind of condone the sort of activity. And so they're just going to vote no just because of that. And based on everything I've seen, this new proposed legislation, even though it taxes these games at 30%. Um, and then an additional 5% for the city, um, even that's not going to get it past uh, some of those members of the Senate.

So, we're going to wait. You going to reach out to the prosecutor? Yes. And I I'll have to work with Chief Lions as well because obviously he'll want to his department would be investigating it. This is a criminal infraction um under Missouri law. So we'll work we'll talk to the county prosecutor and see kind of what his thoughts are. See if they're going to enforce this, whether or not they're going to, you know, work with the attorney general or whether or not they're going to utilize prosecutorial discretion and wait and see. and we just need to leave the tabled postponed bill.

Well, so I mean honestly at this point I discussed it previously with Andrea um it was postponed and we could bring it back but the only action you could take would be to vote no. So in instead it'll just be put into the file with this memo saying you know ordinance. Hold on. What we postponed was a proposed ban. Yeah. So, we don't need to do that and we can't even we can't even ban them technically under under Missouri law. We can ban gambling from occurring

which we've already done. But gambling devices are solely under the state of Missouri's purview when it comes to regulating, banning, prohibiting doing anything with them. Which is why that statutory section doesn't authorize me to do anything as the city attorney. So, so we literally can't do anything. Literally, there is there is no shape of anything that we could create that the council could consider. Yeah. Bottom line is we do nothing and just wait and see what happens and let the state take it from there.

Uh judge just asked, "So, we couldn't pull a business license?" Yes, we could still pull a business license, but we us enacting an ordinance saying we ban these machines is due to the field preeemption of the Missouri legislature. We us saying that does absolutely nothing and only brings about a question of whether or not we even had the authority to adopt it in the first place. Your business licensing code says that a person's license is subject to revocation if they um violate any provision of the code of ordinances, the unified development code or state law. Go ahead. I would like a regular update though when

uh yeah, I think this is I mean we'll probably have an update in a couple months depending on what the Missouri legislature does and depending on what our discussion with uh the county prosecutor is. All right, go ahead. [clears throat] So, if House Bill 2989 goes through the Senate, passes, because it is going to be overseen by the Missouri Lottery Commission. Yeah, [snorts] there's supposedly a set period to seize that and get into the new Yeah. system. Correct. Yeah. Have you heard how many what that timeline is? I think when I I think it's 90 days from the date of the bill's passage. Kind of what I heard. But

so it's it's a really quick turn. I think the Missouri Attorney General, I watched her um hearing in front of the House committee that was considering it. Um she is going, she's said very bluntly, I'm going to enforce the law that's on the book until the law is not on the books and then I'll enforce the law that you provide me. So, I think there's a weird sort of waiting period that we're stuck in, and that's kind of why I'm like, I don't really know what we do going forward, but that we're stuck in and that these gaming device companies are honestly stuck in given what we've heard from the Missouri Attorney General saying these are illegal, then the Senate potentially considering the full passage of a bill that says you have 90 days to get into compliance. Well, if they were illegal until August 27th,

how do you have 90 days to get into I So, are am I are they subject to criminal penalty until August 27th, 2026? And then on August 28th, the 90-day window opens. They can apply and try and get a license to no longer be in violation of state law. But it's a very weird situation. And there's a a company that my sister used to work for that was a major liquor distributor here in the state of Missouri. They were founded the day after prohibition ended. And the joke was always don't tell us what we don't ask us what we were doing the day before prohibition ended. All right. Everybody good?

Yeah. Guess.

Item four, utility rates. That's even better. I'm going to make this really quick because it's almost 8 o'clock. Um, so as part of the budget process, every year we look at utility rates. Um, we are assuming that Kansas City is going to pass a 5% on to us and we've heard through the great vine that Little Blue might be 11%. Um, in the past, uh, let's see. I I started bud budgeting here in FY24. Um, we did not pass an increase on to residential in 24, 25, 26, and I'm proposing not to in 27 for water or sewer. Um, but I am proposing Joe and I have talked about this and I think that he's talked to most of you guys in your one-on- ones um passing on an increase to those that uh reside outside city limits for water and sewer. So, I just wanted to create a little chart um for you guys to look at for water and sewer increases. Um the red is the KCMO increase that's been passed on to us over the years and then the blue is what we have passed on to our uh customers. So you can see the red is continuing to go up and the blue is continuing to go down. So we have not uh passed on that rate to our residential since FY24. So that's water. Sewer is the same thing. Little blue in red. The city of Belton in blue. The red keeps going up and the blue keeps going down. I do want to note that at some point, probably FY28, we are going to have to look at this and potentially pass on some of those rate increases to our residential inside and commercial inside city limits, both water and sewer.

So, with that, I am proposing a 5% increase for water. I'm sorry, a 10% increase for water. Um, for the wholesale, for the uh commercial and residential that are outside city limits, a 5% and then for sewer, a 10 a 5% for the sewer, even though we are getting an 11. Um, but our fund balance in sewer is a little healthier than the one in water. So, I am proposing a 5% in the sewer outside city limits. Trash, we have been talking to GFL. Uh they are looking at a three and a half percent increase to us which we want to pass on to the customers. Um they're also looking at the additional trash carts. We have anywhere between a,000 and500 uh additional trash carts out there and we charge 602 per month. We're going to uh GFL wants to raise that to $8 per month. So we're looking at doing that. Um they're also wanting to take over, we've talked uh with them about taking over the trash carts. So we would no longer be purchasing those. All of those would be coming from GFL. And they have uh opted not to pass on that uh increase to us. So there will be no increase to the customer. So trash would go from 2127 a month to 2201 a month. And then again the additional trash cart 602 a month to eight a month. uh GFL we've also talked about um in future increases not exceeding 4%. And I plan on bringing this ordinance to you guys on the 10th and Greg is going to be talking to Patrick about uh a contract with GFL that will be brought to you guys on the 10th as well.

Go ahead. Um okay. If they take over carts and then we are getting carts from them, but also they're propos we are negotiating no greater than 4% a year increase. How does that work? [snorts] What do you mean? How does that work? I just mean they're going to bake in the cost to us to provide us with carts there. Well, they are they are providing the carts to the customers. So, right now we purchase the carts and we we are in charge of distributing everything. We're in charge of all of it. Mhm.

And uh going forward, hopefully starting April 1st, um and they will put out public service announcements. They are in charge of all the marketing for all of this. Um if you guys decide to go this route, they will do everything. Um deliver the carts, um pick up the carts. Uh the customers would be calling GFL for carts. Now, of course, I know that people will still be calling city hall and we will definitely direct them in the way that they need to go, but uh we will no longer be purchasing carts, so we won't have that expense either. So, we would keep the current carts. Not like they're going to No one's going to go and collect the ones we've already paid for. They will just be in charge of replacing damaged carts and charging the customer for that. Does that sound right?

No, we we will get our carts. We will pick up the carts that are out there and GFL will replace them with their carts. Okay, we we have some scars from trash service changeovers and carts and I'm just, you know, it wasn't that long ago. And what happens to ours? Why do we like what? We sell them back to them or they set out at Greg's place. [laughter] No, they're actually going to take the carts. They're going to take the our old carts. Our old carts are at the end of their life. Most of the carts that we bought are five-year carts. We're on year six of the carts and so they're not going to last much longer. So they will take the carts and recycle them. That's what they told us.

They're Yeah, they're not. We We actually have seven carts, full carts sitting in the lot right now that are good to go out to a a new homeowner. Seven. Mr. Mayor,

go ahead. Um, essentially what they're doing is is what they're getting out of this is the three and a half% raise this year. Um, the the original proposal was that they would if they took over carts, it' be 250 a month per user for the carts. So, we said, "Well, we'll just keep it for now. We'll figure out a way to get another year out of this." And they said, "Well, well, if you will come with us and we'll you'll you'll extend our deal for another couple of years. We'll just bake that in and keep it." And as part of that, we said, "Well, we got to make sure we have a cap for how much you could charge us going up year-over-year, which is what the 4 percent would be." Our current contract calls for that for them to have the ability to raise rates based on the trash CPI, which for this year is 5%. And so, we're actually getting a little bit less than what they have the ability to charge us for as part of this negotiation. And we're getting the carts. And in return, we're we're [clears throat] going to get this cap on how much they could go up year-over-year. And they're going to take carts. and but what they get out of it is another couple years on on the end of this the contract and us not going out for bid. So that's kind of what that's the way we're how we're trying to weight this essentially. It this may be a stretch but what would keep them from becoming you know cart empires like what I mean by that is you know charging an exuberant amount for the cart.

The cart's built into they're not charging anything. we're still doing the billing and they're not char and so they're once they set the right weight with us we're we're passing along that that cost to the customers right so they can't just add a cart fee it's baked into the three you know all they can add is the three and a half% this year and then in future years the most they could go up is 4% year-over-year is their cap so if I need three new carts a year because that's what that that's what the other cost is is going up to $8 per cart per but that would be baked into the contract so they couldn't say It's $8 for the first one, $10 for the second one, and 100 for the third. Essentially, that's what we're working out. Yes. Is that it? Go ahead.

It's It's not a a new cart, not a replacement cart. It's if you fill up one cart, but you want two carts at your house, or if you want three carts. We have one house that has nine carts at their house. So, they will be charged for eight additional carts at $8. Yeah. But what about replacements? I guess that's where my question is. That's part of the cost. If they if they if the if the so there would be the can breaks, they need a replacement, then that's they don't get to charge them for that cart. That's part of the contract. Oh, they have to provide the cans as part of the contract. And it's very unusual that cities actually provide the carts.

Anybody else? Anybody else on trash? Because I have a question on water. So what if like the first year with these new carts they don't have to replace any and then the second year they don't have to replace any but yet the third year now they're having to start replace depending on how many they have to replace each year. Can that be factored into the percent of three or less for 4% or less or 4% or less? Yeah, that will be. Yeah. Yep. So, if they're not replacing, if everybody's like taking care of their carts and they're not having to replace them for, you know, maybe they're not replacing that many in the in the five-year period.

Well, one of the reasons we're so gung-ho on trying to get the cart part baked into this is because we're seeing them starting to fail at a much higher rate because they're they're end of life and they're all going to start failing essentially the same time. We bought all other most of our cards at the same time. Gave them all out. Added that that I was just saying the 4% increase each year that they could raise it if we don't use any carts like the first year. Don't have to replace any on a percentage of how many carts you have to replace per year. Reduce that from the 4% down to the whatever it is. If we're not have if they're not having to replace them. And I that's not their only cost. Yeah. The four the 4% will be for the trash service. Yeah. You know, and I the carts aren't any extra.

Yeah. They're they're just eating the carts to get our business, right? Yeah. Like Joe said, originally eating the cars to get our business. So it's Go ahead. So on the trash bill, it's going up about 74 cents. Yes. Per customer. Correct. at and then roughly uh $1.98 per second, third, fourth, or fifth or up to nine cards. Extra cards. Yeah. Additional. Okay.

And I would say about 20 25% of our customers have additional trash carts. That's amazing. I just see people putting them on top and it flowing all over the place. I think a lot of the folks that have the extra card, not just one extra card, I mean some households, you know, you have a lot of trash, you might need an extra card, maybe a third one, but if you got more than three, most of those are like that they're using it for a commercial use essentially. So, and and they just would build that into their business in a home business or something. Catering business or something. Go ahead. Are they going to be the same size? 96. The containers. Yes.

Do you still have the ability to buy the little green tags for extra bags? So, you get those from us? Yeah, I do. Y Yeah. But we can still get those. Okay. Go ahead. Most of our water is going to be the wholesale, right? Outside of city. I mean, that's correct. Like we don't have a lot of res. There are very few. Okay. Anybody else? Anything else?

And I just want to add, I know 10% seems high on that water, but we haven't raised the water rates for wholesale or outside our our city limits for a couple years either. So, if you were to take a 3% per year for three years, that's we're we're in this we're in the ballpark. We're not being exorbitant. You done? No, I'm done. You sure? I can go down a rabbit hole, but I I won't. Go ahead. Uh, can you email this out to council? Thank you. I sure can. Anybody else? So, if you are all okay with this, I'm going to bring I mean, I've already got the ordinance to Andrea, so if I need to change anything, please.

I'm good. You guys good? Everybody good? Good. We'll find out at a vote. Yep. All right. Item n motion enter executive session discuss matters pertaining to legal actions according to Missouri state statute 610.021.1 pertain to lease and purchase sale of real estate according to Missouri state statute 610.0.21.2 pertain to hiring firing discipline promotion of personnel according Missouri state statute 610.021.3 pertain to negotiated contracts according Missouri state statute 610.021.12 021.12 indiv individual identifiable personal records performance ratings record [snorts] employees or applicants of employment according Missouri state statute 610.02 02 and.13 at the record be closed in the meeting and journ from there. present. A mouthful.