Council - Regular Meeting

Please join me in reciting our pledge. 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, with liberty and justice for all. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for your provision and your blessings you bestowed upon the city. We ask for your guidance. We ask for your wisdom as we make decisions for the city of Booneville. and we ask you to bless us in 2026. Amen. Amen. Thanks.

Here, Davis here. Bectal here. Young here. Meadows here. Howard here. Harville here. Elbert here. All right, ladies, you're up.

Yep. Oh, [laughter] yeah. You're all turned. Y'all were waiting for me. Okay. So, good evening everyone. I'm Rainada Mason, public affairs specialist with the US Small Business Administration. I'm with the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience. And this is L Monica Lacy. And first, happy new year. Um, I appreciate you all giving us an opportunity to speak today. And the reason that we are here is to provide information to your county, Cooper County, who was listed as one of the counties in a presidential declaration that was declared October 22nd. Um, we are a little bit late to the party. Um, I'll be very honest. Um, the declaration was declared October 22nd and this is storms that stem from March 30th through April 8th. However, there still is federal funding available to those that may have been impacted whether it was from the straight lines, the flooding, or the tornadoes. Um, so we wanted to make sure that everyone had information um to know that there are resources available and to let you all know just a summary because it's a lot on what those resources look like. Um, these are small interest rate loans. Um, for any homeowner or renter, that interest rate is at a 2.75%. Um, for renters, they may qualify for up to 100,000. For homeowners, they may qualify for up to 500,000. that can go towards the real estate and repairs of their home, whether it's debris removal, insurance deductibles, um landscaping, anything of that nature. Um even though they may have used funding already to repair, they can use the funding to reimburse themselves. Um they can also get an additional 100,000 for homeowners as well to help replace or repair any personal property, including automobiles. And for our businesses that may have been impacted, whether it's for physical or non-physical damages, they may qualify for up to 2 million at an interest rate starting at 4%. And so when I speak on the non-physical side, if there's any business in the area that may not have that may not have gotten any physical damages and they've seen a loss in inter an interruption in their business or a loss in revenue, they can

use our funding for working capital. Um the same goes for nonprofits in the area that may have been impacted. Um their interest rate is at 3.625%. Um, all our loans across the board have a one-year deferral. So, they have one year before they have to make payments up to 30 years on the loan terms. Um, and they can prepay and pay off the loan beforehand if need be. But in addition to that, if there's any homeowners or any businesses, because I have been in Missouri since May, it has been a busy busy year for the state um with disasters. And so, I'm saying that to say that we also can provide an additional 20% for mitigation. Um and so if you know of anyone even yourselves or anyone in the area that may have been physically impacted and need additional funding to help in the rebuilding of stronger better um they can use the funding for that as well. And it does not have to be um the type of I'm sorry it doesn't have to be the type of damage they may have sustained for this one. So, um, this was the flooding, the tornadoes, and the straight line winds. But if anyone who has been impacted physically sees a need for any funding to elevate a home, for fire protection, um, for a better a stronger roof or something of that, they can use the funding for that as well. Um, that can be an additional up to 500,000 um, for any homeowner um, that may need that additional funding as well. So, wanted to make sure that we have the information. We are in the grace period of that. Um, the initial de initial deadline was December 22nd, but we have a 60-day grace period on that. So, the deadline to apply is February the 20th for any physical damage. And for any business or nonprofit for economic injury, that deadline is not until July 22nd. So, wanted to get that information out. Thank you, Amber, for assisting in this. And I I don't know if you had any information emailed, but I do have some hard copies for you all. Um well, I'll share that with you if that's okay.

Yes. And um and then I will email you. Um there's another flyer that just allows cuz this one has the initial deadline, but there's a grace period as I mentioned. So, I'll send that to you by email. Sounds great. Okay. Thank you all again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Okay. Excuse me, ma'am. Have you had many people take advantage of the funding in the county?

Yes. So, um, Cooper, yes, in Cooper County, I will say that overall, cuz I know the number in my head right now, but so I'm going to speak overall for the entire declaration, we've had almost a million, um, in approvals. Majority of that has gone to homeowners and renters that have taken advantage homeowners more than than the renters that have taken advantage of it. Um, but we are still pushing the thing. But I what I will do is I can email just a breakdown to see how many have taken advantage in Cooper County. Okay. Sure. One additional question too is uh since this is recorded and broadcast, is there somewhere that if people are interested, they could go today and check.

Oh my gosh. Thank you. So um u there's not a physical location. Um however, if anyone is interested in applying, they can visit our website at sba.gov/desaster. and our customer service number if anyone has any questions or need any answers or run into any issues. It's 1 8006592955.

Yes. Perfect. Now say that again please. The number 1 800 659 2955. Now did you do anything about their Polyro when they got hit by a tornado last year? Was just Was you out there? Oh, that for the uh Pilot Grove got hit by a tornado. Yes, that's that's part of it, too. Yes. So, we actually had a um so in Pilot Grove, we did do a disaster recovery center. We did a we were running a circuit. So, of this declaration here, there were 20 primary counties that were impacted and of the 20, we did a circuit of DR of disaster recovery centers of 19 of them in Cooper County was one. I had the opportunity to meet the emergency manager there and everything.

Okay, good for you. Can your information be left like at the library or the local radio station? I know that a lot of public service announcements go out through both those venues if if you have information to leave. Absolutely. Yes. May I leave my business cards as well? Sure. Okay. I will do that. And I have I have Tiana's business card. That's it. That's all I have. Okay. I'm going to get mine and then So you can have mine, too. Are we doing the KWRT show this week? Yeah. Is this on the agenda for that? I'm sure it is. I can I can make it now. Let's make it happen. More exciting than what else it is. It is now.

This is This [laughter] is a good one. We throw it into the the Kate Fel show on KWRT. [laughter] Okay. I'll get my business card. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [sighs] Any changes on the U December 15 council minutes? All right, they will be accepted. Consent items. Thank you. Consider payout number eight in the amount of $22,960. Thank you.

To Hydrovac of Missouri for lead survey line inventory. Do we want to do both of these at the same time or one at a time? Same time. Item B, consider pay number three in the amount of 95,263 56 to CL Richardson Construction for water and sewer improvements. Is there a motion? Mayor like to make a motion we approve the Bob consent items. Thank you. Second. I'll second that. Whitney

Whitney got it. Okay. Questions or comments? Is this it on the hydrovac? Can't hear. Um, is this Nope. There will be at least a final. It might be retainage and a little bit the retainage that we've been keeping. There'll be one more. There'll be a final one. Good question. Anybody else? Roll call. Nibble. Yes. Davis. Yes. Yes. Young. Yes. Meadow. Yes. Coward. Yes. H. Yes. Elbert. Yes. Okay. Item six, presentation of accounts and claims.

He had ordained by the council of the city of Boomville as follows. Section one for the purpose of paying salaries and various accounts against the city of Boomville which have been allowed by the council at the regular meeting thereof on January 5th, 2026. a sum of $499,235.34. General fund 152,51689 sanitation $3,83722 CIP tax $28,81056 waterworks $162,76369 capital projects $18,267.97 wastewater 87,400 269 tourism $5,274.70 gaming $38,673.51 parks and water $1,664.71 Kimber sales tax $0 economic development project $0 section two the accountant is hereby authorized and instructed to draw checks on the respective city bank accounts in favor favor of the person whose salaries and accounts have been allowed as amounting allowed as above amounting to $499,235.34 being the total amount of money being appropriated. Section three, this ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage first reading January 5th, 2026. Read for the second time this January 5th, 2026. The copy was made available prior to the meeting.

Second reading title only. Ordinance appropriating money. Mayor, I move that we approve this ordinance appropriating money. All right. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion or questions? Roll call. Venable. Yes. Davis, yes. Beal, yes. Young, yes. Meadow, yes. Coward, yes. Harville, yes. Yes.

Motion passes. [clears throat] Item seven, unfinished business. Second reading of bill number 2025-031 approving a final site plan for AECI utility services at 2415 Mid America Industrial Drive. An ordinance of the city of Booneville, Missouri, approving the final site plan for AECI Utility Solutions 2415 Mid America Industrial Drive, Booneville, Cooper County, Missouri, providing an effective date therefore in repealing all ordinances in conflict with this ordinance.

Questions or comments? Mayor, I make a motion to approve this. All right, we have a motion. I'll second. Motion and a second. Discussion. Roll call. Nibble. Yes. Davis, yes. Beal, yes. Young, yes. Meadows, yes. Coward, yes. Orville, yes. Elbert, yes. Motion passes. Item eight, new business. First reading of bill number 2026-01.

Amending chapter 20, streets and sidewalks. Filling filling and surface surfacing [clears throat] easy for you to say and appendix G. An ordinance of the city of Vuma, Missouri amending chapter 20 streets and sidewalks in appendix G schedule of fees providing an effective date therefore in repealing all ordinances in conflict with this ordinance. That's the first reading.

Okay. Item nine, reports of standing committees, Moonville Housing Authority. The U information's in the packet. They're in the process of replacing HBAC in the two and threebedroom houses and uh they hope to be done with that part of it by mid January. Okay, any questions for Susan? Okay. Are we still at full capacity? Yes. Oh, yes.

Reports of city officials. Item 10. Mayor, I have nothing. City administrator.

Um, originally I thought we would have a work session, but since the agenda looked pretty light, I thought we'll just put it at the end. You guys didn't have to come early. Uh tonight, just really really quickly, I want to talk over a few things. The admin, the airport, debt service, and economic development. Um we're primarily talking operational cost, so there's not we're not quite to all the capital site. I did include some capital for you guys to see, but um it's relatively minor and it will kind of get fine-tuned when we get to the gaming portion of the city's budget. So, first I just want to say we're we're about a year in to having Jim around and he's happy to answer any questions, but he said I could talk for him first. So, um so his uh his budget is on page 48. You can see the operational costs are staying pretty much steady. And I did provide information on the services that he he's planning to utilize and those are

How come I don't have a page 48 now? I don't know. Oh, cuz you're on a different packet. Cuz you don't have the full packet. Ah, I'm not cuz he has the short packet. [clears throat] That's um Thank you. Yep. And then just preceding the 46. Um Yeah. Okay, it's it's there. It's the page after this one. Whatever your page numbers might be different [laughter] than our page numbers. My page number is 18 by way. So, [laughter] all right. I think I'm all I think. We're here. We're here.

All right. So, um if you guys remember previously, we had other staff coming out of economic development. Teresa came out of economic development. She's no longer out of there. Um this is this. So Jim is the only staff person coming in out of this and then um primarily his money this year is going if you go on the proceeding page there's a section under economic development subscription and dues um this is several software pieces that he is using to help with business development um entrepreneurial support and pretty much whatever else we maybe need. So you guys have seen Placer AI in action. We've given you several of those reports. The other ones he uses more often when he's talking to businesses or recruiting people. Um and then you'll just see the organizations that he's proposing to be a member of. None of this is unusual. Most of these things were around when we had in-house economic development. It was carried over to the uh BCDC was carrying some of these costs when we were just giving them a lump sum. And I think there's some discussion about the BCDC covering some of these costs, but they haven't met to discuss their budget quite yet. So, some of those might might come out. Um, otherwise, I I think that's about it. I think Jim is doing a nice job and I'm grateful to have him here. He he does a lot for us besides just doing cool place reports. He He's very helpful. So, it's nice to have another person in the office um all the time and and I think it's been a good addition to the staff. So,

are we still seeing partial funding through the county on economic development? The BCDC receives partial funding but not directly to the the office of the economic development but not to the city. Right. All right. Thanks. So, if you remember previously we gave 80,000 and they gave 40 40 some amount annually and then they had the employee but we've just brought it back in house. Um and so now we don't give BCDC any other additional support. And Kate and this may question for Jim as well. Do we use any key indicators for measuring economic development impact? Like are we looking at benchmark from where we began and where we end up and how we Jim question. [laughter] Here he comes.

So generally yes, but they're they're usually projectbased. So uh like AECI uh you'll see that one of the software that is listed here is uh Litecast. So Litecast is a well accepted um methodology in the economic world of doing impact impact analysis of input output models. Um most projects have a direct and indirect and induced economic impact. So direct is going to be measured in fixing fix and fixing the building in the first place. That kind of thing.

Indirect is going to be those things that you know six new employees is going to generate the need for a another waitress at I mean you know yeah lagging indicators for

those kinds of things. So LCAST has a uh accepted model for that and so that's one of the ways we use that. So in in general uh what I try to keep track of is is really our gross regional product over time. Um but it's so it we either get we either get the macro or the micro. Um there isn't there isn't a big measure in between daytoday because daytoday isn't really that I mean it varies quite a bit dayto day. Do we use anything internally for economic performance for the city? And let me back up from that. Not indicators, but do we have targets? So if we look at growth, are we looking for a 4% annual um I guess it's essentially like our GDP, right? Gross regional product.

Well, so so the indicator that the indicator that affects that where the city sees the effects of that most is going to be in sales tax growth. Um and so Kate Kate uses a figure uh that is the basis of the budget talks that that happen here and that's expected growth over time. Part of that might be driven by changes in rates. Um but uh largely it's driven by changes in consumption. But do we have do we have actual targets that we use as a city? I don't create one. No. And the growth is very modest. Okay. And 2% is like we're really making it

2%. And do we have can we see that anywhere? Is there like trending economic growth over time?

I track it and then I get individual. So like um I can see the sales tax returns, but I think you guys have heard this before. They like literally make no sense cuz some people pay quarterly, some people pay monthly, and then all a sudden someone gets a bunch of money back and you're like, "Okay, I don't know what happened there." And then so it's not as easy to track like month over month. although it's relatively consistent, but year-over-year we do look and I have the big I mean I get the monthly numbers and I track them but it's it's just there's not much growth. That's what I'm going to tell you. And um it's relatively modest and it's also hard because the time at which people because people are paying into the state at different times just use you know like let's say pedalers jambburye or something it's like a big event you're like oh lots of people are in town

so that's in May it's not like in June the sales tax receipts are huge it it's not like a like you can necessarily tie things so without speaking one-on-one to businesses if you were curious it's not it's very difficult local. But yeah, our growth is relatively modest. Um the use tax was [snorts] has always been kind of a wild card and part of that is again because if a corporation purchases a piece of machinery or something or maybe not machinery, I think some of that sales tax, but something like they might buy a million dollar piece of equipment. So that's a a big sales tax coming in that also has like a 5year 10 year, right? But it

but you can't necessarily count on that. And and there again, I can see who's paying in on the use tax, but often times, I mean, it could be, you know, ABC Industries. Well, I don't know who those people are. So, it's it's not like you're like, "Oh, that's the new laser cut or something or something." I mean, you just don't know what it is. So, um, I track it and but I think honestly this year it's kind of slowed down a little bit, too. So, I mean, I think if we have 2% growth, personally, I think the other marker for us is always going to be water growth. So, water sales, that's a an indicator and an important one for us. Um, for people been around the table a long time,

it's hard to do the necessary upgrades um that are required to stay in compliance with the state if you're if your water users are never growing. So you know if we've had 1300 users since 1950 1950 cost don't so like if all of a sudden now we have you know500600 users I think that's a better number and looking at those revenues coming in and then of course businesses coming in are helping of course and that was less less oversight more exploratory in nature right if we look at

what are our leading indicators right like are we trending in the right direction just from a curiosity point of view I didn't know if we had a means of measure that we say you know what we will have a 5% rate or a 5% increase in water usage because we can see our key indicators ticking up 18 months in advance. Yeah. I mean you can kind of see I mean that would again it's going to be more on your housing. I mean that's why you want you want to annex. It's why we want to grow you want more houses being built in your community and we are seeing those numbers. It's just a a modest growth. I can't remember I think I saw the number of building permits Steve issued this year and it was probably in like 30s or Yeah, 45 is the number I 45. Okay. So growth.

Yeah. So that's I but I always think too that we need to be mindful of having manageable growth. I mean I don't think any of us want to be in a place where your population is, you know, doubling in a couple years. We that's equally difficult. So it is managed growth. Um but I do think for the city's health, the water and the sewer is a good indicator. The sales tax of course is is crucial. It's the primary backbone of the general fund and it but it's the output of but it's hard it's just hard to really wrap your arms around sales tax. It's not as clearcut as a numbers you wish it would be. Sure. But

thank you. Thank you for that answer. So, so from the economic development side, [clears throat] uh the gener so my focus is on primary job creation which is jobs that import wealth into the community and and that is a differentiator between uh retail and service that's in the in the community. Not that those jobs aren't important and certainly I'm here to help, but my focus every day is really on jobs typically in manufacturing are the best example. Uh but but and and just to draw that out a little bit, it is like an employee at Caterpillar puts his or her effort into making a part that goes into a D8. That D8 gets sold to another country. Some part, some percentage, small percentage of that sales price finds its way back into Booneville uh to pay for that worker for the work that was done out here at Caterpillar. So that's bringing wealth into the community as opposed to a retail business here in town, which are all important. I'm not belittling them, but but most retail businesses here are more us exchanging dollars amongst ourselves.

Yep. So my focus every day is really on bringing in those external dollars and and that's very much a sales funnel. You have you've seen my reports. You have these prospects. Some fall off the list, some get added to the list and and your drive is to get them landed here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions for Jim? Just one real quick one on the um special events budget. So we try to we try to hold some money aside. Okay. And I don't know how does that entail exactly?

So I don't know how Kate classifies it. So it's it's it's going to be the case where we have a site visit.

So we may have 20 people come and view a site as prospects. And that might be overnight lodging, that might be transportation, dinners, all those kinds of things. We we had money set aside in this year's budget and didn't didn't use haven't let me be optimistic. Have not used it yet. I was going to say it and [laughter] so you're going right down the path which I was hoping you would go which is I sure hope we can use this in a beneficial way. Like I'm okay with having in the budget and jumping it from you know $3 to $10,000. That's all well and good. It's kind of one of those things. It's almost like an R&D on our perspective from the city. whereas if we can use it and it does attract another Kawasaki or another whatever,

it's it's a great use of of funds. So, um any I thought that's where it was. I just wanted to to make sure. So, yeah, that's that's correct. Any other questions? Um one quick one. Why did we see the we see the variance from uh 30205 dues and publications 14,000 to 3500 and then the prospected is 40. So, where's that coming from? Go ahead. Oh, Kate, you can um so if you look on the if you look on the page before it, all the so all of those software software pieces I'm putting into do into that number. Did they live somewhere else prior to that? I'm guessing. Um yeah.

Well, so I didn't so economic development didn't pay for half a Placer last year. Uh tourism did all of that. Um, but last year's economic development budget was put together kind of after the after the budget process had already begun. So, we used last year's budget with had Kate is had al allocated it. I I think we're more in alignment this year of having the right things in the right holes. Yep. Uh, and that um and we're we're not going over budget anyway, but So, not a net increase, just a repositioning budget line item. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. If you look like the economic services, so yeah, I just kind of like we're I'm trying to more appropriately account for things and and software programs are one. It's one of those things. I guess the categories that were created in 1960 are sometimes tricky to decide is this a do or is this a subscription? Yeah. So, you know, I'm just trying to make it a little more standardized across the board. All the magazines were getting delivered to the house. That's right. Any other questions for Jim? All right, sir. Thank you, Jim. [laughter] Thank you, sir.

All right. Next up is the airport. You will see that um it's pretty much the same year-over-year. The the increased expenses are on gas. And you'll notice I didn't even put a number for gas that it's really just a placeholder. There's a number in there. Travel, but it just depends. Thank you, ladies. how much we sell at the end of the year.

There is a revenue on the offset in the in the 01 budget. So, you know, that we receive from that. So, that's part of why it looks a little light right now. Um, also this year we had some more buildings and grounds maintenance, a few more things. Um, this year in terms of capital projects, it's a very quiet year. We used literally all five years of non-entitlement funds and this year's already. So, we're like back to banking um to bring down the cost for the um runway rehab that we did or the te tanger lane rehab. So, um

just to interject there real quick. So, the airport board has been um pretty vocal about being grateful for the 1.3 million that we spent there. I'm really glad to see that. Uh so we did budget the 10,000 for the fence as Fox Hollow grows and there's more kids and dogs and things.

Um I'm really glad to see that we're we're doing that and I know that'll be welcome news to the airport crew as I as I kind of call the the group out there. So uh I'm glad we're doing that. I think it's it's definitely a good thing. As small as it is, it's a very important thing and one that's probably overdue. I think we can all agree on that that's involved in the airport. Anyway, just if anything comes up regarding that, like if any questions, is it necessarily something we need to do? It's it's absolutely something we need to do and it's it's an important piece to to the security of the airport, not only for those using the airport, for those not. So, and we're going to do that in house. Paul doesn't even know. Oh, Teresa just whispered. [laughter]

The parks crew is going back in the fence business. So, they've had a they've had a reprieve since we finished the soccer field five years ago. So, now it's time to to bring the band back together. So, um this way it'll just go towards uh the material. So, is it going to the west side wall? Do we know what we're the project scope is just yet, Kater? Now, I just put money into it and I thought we'll just go until we run out of money. Yeah, fair enough. [laughter] Just build on down the line kind of thing. Y um

so otherwise the rest of it is kind of standard. Um there's no big changes in that budget. Um, and no major capital occurring. So, debt service. I I see I put the admin budget first, but that's okay. Debt service. Um, I put all the details on the debt service in case you're interested to know what our debt service is [clears throat] and what we're paying for. It's worth noting, I guess, that each I say this every year, but we're getting closer to paying off our debt. So, um, you know, there's going to be some cash freeing up, which is going to be really good. So, um, like I said, the ladder truck is paid off in 2829. 2010 refunding is paid off next year. So, that's a big one. Um, 2930 and 2829. So, uh, within the next 5 years, we'll have a significant reduction in city's [clears throat and cough] debt, which will be nice.

Um, I don't plan on doing anything big, but I will never say never. So, who knows what might come along, but uh, [snorts] at When I first started, I think on on the horizon, our next big thing was concerned about um the water treat water treatment plant possibly needing an upgrade, but I don't think that that's no wastewater treatment plant.

The wastewater treatment plant, but it got rerated and I don't think it's going to be an issue right now. So, um but again, never say never. And there are some very large projects necessary, which we'll talk about the next meeting on the wastewater and the water side that we may end up wanting to bundle if the interest rates look lower just so we can knock some out. Um those some of those things I'll just precursor they're on the blue sky list which tells you that they're not funded. But um lowering the intake at the Missouri River so that as the river gets drier we don't run out of water. Um there's significant upgrades that need to happen at the wastewater treatment plant and the water. So there's just a lot of big projects that are all um have lots of zeros behind them. So I don't we're going to try to work them out, but at some point in time that might be a discussion, but not today. Um so also I told you where we actually pay these out of and then also where they're reimbured. So if you're curious where the money goes now, you'll know. um gaming reimbures most of our um debt. So, it's important that the casino continues to sort of be steady as it helps provide the funding for this and provides um significant capital project money for us. So, it makes it makes budgeting a little bit less stressful to have that income. And then on the administration side, I have put in the operations. That's again, there's no major surprises. I I don't know if I wrote this in here, but I I'm working off a 3 to 6% increase on salaries this year or three and a half to six. Um so, uh that's kind of the increase on the salary personnel side is for that. Um the rest of it is kind of

Okay. Can I ask one question? Mhm. Um line 30905 on election expenses. We had 5,500 for the budget and then we're projecting 5500 for the budget, but we got a projection amount of 13,000. Yeah. It's because we had um two ballot questions last year. We had the CIP tax. Yep. And that is cost $13,000 to run that election. Really? Yeah. Yes. As opposed to about 5,000 just if it's just a regular council people election, you know, just a regular one. But because when you have more than one question, it gets more expensive. More questions are more expensive. Yeah. Duly noted from the guy who asked a lot of questions. Yeah. [laughter]

Start charging. I know, man. I got the radio free. Trying printing them out, getting people to sign off and making sure it's real. That's That's okay. Fair enough. Um, and you'll note also I just also worth noting if you look at the projected on the tax collection and assessor, it's a little lower than I budgeted. I've dropped it a little bit from what our budget was. But again, um, you know, as we build 45 new houses, that budget will go up a little bit, but um, I do think this is continuing to be fruitful and I'm I'm hopeful that we'll have an agreement again in February. I think we're almost time to meet again to discuss that.

Oh gosh. So, um, I'm happy to answer any questions about the admin budget. Again, there's not a This is just kind of the business side. It's it's you'll see it just doesn't grow very much. We don't spend too much more um on our pens and pencils than we have to. So, we try to operate as well as we can. I will note there is a few admin capital that I just put in here because I wanted you guys to be aware of them. And this is pa well I don't know it's on my page 46 but it's right after the memo. Um it's primarily here. So the council chambers is the recipient of some really necessary upgrades. Uh first is uh cameras and streaming upgrades. So we have had the same system since 2012. So if anyone works in IT, you know that we are limping this along. And if you're wondering the camera like no one can even see your face. It's just bad.

So sometimes cannot be bad things. So, we're gonna it's we're it's time to do those upgrades and get that started. I have put money in for the new awning at city hall. Yes, it's a lot of money for an awning. Um crazy.

I've had it in there a couple times and I just haven't really pulled the trigger. I've left it in here again. It's the original awning from 2012. It just is time. It's just hard to believe that's how much money an awning costs. Um so, since we're here doing cameras, we're go going to go ahead and do the security cameras here as well. and then also the council chamber security entrance. So, we're slowly converting from keys to cards. That's just a general security system. It helps track when people are coming in and out. Um, it also makes access easier, frankly, for everyone because now you like people can go in the building if they have the card and maybe they don't have the key, you know. So, it's just working. It's working out a little bit better. Police and city hall currently have them. So then this will and then all the department heads have keys to come in the back door at city hall. So this will add this building as well. And then I'm hoping to fill in on public works and public public works will pay for their key card entrance as well. So um uh it's just it's just good. it's redundancy in terms of tracking people and making sure and I've also have always said um that previously I hope nothing ever happens but since the um the nice ladies from the SBA were here today [snorts] that I joked that if something terrible happened and we had a major disaster that none of us had anything that said we're affiliated with the city. So I felt like we should have some sort of card that said we were who said who we were and should be able to come in. So um that's help that's part of it too just a security so that everybody knows

it also helps prevent access as well. If you have somebody you need to take access from you can do it instantly.

Yes. So um th those are it those are the primary plans for um I say city hall city council we count kind of count these as one in the same building um outside of any other like computers and our sort of regular purchase items. So, I I've already got these coming out of gaming and I think I can fit them into that um contingent or the major projects and initiatives fund which is where we put those in. So, I think that's all I had in here. You're going to be really excited because next week we're going to talk about all things water and wastewater and Kevin is going to lead you through thousands of pages of information

next week or next meeting. Next meeting. And we probably are going to do that before council. Kevin's laughing. I'm excited. Kevin, [laughter] Peter hasn't been through it yet. I think it's naity, but I'm excited.

Probably do 6:15. I think you guys can do 45 minutes. If we need to spill over into the council meeting, we can. Um, and then I did just include the health budget, which we already approved the increase, but this is just so now you know where it's going. Again, it's it's staying pretty standard. Um, any increases are going towards the the salaries and um and then paying WM. So, that's for your information. Any questions? It'll be on that Tuesday with Martin Luther King. Yes, it'll be on Tuesday. And if I said Monday, I'm sorry. Oh, the 20th. First of all, you said next week. I did say next week. Yes. Tuesday. No, that's sorry. That's going to be the 20th at 6 or 6. 6:15. [laughter]

It's six. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Maybe we'll bring you dinner. You know, we should probably just I don't know. Did Oh, and tourism. I just Tourism gets to come, too. So, maybe we should do six. We better do six. Six. Six. I forgot about tourism getting stuck in there. Why don't you wait till I have it written down? Okay. All right. 6:00 and we will probably for that we will bring you guys dinner. You just never know what it'll be. Counts. Good. Okay. Done. Nice. Well done, city clerk. Um Um Yeah. So [laughter] I was

That's dangerous. That's dangerous. Sorry. Um, I just want to give an update on the candidates that filed for the upcoming election in April. Um, so we have three candidates that filed for mayor. And that is Mike Conway, Morris Carter, and Tanner. And then um, on this side we'll have for Ward One, we'll have Steve and Hie Thompson. And then [laughter] Sorry. Um, [clears throat] w two is Evan Milkerson. W three is Andrew. And W four is Sai.

That's who we got filed and coming up. Good. Good. City councelor. Uh, nothing. All right. [snorts] Are you alive? [laughter] Go. All right. We already did the economic developer. No, I'm back. Oh, what a surprise. Bad bad penny. Bad penny. Get after it, Jim.

So, there's uh there's two my report uh correspond the report you see from me corresponds to the meeting of the BCDC and they met once in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, I don't have that for you, but next time they meet um I'll have that report for you. But I wanted to make you aware of two things that are in your packet. First is an upcoming event on angel investing. Um so this is in your packet. Um it's January 13th at 5:30 p.m. You all are welcome to attend. It's uh a general information session for entrepreneurs, for potential investors, uh and really just anyone who wants to know how angel investing works. Um that kind of thing. If you do intend on coming, uh, I would appreciate it if you give me an RSVP, uh, and feel free to pass this information on to any of your constituents you think might be interested. Uh, but I'd like to get, uh, the proprietor of WJ's account, uh, prior to that night. So, if you could RSVP.

Uh, so any questions about that? Yeah. Who's this targeted to, the investors or the people needing funds? Either. either and I have both types coming. Okay.

Yeah. So, it's really more uh of anformational session about how angel investment works, what does it take to be an accredited investor, what should entrepreneurs look out for as they take equity investment, those kind of general things. It's really an introductory uh session. The second thing that's in your uh packet is a memo from me um for several months as you've asked me how projects uh how the top of the project funnel is getting filled. You've asked me how that's been going and I've said it's been challenging and I've said two things. Uh one is our uncertain our uh our uh somewhat chaotic public policy towards uh external uh foreign investment or or foreign direct investment and the other is energy and um and those energy concerns are being uh highlighted by data center projects but it's the same problem when it comes to manufacturing projects which is what I've conveyed to you all in the past, which is what the Missouri partnership has told me. Well, I wanted to make you aware that we did have a project come up that is project beagle. Uh we could meet the requirements of this project in all respects other than having sufficient energy from Amron to be able to do the project. So, I did go ahead and submit the project. So, our name is uh our name is in the hat. It's it's still at the multi-state phase. So, it may be months before we hear anything back. But but this is the first time that I've encountered an incident where uh or a project, not an incident, but a project where uh we did not have sufficient power as requested. So, I'm just making you aware of that um so that it's on your radar. We will continue to advocate from our energy suppliers, both Amron

and KO, to have sufficient energy. and Kate and I are working on setting up a meeting. Amron's already made one visit to my office after this. I was pretty upset by this. Um, but Kate and I are working uh along with Jeff to set up another meeting with them to have a follow-up. Their data center or something or this is manufacturing 10 megawatt. Wow. So what the Missouri partnership told me is is that uh today's manufacturing is becoming so automated is that the equipment it takes to do the automated manufacturing are are huge power draws and that and those are [clears throat] becoming limiting factors. [snorts] Yeah, that's crazy.

So I don't know which plant it is. You all might be able to infer but uh but Amar Amron told me that our largest user today in Booneville is 5 megawatts. So, I don't know which one of the plants it is actually, but but that's what it is now. So, this would be double the usage of our largest plant now for far fewer people. Jim, I have to imagine that the group that's using 5 megawws now is probably going to use 10 megawws five years from now, right? Or

something close to that. Did Amaran share with you a broader strategy for what their infrastructure plans were to address that at scale? So, no, but that's certainly [snorts] going to be a topic of conversation when they come visit. Um, so it so being a Booneville native, I feel like we get the short end of the stick a lot. So, as as you saw in my memo, Amron is making all kinds of investments to the east of here,

which given the size of Chesterfield and and all the St. Louis, I I get it. They have to do that. And I know they have some long-term plans in place to to do facilities upgrades. Um, but I was a little surprised that in our in in this request, it's three to five years out at the earliest, which makes us irrelevant for this project if that's true. Although they did come on to say that that could be sped up with the right amount of money. Okay, that's fine. But so I feel like a I feel like other areas of Amron's service territory are getting more attention than we are. And so I I want to find out what their plan is for us.

Um that yeah, that's really concerning to me. So the two newest data centers in Missouri are Infestus and Forest and the Electric provider for both of those is Amron. Mhm. So they're investing east by St. Louis and not caring about here. Well, even closer than that is a a very large facility that's in Montgomery County. So, uh, near the exit that goes to Herman and gosh, what's the city that's right there on the Anyway, it's in Montgomery. No, is it McGomery City? It's McGomery City on Highway 19. Yeah, [snorts] but right there at the exit is the Anyway, [laughter]

it's near the interstate Belleville B. It's a 1700 acre project for for Amazon. Uh the it's been well publicized. New Florence, huh? New Florence. New Florence. That's the

um and um so that project is uh proposed to be serviced by Amron. Um, and to do that, uh, they have to do a an extension of the Grain Belt Express for 32 miles to be able to service that site. Um, late last week, so the holidays are kind of messing me up, but but late last week. Uh, so the Grain Belt Express, just to take you back a little bit, has been a highly controversial project from its start. Um but last week uh Farm Bureau um filed whatever paperwork they need to fa file with the Missouri public service commission to act on behalf of all the land owners along that 31 mile track between wherever the grain belt express is that's north of I7 31 miles to this site. Um, so I Anyway, it's it's a crazy it's it's crazy what's going on in the data center world, but that that has to be a 500 megawatt site maybe.

Yeah. AIdriven everything. Yeah. Yeah. And Tanner to your other point about how do you measure this like these are these these variables outside of our hands makes it like so difficult and there's no real I mean there's no real economic model that gets

that sort of investment here right that's hopefully someday but to get a data center here or to get something of that scale here to sweeten the pot for Amaran it's like a chicken or the egg concept that's the part that's troubling is we're kind of stuck in between two variables that we can't control either one on and Is it possible is it possible for us to lean on the economic uh council I forget the acronym MRC or our elected officials or anybody to to to highlight this opportunity or this challenge because it can't just be us in this region right other it limits other communities ability to develop economically if they don't have access to the power

so I think we have some opportunities ahead of us that don't rely on the current model. But I'm not that cake isn't fully baked yet. I'm not sure because you also BCDC's got to look at things as key indicators like you were talking about. Yeah. What do you consider the key indicators? To me, getting a data center in Booneville wouldn't be one.

No. Um, so you know the one thing you guys did talk about because you talked about taxes, water spouts. The other one I think that was missed that I I would consider a key indicator would be uh housing uh andor uh factory uh building space starts. Yeah.

And how much is it filled? Are we at 20% capacity? Are we whatever? key indicator would be say by the end of the year we want to be at 10% cut our capacity in half but I just I'm not sure if you because some of these data centers the way that I look at it I'm not sure the citizens of Booneville would want some of this stuff here I mean I really like anything that's going into Fesus or Foresttol that what they're getting we don't want

we do not want that no just from a consumption I can't imagine from a water consumption point of view it would put a lot pressure on our infrastructure at scale. But manufacturing obviously brings a lot of jobs, right? That's the part that offsets a lot of the not on a per dollar invested basis, not as much as it used to due to automation. Yeah. But yes, but it brings in higher paying jobs, right? Higher tax base like and primary jobs, the importation of wealth. What's our next move with them? What's our what's our strategy with them for Amron? airman.

Uh it's we're we're working to set up a meeting with uh not only our local account representatives on the water, I'm sorry, on the gas and electric side, but also have them bring down their economic development staff out of St. Louis to talk to us. Good luck. Um cano help at all? I mean, so I always like to challenge people. So if they're in the terri, it has to be in the territory. I mean, the territories are defined now. So as long as a project is in KOMO's territory. Yeah. And

but my in my initial speaking with KOMO just generally is that, you know, they're a they're a member-driven organization. And while they like predictable growth, their members are farmers and people who live in outlying areas, not their primary focus is not industry, our data centers. Yeah. Well, I know one of the pieces of land we had talked about before was out pretty close to KO territory in southeast. So, you know, if we're looking at close to KO territory, we might not even have to rely on Amarind. So

true, but I don't I mean so I don't know the answer to this because it's very location specific. But yeah, but uh generally speaking uh the the electric cooperatives don't have the excess capacity that that u purchaser of electricity. They they basically buy from Central Electric, right, which is also a cooperative. So, all right. Thanks, Jim. Thank you. Any miscellaneous?

Is there a motion? Motion to adjurnn. I'll second it. All in favor? Stand up and leave. Thanks y'all.