Council - Regular Meeting

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 bringing us together today. We ask that you you guide our decisions, grant us wisdom. you keep our constituents and all of our city staff and administrators, people that live here safe and that you give us the ability to drive the best outcome from this meeting tonight. And I ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Spirit. Call here. Young here.

Meadows here. Coward here. Harville here. Elbert here. Finnal here. Davis here. [clears throat]

Hearing, excuse me, hearing of citizens comments. Do we have anybody that wants to get up and speak? Okay, there are none. [snorts] Any questions or comments on the minutes from the last meeting? They will stand as submitted. Consent items. Consider pay number four in the amount of $89,728.19 to CL Richardson Construction for water and sewer improvements 2025. It's on page seven.

We can do A and B together. That's where I was going. Oh, okay. Can I take a breath? Yep. Okay. Item B, consider change order number three in the amount of $0 and0 to CL Richardson Construction for water and sewer improvements 2025. It's on page 10. Is there a motion? Mayor, I'd like to make a motion we approve the A&B consent items. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion or comments? Roll call. Beal, yes. Young, yes. Meadows, yes. Coward, yes. Carl, yes.

Elbert, yes. Yes. Davis, yes. All right. Item six, presentation of accounts and claims. They're not in there. I know. I didn't write a page down. I just realized that nobody told me. Aren't you guys supposed to be looking at this council packet, [laughter] Amber? They're not in there. Well, they're not. We will pass. Don't pay any bills now. I think we need to pay our bills still. So, we still need a motion. And wait, hold on. Can you at least read it to record?

I think you probably have it. Yeah, she has it. She can read it into record.

Sorry, that got me flustered. Okay. So, be it 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 22 of 2026, the sum of $457,62145. General fund $123,843.92. Sanitation 59,964.98 CIP tax $14,535.18 Waterworks $125,5735 capital project $0 wastewater $88,920.93 tourism $4,290.38 gaming $38,94.79 parks [clears throat] and water $2,39822 Kimber sales tax $0 economic development projects $0. Section two, the accountant is hereby authorized and instructed to draw checks on respective city bank accounts in favor of the persons whose salaries and accounts have been allowed as above amounting to $457,62145 being the total amount of money being appropriated. Section three, this ordinance shall take effect and be enforced from an act passage first reading on 22 20226 read for the second time. this 22206 since a copy was made available prior to the meeting.

Second reading title only. Ordinance appropriating money. Mayor, I move that we approve this ordinance. Okay. Thank you. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion other than the fact that that we didn't memorize? Is there anything on here that we need to worry about or are you okay with presenting as is? I'm fine with presenting it as is. Just full disclosure. I was out with the flu all week. So I did I there there's one line item I would love to ask a question about. Sanitation seems quite high. [clears throat] Is that it's probably that there's an extra sometimes depending on the way that cycle is sometimes we end up paying more than one cycle in one month like so we have three billion cycles for sanitations. Yeah. We may have two cycles but I can double check and we'll send you that the Okay. We'll send it out.

Can you repeat the total again please? $457,62145. Thank you. There weren't that many bills. I mean, I did approve them was about normal. I was gonna say that's like half last time. Last time was the insurance. I think something, but we'll send it out tomorrow for you guys and I'll double check on the sanitation for you. Roll call. Oh, sorry. Be yes. Young, yes. Meadows, yes. Coward, yes. Harville, yes. Elbert, yes. Bible, yes. David,

yes. Item seven, unfinished business. Second reading of bill number 2026-00002, approving a final site plan for 2150 Main Street Walmart, excuse me, Walmart edition. It's on page 11. An ordinance to the city of Boomville, Missouri, approving the final site plan and parking ratio reduction for Walmart 2150 Main Street, Boomville, Cooper County, Missouri, proiding an effective date therefore in repealing all ordinances in conflict with this ordinance. Okay. Is there a motion? Mayor, I make a motion that we approve this um bill. Okay, I will second.

Thank you. We have a motion, a second. Any questions or comments? Roll call. Beal, yes. Young, yes. Meadow, yes. Coward, yes. Harville, yes. Elbert, yes. Bible, yes. Davis, yes. New business, consider item A, consider resolution 2026-02 authorizing and approving an agreement with Cooper County Tax Collector for tax collection. It's on page 29. We want to do both of them. She have to read them. Okay.

A resolution in the city of Boomville, Missouri, authorizing and approving a cooperative agreement between the Cooper County Collector and the city of Boomville, Missouri regarding the collection of city ad valerum taxes and providing an effective date. Therefore, whereas the city of Boomville, Missouri and the Cooper County Collector desire to enter into a cooperative agreement authorized and permitted permitted by sections 50.322 7.22070 320 inclusive in sections 140.670 670 to 140.750 inclusive of the revised statutes of Missouri for the cooperative efforts of the parties to collect taxes of the city of Boomville on property located within the boundaries of said city which is located in Cooper County, Missouri. And whereas the previous agreement expires August 31, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved by the city council of city of Boomville, Missouri as follows. Section one, that a certain cooperative agreement between the Cooper County Collector and the city of Boomville, Missouri, a copy of which is marked exhibit A and attached here two is made a part hereof, is hereby approved. Section two, that the mayor and city clerk B, and are hereby authorized to execute and attest set agreement in multiple counterparts on behalf of the city of Boomville. Section three. This resolution shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval passed the second day of February 2026 by the city council of Google, Missouri. Is

there a motion? Mayor, I make a motion we approve this resolution. I'll second. Have a motion and a second. Discussion. Um, two questions. One, the total cost is $160 per tax bill, correct? Um, and the second, is there any recognized savings by consolidating these for the city? You mean like instead of us collecting ourselves, it's significant savings? Do we do we have a quantification of it? Do we know how much? We've went into detail. Yeah, I think we figured it'd probably be like 150,000 because you'd have to pay someone. You have to hire someone and it's an elected position. You'd have to have this computer.

You'd have to have a staff per, you know, you'd have to have a program. You'd have to have interface with the assessor. It's It's significant. Significant is a good answer. I like [laughter] good question. Roll call. Beal. Yes. Young. Yes. Meadows? Yes. Coward? Yes. Harbble? Yes. Elbert? Yes. Dibble? Yes. David? Yes.

Okay. Resolution 2026-03. Page 33. a resolution of the city of Boomville, Missouri, authorizing and approving a cooperative agreement between the Cooper County Clerk and the city of Boomville, Missouri regarding the collection of city adarum [clears throat] taxes and providing an effective date. Therefore, whereas the city of Boomville, Missouri and the Cooper County Clerk desire to enter [snorts] into a cooperative agreement authorized and permitted by sections 50.32270.220 220 to70 320 inclusive and sections 140.670 to 1 14.750 inclusive of the revised statutes of Missouri for the cooperative efforts of the parties to collect the taxes of the city of Boomville on property located within the boundaries of said city which is located in Cooper County, Missouri. Whereas the previous agreement expires August 31, 2026. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Booneville, Missouri as follows. Section one, that a certain cooperative agreement between the Cooper County Clerk and the city of Booneville, Missouri, a copy of which is marked exhibit A, is attached here too and made a part hereof, is hereby approved. Section two, that the mayor and city clerk be and are hereby authorized to execute and attest set agreement in multiple counterparts on behalf of the city of Boomville. Section three, that the fully executed agreement and counterparts be delivered to the Cooper County Commission for consideration and approval as possible as practical. Section four, this resolution shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval passed the second day of February, 2026 by the city council of Boonville, Missouri.

Mayor, I move we approve this resolution. Thank you. Motion a second. I'll second it. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Just good job getting multi-year. I know. I got to do two. I got to do two years. So, we got some stability more so than that every year. 2028. 2028. Yeah. Yeah. Luckily, um, the commissioners said they didn't feel like we needed to meet and they were satisfied. So, I said, "Great. Let's do two years." Good job. Well done. Roll call. Beal. Yes. No. Yes. Meadows. Yes. Coward. Yes. Harville. Yes. Elbert. Yes. Bible. Yes. Davis.

Yes. Any reports of standing committees? Reports of city officials? I have nothing. City administrator. Um, page 37. I think you got that.

Yeah. I was just going to say I'll we'll also put Tim back up here at the end. We'll let um Jim go first and stuff too, but I I did note that I pretty much the only thing I want to say is that I pretty much have the entire budget ready. Um I'll try to send it out sort of a draft copy for you guys to review. Um I'll just I'll just tell you now that it's looking like on the sewer where I'm going to recommend a 3 and 12% increase and on water it's looking like a 6% increase. Um the average for the bills is a th000galon customer is about $3.56 total. That's sanitation, sewer, and water. Um the 4,000galon customer is about $610 inclusive of all those. We'll have all the details, but I just wanted I know you guys are eager to know where we were going to fall on that. Um, I think just to give us a little bit of wiggle room, I'll likely put all of the ordinances for the budget and the new water and sewer rates on the next council meeting for first reading. You know, we can always change it. But also, if it needs to carry over to the third reading, there is one extra meeting. So, I I get anxious if we get into March and we don't have a budget approved at the second meeting because that means you all have to come back for another meeting because we can't operate. So, um I think I'm going to go ahead and put it in there and we're going to talk sewer, water, and streets and stuff at the next meeting. Anyway, so you'll see it all, but a a bulk of the capital you've already heard about through the plant. So, I'll I'll reserve the rest of my time for Tim after.

Are we scheduling the 16th? Is there a work session? Yeah. And since you guys are so talkative, we'll do six o'clock. No, it's going to be on the It's going to be on the 17th. The Tuesday? Yeah, Tuesday. because of the president today and I will not be president for that. Just I bet uh nor will I actually nor will I Are [laughter] you serious? Will we not have coral? No, we will. That's five 615. Anybody else? Before you jump, Jim. I just said anybody else on the 17th because we we'll need we'll need the other five here to to have a quorum that we just did first reads tonight. Yeah, we don't have any first read. We don't have any. We don't have any.

But I will have some first readings at the next meeting, but nothing there won't there's no nothing scheduled for a second reading. So, okay. So, if anyone gets the flu, we're not meeting. No meeting. I may be able to, but I'll be remote. I'll be in the Netherlands. We'll we'll just see if we're we'll just see how we're doing. Um and I and we'll figure it out. But I guess If people really want to hear the budget work session, could we put that on not public YouTube or on the YouTube or we'll have to think about it. We'll see if there's a way to

to do that. Okay. Well, anyways, there you go. We'll just have to see what happens. Sorry to burst your bubble, but [laughter] Well, I'm glad you told me now. I mean, it's easier or what about um doing it on Wednesday? Would you guys be here? Nope. I'm still I'm still gone. We could still work through the work session even without Yeah, you can work through the work session and we have a Yeah, if if the other five that that aren't going to be absent will be here, then we'll still have a quorum. We can get through the work session. We don't have anything currently scheduled for a second read. It's just a question of whether or not we have anything for a resolution, paying bills. Yeah. Appropriations, but just as long as everyone's here and if not, then we'll figure that out. If we can do a work session without Corum, right?

Yeah. Then if need be, if you can let me know, I could be on that call. I'm just not going to be physically here. Okay, we'll figure we'll just make sure for payments and such. Well, thanks for bringing that up that way. All right, get figured out. No, I didn't have anything. Oh, sorry. We cut you off. No, and it's okay. I'm not even on the agenda, so again. No, you are. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. You're on there. Wrong. It's on the next page. Yes. I was just going to formally ask you. I was about ready to say. [laughter] I don't have anything else. I might have forgot the appropriations, but I didn't for Kate didn't forget you this time. All right. Oh gosh. Good evening, Mayor. [laughter] Good evening.

Is in your packet. And of course, as always, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer any. I'll I'll highlight uh several things. Uh first of all is um you had asked me previously about um uh prospect leads that have come from the Missouri partnership and that's been a little barren since last May. Um I re I've received two um recently and then I received another today. So, uh, that pipeline seems to be opening back up some. And, uh, actually I've received four, uh, in total, too. We didn't have any qualifying sites, but three of the four I'll be able to respond to. Um, I'll also point uh to project number three on the list, project Marcus. You can see that u that I had indicated that that we were no longer in contention. I got a call today that we are now back in contention. Um, so that's a that's a positive sign uh for that. Um, couple other things I'll just point uh your attention to is in section or in section five on my report is uh we are I'm diligently working on um enhancing our entrepreneurial support. So we did have a angel investment seminar that you all were aware. Uh I think it was a very successful event. Uh I got a lot of good uh feedback from that. Um you've seen that we've spent some money on some software that is for u business support. Uh I'm I'm making that more directly available to the community. So uh I have a my next class that I'll have coming up is uh to show business owners what can be learned by using Placer uh what they can learn and how they can use that information to market with uh those kinds of things. So some of those investments are I I hope will will roll out positively into the entrepreneurial

community. Um and then the third thing uh under that is uh both Howard County and Booneville have revolving loan funds that have been dormant. Um so these are funds [cough] that uh are set aside for the entrepreneurial community. They go through an underwriting process and then a loan servicing process. They've been dormant for a while. Hard County is desirous of restarting theirs. Um, and what had previously been the Municipal Facilities Authority, now it's the BCDC uh, operates the revolving loan fund. Uh, we will be restarting that shortly in support of our entrepreneurs. So, those are just the things I wanted to highlight, but I'm of course happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Jim? Jim, you made reference to not on the projects you just mentioned, but a meeting with Amron to discuss utilities and such. Has that meeting happen? It did. How did that go? Not good. [laughter]

So, I have this aura around city hall where I'm a nice guy. And uh so I I told Amber that she should have been in the meeting because she would have been able to see the jerky. So [clears throat] and and in fact there's a nuance that came. So I whed appropriately and they listened appropriately with no resolution. But probably a nuance of the issue came out that I hadn't thought all the way through. And that is is that with with Amron's agreement with the Missouri public service commission with KOMO is that other than other than the industrial park um they have essentially seated all of their ability to serve any expansion that Boomville might have that's now in KOMO's territory. And I might be oversimplifying that a little bit but that's essentially what has happened.

So they've given it to KO. Is that what you're saying? Well, the Missouri Public Service Commission has determined that it's KOMO's areas to serve. But KO is a leases from Amaran's infrastructure. Correct.

Operates very operates completely separate. they were like in um sorry they were like sort of ne distant neighbors you could maybe say and there was a an area and then there was a law passed a couple years ago that if um there was a development that either entity could serve then they could sort of bid the developer could choose and somehow that turned into this giant territorial agreement that occurred and basically Basically, KOMO has everything. So, every in fact even property that's in the city limits if there was it's anything new is already in KOMO. So, for example, uh the airport was in KOMO territory even though we were all on Amarind.

So, they pay they pay a bill to KO elect. No. So, we we fought that. So, the point is if there's any new service, it's supposed to now become a co. So if you are a farmer, maybe that's a better example, and you have one barn and it's on Amarid and you build another barn or whatever, now you're supposed to have Komo because Komo has that territory. So is our future industrial growth dependent on KOMO's ability to service our infrastructure electrically? In part part in part

and there is still parts for Amaran. It's just very like any future growth is clearly in KO territory. So what's the I mean I'm sorry I I really have issues with Amron as well. Does KO have any ability to to do the 10 megawatt or anything? Well, so what happens now? So just like the inquiry I got today. Um the there isn't a site within the city limit of Leville that will fit the inquiry I got today. So the procedure I go through is I send it um I send it out to our utility providers and say here's the request can you confirm that you can cons can serve this particular site and and they acknowledge that or say they can't which is what happened in the case that that started this am discussion was the first answer was yeah we can serve that and then there was a followup of no we can't so that's what started that so it's that process So, uh, KOMO is building is expanding their facilities, uh, to serve northern Cooper County. Um, so they have a new substation going in. I don't know the exact timeline and I don't know the resulting power that can be provided as a result of that, uh, because it's it's not in yet. So I still go through this process of will you be able to serve um a given site. So it's very sightsp specific. So it's it's not it's not a blanket thing. So just I'm stumbling all over your question but

yeah I know my thing is KO buys all their electricity from Central Electric and can they get enough piped over to wherever you need it to go? Yeah. And that's the question and and that's that's a sight specific question regardless of provider. Yeah. Okay. So in the case that started this line of questioning it was for a site in Mid American Industrial Center and the 10 megawatt answer was no.

Okay. So then so then I had an uh we have a company that intends to expand in town. not yet announced, but I then had this worry of, oh crap, can can Amron serve this company's expanded, you know, their expansion requests? Yeah. And and yeah, got got power all day to support that. So it it really is an infrastructure between

that's sight specific. It really is kind of a catches catch campaign and will be for KOMO as well. However, KOMO is um is building new facilities to serve northern Cooper County in part because of this expansion. Can Can I ask a question about that territorialization? Was that a determination based on Missouri statute or was that a decision made between Amaran and Ko? It was uh and Kate lived I didn't live through it. Kate did. But my understanding is that this was a decision made by the Missouri Public Service Commission.

It was Amaran and KO kind of came up with it and then it went to [clears throat] the public service commission for comment and review and they approved it. Was it KO or was it all? I thought it was all co-ops. Well, the law was for all co-ops in terms of bidding on pro, but this [clears throat] specific territorial agreement is just between KOMO and Amarind. Got it.

I don't want to I don't want to keep beating this proverbial horse to death, but power capability, expansion, and infrastructure is probably our biggest infrastructure risk to economic growth because our core is industrial, right? Caterpillar, I mean, and a host of other organizations rely upon that power and that power consumption requirement is only going to grow. I feel like I would really really really love to know number one what is their power capacity capability projection more than projection guarantee for the metropolitan area over the course of the next year or five and two are they willing to communicate that with us directly on that because that's a big deal that's going to very much limit what we can and cannot do over the next five years that's a huge if you look at every every reasonable study and projection on power consumption over the next few years, it's going to be

substantial. And if we don't have the capability to do that or have a committed partner willing to do that, then we ought to start now on trying to get ourselves in a position where we can, whether that's to go against the commission or that's to have a discussion with Amron and and so yes, I'm aware which is why you got the memo a couple weeks ago, right? is is that that that alarmed me for that very reason and actually I was probably even shortsided in that alarm that I had thinking that this was an Amaran issue when it goes deeper in that we have also another power company.

Yeah. that. So I I don't So when we poked around on this availability, we we we got no commitments of any type. What the the soothing words were is that if you run across a project that has enough money to spend, anything can be done, which is not which is not uh

reassuring. Yeah. Geez. So, I pointed out that we're paying we as city of Booneville people on the Amron system are paying 15% more than we were last year. Yeah. And they are using that money to enable billions of dollars of investment in McGomery County or in St. Charles. But yet, like Oprah, there's no there's no car for us. And they didn't like that analogy and they had no response for it other than to say, "We're always making upgrades and you're a valued part of our system." Oh, come on. That's a joke.

Going to send us an Amarind hoodie. Like we need we [laughter] need, you know, like that's send us some swag.

What is the next What's the next logical step for us to take with them or combo in your opinion? Well, so I I think in the near term what we'll what we'll need unfortunately is probably to build if we have other examples that come up. So if we have other case studies or we can say we wanted this and you said no, we wanted this and you said no. I mean we we I did go ahead and submit the one they said no on because we'll test it out if we get it. We may not make it to that point [snorts] in the in the uh down selection, but but that I think that will give us the ammunition we will need to demonstrate that we are being um held back in our economic aspirations.

Is there any way to play them off of each other? I mean, literally pitch both projects to or the same project to both. Okay. Ouch. So, I think while we there are other places too, but power is going to be an increasing problem everywhere. Yeah. And we do feel like the redheaded stepchild for Ammon right now, but maybe there are other counties that feel that way, too. So, I don't think we're alone in that. Yeah. Yeah. No, we're not. Anything? Jesus.

Hey, Tam. [laughter] I didn't know. We I know. I said we were coming back. Yeah, we want to see your um I think just to lead into Tim's awesome PowerPoint that's going to happen. Now, is this in the official meeting or do we need to close and then go to No, we can just have the official meeting. It's fine. Okay, good. Um you'll note that I um in our budget have squeezed in one more staff person. So Tim will tell you how many he would like and then you'll see how many we're going to get. I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm

We'll talk a little bit about the what we currently have as far as staffing and and what I'm shooting for uh in the next couple of years. So, currently [clears throat] we have one captain like I spoke earlier and one engineer that's the driver operator. Uh while this station provides [clears throat] basic command and apparatus operation capability, it does not provide adequate personnel to safely or effectively perform the full range of fire suppression, rescue, and emergency medical services required of a modern fire department. [clears throat] So, our operational needs for firefighter EMT positions, which is what we're trying to work towards, right? We have the the captain, we have the engineer. Now, we're looking to fill that bottom of the totem pole, the guy that does the majority of the labor, right? He's very task oriented. All right. [clears throat] The National Fire Service standards consistently identify four personnel as the minimum staffing need to safely perform initial fire suppression tactics. Um, NFPA1710 identifies four personnel as the baseline for effective and safe interior fire operations. All right. OSHA has a two what they call two in and two out rule. All right. It requires a minimum of four personnel before an interior attack can begin. All right. So, currently we have two people on on an engine that arrive on a scene. According to OSHA, we are not to enter the building until we have an additional two people there. [clears throat] So, you have two operating inside and two outside for the rescue of the firefighters and accountability and to

handle any problems that may occur outside of the structure. So our operational needs uh with only a captain and engineer in inter interior fire tech cannot legally or safely begin without waiting for mutual aid or additional personnel to arrive. Critical early tasks such as hybrid connection, host deployment, search and ventilation are also delayed. So when [clears throat] a when a fire unit approaches a fire, they're looking for the closest available hydrant, right? So one person has to jump out of the truck, wrap the supply line around the hydrant, and then they drive to the fire. Okay? The guy that you dropped off at the hydrant can't charge that hydrant until the other guy makes the connection to the fire truck. Right? So we actually have one person at the fire scene right now. the other guy is waiting to charge a hydrant. Whether it's a block away, whether it's right in front of the house, that does happen sometimes, very few times. Um, fire growth increases, placing occupants, firefighters, and property at greater risk. We [snorts] talked about uh the first 5 to 8 minutes is the most important at a fire. Correct. So adding firefighter EMTs allows the department to initiate essential life-saving actions while mutual aid personnel is responding. So our talk a little bit about our EMS call volume and patient care. The majority of fire department responses are medical in nature. 72% of what we do here is EMS related. So that requires timely and competent patient care. Best practices for EMS responses include one provider dedicated to patient care. They're taking blood

pressure. They're uh checking blood sugar. You know, those types of basic interventions that our EMTs are allowed to do. One provider assisting in preparing equipment. um you might be placing an AED on that person or getting com ready. Um but one provider managing seed safety and coordination. So when [clears throat] you have three to four individuals on a truck, you have one person that starts initiating care. The captain on the truck typically gets medical information, medical history, gathers, you know, what meds they're taking, keeps an eye over the general area, and gives direction to what the crew needs to do initially. [clears throat] So, we currently have two members. One member is often tied to patient care. The other must handle assisting, preparing equipment, gathering patient medications, patient history, documentation, and scene management. Patient care quality and responder safety are are compromised with this. Some EMS calls can be very labor intensive. Uh you have somebody that's just say a cardiac arrest for instance. All right. [cough] You [clears throat] have hopefully Cooper County ambulance responding. They may have both ambulances at the hospital in Colombia. This happens constantly here in Booneville. And I do know that they're working to add uh a third BLS truck, but we're not sure when that's going to happen, but it happens constantly where we have no ambulance in the city of Booneville. So, the care is left up to our individuals. All right. Right now we have EMT level responders which is better than first responder

level training. So we've elevated that training. Uh they can do a number of of things that they couldn't do in the past. But just take a cardiac arrest for example. I don't know if any of you have ever done CPR on an individual. [clears throat] It's very tiresome. You have to switch providers every five minutes. It wears you out. It's a very laborintensive um skill. So, you're doing CPR, one person's assisting with breathing. Um, another person [clears throat] is typically there to switch out. When you have two individuals, you might be waiting 20 minutes to a half an hour for an ambulance to get there. Now, I do know uh Brandon, the the chief of Cooper County, he's very good about responding in his own vehicle. um from home. He does care about these issues and is trying to address them, but he will come straight from his home in his in his personal vehicle to assist those guys on scene. He's well aware where his ambulances are at. Um [clears throat] let's talk about ISO rating. I'm sure all of you are familiar with ISO. ISO evaluates staffing, training, and operational capability. Not just apparatuses. All right. So, twoperson staffing limits credit for effective initial response. Additional firefighter ENTs improve company staffing, operational effectiveness, and ability to perform multiple functions on the scene. So, the more people that we have full-time, the better our ISO rating is going to be here in the city. We're currently a four here in Booneville. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think we could be really close to a three,

which would, you know, improve insurance premiums for for mostly businesses. It's not really going to affect the homeowner. Anything less than a five on an ISO rating there, it does not affect a homeowner's premium. It all goes towards the business side of it. So, we just kind of talked about that. Um, NFPA and liability consideration. NFPA 1500 requires a defined chain of command. So, you have a captain um that [clears throat] is on duty at that engine house. He is the top chain of command that day at the engine house. [clears throat] Uh, adequate supervision and personnel safety of safety safeguards. NFPA 1001 requires firefighters to be trained and assigned functional roles. So that's your firefighter one and two certification, your hazmat operations. NFPA requires the people that you [music] hire full-time to have these certifications. Operating with insufficient staffing increases injury risk, civil liability, workers compensation exposure, post incident scrutiny, and legal vulnerability. Adding firefighter firefighter EMTs align staffing with recognized national safety standards and reduces preventable risk. So, [clears throat] you know, you may say, "Well, we have mutual aid that we can depend on." Um, yes, we do. Most of the time they may be on a call of their own. It's going to take them a little bit of time to get here. Remember, we talked about that 5 to 8 minutes, how important that is. While mutual aid is a vital component of regional fire protection, it is not a substitute for

initial onduty staffing. Mutual aid units have variable response times. Initial actions in the first 5 to 8 minutes often determine incident outcome. Reliance on mutual aid for basic tasks delays life-saving operations. And a properly staffed fire department fire department ensures they can perform immediate actions upon arrival. So you look at uh your cost versus risk consideration. The cost of adding firefighter EMT positions must be weighed against increased fire loss due to delayed suppression, potential injury or death of civilians and firefighters, legal exposure from operating below accepted standards, increased burnout and turnover from underst staffed shifts. and staffing improvements represent a preventative investment in safety, efficiency, and service reliability to our community. So, I [clears throat] have I found that working with with firemen, they learn better uh from looking at pictures and watching videos. So, uh, I'm not saying that that's the way you guys are, but I [clears throat] sat down and tried to find a a good video of an actual incident, not ours, um, that would show you the captain, the engineer, and the firefighter uh, all working together. Now, you'll hear them um when they go responding to the fire, you'll hear the officer inside the truck giving orders and direction to his crew inside the inside the truck. And then once they arrive on scene, you'll see those those uh orders in action. You'll [clears throat] see two points of view. You'll see the captain and the firefighters view when they enter the

building. and then it'll [clears throat] switch to the driver operator engineer position and you'll see all of the things that happen in unison. Um we'll just uh and if you guys have any questions uh as we go along uh I'll be happy to answer them and I can stop it. But uh I I'll just say that I have no control over what commercials pop up and I can't guarantee there won't be some language in the video. But uh let me get

station 11. Reference station 8 previously committed fire other reference a propane tank that exploded in the backyard at 233 Fairwood Drive. 233 Fairwood Drive, cross street of Dallas Highway. Battalion 3 show responding

to Battalion 3 units responding 3410 station 3 squad one call type p type has been changed to structure fire flame scene at 233 Fairwood Drive respond to call advice flames are seen building is occupied occupants are able to safely evacuate area of the flames is going to be the back of the house advise everyone One is out of the residence at this time. All the occupants will be located in the front yard. They advise the residence is filling with smoke. Battalion 3, appalling. Battalion 3.

Battalion 3 is going to be on the scene. We're going to have a twotory single family. Residential woodframe is going to be on the slab. We got heavy smoke showing from the second division. Looks like we also have flames coming from the Charlie side. Battalion 3 is going to be establishing command. Command's going to be a moment this time out performing 360. Also, show trunk 11 pulling up command. Show you going t one. 3410. Go ahead and start another region on this. Don't catch 3410.

Jacob, go see if we got to force [music] the door. Yes. Repeat right here. Right here, pull the uh since we got a hydra close by, pull the uh red line. Smooth board sir. on the scene. We're pulling

that one. Heavy smoke. Hey, stop right here. Right here. Yep. All right. Power. Pull the the smooth board. I'll show you on scene. Show you one.

He wants to get up there. See if we can get it out. All right. All right. Jacob, mask up. Water. All right, boys.

We're going to have to pull some ceiling fast, boys. Make an interior attack to the front door on the alpha side. Work your way up the stairs. When I get my stuff on, I come pull some ceiling. Okay. Hey, get in the nozzle.

Okay. Take a breath, Paul. Right here. close. That is the engineer's number one priority.

It's getting what we call positive water supply. Good. See what the firefighters are dealing with. Very limited visibility. They're trying to find the location of the fire. Um, it looked to me like it might have been an attic fire. So, We're probably going to have full ceiling that didn't fire any

mention two in two out approach. I'm sorry. You mentioned the two in two out approach. Yes. And you don't have to pause it. It's okay. Is are they utilizing that here? Because I think did three go in and one stay down in this. Yeah, they had uh they had three guys on this truck that you've seen responding. When they pulled up, there was a ladder company already there. So, they had uh individuals at the door. [snorts]

But, as you can see, the engineer is very busy. He doesn't just stand at the at the pump panel and watch gauges. He's thinking ahead of what the crews inside are going to need. All right. It's it's a twotory house. They're operating in the second story. They're going to need ladders to run through those windows just in case the firefighters have to come out. You know, they're going to need attic ladders. They're going to need a vent fan. It's his responsibility to bring those stools to the house. Otherwise, those firefighters are running back and forth for that type of equipment. So right now he's getting dropping the ladders down. He's going to deploy those ladders himself in different positions in the house.

Get out of here. And right now when we show up, we would show up with two people. Two people. That's that's my thing, too. Yep. So we can't go inside. Technically no. Technically no. Well, then if you have people inside there, that's a whole another different thing. just spray up through that hole. So, what what we hope for, you know, when I show up three people should we we hope that a volunteer shows up quickly. Now, to be honest with you, if if I have a report that we have a a fire and there's somebody trapped, you do it anyway.

Am I going to wait for that fourth person? No, I'm not going to. I would rather um what's the old saying for but the two in and two out that you were referencing to the OSHA recommended standard right? Yes. And we're not technically it's administrative not statuto. Yes. But when it comes to litigation types of incidences and believe me when an incident like this uh is under scrutiny all of those things are going to be brought up you know in in uh you know the litigation. Well I say failure to failure to abide by the OSHA standard still could be considered in li civil liability. Yeah. Right.

All right. So I thought this video provided a pretty good explanation of of what we're looking to do and comparing to what we are doing. Um [clears throat] I I'm getting long and I apologize, but I wanted to go over u this five-year strategic thing. Now, like I mentioned before, uh a lot of this is kind of a pipe dream, but I think we need to have some sort of a plan uh to look forward. I don't know if you guys can read that. Um it it might be even better that I email this this to you guys. Um, just to to kind of keep things short,

this is not in our packet, correct? [clears throat]

No, it is not. And I apologize for that, but I don't think Kate's even seen this yet. And u but uh so we'll go we'll just breeze through it real quick. So, we have um an executive summary where we're wanting full staffing of the existing station one through the hiring of six firefighter EMTs over the next two years. That would gives give us four on each shift. All right. Um [clears throat] this, keep in mind, this is a five-year strategic plan. um construction of a second fire station in the Logan Lakes Road, West Ashley Road area here. Again, I I know that this is probably a pipe dream for the next 5 years, but I need to have something um in in some sort of plan.

I I don't want somebody coming to me five years from now and saying, "You never told us this. You never prepared us for this." That's something that I I don't want. Um, and I would also like to plan on development of a dedicated training and burn tower facility. Um, I think down at the end of Mortis Street at the old shooting range would be a great place. It's very difficult to get live fire training. The only way to do that is a a dedicated burn tower. Um, I'll just keep that brief. I can send that out to you. You guys can peruse it.

Uh if we need to tweak it or whatever, we can do that. Um we'll go over the the little study that I put together as as far as how we um match up to other departments in our area. So Booneville Fire Department, 8,300 population. We have one station, six full-time personnel. Our annual [clears throat] call volume is 1,300 to,400 a year. All right. Mexico Fire Department population 11,300. They have two stations, 22 full-time u firefighters, and they average between 2200 and 2500 calls a year. Marshall Fire Department population is 7,395. They have one station, 21 full-time paid individuals. They run between 800 and 900 calls a year. Uh Harrisonville Fire Department population at 10,0001, two stations, 18 full-time uh firefighters. They average between 1,400 and 1700 a year. So I could continue there. You can see the numbers. Chilikovi uh Sullivan uh Sidelia uh is obviously a larger town than us with a population of 21,000. They have three stations, 36 to 40 full-time personnel, and they average 4,500 plus calls a year. So there,

so kind of gives you an idea of where we're at in the grand scheme of thing. Um, Booneville operates with one station, while nearly all peer cities operate two stations and have full staffing firefighters. Moonville's fire full-time staffing is among the lowest in its population class. Peer departments average 14 to 20 full-time personnel. They have dedicated officers, driver operator operator positions, plus uh assistant chiefs and training officers. So, our call volume versus staffing. Booneville's call volume is comparable to cities with significant significantly more staff. Peer agencies with similar calls have double the command staff can staff multiple incidents simultaneously and Booneville relies heavily on overtime, mutual aid, and limited onduty uh staffing depth. So you [clears throat] you like on this we're way behind everyone else, but then our ISO rating is a four, right? Which would be above average.

No, below average. It's it's about average for a town our size. Do they How do Do they take in account personnel and things like that? Absolutely. Absolutely. So it's it's average, but you're So these folks have a lot better ISO rating. They're probably a three. Um

Okay. It it's very difficult to obtain a one. Uh extremely difficult. There's there's very few fire departments in the United States that are are a one. Uh just a handful of them. But uh the majority of [snorts] of just take St. Charles from where I come from. We had an ISO rating of two. But uh very difficult to obtain a one. So it's like a one to 10 scale but they use one to five probably more so. [clears throat] Well in in metropolitan departments you have constant water supply.

Um that is probably 40% of your ISO rating. So we have to make sure you know we're doing yearly hydrant checks u um make sure our mains are of adequate size to commercial properties, residential properties. Um but uh things that I can change uh you know our training hours that's something I've been working on since I came here. You know we we purchased a training program we have improved our training hours. So that's something that that I can change. Um things that you can help to change is obviously uh more personnel. That's the major thing that we we can change. We have good equipment now. Um, I I expect we'll probably uh receive a few more points than we did previously because of our upgraded equipment, but u those are all things that go into consideration in your ISO rating.

I was just looking at outside studies that would confirm Yeah. what you're telling us. That's all. Yep. Chief. Yes. So, if you add another fire station, you're going to have to double the size of your department personnel wise, right? That's correct. you would have to add another 12 full-time individuals to fully staff a second station and equipment. We typically look uh to be able to respond uh to any place in a city you want to be around a 4m minute response time.

All right, that allows for 90 seconds for the guys to receive the call, get on a truck. I I give them 90 seconds. I want them out the door in that time frame. The rest of it [clears throat] is response time. So once you get outside that 4m minute response time, remember we talked about the first five to 8 minutes of a of a fire is your most important. Once we get outside that 4minute response time, um it allows a a number of things to happen. You know, your your fire is constantly spreading. Um it's getting larger. you know, you you might have more traffic in a certain area. I think we're definitely uh past time of adding a second station. I could even make an argument for a third station.

Um but I think we'll start with with two, [laughter] but uh you're going to put Kate over the top over here and I'm going to start with you know, we have the the growth that's starting out 87. You know, it's a long response time to certain areas out there. You know, that's one reason we did the automatic mutual aid [snorts] agreement with Cooper County, you know, is to help us cover that part of the area. But, um, any other questions, comments? I'm sorry I've kept you guys so long.

No, I chief, I I appreciate it. It doesn't It's They're big numbers, right? And they're big investments, but I don't think that you created the statistics or the standards. And so I appreciate you coming so prepared with the data. It helps us understand it more uh no matter how challenging that might be over the next year or five. But thank you. Yeah. And here again, anytime you guys have any questions, concerns, come down to the fire station and see me. I'd love to talk to to each of you individually and answer any questions you might have. Well done, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Wow.

Any other questions for fire? Okay, we're going to add one position this year. [laughter] It's a start. That's what the budget. It's a start. It's a mighty lift after that. I don't know. We're getting So, how many would you have to hire to at least have three? Do we have to hire three? And it takes I would say you're about $80,000 in on an employee. Yeah.

So it takes $240,000 if you wanted to add three. I already had to move the entire pool staff and all part-time staff out of the 01 budget to hire back to six. So it is a it is a mighty lift. Is there is there a more financially effective route in hiring from other departments into higher paying roles potentially but decreasing our cost of I'm presuming that 80,000 into a into personnel is training and no there's no training on that. That's just insurance salary over that includes their total cost.

Yeah. I'm just saying one person. Now, that might doesn't get you all the way to gear and everything, but I mean, I'm just spitting out like I think as a general rule, it's about $80,000 to bring a new staff person in. I got you. Per year, give or take almost any it could be a little more, a little less, but you know, but that's a per year total. Kind of a good round figure. Okay. I thought that was before triple and quadruple that with with gear. Yeah. Equipment. All of that. Yep. you know, life. That's how you know that's always the conversation. How do you how do you judge that? Sure. Tough. This is this is an eye opener. It is. It's tough.

But something like this is more important than building more ball fields or more soccer fields. I mean, this should be I mean, if you you what you hear tonight, it should be almost priority one. Yeah, I agree. the the balance you have to do is to look at what is a recurring cost versus what is a one-time cost. Sure. And we cannot ever extend ourselves to a point where all of the sudden we are incapable of those recurring costs.

So we don't pay anyone out of gaming for that reason. But honestly gaming is tied up now. There is going to be some freedom coming in as we start paying off some of those debts. But in addition to this conversation, different some of it is different money and different pots, but you know, street repair is coming out of a general fund as well. Water and sewer infrastructure that layers into new streets. So, you're trying to prioritize all of those things. And maybe not always good. I think the city has run on a lean staff of very dedicated people and that stands across the board. I stand that to the street department, to the parks crew, to the water and the sewer, to the fire department, and to the police. We don't have extra people. So it's um you know we've all in fact when Tim started I told him that you will become an inch deep and a mile wide in everything because there are all kinds of things that you will do that are not a fire chief job but there's not very many department heads either. So there's there's a lot of extra duties. So it's just hard to figure out how you're going to get that recurring cost.

And we got some physical things that we're going to face too. How many more Fort Streets are we going to [cough and clears throat] you know, what what are we going to do about all the lead in the pipes downtown, right? Those those we get to face, too. But I'm not sure they're as important as a life. It's I I think it was really good to read this into the public record, frankly. Oh, you're going to have to have everybody on on one page here to make investments of that scale. Yeah, it it's a lot to to look at on Thank you, Chief. Well done, sir. It uh probably something that should have been started.

Now you make the rest of us lose sleep at night. [laughter] You made your problem everybody's everybody's problem now. No, it was great. Well, that was not my intention. Scared everybody. But uh can is there room for improvement in every city? Absolutely. Yeah, you know, everybody is looking to hire more firefighters, more police officers. Every all those departments are underst staffed.

You know, Bill's a a growing town. You know, I I can almost relate the increase in call volume to population growth. I don't know how long it's been since Booneville's done a a census, you know, but u probably in what? 20 20. Yeah, probably. So, but go ahead and scare us. Just go ahead. Just do that. All right. I'll I'll [laughter] uh I'll call it done. Unless you guys have any more questions. Some Sometimes you need Chief, can you send us those that strategic plan and the Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Very well done. A motion.

We need a motion. Motion to adjurnn.