Council - Regular Meeting

Andrew, if you'll lead us in a pledge of prayer, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Dear Lord, please help us tonight, watch over us, and guide us as we make the decisions for the city of Boonville. Please give guidance and provide us with all the information we need to make the right choices. Amen. Amen.

Roll call.

Coward.

Here.

Horrible. Here. Elbert.

Here.

Venable. Here. Davis. Bechtel.

Here.

Thompson. Here. Elverson.

So do we have anyone wishing to make citizens' comments this time? If you would come up. Citizens' comments are, I think there should be, hopefully, a sheet of paper that allows you to write your name and address. Is it name and address or name and phone number? Name and phone number. Name and phone number on the comments section. Citizens' comments are limited to five minutes, and we always let people know that it's not really an interactive discussion. The council will be listening to your comments, but they won't really be commenting. And then if there's anything that they want to bring up in the miscellaneous portion of our agenda, they can always do that. So... go right ahead.

Okay, well good evening Mr. Mayor, City Council, Chief Ayers. My name is Tal Wendlis. My family and I live just outside city limits, though we're in Booneville almost every day. My children attend Booneville Public Schools, they're here for a little civics lesson I guess tonight. Professionally I'm a senior software engineer and I develop banking software. And before my current position though I spent over a decade working for the Governor's Office of Crime Control Prevention for the state of Maryland. developing secure databases for juvenile offender tracking and analysis that had to meet strict guidelines. So I want to state clearly I'm here tonight in full unwavering support of the Booneville Police Department. Our local officers put their lives on the line every day to keep our families safe and they deserve the best tools to do their jobs. And license plate readers are one of those powerful tools. When a stolen car enters town or when there's an Amber Alert issued, those cameras allow our officers to respond instantly. They solve crimes, protect our community, and I want our department to keep using them. But with the powerful tracking technology comes a critical need for the local security safeguards, and my goal here simply is to work collaboratively with you to make this tool safer for the innocent citizens of Boonville and its regular visitors. Briefly, I want to understand how we can protect our privacy. We have to understand that modern cameras do much more than just take pictures. In unincorporated Cooper County, the sheriff is currently installing Flock brand cameras. And Flock is a corporate subscription where the county rents the cameras. And that locks the data into the Flock corporate cloud. And there's been some recent incidences of even Flock employees inappropriately accessing that data. But Booneville bought Leonardo Alsag brand cameras, which is great. Our department invested over $38,000 to purchase them, and the city owns that hardware outright. The ownership puts the city in a position of strength, giving legal and technical authority to decide exactly where our data goes. We must recognize, though, how invasive commercial software can be. And built directly into both FLOC and LSAC platforms are advanced artificial intelligence algorithms that perform what they call co-traveler tracking and event profiling. And that means an operator on the system can input the exact start and end times of an event. And with the AI, we'll analyze the database to determine which vehicles likely attended like a gun show or a political rally or a union meeting or some specific church or daily school drop-offs, pickups. It's very powerful once you combine all that data and combine it with AI. Furthermore, LSAC does have some security issues of its own. It's been flagged nationwide for cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including shipping with hard-coded administrator passwords, using unencrypted connections, and security researchers actually found active LSAC cameras broadcasting live regional tracking logs directly to the public internet without requiring a password. Additionally, these systems support other upgrades that perform what's called signal sniffing, which silently capture unique Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signatures, phones, other devices, headphones, things like that, and devices passing cars. Booneville doesn't currently do that, I believe, but the system that we have can be upgraded to do that at any time. My main concern, though, is right now, Booneville hosts our license plate scans on a regional federal database known as HHIDTA, which stands for Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. So on paper, it's a federal program that stores all of our local plate data on their servers entirely for free. But in reality, it comes with a massive cost to our personal privacy. Every single day, all of the driving records of everyone that passes by these cameras is bulk uploaded to these federal servers. Once there, our data is stored for two whole years in historical travel logs. And if you compare that to Flock, they delete their scans after just 30 days. What's more concerning is that there are over 400 outside law enforcement and federal agencies across the country that have unrestricted ability to run database queries on Booneville driver traffic without a search warrant, and they bypass local judicial oversight by doing that. When Booneville exports its daily traffic scans to this database, our residents aren't just viewed by police officers, they're accessible to thousands of private civilian contractors, contract analysts, IT vendors, whose staff maintain these multi-agency intelligence clearing houses. I know because I was actually a contractor for the governor's office, and I had access to that.

Not to this particular database, but other secure data.

The stored two years of all local travel data leaves our daily commutes vulnerable to the exact AI co-traveler event attendance profile I just described, and a centralized nationwide tracking database of this magnitude is a significant invitation for overreach. And we know that unchecked databases invite abuse even close to home.

Mr. Lewis, I apologize, but the five-minute period has come and gone. So I appreciate your comments.

Can I have one ask? I just ask that if anybody's interested, I'd like to collaboratively work on – there are ways that we can store that data here locally. And it doesn't get sent off. And it provides all the same technology. They still get Amber Alerts, all of that. But our data would be stored here locally. We just have to have a local server. We have to set up certain restraints. And I would just ask that if anybody's interested, I would be willing to meet with them about discussing that.

Could you spell your name, please?

Yeah, the first name's Tao. T-A-O. And the last name is Lundolos, L-U-N-D-O-L-O-S. And my phone number is here. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other citizens' comments? If not, we'll move on to approval of minutes. July 20th, council minutes. Are there any additions or corrections?

Is there one correction?

Yes.

My name is in the last part. Okay, you already got it. Okay, perfect. Just making sure. Yep.

You didn't like two first names?

Holly Evans. Okay. Perfect.

Okay, so any other additions or corrections? If not, the minutes will stand as presented. We have no consent items that I can see. Presentation of accounting claims appropriations.

be ordained by the Council of the City of Boonville as follows. Section 1, for the purpose of paying salaries and various accounts against the City of Boonville, which have been allowed by the Council at the regular meeting thereof on 8-3-2026. The sum of $535,648.71. General Fund, $226,664.08. Sanitation... $4,663.43, CIP Tax $9,830.17, Water Works $154,317.27, Capital Projects $0.00, Wastewater $101,020.96. Tourism, $7,527.92. Gaming, $18,027.50. Parks and water, $5,394.88. Camper sales tax, $8,202.50. Section 1, the accountant is hereby authorized and instructed to draw checks on the respective Citibank accounts in favor of the persons whose salaries and accounts have been allowed as above amounting to $535,648.71. Being the total amount of money being appropriated. Section 3, this ordinance shall take effect and be enforced from and after its passage. First reading on 8-3-2026. Read for the second time this 8-3-2026 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 appropriating money.

Okay, I have a motion. Do we have a second? I will second. We have a motion and a second to approve the appropriations ordinance and any questions or discussion. Roll call.

Howard?

Yes.

Harville?

Yes.

Elbert?

Yes.

Binnable?

Yes.

Bechtel?

Yes.

Thompson? Yes.

Okay, it appears we have no unfinished business, so we're going to move on to new business. Consider resolution 2026-015, amending the development agreement with Kemper Apartments LLC for A&D Barracks redevelopment. Do you want to comment?

I'm going to read it first. A resolution ratifying and confirming an amendment approved on March 2nd, 2026, Resolution R-2026-04, and further approving an additional amendment to the original development agreement between Kemper Apartments LLC and the City of Boonville, Missouri. Whereas the City of Boonville, Missouri and Kemper Apartments LLC entered into a development agreement ordinance number 4650 on August 21, 2023 relating to the construction of parking, abatement of asbestos, and the construction of 55 senior housing units at D Barracks and A Barracks to accommodate development on FT Kemper Park and approved a First Amendment to the Development Agreement on March 2, 2026, Resolution R-2026-04. Whereas pursuant to Section 1 and Section 2 of Ordinance No. 4650, officials and agents of the City are authorized to approve changes to the agreement that are in substantial conformity with the original agreement and may take such actions as may be necessary to carry out the intent of the original ordinance and whereas Kemper Apartments LLC wishes to amend the development agreement due to fluctuations in the housing market, rising redevelopment costs, and tax credit deadlines, and whereas the City of Louisville, Missouri is agreeable to the amendment and whereas the amendment of the development agreement will not be Prejudicial to either party is in substantial conformity with original agreement and is consistent with the intent of ordinance number 4650. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Boone, Missouri, that the City Council hereby ratifies and confirms the First Amendment approved on... March 2nd, 2026, Resolution R-2026-04, and further approves an additional amendment to the original development agreement entered on August 21, 2023, with Kemper Apartments LLC as set out in the attached Exhibit A.

Mayor, do we approve this resolution?

Yep. I have a motion. I'll second. We have a second to approve the resolution. I think under questions and discussion, I think you're going to lead with that.

Yeah, so Kelly and Andrew are here today, and I'm actually going to just let them. They're going to talk a little bit about the movement of the project from 2023 to where we are today and also answer any questions you have. Sure.

Thanks, Kate. Mr. Mayor, city council members, my name is Kelly Rabby. I'm with a company called Riverstone Platform Partners. We're based out of Kansas City. Our primary focus is multifamily historic renovation, focusing more on workforce, affordable, attainable housing. I grew up in a small town in Kansas, so projects I really like to work on are mainly in rural markets throughout Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri. We've done some projects in Oklahoma as well, but How we got involved with this project, one of the consultants with Chris Ailes on Kemper Apartments reached out to us, I think probably in May, about six months, well, four or five months ago. Long story short, Chris mentioned he was kind of in over his head on projects in Iowa. He needed somebody to come in and help him on this project. We were looking around for new projects. He caught us at the right time. So we agreed to come in and basically be a co-developer on the project. So Chris kind of stepped away from getting the application done to the state of Missouri for our housing credits. We stepped up and through that process, Even Chris kind of took it a step further where he's like, look, this is too much. I've got a lot of projects going on in Iowa I need to focus on. If you guys just want to work on the project, go get the financing approved, refund or reimburse me the costs I have in it with a little extra additional costs or expenses, I'd be fine with you guys taking over the project. And we're somewhat reluctant doing that because usually a developer's given up a project where you want to know, well, what's going on with this? Why would we want to step in? Because it's always kind of a red flag. But once we did more research here, and particularly coming out and meeting with Kate and walking the building, we got really excited about this project. Every historic project I do, I say I'm never going to do another one. And I've done one a year since then. 10 years ago and we've said we weren't going to do it with like the YLAS, former YMC in Kansas City, an old school building in Baxter Springs, Kansas, and then working on another couple urban historic projects. And you learn something every time you do one, as I'm sure you all know here, doing all the great work you've done out there. But I think the reason we really got interested in this is through not only all the community support that's reached out to this, but all the work that the city's done to this point to really make this the final piece of a great puzzle that's been put together over the last 20 years. I mean, with the financial investment, with the folks that we just walked the campus and met with at the library today and through the college and through everybody else, it's something that, well, You know, Chris, we'll take this on. We didn't see any red flags in meeting with Kate, meeting with the mayor and other folks in the city. It's like this is one of the most exciting projects I've worked on in 30 years and has a lot of support behind it, which made us really take the reins on this and get it to where we are today. So some of the amendment items we asked for really more. The main one is shifting from 55 and older to more just family, unage-restricted. And the reason we do that a lot of times is this is mainly going to be mostly one bedroom units, so it's going to naturally rent more elderly 55 and older single person households or maybe some young folks that are working maybe in the YMCA at a library that need a place to live. So we can cast a wider net versus just focusing on 55 and older. That helps with workforce development, workforce recruitment for other folks in the area that need to hire. The unit count now, I think we saw several numbers. I'm just kind of highlighting some of the main things. The unit count we saw was ranged from 57 to 55. We're at 53 units. So it's 53 units. That's what's going in on Friday. It's 53 units. And the mayor did mention that it looks like these buildings could have more, but there's a lot of common area in them, big hallways. We've got to cut in stairwells. have areas like in the basement that can't be converted into units. We have an auditorium that's going to be preserved and open to the community for community events and those types of things. So 53 units is the unit number that we're... I keep reminding myself, 53 units, so... So I don't get messed up. But I think the other I can't remember if there are some other items. Those are the main things shifting from the 55 and over to family. Why we're here today to ask for this amendment just to kind of tie up some loose ends as our applications do the state on Friday. Right now it's coming in at about a $20 million project. About half the funding sources are coming from the Missouri state housing tax credit, which is very competitive. The state of Missouri allocates about $18 million a year in tax credits, which equates to about $180 million total in capital equity that's to be raised. And every city that needs housing in Missouri, rural, urban, are competing for this money. We're in to win these projects when we do them, so if I saw any hesitation or any red flags, we wouldn't be here today to ask for this amendment. I think all the pieces are there. Kate and the city has, over the last 20 years, really laid out a program here that is really exciting. Hopefully we get the funding done, and if we do, What a way it goes, the funding gets approved, I think, by Thanksgiving or between Thanksgiving and Christmas, then we would start earnest in January to get our construction drawings done and hopefully be under construction by next March or April. So I don't know if I missed anything, but I'd be happy to field any questions or comments that you may have.

Yes, sir. A couple right out of the gate. What happens if you do not succeed in getting the tax credit funding from the state?

We would ask that we... reapply next year again. I mean, unless the city would feel, a lot of times it might take one or two times to get them. We're in to win the first time. I think this, based on all the applications we've done, this has, we're checking every box that the state likes to see. And particularly with the leverage, it's very rare that we come across projects with this amount of local government resources in it. So we feel good about it. But again, If we don't get it approved, we would ask, you know, maybe to come back and say, hey, all the hard work's done. Can we do another round? Just set the building, put it kind of mothballed, make sure it's, you know, well-maintained, but then reapply next year.

And then when we talk about affordable, do we know what that means? Like you use a state or federal scale?

Yeah, federal scale. So on this project, on tax credit projects, we're going to be renting between 60% and 80% area median income. So we're calling this a, it's technically called a mixed income or income averaging project, so it allows us to rent the majority of the units at 60% AMI, and that's based off county, or actually I think we're in the Columbia MSA, so it's based off, which is good because then the median income is higher than it would be if you were just in a rural market. So that rent kind of skews off of that median income. So this is really kind of that more workforce space. Housing authorities and more of those projects focus on the lower, like 30% to 40% AMI. The tax credit program that we work with is really kind of in that 40% to 80% AMI range.

Does that readjust annually? Yeah. And how long is that term for the building?

For 15 years on the property. 15 years? Yeah, and then at the end of 15 years, we have to keep it in compliance, and there's another 15-year extended use period, which is a point criteria. So really, for the next 30 years, the rents will go up every year. It'll stay in compliance, and it'll be under that land use restriction. At the end of 15 years, we can't just flip it to a market rate person who will come in and run it to the ground. It will be preserved along those lines.

And do you intend to, or are we contracted to, you continue to own that asset?

Yeah, we would have to. For a minimum of 15 years, we have to own it. Yeah, and as old as I am. I hope I'm around 15 years. You know, when you get to my age, mortality starts to face you down. But we'll be around. The ownership, the legal ownership, we'll be around for that, a minimum of 15, if not 30 years.

And manage it?

Yeah. You bet.

Okay. Do we have the city of oversight on any of the management, or do we turn over the asset entirely to them?

So the agreement... The original agreement and what didn't change is that the ownership would convert to them. I know from previous emails that he, Kelly did talk about that he wanted people to know the management and have their phone numbers who would be related entities if there was something that the YMCA saw that they had concern that they could call the manager just direct and say hey. whatever it is, or your tenants are awesome, whatever the comment might be, but that they would have access to that. But in terms of who they hire and how they manage, that's not our, that's their.

We're just regular zoning and code enforcement.

And if they don't get an answer, they usually have my number too, but they usually never gets elevated to that. But I just, smaller town, coming from a smaller town, I like to know if they have trouble getting a hold of somebody, then get a hold of me or Andrew and we can resolve the problems. But if there's any that come up.

Oh, I'm sorry. And I should just say from a code enforcement perspective, remember, it is like literally just the footprint of the building and a little bit outside. So the rest of the area will continue to be maintained, all of the green space by the parks crew, just as it is now.

Hey, why don't we just wait and see if he can get funding before we just move forward or do we have to move it now?

Well, he can't submit an application if he doesn't have this agreement in place. So everything, all of the background work, the ownership issue and the work project and all of this relationship has to be finalized for him to apply.

Yeah, and we won't take title to the property unless that financing is approved. So you're not giving us the building without having the financing in place. And we wouldn't close on it until the actual day that we're closing on our $20 million worth of financing. So if we don't get the financing, we can't close on it, you still own title to it. We don't have that.

We may want to flag one thing. This is in there as R2026-15. The Hill Ridge thing that we passed was R2026-015. So it should be 16.

It should probably be 016.

Yeah, just a quick comment. I mean, with the momentum that we have with the library opening, you know, I've always been a big proponent of trying to get Kimber more developed. So welcome, Kelly and Andrew. I'm personally excited for the investment, and I hope this all works out because I think it's a very unique property, very unique area, and a really unique opportunity we have within the city. So I wish you all the luck.

Yeah, we agree. We concur. Yeah, that's it.

I noticed the contract date went from 2026, December 31st, to 2027, but then the construction deadline start date went out to 2029. If you do receive the funding, what is it like normally that they would make sure that you start construction by?

Yeah, so we... I would say we would want to close in the spring on our financing, and as soon as we close, and to get to closing, we have to have permitted construction drawings, permits, all of our financing done. The good thing on this building, the long lead item is the historic tax credits. That's all done. So that's all been approved by the state. We don't have to wait around for that. It sounds like we can get permits pretty quickly. Our local architect... feels you can have the buildings drawn in 60 days. So our goal as soon as we get approval, we kick everybody off. I'd say the construction schedule on this is probably about 16 months. So maybe a little shorter because of the demo and everything that's already been done. But usually 16 months is probably that. We would be the 24.

I think we try to put in their 24 month construction schedule, but I think we would certainly beat that if I can interject just for a second kind of break a few of those concerns together side and I think Councilman deck will touch on it also, but the extension that was discussed going to 2029 circles back to if they don't get the financing if they don't get approved, there's a there's a larger window for them to go back to the table and then very in regards to your concern if they don't get the money they don't get the property. So it's not as if it's theirs because currently BCDC owns it. That was part of the transition initially so that we could go back in, abate the asbestos, and then circle back to the developers.

Any other questions from the council? I do think this is a project that is filling a need for the community as to the... folks that we need to provide housing for, and so I think that's good. And so I'm hoping everyone will be supportive of it. Okay. No other questions, and it'll be a roll call.

Howard? Yes. Marvel? Yes. Gilbert?

Yes.

Venable?

Yes.

Bechtel?

Yes.

Thompson? Yes.

Thank you.

New business item B, first reading of bill number 2026-013, authorizing improving a vacant land contract for Cliff Drive property.

An ordinance in the city of Monroe, Missouri authorizing the purchase of approximately a .44 acre parcel along Cliff Drive along the Katy Bridge. from WN Geiger and Sons Incorporated, providing an effective date therefore, and repealing all ordinance in conflict with this ordinance.

Thanks, guys.

Moving on then to reports of standing committees. I don't know that we have any that I can see. Okay. Reports of city officials under mayor. I guess I am participated in the bookworm relay, which I think a lot of you all did too. I thought that was a very great community building event to have that many people participating for a common purpose. And obviously very excited about the new library being opened up. The other thing which I wanted to comment on is good luck to the 12-year-old All-Stars as they go to the World Series. So that's the only thing that's under my mayor's report. City Administrator.

Just a few things. So one, obviously, we have on the agenda tonight the first reading for Cliff Drive, so Betty did accept our offer of $7,500. Jeff did the negotiating for me, so thank you.

Tough negotiator.

I just want to talk a little bit on my memo on the first comment about the tax levy. So we have still not received the tax paperwork. So I'm getting a little nervous because you're supposed to approve it by September 1, and you have to put a public hearing, and it has to go in the paper.

But I think two years ago we were late.

So we've been late before. But it's not our fault. That's what I really want to say. It's all the paperwork comes to us. So as soon as it comes, we will proceed with that. And also to that point, I don't figure out the levy. The levy is determined by the auditor. And they look at our valuation. And then they could take the Hancock Amendment and the increased valuation. They do a whole bunch. Then they say, here's what you can do. So if you're asking how the rate got created, that's what I know. And you should call the auditor for more questions on that one. And then the last thing is I have several work sessions that I would like to schedule. I'm trying to get ahead of the budget session for you guys this year a little bit. So things that you've asked us to look at. And I saw I said December, but I really meant October, so. I'm already moving ahead. But the first one is 921, and I want to talk about water. We have a pretty extensive slideshow that talks about water, how the water rates get to be what they are, the things that contribute to water, all the things. And so I want to start that one at 5 p.m. It'll probably be about an hour presentation and then an hour for us to discuss water rates. If there is something you guys want to change, I would like to kind of have a direction before we get closer to the end of the year. It's stressful on staff if we're in the March meeting talking about rates and levels and all the things. So the next one is 10-5 for the airport. We've been kind of doing a little behind the scenes work on should we look at the airport in a different way. Up to this point, I haven't spent any money, so I kind of want to know if you guys want me to spend money. So that's when Lochner's going to come in. That can start at 6 o'clock. The last one is... Well, that's...

I mean, we've spent quite a bit of money.

Oh, I meant planning money. Like, it would be, like, feasibility studies and that kind of stuff.

You're not talking about city budget. No, no, no.

I'm just talking about, like, if we want to put money to hire consultants to look at an expanded scope of the airport.

Yeah.

That's what I meant. Sorry.

Fair enough.

Um... Up to this point, we've done exploratory work. Thank you. And then the last one was 1019 for gaming funding. I think Andrew. Was it Andrew that asked for that?

Yeah, I brought up the distribution of funds from the gaming year over year. Yes, that's right.

So I would like to do that one also at 6 o'clock, and that would be in October. So if you guys want us to change something, we can do something before we get into the next one. Anyways, I think that's it and the pool closes on the 16th. It's probably cooled down a little now since it's gotten cooler.

It was fast.

Okay, then we'll move on to the city clerk report. Looks like we have the Bama customer appreciation event.

Yes, as you guys see, there's the event permit and Jason is here to come up and kind of talk about it, give a little information.

Mr. Mayor, it's the council members. So we're kind of replacing the wine walk with this event is what our idea is. So instead of we didn't have the wine walk this year, and we hope to have this next year, this will be a continuing event. We've got two street closures that we're asking for just to cover our butts more than anything because we're not for sure if we can get the Morgan Street closure done and it makes sense for everything and so we also ask for chestnuts. So we don't need both, we just need one. So we're having a customer appreciation week with all the stores that have events through the week of September. 7th through the 12th, and then the 12th is when we'll have the customer appreciation block party. So we're running to shut down Morgan Street. And although we have on the application, we have, I don't know, I didn't fill it out. Main to 6th is listed.

Main to 6th, yeah.

Main to 6th is listed.

Let me clarify something really quickly. I only put the... event permit in of them asking for Morgan Street, because I was kind of under the impression that if they didn't okay Morgan Street, Chestnut would be the next, but I don't see why Morgan would be a problem, but clarification, sorry.

So yeah, what we want to do is we're going to have either a DJ or a band on Morgan Street and have like a dance party like we used to have in Heritage Days on Morgan Street. We're going to have a couple food vendors there, and we would like some picnic tables, and we're just, the local businesses are throwing in some money just to throw a party to say thank you to all of our customers, and that's basically what we're going to do. So we just need to have from Main Street to 6th Street on Morgan Street closed. I'm nervous about the pool part, the pool, the pool. Oh, there's a, Jason, that...

For those of you who don't know, I own the pub on Morgan. But there's a pool tournament that Saturday afternoon. But that's not going to conflict, and there's no concert that night.

Right, I heard that part. So, I mean, that's just the basics of what we're trying to do.

Did you have a turnout?

I do. I mean, it's just, yeah, I have, there should be 13 here.

So, if council's amenable, we'll put the street closure, but also they're asking for an alcohol... Suspension open container. So if you guys are amenable to that at the next council meeting, we'll do both the street closure and the Altschule Hall suspension.

I mean, Brett, if you don't mind, I mean, Brad, you own the business on that. Is it? I mean, work for you.

Yeah, I mean, Jason reached out to me beforehand. I have no objection. I mean, I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I mean, if the downtown merchants, and a lot of this is through the Boondall Area Merchants Association, and they're very enthusiastic, very active promoting the downtown businesses. So as a property, I have several properties on Morgan Street, and I have one business there, and I'm in 100% support of them.

And people that come for the pool tournament will make it. Yeah. I promise you. Right.

And the idea is instead of making us get a liquor license, we can go into the businesses, into the pub, or into Hooch and Leaf, and then they can come out to the street and have a picnic table to sit at, kind of do, and just hang out.

If the council approves a variance for the open container ordinance, then they can make purchases at the two licensed businesses on that street and stay within Morgan Street from 6th to Main. At picnic tables. And just like when they did the wine walk, if they vary from that, if they walk outside of that perimeter, they're going to be subject to open container ordinances violations.

Do we need to approve a variance for selling alcohol outside of... That was what we discussed.

We're not going to sell outside, at which point in time myself and Hooch and Leaf would have to get a caterer's permit to sell outside of the licensed premise. But if the city's agreeable to the variance for open container, then we're working in unison. They can walk out the front door into the controlled area and not be in violation of the ordinance.

That, to me, makes the most sense.

Yeah, that's easy. Yeah, that was what we contemplated. Because otherwise, if they wanted us to do a bump out like merchants will do on retail, if they wanted us to do a bump out, we'd have to get caterer's permits through the state. Really? Okay.

Like if you wanted to step out on the sidewalk and do it, you'd have to get a...

It's not going to violate ordinance for that particular time frame in this specific location. I think that's fine. I think that's okay.

I think it's awesome. Okay.

Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I appreciate you guys putting it together.

We'll get the door knockers out, and then we'll have it all in the next meeting.

Okay.

Thank you. Thanks, Jason.

Thanks. Thanks, Jake.

Anything else? City clerk?

Nope, that's all I got.

City councilor? Nothing. I was going to address those particular issues. I just hit them. So if anybody had any questions, I'm good.

economic developer.

Good evening Mayor, Council. My report is in your packet and of course like always if you have any questions you can certainly ask away or feel free to call me anytime. It's been a fairly busy month with requests for information and also with entrepreneur assistance. We've received four inquiries from The Missouri and not the Missouri Department of Economic Development, but the group that markets the state of Missouri outside the state We've received for two we had qualifying lots to respond to which which were done the Missouri Partnership is transitioning to a new system. It was way, way, way more laborious than normal. But it's short-term pain for a long-term gain of the system they've switched to is to make future responses more efficient. So it isn't efficient yet, I can tell you. But you'll see that as a fallback and simmer there. So other than that, I don't have much else to report other than more and more I'm seeing working with more interested entrepreneurs about doing things in town. So that's also very good, I think.

Any questions? Just one, Jim. We had, I think, three projects that died on site or building readiness stuff. Yep. Is there anything the city can do to hedge that? Are those sporadic, or is there some type of infrastructure investment we should be looking at long term to prevent that?

Yeah, so power has been a constraint as of late that we've discussed here and will continue to be probably into the future. And when they put out these RFIs, so I would have to go back and look at some of these RFIs. But some of these are really outlandish. I mean, it's 50 million gallons of water a day. I mean, I'm being facetious. But it's like four or five times our production capacity might be a limiting factor. Well, that's not something we can solve. And in fact, the two that were submitted, Fallback and Simmer, are going to require an eleven million dollar upgrade to gas to get to the site which will make each of those projects that's about ten percent of each of those projects cost so I'm not sure we may be out of the selection just for the gas upgrade so I try to keep an eye on those things and if we're even within the ballpark even though it's an eleven million dollar gas line extension yeah absolutely I'll throw our name in the hat but if it's if it's totally if it's a huge water thing we're limited with. So it really varies, and I would have to go back and look, which I can do and send you that information. But, yeah, it's always what barrier do you run up against is what throws you out.

I just wondered if there was commonalities or anything for us to look at long-term.

Well, so one thing that... So our most... So we've talked about energy as a barrier that we run into a lot, but another barrier we run into a lot is simply developable acreage. So the best acreage we have to market currently is actually in the village of Windsor Place. There is a 103-acre certified site there that is just north of the interstate that a lot of preliminary work has been done. It's relatively flat. After that site, we're down to relatively small sites that are still available in the Mid-American Industrial Center Park. And a couple of those really aren't preferable because they're not very flat. So we really have not that many developable acres that are available in town, and that's a limiting factor. So without going back and looking, it's not uncommon for the request to come in for 250 acres, where we don't have it.

Jim, you said north of the interstate, did you mean south? I meant south, sorry.

Sorry, yeah, just to clarify, south.

Make sure it didn't move on me. North of the highway.

Good, I was like, where is it at?

I was thinking north of the village, south of the highway.

I just wanted to confirm.

Yeah, it's the acreage. If you extended 87 Diner to the west, it's that acreage. So yeah, there's always a constraint. It's whichever ones we run into. All right.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Anything under miscellaneous? Looks like we have a closed session then. It would be a closed session pursuant to section 610.0213 on personnel. We're going to have a motion.

Motion to move to closed session.

Do you have a second?

I'll second.

Okay. I have a motion by Andrew Coward and second by Hallie Thompson to go into closed section under Section 610.0213, Personnel. Any questions or discussion? Roll call.

Nope. Sorry. Thompson.

Coward.

Oh, sorry, my thing's backwards. Okay, Howard, sorry.

Yes.

Harville?

Yes.

Albert?

Yes.

Venable?

Yes.