Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress. Welcome everyone to the January 20th, 2026 regular board of alderman meeting. Would everybody please join with me in saying the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Aman Pleka up here. Awoman Ty here. Aud Miller here.

Aman Gold here. Aldwoman Harter here. Auter here. Mayor Dam, you have a four. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is approval or amendment of the agenda. Do we have any changes? Uh, any objection to approving the same by acclamation? Seeing none, it'll be so approved. Drops us down to announcements and appointments. We have two that I'm very, very happy about tonight. First up is uh our police department. So, whoever is going to handle that, chief, for you.

Good evening. Uh in the last couple weeks, we've had a couple cases of interest in the police department that we felt reached the level of doing an award for the officers. So, Major Simpson's going to read the awards and uh the officers have come forward. They're they're interesting cases in that uh the one that you're going to hear about from the YMCA was an officer that recognized and pushed this thing uh forward and the detectives took it and ran with it, did a great job with it. But it was that initial recognition of the threat that really was important in that case. And then the second case you're going to hear about is an incident from a flock hit on mobile mobile on the run. Uh it's been in the news very much lately about use of force when it goes to automobiles and police officers. So this is a case of uh the officers did an outstanding job recognizing the threat. Uh we're able to manage it and get through the incident without anyone getting hurt. So, um, without further ado, Major Simpson's going to read those for you.

Alex, Dick, uh, Phil, you want to come on up here, please? So, as the chief said, this first incident had to do with, um, a threat we received at the YMCA. And I'll just get started. On January 4 or I'm sorry, January 14th, 2026, Officer Hidich responded to a harassment call at the Y. Through prompt action and thorough investigation, Officer Hidich identified a credible and im imminent threat involving a subject who made explicit statements about coming to the YMCA with a firearm and harming children. Officer Hidich conducted a detailed interview with invol all the involved parties and YMCA staff assessed the environment and recognized the early childhood education center as a vulnerable soft target due to the presence of children and limited security measures. Officer Hidich's observations combined with investigative findings and a records check on the suspect involved revealed a violent criminal history which led to the determination that the threat was credible and posed an immediate risk to public safety. Officer Hidich promptly notified Sergeant Figs who took decisive action alerting command staff and coordinating with the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Josh Bowersox and Lieutenant Todd Lambert, the detective bureau comprised of Detective Rick Pettit, Detective Al Wilcox, Detective Phil Meyer, responded without delay. Their coordinated efforts resulted in surveillance of the suspect's residence, obtaining and executing a search warrant and successfully taking the subject into custody without incident. The suspect's firearm was also located and seized before any harm could be done. The collective actions of officer Hidich, Sergeant Figs, Lieutenant Bower Sox, Lieutenant Lambert, Detective Pettit, Detective Wilcox, and Detective Meyer exemplify exceptional professionalism, teamwork, dedication to public safety. Their

proactive response and decisive intervention directly prevented a potential act of violence and ensured the safety of children, staff, and the community. This incident reflects the highest standards of law enforcement service and is worthy of this department award of excellence. Please join me in congratulating these gentlemen on their award. Thank you guys. [applause] Good job. [applause] She wants a picture, J. Oh. um when we applied on that uh case, the St. Louis County prosecuting uh attorney issued warrants on that and there was a $250,000 cash only bond issued. So um I'm going to move on to the second uh incident that I'd like to discuss. Corporal Hoppper and Josh Slatterie couldn't make it here tonight, but um I'll just get right into this. Um on January 13th, Corporal Hoppper and Pio Slatterie demonstrated exceptional courage, decisiveness, and teamwork during the apprehension of a dangerous felony suspect linked to an aggravated fleeing incident. Acting on a real-time flot camera alert for a wanted vehicle, Corporal Hoppler quickly located the suspect vehicle and attempted to detain the driver. Despite clear police identification and repeated lawful commands, the suspect actively resisted

arrest and attempted to flee using the vehicle as a weapon. As the suspect accelerated, Corporal Hoppler was struck and injured by the vehicle yet continued to coordinate the response. Pio Slatterie, placing himself in extreme personal danger, entered the suspect vehicle to prevent it from being driven, successfully fighting for control of the suspect uh vehicle which fled into oncoming traffic at the time. Through their combined efforts maintaining control under rapidly evolving and life-threatening circumstances, the officers stopped the vehicle, removed the suspect, and took him into custody. Their actions resulted in the recovery of a loaded firearm, significant quantities of marijuana that were packaged for resale, and other evidence that led to felony charges, including assault on a law enforcement officer and aggravated fleeing. Corporal Hopper Hoppler and Pio Slatterie's bravery, perseverance, and professionalism reflect the highest standards of law enforcement service and bring great credit to themselves in the Brentwood Police Department. They weren't able to make it here tonight, so we just wanted to mention this in this forum. So, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. [applause] [applause]

How is the corporal? He's good. Okay, he's good. despite Tangela's proddding to go get looked down and he didn't want to. So, but he's a pretty tough kid. So, he's doing well.

Fantastic results. Thank you so much. Uh, next up is the appointment and swearing in of a new fire chief. Um, this is one of the the [clears throat] the tasks that the mayor gets to do that um is is very enjoyable. One of the the many things that a mayor gets to do that's very enjoyable. And it was um a few years ago when I was when I appointed um uh Ronnie Katrrol as our fire chief. And as we all know, he has moved on to uh the to the west side of the state uh thereby creating a vacancy. And [clears throat] much like uh with uh with Ronnie, we were able to look inside our department to to fill uh that vacancy. um Alderman Pluffka who's the chair of uh public safety and I met with [cough and clears throat] uh Chief Ed Bernie uh to talk to him for quite some time just to hear what his vision is for the department and uh what what's important to him and I think I can speak for Alderman Pluffka that we we both were very impressed with with Ed and uh we I think the city is very fortunate that we were able to look inside uh in order to fill this vacancy instead having to go outside because um and again that's that's that's that speaks to our departments of the fact that we are grooming folks to uh as as the the chiefs or the heads of the departments are transitioning out we have people ready to take that uh that spot. So without any further ado, Chief Swear who's swearing him in. Octavia

of Missouri and of the state of Missouri and the ordinances and the ordinances of the city of Brentwood of the city of Brentwood and that I will faithfully and I will faithfully and diligently and diligently demean myself demean myself at all times at all times while serving as while serving as the fire chief the fire chief for the city of Brentwood for the city of Brentwood for which I for which I was was officially appointed was officially appointed on the 20th day of Jan of the 20th day of January 2026. Thank you Octavia. [applause] [applause]

[clears throat] [clears throat] [applause] All right. Well, thanks again, Ed, Chief. Proud to serve the city.

Thank you.

Uh, next up, [clears throat] public hearing, which we have none, brings us down to citizen comments. If anybody in the public cares to address the board, now is the time to do so. All we ask is that you come to the uh the podium there, state your name and your address, and you'll be given up to three minutes. We have anybody online? All right, we will move on to mayor and alderin reports. First up is the the mayor report. I have one thing. It's it's early in the year, so not much to report, but I did want to bring to the attention of the board that uh this Thursday, [clears throat and cough] the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis is holding its its monthly meeting room, and we always have a guest speaker. And the speaker that we're having uh this month is somebody with the East West Gateway Council of Governments. Back in I think 2023, I attended a um a one-day um conference, if you will, to take a look at uh the violent crime in the St. Louis region that was sponsored by the East West Gateway Council of Governments. So, we had the mayor of St. Louis, we had the county executives from Franklin County, Jefferson County, St. Louis County, St. Charles County um over on the Illinois side, Madison, St. Clair counties [clears throat] as well as a number of other folks and it was very well attended and the the person that presented was a professor from the University of Maryland. His name is Thomas Apt ABT and he has uh through it the through the University of Maryland they have created this center to address violent crime in municipal areas major municipality areas and [clears throat] they have already put together a program that's been successful in Knoxville Tennessee as well as Boston Massachusetts at the time. Uh coming out of that was a decision by the the G Council of Governments to go ahead and and uh in a sense work with the University of Maryland to see what St. Louis could do, see if they could put together a plan to

address all the violent crime that we see in this region. Um [clears throat] the program combines focused deterrence, cognitive behavioral therapy, and street outreach. During the summit, some leaders said we needed a focus on social programs and less policing while others said the complete opposite. Uh Thomas App said you needed both and so the direction from again from the council of governments was to continue with the program and that program became known as save lives now. Uh fast forward a couple of years. Uh I sit on the board of the East West Gateway Council of Government and we had a meeting in September where they gave us an update on this program and it was fascinating the decrease in the violent crime in the St. Louis region which we all know we need and [clears throat] whether the uh this program can take credit for it or if there's credit to be shared among other other reasons, who knows? But in any event, I thought it was a very fascinating um update on on this program. And so I asked that he uh present at the at the meeting on Thursday night. So if any of you want to attend and hear an update on that, again, this is that's this Thursday, 6:30, and it's going to be at the Wildacres Park in Overland. And um no RSVP. uh there's no no cost but uh and again it's a wonderful opportunity just to to meet other elected officials but more importantly to hear about uh how successful this program has been in the in the region. So other than that I have nothing else. Alderman Pluff.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. On uh Wednesday, January 28th, public safety committee will meet in this room at 5:30. Alderwoman Ty. Uh tomorrow night at 6 PM the Ways and Means Committee will have its January meeting. Uh, Alderwoman Go. On Wednesday, February 11th at 6:30 p.m. there is a W 2 meeting in the community center. Thank you. Alderwoman Sims, no report. Alderman Gold.

Yes. Uh since this uh meeting tonight has has conflicted with our regularly scheduled communications meeting, we are moving our communications meeting to uh to the 29th the Thursday 29th of January uh at 6 PM in in this chamber. Um, I don't know if you all have had a chance to read the communic or the um uh administrator's report from Friday, but we had a really great response for for the RFQ for the the branding. So, we'll be I'm sure having an update on on that. So, pretty exciting news to be talked about. Anything else? No. Okay. Alderman Lock Mueller.

Yes. Ward uh three will meet next th I'm sorry, next Tuesday, January 27th at 6:30 at Worth at the rec center. Thank you. Thank you. Alderwoman Harter, no report. And Alderman, uh, after a month off, uh, Brentwood Forest will host their next board meeting next Tuesday, the 27th, at 6 p.m. in the clubhouse. [clears throat] Thank you. Thank you. Uh, brings us down to the city administrator report. Finally. Yeah,

I I have a report. Dan, do you want to come join me? Um, so this item came up at multiple public works committee um for their consideration. we changed the schedule, the sanitation schedule effective January 1. And so, um, in the last several weeks, both Dan and Michelle Ber have made concerted effort to get that information out to the public, um, to lessen the misses, you know, in terms of are you putting out your sanitation when you should or your recycle when you should. So, Dan, what was the change? Yeah, the biggest change for uh 2026 we brought about um discussion in public works committee was that during a holiday such as like yesterday for Martin Luther King Day, there is no yard waste for this week. Monday's services are Tuesday. Tuesdays become Wednesday. Thursday and Friday stay the same. So we don't have to work that Saturday like we've done in the past. and we don't have to have crews come in on the holiday because if something goes wrong then the rest of the crew is not there to take care of, you know, a breakdown in a vehicle or things like that. So,

just wanted to share that information in case you [clears throat] all are hearing from residents. Um we continue to use um code red to push out the information, the news e newswsletter and the quarterly newsletter and we hope that we eventually are able to connect with all our residents so that they know what the new schedule is. Great. Thank you. Thanks Dan. Thanks. Okay, brings us that brings us down to the consent agenda. Just a few items on there. Any questions about any of the items or any requests to have any of the items removed? If not, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Alman PFA, yes. Autowoman Ty,

yes. Autooman Go, yes. Autowoman [clears throat] Sims, yes. Lock Miller, yes. Ottoman Gold, yes. Autooman Harter, yes. Urgger, yes. Motion pass. Okay. Thank you. Uh we're now in the old business because we have Yes, old business. Uh first up is bill number 6582. Can we get a second read by title only, please? Yes. Amended Bill 6582, an ordinance approving the site development plan and authorizing the issuance of a new conditional use permit for T-Mobile to operate a retail store at 1201 Straser Drive within the Hanley Station Development Center in the UD Urban Development District.

Thank you. Uh chair would entertain a motion to perfect bill number 6582 in the ordinance form. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Yes, Alderman go. Just to confirm, no citizen comments were received from any of the condo owners.

No, we have not received individual comments. Included in your packet was an email exchange forwarded from the property owner uh that the parking in front is all designated for the retail and restaurant uses. However, as you will see later under the comprehensive sign plan, they've amended that to for the parking designation spaces to include the hours of operation for the T-Mobile so that others may be able to utilize those and the off hours. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Roll call, please. Aman Plefka, yes. Awoman Ty, yes. Awoman Gold, yes. Awoman Sims, yes. Ottoman Lock Miller,

yes. Ottoman G, yes. Automan Harter, yes. Ottoman Er, yes.

Bill number 6582 now passed and now becomes ordinance number 5211. Thank you. Brings us down to bill number 6583. Could we get a second read by title only, please? Amended Bill 6583, an ordinance approving an amendment to ordinance number 4051 that authorized a comprehensive sign plan for the Hanley Station development. Thank you. Chair would entertain a motion to perfect bill number 6583 into ordinance for moved. Second. Any discussion? Yes. Alderman Ty. Can I ask what the word neutral means when it comes to color of the windows?

Um, [clears throat] I would generally say like black or white or a neutral tan color that's not a branded color or specific color related to that business. Okay. Are you I guess you're comfortable with the word neutral and I mean the branded language was in there, but yes, I mean neutral isn't a specific color. Are you comfortable that this is um satisfactory? Yes, because we also cross referenced that the drawings are to be consistent with the revised plans received January 13th, which shows the white background. Um, specify white if at some point they wanted to change it back to black. So, I thought that was sufficient. Okay, great. Thank you.

Anybody else? Roll call, please. Alderman Puffka, yes. Awoman Ty, yes. Awoman Go, yes. Aldwoman Sims, yes. Altman lock miller, yes. Aman G, yes. Awoman Harter, yes. Aut, [clears throat] yes. Bill number 6583 is hereby passed and now becomes ordinance number 5212. Thank you. Uh, brings us down to the last item under old business, and that is bill number 6587. Could we get a second read by title only, please? Bill number 6587, an ordinance enacting emergency measures to extend the continued use of temporary parking lots for Brentwood Park. first the first reading. Yes.

Oh, okay. Sorry about that. So, that was the first read. Okay. Who's presenting on this? Dan. This item's been brought to the board before. Um, one of the changes at the last board meeting that [clears throat] was uh desired and brought back to public works was on the north side at 8615 Manchester. There were uh concerns about the dust during the summer months whenever it's dry as well as runoff. So, some of the things we had put in the memo would be the changes on that north lot. So, there's a photo of a sketched up area. There isn't enough fall on the east side of the lot running from north to south that we'd be able to create a V ditch or some sort of ditch and convey the water from north to south. That should help. Uh we'll lose probably at least one parking stall. We'll relay these, but you're going to have to truncate the uh parking lot a little bit. You know, move some of the gravel to the west. That'll become grass. Uh you won't lose that many. You'll still have a 23 ft aisle or greater uh between the uh parallel park or the perpendicular part cars. And then the dust control, we actually have the two compounds at the shop. We're going to try that in a gravel area at public works. See which one works better. One's a liquid, one's a pellet. Um and then how often you have to reapply those. So, it would definitely um mitigate the dust on that side if we put that one or the other. And then what this would do is uh it would extend both lots another 180 days. The current uh permit is set to expire on the 26th of January. So, in a few days.

Yeah. Dan presented this to the public works committee and uh we're pretty satisfied with the deep dive Dan took into figuring out how to control some of that runoff to the existing neighbors and then this uh new use besides just putting down water all the time this other biodegradable solution that he's come up with. So I think it's worth a try. Alderman Gould. Just for clarification, I I can't recall I So the the south lot wasn't on a on a 180day term already, right? Were they both were they both on the same same schedule? So now we're now So we'll we'll now move forward with with both at the same schedule as well. Yes.

Okay. Anyone else? Are you asking for a second read tonight? Yes. Yes. Hear the request. Motion for a second read. Second. Thank you. Any discussion on the motion for a second read? Uh, all in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Mr. City Attorney, can we get a second read of bill number 6587 by title only, please? Bill number 6587, an ordinance enacting emergency measures to extend the continued use of temporary parking lots for Brentwood Park. Thank you. Chair would entertain a motion to perfect bill number 6587 in ordinance form. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Altman PFA, yes. Autooman Ty, yes. Awoman Gold,

yes. Autowoman Sims, yes. Lock Miller, yes. ADM Gold, yes. Autowoman Harter, yes. Urgger, yes. Bill number 6587 is hereby passed and now becomes ordinance number 5213. Thank you. Thanks, Dan. Brings us down to new business, of which we have none. And so, item 12, citizen comments. Once again, anybody in the public care to address the board, now is the time to do so. We just ask that you come to the podium, state your name and your address, and you'll be given up to three minutes. No one online. Okay. Um much to the dispay of many of you here, we have no need for a closed session tonight. [clears throat] So seeing that we have no further business, this meeting is