City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening.

Welcome to the May

Thank you all for being here. The clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Sheer?

Here.

Council Member Luther?

Here.

Council member Norris. Here. Council member Patel. Here. Council member Sotel. Here. Council member Thornburg.

Here.

Council member Wessie. Here. Council member Bezada.

Here. Thank you. With our newest council member, Mr. Thornburg, sworn in at 545 earlier this evening. We have all eight council members present. Next item on the agenda is the agenda approval. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Motion's made by Council Member Luther, seconded by Council Member Patel to approve tonight's agenda. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Tonight's agenda is approved. Next item on the agenda, public comments. Mrs. Norris has a couple of amendments to the agenda.

Do you have your proclamation? Was that on there? And then I need to add, you have laid on the dais about the appointments. So we need to add that to this.

OK, we have a proclamation this evening for the 25th anniversary of El Morelia Super Mercado to add under appointments, presentations, proclamations and introductions. And also I have an appointment of some Warden Commission members. Alright, all in favor of the amended agenda.

Second second.

What's what's the motion?

Okay, all in favor of the amended agenda, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I hear none. The agenda is approved for this evening. Next item, public comments. We have one and it is Ms. Nancy Lupia. Please come forward.

My name and address is on the card there for the record. I just wanted to come forward. You may or may not have seen on the news recently, St. Louis County Animal and Care Shelter is really having some hard times. What county council is wanting to do, apparently Bill 82 at some point was put into place where it gave the power to the Director of Health and Science for St. Louis County, Dr. Cunningham, that when the shelter became heavily populated, she could do adoption fee waivers. And now the county council is coming back, and they want to veto their own bill and take that away from her. So what that means is they want her to go to full capacity, which would be 170 dogs and 50 cats. and that building that is full capacity their setup is they have galvanized cages for the dogs and it's a large somewhat large cage where it allows the dog a sleeping area eating drinking peeing and pooping eating drinking peeing and pooping when they get overcrowded they cut that in half and now it's two. So they sleep, eat, drink, pee and poop all in one area and it's not that big of an area. And Dr. Cunningham will admit it is an inhumane way to keep animals. As hoarding cases come and the dogs come rolling in and the dogs come rolling in from their animal control officers, dogs will have to be put in cages, stacked in the hallways, stacked in the garages. That is also inhumane. What happens to these animals in that situation? Let's forget the fact that they've just lost their home. They've been brought in as a stray. Now they're in this very stressful situation. The best of their personalities probably is not always going to be shown. And the impact of contagious diseases spreading amongst the dogs is a big concern. Bordetella, commonly known as kennel cough, which is extremely contagious. And what happens when a dog starts suffering because of health reasons? It's put down. so her what she's wanting to do is offer this free waiver so people can get a dog i am not a fan of giving animals away for free human nature is we have a tendency to take better care of something that we've paid for but i am also not in favor of needlessly euthanizing dogs because a human somewhere in their life has failed them. As a society, this is our problem, and it will never get fixed until we stop the breeders, the puppy mills, and we get spayed and neutered going on. Unfortunately, there are not any programs available. The best thing that's gonna happen to the animals of St. Louis County is the APA coming in in North County, and they do have spay and neuter policies. What I'm asking of you, and I've already emailed each one of you and the department heads, anybody living in St. Louis County, please spread the word to those that you know in St. Louis County. We are District 2. That is Gretchen Bangert. And in your email or in the text, you will have her contact information. If you can just leave her a voicemail message, send her a quick email, whatever, just asking her to vote no on, to veto their policy that they've already put in place. If you've ever had a dog, if you've ever loved a dog, if you've ever seen a dog, if you've ever pet a dog, Now is the time to act on their behalf, please. Thank you.

Thank you for the information, Mrs. Lupia. I see no further comments, public comment cards. Next item on the agenda, we will have the introduction of our new police crime scene investigator. Before you come up, we need the approval of the minutes from May the 6th. Is there a motion? So moved.

Second.

MOTIONS MADE BY COUNCILMEMBER LUTHER, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER POSADA FOR THE APPROVAL OF MAY 6, 2026 MINUTES.

MAYOR, BEFORE YOU ASK FOR THE ROLL CALL VOTE, I JUST WANT TO MAKE A STATEMENT. THERE WERE A COUPLE OF SCRIBNER ERRORS IN THE DRAFT MINUTES WHICH HAVE BEEN CORRECTED.

OKAY. ANY FURTHER CHANGES? I see none. All in favor of the approval of the minutes from May the 6th, 2026, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I hear none. The minutes are approved from May 6th, 2026. Okay, major, acting chief, Rice.

Thank you mayor, thank you council members for allowing me a few minutes to introduce you to the newest member of the question team. This is Emily and she is our new civilian crime scene investigator. Emily is a resident of St. Louis County, where she lives with her husband, James, who has also been in law enforcement for 28 years. Emily is a graduate of the St. Louis public school system and attended Webster University. She also attended the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Academy, where she then served on the St. Louis Metro Police Department for 20 years, 11 of those in patrol and nine of those in the crime scene division. After serving for 20 years, she decided to retire from the police department and moved on to as a special agent for the Missouri Department of Revenue. Then she realized that she missed being a crime scene investigator, but did not want to hold a commission any longer. So she decided to try for our civilian crime scene job, which brings us here. Emily brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the department as our first ever civilian crime scene investigator. It's the first of her kind for us, and we expect big things from her. So please join me in welcoming Emily to our team.

Would you like to say anything, Emily?

Would you like me to say something?

Sure.

Any questions?

I see you have your family here.

Correct?

Thank you. No?

OK. OK, thank you. Welcome. All right. Next item, I'm going to ask for the approval of my recommendations for commission members. First of all, Pension Commission, Mr. Mike Goodall. He's been serving on the Finance Commission since 2022. I'd like to move him to pension. Second one, Police Commission. With the open seat, I'd like to add Mr. Jim Hartog to the police commission. Personnel commission, Ginger Noblet. She's a longtime resident, lives on Fifi Road, across the street from the rec center, and she worked in human resources for Edward Jones for 30 years. And the fourth one, police commission. This is for an appointment of a new chairman to the police commission due to the seat being vacated by our newest council member, Mr. Thornburg. I'd like Reverend Daniel Shanks to serve as that chairman. Do I have a motion? So moved.

Second.

Motion's made by Councilmember Luther, seconded by Councilmember Bezada. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you for your appointments. Next item on the agenda, as I said at the beginning, we have a proclamation for the 25 year anniversary of El Morelia Super Mercado. If the family would please come forward and I'll meet you out in the middle here.

That's what they are.

Where's dad?

a proclamation celebrating El Norellio Supermercado's 25th anniversary of growth, education, and community commitment in the city of Richmond. Whereas the Rico Flores family began their journey at 11415 St. Charles Rock Road in the wildest corner and a small plaza next to Brantley Hardware. And whereas, through determination, hard work, and continued support of the community, the family expanded in 2003 to 11,421 through 11,423 Central Dry Grown within the same plaza, growing their operations to a combined 2,400 square feet. And whereas, the Ricoh Flourish family continued to flourish in 2006 relocated to 1005 Central Rock Road, significantly expanding into a 11,000 square foot facility to better serve their growing business and community presence. And whereas this remarkable journey of perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit has now led to their newest and most impressive endeavor, a 42,000 square foot location at 11,092 Palmier Avenue, which officially opened on November 16th, 2024. And whereas, the Regal Forage family has demonstrated outstanding dedication to business, growth, community investment, and economic development through the years, serving as an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs and local families alike. And whereas, their continued success reflects not only their commitment to excellence, but also the strength and resilience of family-owned businesses within our community. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we proudly recognize and honor the Rico Flores family for their extraordinary journey, entrepreneurial achievement, and lasting contributions to the community And we extend our sincere congratulations on the opening of their new facility at 1192 Paul Mayer Avenue. In the witness whereof, I, Randall B. Hine, Mayor of Richmond, Missouri, you hereby present this proclamation in thanks and celebration of Del Varela Supermercado's 25 years in the City of Richmond and wish them continued success into the future. of Flores Junior and also his daughter Karen. So congratulations. Would you like to say a few words?

Thanks to the community. Thank you for always supporting us. I know we started real small, but with expanding, we can't say thank you enough to you guys. For the Hispanic, for the American community, thank you for all your help and support for us. Really grateful. Thank you.

Very nice, thank you. Congratulations once again. Next item on the agenda, we do have perfection of bills. First, bill number 6545, Council Member Sattel.

Thank you, Mayor. Move for second reading of bill number 6545.

Second motions made by council members to tell second by council member Wesley for second reading of bill number six five four five all in favor say aye aye any opposed I hear none please continue.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Bridgeton Missouri authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to execute an agreement substantially in the form attached here to with ag recycle ink for tub grinding and wood chip haul off in an amount of of $27,700, and the project includes a contingency in the amount of $3,000. Move that Bill 6545 become ordinance number? 26-24.

Second.

Motion is made by Councilmember Sattel, seconded by Councilmember Wessie, that bill number 6545 become ordinance 26-24. Discussion?

Is there a time schedule or when they might start on some of this, or do you have any ideas? Or is it just as needed?

I'll defer to Mr. Gunn.

No, it's not as needed. Basically, they'll come out, they'll bring out the tub grinder. I have some pictures of the pile. Right now, the pile has been there for a little while, and it's pretty large. So basically, they'll come out, start, probably take about four days to grind up. While they're grinding, they'll have three to four trucks cycling back to their facility where they turn everything into wood mulch, and then they'll sell that. Right now it's a pretty large fire hazard, so we're hoping to get this out of the parking lot or off this area before we start hitting the summer months and we end up with a little bit of a fire or something like that taking place. So this is all the debris that we've collected from the tornado last year. Council members tell us thank you up will we make that available to some of our citizens when it's done is we've done that before saying no one ever picks anything up because basically the we don't double grind we don't add any and that's to it so the reason why those trees dies because you're probably diseased. So we'll put the mulch out. We've put piles out in the past, but we've had like one person take it, and that's been about it. Basically, when it rains, the wood chips tend to go down the sewers, unfortunately. So having a pile just for people to pick up isn't really beneficial.

All right. Just asking. That's all.

All right. Any further questions? I see no lights. The clerk will call the roll.

Council member Norris. Aye. Council member Patel. Aye. Council member Sattel. Aye. Council member Thornburg.

Aye.

Council member Wessie.

Aye.

Council member Bezada. Aye. Council member Shearer.

Aye.

Council member Luther. Aye.

By a vote of eight to zero, bill number 6545 becomes ordinance number 26-24. Thank you. Next item is perfection of bill number 6546, Councilmember Luther.

Thank you, Mayor. Move for second reading of bill number 6546. Second.

Motions made by Council Member Luther, seconded by Council Member Bezzato for second reading of bill number 6546. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I hear none. Please continue.

Thank you. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Bridgeton, Missouri, application number 26-PZ-04, amending the Bridgeton Zoning Ordinance by adding a definition for data center and adding data center as a permitted use with special use permit to the M1 Manufacturing District Limited and Multiple M3 Plan Manufacturing Districts. Move that bill number 6546 becomes ordinance number 25, excuse me, 26-25. Second.

Motions made by Councilmember Luther, seconded by Councilmember Bezada, that bill number 6546 becomes ordinance 26-25. Discussion? Council member Luther.

Thank you mayor. I would like to make a motion to add the following definition of data center to bill number 6546. That being a data center is a building or group of buildings including any associated outdoor equipment and structures whose primary use is to house servers, computer systems, data storage systems, networking and telecommunications equipment, and associated components used to support the storage, processing, distribution, or delivery of data and digital services including cloud computing, COLA location services, and artificial intelligence processing. Examples of supporting infrastructure include power systems including UPS systems, emergency generators and electrical switchgear, cooling and mechanical equipment, security facilities, and ancillary office space accessory to the primary data center use.

Second.

Okay.

discussion on the amendment that council member luther proposed council member weshey thank you mayor um thank you all for putting that on there from the conversation that we had last council meeting i am happy with how it's wording now so just wanted to say i support it any further discussion council member luther

Yes, Mayor. Could we have staff to answer some questions about the staff recommendation for this bill and then also the impact and intent of the approved amended bill from zoning?

Is this on the amendment?

No.

OK, we're on the amendment right now. I'm so sorry. OK. Any other discussion on the amendment? Okay, on the amendment, the clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Sattel?

Aye.

Council Member Thornburg?

Aye.

Council Member Weshe?

Aye.

Council Member Bezada?

Aye.

Council Member Shearer?

Aye.

Council Member Luther? Aye. Council Member Norris? Aye. Council Member Patel? Aye.

Okay, on this amendment, it passes eight to zero. Okay, further discussion. Council Member Luther.

Thank you, Mayor. Sorry about that, Ms. Staff. Could we ask staff to talk about the intent of the staff proposed bill and intent, as well as the amended and approved impact and intent for the bill coming from Planning and Zoning?

Mr. Graden, would you like to come forward?

Yes. I can go to the podium or go from here, whichever you prefer.

YOU'RE FINE. OKAY.

THANKS. SO I STILL HAVE THE SLIDES FROM LAST TIME. SO WHEN THIS WAS PRESENTED TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION, STAFF RECOMMENDED THAT THE DATA CENTER ADDED AS A SPECIAL USE PERMIT TO THE M-1 MANUFACTURING DISTRICT LIMITED AND THE M-3R PLANNED MANUFACTURING DISTRICT. THE IDEA BEHIND THAT WAS WE ONE, REQUIRING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT IS CRITICAL BECAUSE IT GIVES THE CITY THAT OPPORTUNITY FOR REVIEW, PUBLIC COMMENT, ET CETERA. BUT ALSO WE THOUGHT THESE WERE THE AREAS WHERE THEY WOULD MOST LIKELY BE ATTRACTED TO. THROUGH DISCUSSION AT THE PLANNING COMMISSION, SO I THOUGHT WAS THIS AREA HIGHLIGHTED IN THE YELLOW DASHED LINE. when it went to the Planning Commission through discussion. So this shows the areas that if amended as staff proposed, that area shows where it would be allowed with a special use permit. Planning Commission, in their recommendation to the council, they recommended in favor, but they added additional M3 districts, and I had this map up last time, but that shows the additional area. So this was staff's recommendation, and the Planning Commission added those additional planned manufacturing district. The concern from staff as to why we didn't initially include those, was if you look down in that lower, sorry, lower left-hand portion of that map, there's that, I guess I'll call it an island carved out of that area, that's R3 zoning, that's Spanish Village. The concern from staff was if there was interest from a data center development there, that that might be a little too close to residential development, so that was why we proposed just the areas shown here, M1 and M3R. So I just wanted to include those differences again. If the city council wanted to pursue a staff's recommendation, it would just be a simple amendment to only include the M1 and M3R. If the council wanted to go with what planning commission proposed, it would just be left the same, but that change would require an amendment.

Council Member Luther? Yes, based on that information, and thank you for that information, I would like to make a motion to amend Bill Number 6546 to add, excuse me, to add as a permitted use with a special use permit to the M-1 Manufacturing District Limited and M-3R Planned Manufacturing District as recommended by staff. Second.

MOTIONS MADE BY COUNCILMEMBER LUTHER, SECONDED BY COUNCILMEMBER BIZARRA FOR THE AMENDMENT AS STATED BY COUNCILMEMBER LUTHER. DISCUSSION?

COUNCILMEMBER STILL. YES, THANK YOU. SO SHOW US THE MAP AGAIN OF WHERE IT WOULD BE WITH THIS AMENDMENT.

based on what the Planning Commission recommended, they added these districts here. So if you look on the lower left-hand side, it includes those M3 districts, planned manufacturing districts, all north of 270, but those were added in addition. What staff's original proposal was M1 and M3R. So the map shows now what staff proposed. Planning Commission's amendment added these areas. See the difference? Correct.

So the larger area is what we're amending again now, or is that what's already in the system because we have changed it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, because what Ms. Luther stated was to amend what was included in the packet with the May 6th agenda was to...

remove those additional m3 districts and just revert back to what staff had originally recommended so it actually be the amend would be reducing the area reducing the number of districts I'm gonna recognize city attorney please so my understanding with respect to the motion is as it relates to the bill that was introduced and it's been read twice now what we would be doing is deleting from that bill the references to M3A, M3G, M3L, M3M, M3N, M3O, and M3P, M3S, M3U, and M3V, so that the only districts where data centers would be permitted with a special use permit are the M1, Further discussion?

I see none. Oh, Council Member Weshe. Thanks, Mayor. Just wanted to make sure that I had the full understanding here. Outside of the places we're talking about, they are not permitted at all. The only places that they would possibly be permitted are the ones that we're approving right now, and even those would require a special use permit, correct? Correct. Okay, thank you.

Any further discussion? Okay, this is on the second amendment to the bill. The clerk will call the roll.

Councilmember Thornburg?

Aye.

Councilmember Weschy?

Aye.

Councilmember Bozzato? Aye. Councilmember Shearer? Aye. Councilmember Luther? Aye. Councilmember Norris? Aye. Councilmember Patel? Aye. Councilmember Sotelo?

Aye.

By a vote of eight to zero, this amendment passes. All right, we're back to bill number 6546 as amended. Any further discussion? I see none. The clerk will call the roll on bill number 6546 to become ordinance 26-25 as amended.

Councilmember Wesch?

Aye.

Councilmember Bezada? Aye. Councilmember Shearer?

Aye.

Councilmember Luther?

Aye.

Councilmember Norris? Aye. Councilmember Patel? Aye. Councilmember Sattel? Aye. Councilmember Thornburg?

Aye.

Councilmember Wesch? Aye.

Okay. Nine to zero.

By a vote of eight to zero, bill number 6546 becomes ordinance 26-25. Next item on the agenda, we are down to, we're going to go to closed session. So do I have a motion?

I need a motion for closed session to discuss manners.

Second.

Thank you. To discuss matters pursuant to hiring, firing, discipline of promoting information about the employee is discussed or recorded pursuant to section 610.021. Second.

Motions made by Council Member Norris, seconded by Council Member Shearer. The Clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Bozada? Aye. Council Member Shearer? Aye. Council Member Luther? Aye. Council Member Norris? Aye. Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Sotales?

Aye.

Council Member Thornburg?

Aye.

Council Member Weshe?

Aye. Thank you. We're moving into closed session. We'll be back shortly. If you'd like to wait, we'll be back.

Oh, you're okay.

I need a motion to move back into open session. So moved. Second. Second. Council Member Luther, seconded by Council Member Patel, I'm going to say. OK. Roll call.

Council Member Rosada? Aye. Council Member Shearer? Aye. Council Member Luther? Aye. Council Member Norris? Aye. Council Member Patel? Aye. Council Member Sattel? Aye. Council Member Thornburg? Aye. Council Member Weshe?

Aye. All right, next item on the agenda. I'm very proud to make the recommendation to council for approval for the appointment of acting chief of police major Bryce Loveall for the next chief of police for the city of Bridgeton, Missouri. The clerk will call the roll.

We need a motion. Motion to approve.

Motion to approve.

Second. Motion made by Council Member Luther, seconded by Council Member Patel. Clerk will call the roll.

Council Member Weshe. Aye. Council Member Thornburg. Aye. Council Member Bezada. Aye. Council Member Shearer.

Aye.

Council Member Luther. Aye. Council Member Norris. Aye. Council Member Patel. Aye. Council Member Sotel.

Aye. By a vote of eight to nothing. Congratulations, Chief. We will announce at a later time the swearing in ceremony at a date that come up pretty soon. Congratulations, thank you. Next item on the agenda, the attorney's report.

I have nothing, Mayor. Thank you. Council Communications.

Council Member Weschke. Thank you, Mayor. Like I say every week, thank you all for coming out. The people that are watching online, thank you for watching. Like and subscribe. I guess really the only thing is I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Cop on a Rooftop event. Was able to go open the bucket again because as I said last year I have a rule if you ever have a chance to do that you should But it sounds like we ended up raising a lot of money by we I mean the Bridgeton Police Department There was a really good turnout. I know I saw plenty of my other fellow council members and I'm I Believe the torch runs getting ready to happen, right? It hasn't it's this. Yeah. Okay, but I think it's coming up tomorrow So that's gonna be fun to watch. So if you happen to be along the route Definitely come on out I know I'm gonna try and step away from work to be able to see it and I'm not gonna try running it though because that would probably cause me to have a medical emergency So back to you mayor Thank you Councilmember Shearer

Thank you, Mayor. Hello, everyone. I want to personally welcome and congratulate Mr. Terry Thornburg on becoming the new Ward 2 Councilmember. Thank you. Congratulations. We had a Ward 4 meeting last Wednesday. Joni did all the talking. I did all the listening. 17 years, 13 days. It went well. The next one, I'm going to participate a lot. Yep, it's all on me this time. But we had a good meeting. I did participate and go to the cop on the roof i'm looking at councilman wesley and i got conjured into going up in the lift and i am petrified of heights and they took me out above the rock road and i was holding on for dear life thank you mr brazada i really appreciate you doing that for me and that is all i have

Don't you operate cranes? Down on the ground. Oh, they're on the ground. Okay, thank you.

He doesn't ever get in the bucket. Council Member Sattel. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to congratulate our new chief now and just move forward with it and keep it in tradition. I'm glad we were able to bring somebody that worked through the ranks in the city of Bridgeton. Thank you. That's all.

Council Member Norris.

I guess I won't do all the talking tonight, Mayor. I'm sorry, but anyway, 13 days to try and prepare for a meeting. I didn't want to put all that on Councilman Shearer. I just want to congratulate to our new council person, Ward 2, Terry Thornburg. Sorry, good luck, and thank you for serving. And also, congratulations to our new Chief Lovell. Thank you for serving our residents of Bridgeton. I can't even talk, I'm sorry. The 4th of July float, I'm giving up on that, sorry. No one thought it was a great idea to celebrate the 250th year of our country together. I also attended the multiple events this month. I had prayer day on May the 7th, Ward 4 meeting on May the 13th, luncheon on may the 15th also attended the police uh donut cop on the roof um and also that was on may 15th and attended the business watch last night so uh we're beginning to uh try to get some of the businesses come in it was a great a great meeting but it was uh officer mutert and officer schwob did a great presentation um but there was just a very few people but some of our large companies uh home depot kohl's Target and one of the, it was the makeup place, I'm sorry. Sally's Beauty, that's what it was, I'm sorry. And I also just, happy Memorial weekend, it's so early this year. I want to thank to our veterans who make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We need to celebrate, honor, and remember. Enjoy your time with family and friends. And thanks to all our veterans that are staff and residents of Bridgeton. I appreciate your service. Remember, this nation will remain the land of the free only as long as it is the home of the brave. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Bezzata?

Thank you, Mary. Just wanted to say congratulations to Terry. Welcome looking forward to working with you. I think everybody can say the same. Welcome to Emily in for being brought on with the police. Looking forward to meeting her and seeing what she can do. Congratulations to the new chief. Sounds like it's very well deserved and look forward to working with you as well. Congratulations to Elmorelia for their proclamation. This one was exciting for me because I saw a billboard that said they're going to start selling seafood soon. Big fan, looking forward to that. Last thing I had was that there were some complaints about the playground equipment being not grounded for a while, and those repairs were made and verified. I went down a slide and did not get shocked once, and there is a video if anybody wants to see that. Back to you. Thank you.

Council Member Luther.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm still writing my notes here. So thank you to all who attend virtually or in person. It means a lot to see you out there and to put your time in. It really does. It gives us kind of the inspiration that we need up here sometimes. So thank you very much. I won't steal any thunder from Parks, although I attended my first Parks Board meeting last night. So I'll turn that over to Mr. Kane. But I do want to say we wish the Park staff luck everything's what the shoot is about ready to open right the avalanche is ready to fall summers nearly here So I know we're not having the best weather this weekend but we wish all the programs off to a great start and it's good to hear that that you're up with staffing and I know there's always a little hitch here and there, but I think you've got it well under control. Welcome to new council member Thornburg. It's a pleasure to have you. Congratulations to our new chief. We look forward to working with you. We have been working with you. So continue that. It's great to see our tax dollars at work in Ward 3 with all the new slab replacement, lots of new roads. Come drive by if you want to see. We'll show off our nice, smooth roads. And I wanted to take a minute to a special thanks to our city attorney. It's reassuring to have you here with us and to keep us in compliance and to keep us informed and educated. Much appreciated. Thanks, Kelly.

Council Member Patel.

Thank you, Mayor. So I think Mr. Bazzata took all of the things that I was going to say, so I'm just going to repeat them. So you're just going to have to deal with it. So I have a lot of congratulatory, right, as we have done today. Congratulations to our newest council member and my co-counsel, Mr. Terry Thurnberg. He's a valued... community resource and I think he's going to be exemplary and an integral part of the day. So thank you for accepting and serving.

Thank you.

Congratulations to Emily Yim. Also to congratulations to Elle Moriella for being a valued partner for the city of Bridgeton. And also congratulations to our newest chief, Chief Lavelle. I can tell you I was a part of the early stages of the interview process for the chief and we had excellent, excellent candidates and the final three were internal. And I have to say that they were all exemplary. And the one thing that I did find with all of them is that they love this city. They love serving this city. And the city is in a good position because Chief Mazzotti has paved the way and groomed some very, very good police officers to take his spot. And so congratulations to you, sir. Thank you. And Ms. Joni, I'm not sure if you did not want to mention this, but I will mention this about the Kiwanis. Fishing Derby that's on May the 30th at Hellebush Park from 9.45 to 11 for the ages of 4 to 12. So that's what I have. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Thornburg.

Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations, Chief. And I'd just like to say I'd like to thank everyone tonight for making me feel welcome. I'd like to thank Mayor Hine and fellow Council Patel for this appointment. And I'm looking forward to working with everyone in Ward 2, everyone in the entire city, and everyone sitting here. So I will listen, learn, and lead to the best of my ability, and I'm ready to get to work. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Staff, Mr. Kane, parks and rec director.

Outdoor pool is getting ready to open this weekend. The aquatic staff have been working very hard getting it ready, and it will be ready, weather permitting. Every time I check the weather, it varies by like 10 degrees in whether it's going to rain or not, so we'll see. We'll continue to monitor that and communicate that as best we can. Independence Day, a couple of updates. We have a new band booked. They're called Almost Famous. The band that we had initially, Pure Nectar, had some medical concern from one of the band members, and they didn't know that they'd be able to be at the fourth for sure. So to be safe, we picked our second choice. And they're very, very good as well. We have a second volunteer meeting on June 23rd at the rec center. That'll be at 6 o'clock. So if you know anybody who wants to help with some boots on the ground that day, we could definitely use a few more. And then also, I know there's not going to be a float for the council. So golf carts are available. If you have not, let me know if you could after the meeting or by the end of the week. That'd be great. And we'll solidify that order of the carts. Fishing Derby was already mentioned. That's all I have.

Thank you. Mr. Gunn, public works director.

All right, Mother Nature is not really cooperating right now. We had the traffic loops to be installed this week. However, they're running a little behind, obviously, with all the rain and everything. The last thing we want to do is start cutting into the new asphalt and having to do some electrical stuff and pour some rain on it. So right now, we're still holding out hope that maybe we get some dry weather, maybe on Friday. But it's cutting it kind of close. I think what's going to happen is we're going to see those things get installed next week. As soon as they are fixed, I can put an email out. However, you'll probably see no more flashing red lights before I can get the email out. So keep our fingers crossed. That's all I have.

Any questions of Mr. Gunn? I see none. Chief?

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of things. As Councilman Wesch mentioned, tomorrow is the Special Olympics torch run. Our portion for Bridgeton will start in front of the rec center tomorrow around 1215. So please come out and join us for that. The other is June 17th will be our next public crash training. For those who don't know what that is, it's civilian response to an active shooter event. It just gives you some guidelines to think about if you're out with your family while if one of these things were to happen. So please come out to that. It's in the multipurpose room on June 17th at 6 PM. That's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you. Mr. Bookout, city administrator.

Yes, I know that Bridget sent an email out to everybody reminding them of the MML conference in the fall. So if you're interested in going, please let her know and she will get you registered right away. That's all I have, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Weshie, I know you had your light on. So I try and give everybody their turn, then I'll come back. Do you have another comment?

No, I just wanted to make sure that the fishing derby got brought up. So I ended up asking Council Member Bakula to end up saying it for me. So I didn't say it because I mean, Council Member Norris is one that normally would do that.

Thank you. Mayor's report, congratulations. Looking forward to working with you. I do want to mention that Chief Lovell is a veteran, and I really commend him for that experience. Thank you. And as it was said by many of the interview committee members and police commission members, there wasn't a bad choice. And I think that says a lot. They have a bright future, and they all enjoy working together so they all will support one another in the new police chief's role and also as more appointments are made by the chief so thank you appreciate it i do want to mention that probably next april we should take a look at our Charter amendments that were proposed several years ago and probably put some more up for voter consideration. One in particular I think is taking the board and commissions in the charter that aren't state statute out and making them part of our code instead of a charter. It possibly could lead to a reduction of some boards that I think are probably duplicated. But it has to be done by voter approval. So I want you to consider looking at that among other ones. It's been decided by council that there will not be a council float in this year's parade. However, I strongly suggest that council look at a float next year. And of course, those that don't want to do it, WILL BE ABLE TO WALK OR USE YOUR OWN VEHICLE OR USE YOUR OWN SIDE BY SIDE, WHATEVER YOU HAVE. BUT ANYWAY, I STRONGLY SUGGEST A FLOAT FOR NEXT YEAR. I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW I'M PART OF THE ST. LOUIS AREA METRO MAYOR'S GROUP. IN OUR MEETING LAST WEEK WE'VE BEEN DISCUSSING A REGIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVE TO GET OUT TO RESIDENTS IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA. the st. Louis Metro mayor's group doesn't show up and I'm gonna reach out to her and we're starting a crime prevention initiative and in order to I think make this successful we need this particular mayor to be on board and that's the mayor from the city of st. Louis Kara Spencer I'm gonna reach out to her and see if we can get some backing from her But I think it's a good initiative that's being put together. And it's going to ask the public to contact their state representatives and start some legislation in order to come up with some more crime prevention. I'm proud to be part of that group. Our t-shirts are for sale. These are commemorative 250-year t-shirts, City of Bridgeton. You can find the order form online and also on our Facebook page. Youth sizes are $12 each. And then adult sizes through extra large are $15. 2X, 3X, and 4X are $18. I believe Mr. Hartog was our first client. And thank you for your purchase. We now have another 498 t-shirts to sell out of 500. But hope you like them. If you want to see the rendering of them, you can come up and look at it, or you can look at it online. I'm proud to be part of this council. I'm looking forward to working with the three newest council members, and I think we have a strong council here, and we can overcome and move forward and we can make Bridgeton the best it's ever been. Our police department is strong, I believe in them, and economic development is moving up. I'd like the Bridgeton Business Watch meeting that was sponsored last night by the police department. Those were put on hold for several years when COVID came about, and Acting Chief Loveall decided to re-institute those, so last night was the first one. I know they had more RSVPs and people then showed up, but the content of the meeting was extremely good. It kept my attention the whole time. Please reach out to your Bridgeton businesses that you might have friends with, managers, owners, and encourage them to attend because it's worthwhile. that's all i have i'm going to ask for a motion for adjournment so moved second all right motions made by council member luther seconded by council member patel all in favor say aye aye thank you everyone for being here we are adjourned