Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Well, let's go ahead and begin, Bruce, and if we run into some difficulties, we'll let you know.

Okay. I'm here for a roll call, but I'm going to get the video up here. Give me a second.

Okay. Let's stand first for the Pledge of Allegiance for the June 4th, 2026 committee meeting. All right, how about a roll call now?

Alderman Jokers. Alderman Mazerang.

Here.

Alderman Heals. Here. Alderman Harrell. Here. Alderman Wissbrock. Here. Alderman Breitschaff.

Here.

Alderman Rogers. Oh. Oh. He'll be back in a moment.

He'll be back momentarily.

Alderman Lang is absent. We have seven for the quorum.

All right, thank you. My comments, you know, not a whole lot to add. A lot of activity down in the park. They poured half the pad in back of fields, I guess, one and two. And a lot of other work, a lot of pre-work, removal and so forth. If you have a chance, go down and take a look. This is probably, what have we had? People from Germany. Now we have London. Are you awake over there, chap? You got to speak louder or you're going to wake everybody up.

Okay.

All right. We're going to move on. Public comments. Do you have any public comments, Jane?

No public comments.

I don't see any online or out in the audience. We're going to move then to police, municipal courts. In the absence of Lang, who would like to carry that? Alderman Harrell? Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Tonight we have no items for discussion.

Let the record reflect also that Alderman Rogers is now on Zoom video.

Yeah, I'm here. And he's here.

Thank you. We're going to move then to personnel, Alderman Hughes.

Sounds like you have laryngitis. I don't really hear you.

We can barely hear you. Can you speak up a little bit, Robin?

Yes, I can. Is that better?

That's better.

Okay, first item is a second quarter employee achievement award. We've got a memo from Jane Hungler. And each year on a quarterly basis, the city recognizes all employees who have achieved five-year milestones. Full-time employees have received $10 per year of service. This quarter, we are recognizing the following April, May, and June anniversaries for 2026. And we have Dan Howard for 25 years. His achievement and gift certificate will be presented at the June 25th board call.

Okay, hey, Robin, we cannot, we can't hear you at all. So would it be all right if somebody else picked up and spoke for you? So we have Lang, Wisbrock, or Jokas Jokers, I think, on the committee has agreed.

Okay, so second quarter employee achievement award on 5-21-26 memo from Jane Hungler. Each year on a quarterly basis, the city recognizes all employees who have achieved a five-year milestone. Full-time employees will receive $10 per year of service. This quarter, we are recognizing the following April, May, and June anniversary for 2026. Dan Howard, 25 years. and gift certificate will be presented at the June 25th Board of Aldermen meeting.

Thank you, Dan, for your service.

um next is consideration of amendments to job description for parks and rec uh see memo from jane ungler um that this one the new job description for athletic grounds supervisor as the board is aware the new employee will be starting later this month the staff was working on creating a new athletic field ground supervisor positioning job description a copy of the new job boarded to the board via email when completed for review. Hard copies will be placed in your seat in advance of the committee meeting.

I apologize. Jane ran to grab those really quick. If maybe we could move on to the next item, and we can come back to that.

OK. Consideration of amendments of the job description for administrative assistants, city hall, and city clerk. And this is also a memo from Jane. So is Jane going to go over this?

I can go over it. Okay.

Because I wasn't really clear. Is Jane's position changing too?

No. No, what it is is just that this job will now report directly to the city clerk instead of the city administrator. Okay. So we would have to change that on the city clerk job description. Thank you. That was the change.

Thank you.

Okay. And again, the question on that is that, Basically, we've made some amendments to the administrative assistant position for more clarification to be a little more detailed on that. Again, this position would report directly to the city clerk in lieu of the city administrator because a lot of these duties actually fall under the city assistance with the city clerk's duties with the licenses, permits that are overseen by the city clerk. It'll be placing this position to assist with the newsletter by not taking on full ownership of the creation. The question for the board this evening with the housekeeping items is really if you want to retain this. There's been some questions and discussion in the past. If you would like for this position to be a part-time position or flex position, either could work. Flex position, again, is that you can work more hours some week. less hours the other. It can be based more on the need, whereas part-time is usually a set schedule, whereas this person, you know, the individual is expected to come in four hours every day, five hours every day in a set position. With part-time also, you would be typically providing, they'd be working more hours, like around 28, than they would qualify for the availability of some partial comp time, if available. the real question is if we want to look at either flex or part-time or full-time, or the third option would be to advertise for both full-time and part-time, see what applicants we receive, and make the decision based on that.

Joe? So, explain to me, I mean, I understand that you can only work so many hours to be considered part-time, but $28.8 30? Are we missing something? Is there a state or federal?

It is. It's based on, yeah, what you do is you cap them because of benefits. If you reach over a certain threshold, then you do have to provide.

I understood that. I didn't realize there was a 28.8 and 30. Mm-hmm.

So with the flex position, again, the major differences, we have a couple of flex positions in the city. For example, the assistant court administrator, there's some weeks when courts are heavier. He needs to be there more hours. Other times where she doesn't, it just provides for more flexibility. Whereas part-time is more of a set schedule, which does help also. We could advertise it as flex or part-time. I mean, it wouldn't be a full-time with benefits position. So, but. That one, a lot of times how we've advertised it is part-time or flex. We can kind of work that out based on the individual and their schedules. Either is for us. In this position, it would be better to have something that's a little more set, but also we would be, for the right candidate, willing to be maybe a little more flexible if they always need to be off on Wednesdays or something to that effect. Okay. So that's how it would be advertised, but it just wouldn't include full-on benefits.

So to carry on, you know, over time I've seen this position and I've seen jewelry making and insurance buying and whatnot. I just think that we need to try a part or flex time. I'd like to advertise for that quite honestly and see what we do.

yeah i think i think it's about time that we brian so who's gonna so if we do part of flex time so who's gonna cover the desk for the other hours that aren't covered by this person um that'll be backed up by the finance slash assistant

sorry, finance administrative assistant. It'll be backed up by her in those times and it's also just the rest of the office chipping in and answering phones and going to the front desk.

And do you guys have a pretty good, as long as you've been here, a pretty good feel for, you know, Monday mornings nobody comes in until I imagine you have a pretty good feel of rush hour and times.

We do. Fridays are very important. Fridays are actually our heaviest day as far as workload. So those Fridays are very important. The individual need to be available on Friday. Those are the days that the packets go out.

Those are the days that we need the most assistance as far as phone calls and stuff.

I can't say that any one day is heavier than others. It comes in waves. And when it comes in waves, it just does. I can't set that, but I will tell you within staff, I would say our heaviest days are Mondays and Fridays.

So yeah, I think I'm sure you guys have that. I would encourage you to just kind of start tracking.

We definitely need this time to be covered and blah, blah, blah.

But I like the idea of the flex time. Unless you guys have a preference.

Yeah, that's what I was going to get at. I guess the question goes back to what would staff rather see? Would you rather see a full-time or a flex time person?

Full-time is preferable, but we understand that there's been some discussion and thoughts that we can try part-time or flex.

I mean, to me, this position is somewhat the face of the city. It's the first person they see coming in. And, you know, you don't want someone winding around the vestibule going, hello, hello, anyone here? Anyone home? I mean, you know, they expect service when they...

It's going to be expected that everybody in the office has to step in and keep their eyes on the cameras and be available.

Well, we can always try it, and if it doesn't work, then we go back. But I mean, it does seem like there's quite a bit of downtime from what I've seen. Anybody else? Robin, are you OK with this? Or I don't see you up there anymore.

Um, so I generally lean towards the flex time. Um, the question I have is there, you establish a maximum hours. Do, do we, do we have a minimum hours that we'll give them on an average week or is it like minimum of 20 hours?

Uh, what, what I would say is to be worked out in house is that if they're, we need them there all day on a Friday, we understand that they may not be in that Wednesday. Right.

Yeah, and I think if you've seen that.

That would have to do with supervision and knowing what our schedule entails for that week.

Yeah, to forge this position, if somebody needs to go somewhere or do something, you know, they can take off. They don't have to be here for a total of 30 or 28.8. Right. I kind of like myself.

Yeah, no, I totally get the flex time. I'm just saying, are we going to average giving them 20 hours a week or 25 or something along those lines?

And again, it just may depend on the week because the flex would allow us if there's some weeks that we need them here for the full 40, we can have them here for the full 40 if there's something going on, but then the next week they may only be here for 20. Again, it's based on the number of hours.

Okay.

So again, that comes down to just supervision and knowing what the schedule is going to

And Robin, I'm sorry, we kind of cut you off.

Oh, no, that's fine. I just don't know if you guys can hear me better now. I switched to my phone. Oh, yeah. I can hear you better. Okay. No, I do think it should be a flex position. TJ pretty much, well, the person that's on finance currently kind of watches the door anyway. And I think it's worth a try to see flex and see how that works out like you had suggested.

I mean,

Things can always change, but for right now, I think it should be a flexed position, in my opinion.

Alderman Manzari?

So you're saying that, you know, staff that would cover with this person that's not there on flex time on whatever days, but also this, a lot of the staff you're talking about is full time that has personal days that are gone. And, you know, so, you know, you, so you got someone who's taken one of their vacation or PTO or whatever days, and this flex person's also off there. I just, I don't know. It seems like you're just really cutting it short there. Yeah.

I think it's worth a try. Terry?

So I think if I was in a position looking for a job, I think part-time would be more appealing to me because I know exactly what I'm in for. But I really like the idea of the flex for their purposes. As long as that person go along with it, is there going to be a a problem with you're going to hire somebody part-time and you're going to tell them you're going to work from eight to noon or eight to one every day. Of course, you guys are going to decide what their workload is on a given day. So you're going to know what they're up against.

Really on this, we're going to advertise it as probably both part-time or flex as we do with other positions. We make the decision based on the candidate. If there's somebody who can be there every day for five hours, wonderful. if there's some and you know, they may have to take time off, we understand that they're part time, that doesn't mean you can never ever take time off because you're part time, you just don't get a paid days that you're gone. Whereas flex, they can work more hours. So it's just it's really what walks in the door. Yeah.

So the fact that you guys decide what their workload and what what they need to accomplish in a given day, it makes it a flex position anyway, or

All right, are we good?

So you need a motion? We would like a final motion. We would like this to open to the board for this to become a part-time or flex position so that we can get it advertised as soon as starting probably tomorrow.

Okay, so I'd like to make a motion to open this up to the board.

Okay, we need a second.

Robbins.

Alderman Hills.

I'll second.

Motion by Joker, second by Hills. Do we have further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

I'd like to make a motion to advertise this new job amendment for a part-time or flex, depending on the candidate that answers. And does that include the amendments to the city clerk?

And make this a final. And does that include the amendments to the city clerk job description also?

Why, yes. Yes, it does.

Alderman Wisbrock? I would second. We have a motion by Jokers, second by Wisbrock. Do we have further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Nay. Okay, note one nay, Jane. Okay.

And to go back.

Robin, are you able to pick up? We can hear you now. I mean, I can if you want me to.

I'm going back to the public works. Go ahead.

Do you want me to take it?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Consideration amendments job description for Parks and Recreation. We've got a memo from Jane hungler. You guys do.

And then this, this is a new position because when I've got administrative assistant, the public athletic fields and ground supervisor, the big draft on it.

I got to hear it. Okay. Got it. Got it, Robin.

Okay. Um, this is the, um, athletic fields ground person that's going to be starting soon. And this is the job description that was created for that position. And we have a memo from Jane. You guys have the job description. I have seen it. I don't have it in front of me, obviously, cause you just got it. But, um, this would be like a partner to the recreation supervisor since we split that job recreation supervisor took the events and the things like that and then they'll have the athletic fields and ground supervisor.

Anybody have any questions?

Is this for you Dan? Dan's nodding his head so yes. And this was, I will tell the board because we were on a kind of a short timeframe. This was created by, um, both myself, Dan, uh, Candace was involved with the, with this, um, Alderman fuels and the mayor. Okay.

So is anybody, I can't see your hands, but does anybody have any questions?

Uh, all right. Brian. Yeah, thank you. So I have a question. So I didn't see in here and maybe I'm probably missed it, but do we include like snow removal or like, will this person help at all?

Absolutely. He does have some experience in that.

Oh, helps if I move my thumb. Third last item.

I think he even mentioned that in his interview with us. Okay.

Anybody else? No.

You need more time to review it?

Me?

No, not you. The other board members just got copies, Robin.

Oh, okay.

But you have until the board meeting to review it anyway.

If there aren't any further questions, I'd make a motion to forward it to the board meeting to accept the new job description as written.

Alderman Jokers.

I'll second.

We have a motion by Hill, second by Jokers. Do we have further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Motion carries.

That concludes personnel.

Well, hang with us, chap. We're going to move then to Community Development and Affairs. Alderman Rogers.

We have nothing for the board tonight.

You have nothing. I'm going to move then to Capital Improvements. Alderman Mazering.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First item tonight is consideration of amendment for an agreement with Municipal Park Commission for Budweil Annex Phase 1 for an extension. You want to go over this real quick, Nikki?

Yes. This is an extension for the Municipal Park Ground for Budweil Annex, which we're now calling Stonegate. Phase 1 was the driveway, the parking lot, and the ADA connection. And the next year, we were awarded Phase 2, which was the rest of the amenities. Well, we've For construction costs and mobilization and other items, we've made this into one major project. It's still under design. Well, actually, it's still sitting with MSD. for final approval. So I contacted the Missouri Municipal League. They fully understand that this is now being bid out as one project and they granted us an extension for six months. Most likely they'll also grant us another extension knowing that they're being together, but typically what they'll do it is in six month increments. So this extends the grant till the end of December. I was informed this week that we hope to be out to bid for construction in July for the project. but most likely it will not be completed by December.

So pretty straightforward. You just need a motion for an extension?

I mentioned the agreement for a six-month extension.

Okay. Does anyone have any questions? I'll go ahead and make that motion.

Okay. Alderman Harrell? I'll second. Motion by Mazerang, second by Harrell. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye. All right, the next item is consideration of a supplemental agreement with Cochrane related to the water and sewer connections for Stonegate Park, formerly Budweil. You want to give us a brief rundown on that too, Nikki?

Related to the same project, a month or so ago, the board approved that they did want to move forward with water and sewer, which was not an original part of the design. So this is the agreement with Cochrane as a supplemental agreement to include the engineering design services and construction oversight for those projects.

Okay, any questions, anyone? Go ahead, Mick.

So this is over and above what they've already, what it's going to cost us based on the percentages. Do these percentages work out the same? I didn't do the math.

And you'll notice on there, actually, with the percentages, because remember when we brought this to you guys, we said it was going to be... It was like estimated at like 180,000 and they said, we'll probably be about 50,000 off of that. So you'll notice it's down to 130,000 for those extensions now.

You know, let me ask you this. Why do they, is it just typical in the industry that they do a percentage? Why don't they do it based on the work that is actually performed?

Because some of that's unknown. It's based on the estimate.

You got all the answers, don't you?

Yes, she does. Yeah, and that is per our contract with Cochran is that we do it on a percentage. For the addition, again, they'll do that. They've already started adding those into the engineered designs that are now hopefully sitting with MST.

Any further questions? I'll make a motion that we go with Cochran for the engineering services. Okay, we need a second. Alderman Breitschaff? I would second.

Motion by Mazerang, second by Breitschaff. Further discussion?

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right, the next item is consideration of bids for the 2026 Nature Preserve Asphalt Project from Dan Howard. Dan, would you like to come and elaborate on it? Looks like that, was it Spencer Contracting was the lowest bidder?

Yeah, I apologize. I don't have my memo in front of me. But Spencer was the lowest, around $107,000, I believe. And that's all-inclusive. Obviously, we had only budgeted out about $75,000. As for our prices, it is always unknown. Obviously, with the oil prices right now, that's a big factor in it. But overall, I feel it's a pretty fair price for a project, considering.

This includes the parking lot, the area around. All the way up there. Yeah, the area around. a big restroom parking pad and up to that area is located and then what I call a pull out space that provide for vehicle passing and worn down and on a part.

Well that this is going all the way up to the lake to correct and including that parking lot.

Let me ask a question should we can spit could should we consider speed humps like them down on the Hill. I'm just throwing it out there.

Well, yeah, they could do that at time of paving, put a couple in, I guess, on the hills.

I'm throwing that for discussion. I don't know if I necessarily like them, but it's not in a residential neighborhood or something like that. It's in our park.

So I'm for it, just to slow them down. I mean, they already come flying down that straightaway, and they go up over with nobody coming around. Some of the kids get little...

Yeah, and the only thing I'd like to add is if we do the speed bumps, I know when you're coming right down the hill heading towards the bathroom, I think there's the residents there. I would probably want to make sure that it's not creating a runoff issue to them or anything like that. And the other question is, have we used a dispenser contractor? Do you have any kind of references with them?

Oh, they used to do a lot of work for us. I mean, they're very reputable.

Okay. Susan?

I thought that we were... not doing speed humps because both the police department and the fire department say that, and you talked about how plowing.

We don't plow that.

Okay, but you know what I mean? I thought that we were not doing that. I know we've talked about it on residential streets, but not in the- We didn't do it in Westside Park because- No, that was a gate.

Yeah, it was a gate. I don't remember us ever talking about anything in the parks. But with the new vehicle that Dan has, he can easily plow that.

but we've never really allowed me there anyway. I mean, and the thing is, is it's not, those were residents. There's, there's a lot of residents up there.

That's this isn't the school that was right.

But this isn't, this isn't like slowing down all time to a bunch of residents. This is not, there's just a couple, right? So, yeah. Any further questions, Terry?

No, just a comment. I think the speed bumps would be a good idea. Um, And if we could incorporate that into the motion.

Do you think that would add cost? Maybe a little bit. I don't see it being that much.

I misspoke speed hump. All right. Is there a humpty dumpty and a bumpy dumpty? So I'm in agreement with that. And like you said, if we leave, if they don't go all the way across, it'll allow water to flow. And also somebody went with a bike that could, Maybe go around it.

Any further questions? All right. At this time, I'd make a motion that we go with Spencer Contracting that they include speed humps in the final repair or work. Alderman Breitschaff? I would second that motion.

We have a motion by Mazerang, second by Breitschaff. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? All in favor?

All right. The next item is consideration of quotes for landscaping and invasive species removal from Fenton City Park and Fenton Sports Complex. Nikki, you want to give us a brief update on this or?

I apologize. This is a multitude, basically with elite, anything over 5,000 has to come to the board for approval. However, I kind of felt like these were all interrelated and I wanted just to get the board's overall approval for each of the projects moving forward. and just kind of go through. One is an estimate for the clearing of the Yarnell Creek Bank in Fenton City Park. That will include weed control spray. If you've been along the bank through that area, you know that there's not just invasives, but also noxious weeds, poisonous weeds, poison ivy other items so this would be essentially going in there clearing that that area out spraying it and the chemical that they use is a chemical that can be used along a bank we had a long discussion with thank you that's exactly yes yes yes yes it is because um we actually we're curious about that in other areas for our own city um so we did have a conversation with with brian with elite about that just today um the next would be the clearing of the fenton sports complex fence line if you've been down there you barely can see the fence anymore it's of that area, again, that does include the weed control and spray for those areas. It's quite overgrown. The next is the area in front of the main pavilion where you see the There's the Chamber of Commerce monument sign, if that gives you a better idea. It's the main, when you walk in front of the main pavilion, there's a photo in there. There's some yew bushes that are in that area that need to be removed. They're overgrown, they're overhanging our sidewalk area. having those removed. The area needs to be re-graded. Due to flooding and other things, the grading isn't correct. With the new concrete work that's going to happen, we'll grade it more correctly, have that area re-sodded. There was a massive tree that had to be removed that was in front of the building with the concrete work. And due to the fact that it already had some damage, it'll provide for just easier maintenance throughout that area. The next island is the island also in front that's kind of a smaller island. If you've been there, there's always a runoff problem. Part of the retaining wall that's in front of it is starting to crumble again because of a runoff issue. A lot of that's a grading issue within that island. That estimate does include just pruning the dogwood that's in there. At this point, our recommendation would be to actually remove that secondary dogwood. Partly there's a lot of damage to it at the top. The other item is that they're listing hostas. We may have them exchange that out for a different type of plant. My understanding is that the hostas are one of the most loved and beloved plants in the park for the deer. Oh, yeah. It's like potato chips. Yeah. So we're going to talk to him about something alternative other than I know Brunia and some others that I've used in my own home are supposed to be a little more deterrent because of their type. Lavender. They don't like lavender. Yes. And this is kind of a shady area. Also within the landscape islands, we're going to be looking at doing a lot of ground cover, either through ajuga or through creeping thyme, other types of areas. Number one, people do walk through these areas. Number two, the rock tends to run off, run out, and mulch just isn't sustainable in those areas. So this'll just actually create a ground cover. These will all be easy, low maintenance type, similar to what we have in front of City Hall, where it's maybe once or twice a year, they need to be cut back, trimmed back, and then moving on it'll just be a real um a nice update the front of that building um also this bit includes the railing some of the railing is chipped um it's in bad condition the older railing is getting all of it repainted black similar that we've done in our other part um and then The final is going to bury the gutters. If you're aware of the east side of the main pavilion where we have gutters that come out, the tubing that just runs down the hill, they'll actually be taking that all underground and then daylighting that. And hopefully at that point, we'll be able to get some better grass growth and other things, and it's not a tripping hazard. And I did my best to kind of provide photos and maps of the areas. And again, a lot of these could have been approved by staff because they're under $5,000. But just the fact that it was quite a bit of stuff in the same area, I just wanted the board to see it as a whole package.

You did a great job.

Excuse me.

And if we, I mean, I would, if we could get a final this evening, because some of this is time sensitive with the weather. Planting season.

Do these need to be motioned for each or just kind of make a thing to approve all these?

Yeah, if you're looking to just, you know, to approve as presented.

Because most of them look like they're under 5,000.

They are. They are. The only one that exceeds that is actually is the Yarnell Bank.

Yeah.

So this isn't to make light, but would you explain to them how invaluable your new vehicle has been to go through the park system and use and see all these things where you otherwise would not, you'd have to walk it.

We worked with Brian with Elite today to go look at different areas. And we went to, I believe one... about eight different areas in less than a two-hour time span because of how we were able to maneuver through the parks to see the areas. And a lot of it's because we're able to get into the areas that we're reviewing what we were up looking at the overlook. We went down into Old Town and looked at the bank that's once again overgrown and saw many, many. What were those, Dan? Not groundhogs. Groundhogs. Groundhogs. So many groundhogs. Anyways, but it was just the time saving is amazing how we're able to get place to place and also get into the heart of what we need to look at quickly. We did. Oh, we did. On Hook Road.

What kind of snake?

Black snake.

I had a big black snake on my barn roof the other day. About six foot long. All of the same. All right, well, I'll first make a motion to open up the full board.

Need a second? Alderman Breitschaff? Second. We have a motion by Mazerang, second by Breitschaff. Further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

All right, I will now make a motion that we approve all these separate proposals from Elite Properties and make this a final.

Make it a final. Alderman Hills?

I'll second.

All in heels. Motion by Masrang. Second by Hills from London. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries.

All right. And my final item. Final item. Consideration of a quote for native landscaping in Westside Park. And you want to kind of go over that real quick too, Nicky? I see we've got the retaining walls and stuff here.

Yes. This is a planned proposal for, and working in our parks, this is a proposal from Missouri Native Landscaping for creating additional no-mo zones. Again, this is similar to the contract with the lead. Anything that goes over $5,000 does require an approval by the board. He has broken this into areas, I believe, A through B. What was it? What was the last one I uphold?

B. B. B. B.

Through E. Yeah. Areas A through E. However, we are going to be having some retaining wall work done in that park. It wouldn't be a great idea to do some of the plantings in those areas at this time. Again, this is kind of a time-sensitive matter if we do want to move towards this. But you can see the design in there. What doing this is actually eliminating additional places that are mowed and creating attractive native gardens in these islands, the retaining wall area, the areas in front of the bathroom. So what we're requesting is that we go ahead and move forward with areas A, B, and C so that we can start those plantings pretty soon. And again, those will be areas that no longer need to be mowed, weed-eated, all of that, and should create pretty nice gardens in front of the restroom.

I've tried some of these and the deer just ate everything. Can we maybe start with one to see if the deer leave it alone? Because I swear I've spent thousands of dollars on deer food and landscaping because it says deer resistant.

We could and we could also ask Alderman Breitschef to come hang dryer sheets.

We've cried Irish, so it just didn't work.

It failed this week.

Oh.

I've got a baby in the backyard the last two days.

Is there... I know mint, they leave mint alone, they leave onions alone, they leave the Russian sage alone, they leave lavender alone.

They've left everything in front of City Hall here. We see their marks in our landscaping, and really the only thing we think they may munch on is our lyropi. So is there a certain area you guys would like to focus on? Of those?

I would just say maybe area B is a small area to see if they leave that alone.

B or D? B as in boy. I was going to ask a question about B. Are we, these plantings, how tall are they going to be in that area? Three feet, four feet, two foot?

They're going to be low. They're not going to get high.

What's low to you?

To me, they're...

Knee high?

Yeah, knee high.

I just wonder how that's going to look that close to that pavilion.

Well, what about trying it in area C or area A?

Well, that's fine. I was just bringing up what that might look like in front of the bathroom.

I mean, this is similar to what's going to be suggested that we look at doing around the pond up at Budd. So this would be a good trial and error area.

Now with B and C being right by the playground, I mean, how much are these going to get trampled by little kids? And how hardy are they?

I think what Chuck told us is they're very resilient when we talked about it earlier in another area, but it wasn't here. And I asked that about, you know, if you plant these, this is a park. And he said, no, they're real resilient. But we can ask him.

We could use prickly pears throughout.

But I would just suggest trying a small section first to see if the deer leave it alone. If the deer leave it alone, then move forward. Otherwise, we're going to spend a lot of money.

So what I'm thinking Chuck's going to say is that this isn't an overnight deal. This is going to be time in the making. So if you just want to do one test plot, It's going to be down. You're not going to do any of these other areas.

Yep. I mean, you'll know within two weeks. I had a whole flower bed with deer resistant professionally done.

I agree.

And within a week, he came back in a week to see how good it looked, and it was just down to the nubs. So frustrating. So it would not take long to know if they're going to eat them or not.

Mowing-wise, I think the most difficult area, the maintenance-wise, would be the retaining wall area of Area A. Maybe that should be the focus.

Terry? I would suggest if we're going to do one as a sample, we do areas.

Well, I would say maybe the two smaller areas do A and B, because then that B is kind of more of a different type of landscape, and that's closer to the playground. See how trampled it gets with the playground and stuff like that. And then the other question is, does this have to be done like right away? I mean, because it's planting season. I mean, so you're going to probably need a final. And the other thing is CD&E would probably be what have to be the fall or next year, which most likely prices will go up.

Yeah, most likely we'll be looking at CD&E. If we like what happens here, we'll look at CD&E for probably next spring because of the retaining wall work.

Why don't we just say we go with A and B right now just as the smaller areas and try and see what the deer do and

And I'll talk to Chuck about the height in front of those bathrooms. Absolutely.

Okay, I guess you need a motion first to open up to the full board. I'll make that motion. Okay, we need a second. Alderman Breitschaff? I'll second.

Motion by Mazerang, second by Breitschaff. Further discussion to open up to the full board. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Motion carries. All right, I will now make a motion that we go with areas A and B at this time. What was this? Alderman Wisbrock? Second.

Motion by Mazerang, second by Wisbrock. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Motion carries. That is all I have tonight, Mr. Mayor. We're going to move then to Alderman Breitschaff, Public Works and Forestry.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This evening we have one item for discussion, and it is the consideration of a quote for a new blower on our AC system here at City Hall. Evidently, DECA has been looking at the motor that's bearing is on the verge of failing, and rather than do some repairs on it, they suggest that we replace the blower unit at this time, and I'm always for that. looking forward and doing the things properly.

Alderman Gilchrist.

Am I crazy, or did we just not replace all this within the last six years? Or was it right? Is this part of the train thing?

No, you're correct.

Is it part of the train thing?

Mm-hmm. You did say it, and I agree with you.

Yeah.

Yes. Was it, like, to me, it's so trained. You get, like, that's the very good equipment. Seems awful quick to fail because, I mean, I can remember them standing in here not too long ago. Was it installed properly? Is it, like, out of?

He noticed while he was doing some work on another portion of the same unit that the bearing had a little bit of play in it. He said it's not eminent. but he can't predict how long it's going to last.

Well, I'm not opposed to replacing it because I hate to see it go down because it's not going to go down on a day that ambient temperature outside 65 degrees. It's either going to go down when it's 100 or zero out. just our look, right? But I guess I'm just a little, it just rubs me the wrong way. We spend so much money on all these systems, and we've had so much, and this just is another one of the problems. And to me, a blower is designed to run damn near constantly, right? Correct.

So is it, there's no warranty on it?

I would like to see us go back to train and at least make our voices heard how dissatisfied we are with the crap that we bought. I do too.

see if they can remedy the situation, because this is really, with all the problems that we've had.

Yeah, it's worth, I think it's worth a discussion maybe to hold this for a month, because you said that, you know, I mean, it's not imminent.

Well, I think we agree if they're not going to do anything, we need to move forward, but I think we need to go back and see if there's any recourse.

So is there only one blower in this building?

No, there is two, but one goes out. The second one, especially 100 degrees out, it's fighting harder and harder, and do we want something to happen to that?

That was my question. I just didn't want this one blower goes out, and this whole building is just sitting here, right? No.

We're just trying to be proactive. So is that the one we hear squeal when it kicks on right above our heads here? You can hear the belt squeal when it – I thought it was over there. I thought it was over back here. Well, I agree. We need to reach out to Trane because we spent a lot of money with Trane and we've also had to kind of abandon them and go with Decker, right? Is that what we did? Okay, so I think we need to reach out to them. Maybe make a new friend.

Make a new friend.

Or bring them back.

I'd say it out loud. I'd tell them to their face.

No, no, no. OK. OK. So do we need a motion then to just let it go? We can just continue it. We'll bring it back next month. We'll just let it continue.

OK. So the record will indicate we're going to continue.

OK. Well, that's all I have this evening.

Thank you, sir. We're going to move to Alderman Harold, Information Services.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In front of you, you have a memo from Nikki Finkbeiner, city administrator. This is regarding a park employee's cell phone and computer. Recently, the board approved a new hire of a full-time employee for parks and recreation for oversight and maintenance of the city athletic field. As this is a new full-time position, the employee will need a computer. Additionally, the employee will need a city cell phone. As this position will require the employee to be in the field, it is suggested that the city provide a laptop in lieu of a desktop. This will also allow the employee to access city reservation software regarding rentals while in the field. Internet access will be provided through the city's wifi at Fenton Sports Complex and Fenton City Park, as well as a hotspot from the cell phone. Regarding the cell phone, the new phone will be at no cost to the city through the city's Verizon governmental program account with monthly service fee of $39.99 plus hotspot of $5. Note the city will also provide cell phone and laptop to Parks and Rec supervisor. Do we, I would like to make a motion to pursue the laptop and cell phone. Okay. Alderman Breitschaff? I second.

We have a motion by Harold, second by Breitschaff. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Aye. Motion carries. Alderman Hules? Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. I'd like to close the meeting pursuant to section 610.0211, legal actions, causes of action, or litigation.

Okay. We need a second. Alderman Wisbrock? Second. We have a motion by Hules, a second by Wisbrock. Further discussion? Roll call, please.

Alderman Heals. Aye. Alderman Wissbrock. Aye. Alderman Harrell. Aye. Alderman Breitschack. Aye. Alderman Rogers. Aye. Alderman Mazarin. Aye. Alderman Jokers. Aye. Motion carries. Okay, we'll be back.

I hope they understand. Watch these two. They're too close, very close in a row. Learn something new every day.

I appreciate that. Thank you. That's the hard one. Speed home.

That always works. So let's hear speakers on. So she got...

Motion to adjourn? Yes, I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second? Motion by right chaff, second by jokers. Further discussion? All in favor?

Aye. Okay, see ya. That was fun.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, it's on the right.

Oh, it's still here.

Oh, it's still here. Okay, do we adjourn or yes, I guess we're done.