City Council - Regular Meeting

on our agenda, a uh the honor of having a proclamation for David McCormack retirement.

All right, if we could have David and Wendy Powers come on down. Okay. Um, I I am Wendy Powers. I'm the supervisor of the city of Fton Solid Waste Department, and I would like to present this plaque to David McCormick for his service with the city of Fton from 1994 to 2026 in recognition of a hard worker and his dedication, consideration, and dependability will truly So David has been with the city of Fton for three months shy of 32 years and we are truly getting Thank you, David. David, if you have anything you want to say, now is that time. The floor is yours.

Just want to thank you personally for something.

Absolutely. David has been one of our longest tenur employees. He's always been a very familiar face for the city of Folultz and I think I've known you most of my life, David. So, uh, we're going to miss you. I know you won't be a stranger. That has nothing to do with age. That's okay. That's right. You'll be around. Uh, but the McCormick family and David and his wife again have been a staple here and we're going to miss you. But it'll be good to see you. Even though it'll be in a different capacity, that's okay. Congratulations, David. David, from one retiree to another, you trust me, you won't have any time on your hands. You'll be very busy.

I can attest to that.

It's It's amazing how your time gets filled. So, congratulations and thank you. Okay, we will now take comments from visitors. At this time, for visitors to address the council with any concerns or comments, the council will not interact with you, but may address your comments at a later time. If you'd like to address the council, ple please come forward and give us your name, address, and limit your comments to no more than three minutes. Hi, my name is Lori Whitlo. I'm a resident of Fulton and what 801 Moane Road. Um, my question is why was there such a big increase in the recycling program? It's jumped to $14 a month. Can somebody answer that for me? And also, it wasn't very well publicized for people to see what was going on until after the fact. And I'd like to know why there wasn't more notification ahead of time or obvious notification.

So at this point, Miss Whitlo, during comments from visitors, the council is not allowed to respond, but maybe later during the comments from visitors, they can or we can have someone reach out. Just during this portion of it, they hear your comments, but they're not allowed to respond at this point. When can they respond? uh either during their council comments from I'm sorry council concerns or either after they can speak with you. So it would be tonight still. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah, I think so. Someone can visit with you for sure.

Thank you. Okay, we will now move on to the consent agenda which includes approval of city council meeting minutes from January 27th and January and February 10th, 2026. Do I have a motion? Second. We have a motion to approve and a second. Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All oppose. Nay. Senate agenda is approved.

Okay. We do not have any unfinished business. We have Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Skipped. I skipped. I skipped. My eyes jumped. We'll now have the presentation and acceptance of the January DOA report.

All right. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um, a few things I wanted to highlight. That's okay. It happens to the best of us. Uh, a few things I'm going to highlight and then of course our our city department heads are here as well to answer any questions you might have. Um, but during the month of January, of course, we got everything finalized from 2025 and got that new year kicked off. uh thanks to a lot of work from our negotiations team and from the city council and then also from the IBEDW representation, we were able to finalize a contract that the council successfully passed at our last council meeting. So I think that's again something we can all be very proud of. I also want to highlight that we met with our legal council to set and establish our administrative and policy priorities for 2026. And there was a great deal of conversation with Westminster College on their upcoming 80th anniversary uh of Sir Winston Churchill's senus of peace speech. So I know they have an event coming up in the next week. Um and I know they've been doing a lot of publicizing on that as well. So hopefully they'll have a great turnout for that event. Certainly something uh big to celebrate here in our community. And then lastly, I just want to point out we have a lot of really positive and encouraging discussions regarding some new business prospects and development here in our community. I think that signals uh some positive movement here in our community as well as uh you know bringing in that that engagement from outside entities as well. So we're very excited to see where that goes moving forward. As I said though, we do have our department heads here. So if you have specific questions, we'd be happy to answer them.

I I do if I may. Um on page six, utility/engineering starts. Um, one of the things we did some new employees on surveying, training some new employees on surveying. There's a picture in here of the and I don't know if you can see it, but um, there's a picture of some of the training going on in the engineering office area. So, um I hope it's surveyed pretty level, but uh anyway, but I would like to ask that we get more write up from what we might be doing in the engineering world of different projects and such like we we used to get more so um

more of a project overview or status update. Okay. What's going on with their different projects? I hope this doesn't mean we're not doing any projects. So certainly not

always roads and all kinds of things like that to do. Other than that great report. I I appreciate all the information. Okay. We have a motion to approve. We have a motion and a second. Any any further discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. All oppose? Nay. We'll now move on to the presentation and acceptance of the January financial statement.

Candy Johnson, CFO. Uh, the city of Hton reported 12 months of sales tax in 2025. Collections are up 2.1% from fiscal year 2024. Use tax is up 11.48% from fiscal year 2024. No sales or use was recorded for January. Um there were two payroll cycles in January, eight days worth in December but paid in January were approved back to 2025. Consequently, personal expenses will be proportionately lower. Guys have had a chance to look at that. Does anybody have any questions? Um it's up 2.1% from last year. Move for acceptance of the January third January financial report.

Thank you. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please signify by saying I. All oppose? Nay. Presentation or the uh financial statement has been approved. We do not have any unfinished business. We'll move on to new business. Uh we have presentation by members of the city of Fulton um historic preservation commission that will provide us a some information.

Good evening. Um I appreciate the opportunity. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I am not the the person who was supposed to be here. I'm the vice chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission. Crystal Alber, our chairperson, is home in bed with fever and so we decided to keep her away from you guys. Thank you.

Um yeah, nobody needs that. Um to give you a little idea about myself, I I have met Nancy Hansen, been in meetings with Nancy. Uh of course, Kathy Ratliff is in our meetings. Um, I have been in Fulton. I was born in Fulton. I left for about 30 35 years. I came back about three years ago. Mayor Meyer appointed me to the historic preservation commission. I actively work with the um historic society here in town. Um, and I am the liaison between the historic preservation commission and the historic society. That was something we had a review by the state historic preservation organization out of Jefferson City. They come in every so often and review records and see if we're in compliance. There were a number of items that they've suggested we need to get done. One of them was the liaison. So, we've got that taken care of. Um, one of the things that that we're working on, um, is what is the HPC's role in full? We are strictly an advisory commission. We don't have any ability to tell people you have to do something or you can't do something. Um, that that is not our role. If they ask us to advise them, they sign off that they are requesting our advice and then we proceed and we'll help them. Um, we will only work with exterior design reviews. We don't do anything inside the property. Um, we use the preservation standards set by the National Historic Preservation Commission. Um, one of the things I'd really like to

clarify is the National Register of Historic Places currently has 23 properties in Callaway County. It's not very many. Um, our one of our goals and one of the things that CHIPO is what the state organizations acronym is wants us to do is to get that number up. Again, we don't have the authority to go out and make people register their homes. There's also a huge discrepancy between this national register and the city of Fulton register. And so we're working to try to get those reconciled. There is no difference in what the standards would be for the city of Fulton's list versus the national. So, if you're on the national, it changes nothing other than you're going to get a yard sign in your yard in National Preservation Month saying you're a historic home. Um, so we're we're working on trying to reconcile those. Another thing they wanted is a database of our historic properties. We are working on that. I'm actually working on setting that up. Um, we're working off the 1978, I believe it is. um survey where they went through and surveyed all of Callaway County using the Fulton properties. They would like to see a new survey done. It's extremely expensive to do that. I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. Um we do have some thoughts that we may do small areas at a time. members of the commission will go out and do it even if it's one block if both sides of the house on one block coming down Court Street. But that would put us in

compliance with them that we are in the process of doing that. Um the reason that we want to stay in compliance with them and keep our HPC status is it opens up city folk for grants. It opens up to homeowners, property owners for grants. So it it can be a very important thing. We just need to communicate that. And we are planning a public event on April 15th at 5:00 p.m. It is currently scheduled to be at the brick district playhouse. We are going to send out letters to the people who have homes in the designated historic districts and other historic homes that have been identified in Fulton asking them to come so that we can talk and discuss the fact that we're advisory only. We're not trying to come in and tell them you have to do this or can't do that. Um we would love to see you guys there. I know you're busy. You've got a lot of stuff going on, but if you can make it, it would really be nice. One of the reasons we chose to come and talk to you tonight was to give you an idea that this is in the process because we're getting ready to do a mailing. And so some of your constituents may get a mail letter from the historic preservation and call you up and say, "And what's this about?" So we wanted to pre-warn you. Again, we're strictly advisory. any any ideas that you know we can make people do things or they have to spend money is is not a correct assumption. So that's what we want to get across to these people and see if we can get them. We've talked about different ways of doing it. You know, getting the list reconciled. We don't know about whether grandfathering in the homes that have

been um identified as historic. I've got the list. These are the homes in Fulton that are identified in the districts except the bottom two. And so, you know, those are the kind of things we're really trying to do. We're working on a strategic plan on how to get these things done. Um, we're working on the design guidelines. We're doing training. We're required to do certain number of hours of training each year. We generally go to Jeff City for that. Um, or they come here. I think they did a training. I was out for surgery. they did a training when they came and did the the review. So, I mean, you know, we're working to keep all the things done. Um, we are working on bringing in new commissioners. We have a couple commissioners that are going off. Their terms are ending. So, if you know somebody, we can have up to two members on the commission who are not residents of the city of B. They can be in Callaway County. So we we have in fact I think one of the ones going off is a Callaway County. Yeah. So it it it really would help us if you all know anybody please talk to them and see if we can get them on the commission. Um there's days where it's hard to get a forum. Um especially with health and stuff. Um this is basically a very abbreviated version of what Bristol was going to deliver. If any of you have any questions, I would be more than glad to try to answer. Like I say, I was born in Fulton. I left. My family has been in Fulton many, many years. I'm a third great grandson of George Nichols who sold the original 50 acres for Fton, cousins with the Wise Brothers out of Kingdom City. So, that the family's been around a while. Um, you know, so I do have a great interest in the history of Folton and

and working with with this and we're getting help from this historic society. They are also co-sponsoring, I don't know if that's the right word, they are working with us on this event, April 15th. So, we have the support of the historical society. It was a unanimous vote that they would come and support us. Uh, we're using a very limited budget. Um it's it's very limited of what we're spending to do this. Um some of us are chipping in stuff and you know getting things done. So if you have any questions feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer I'll be happy to try to find them and get back with you.

Kathy, can I get one of those lists that he had? Yeah, I can send that out to the I can send it out to the council. You got copies? I do. Oh, wonderful. These are the Thank you. Thank you so much.

But you know, it will really helpful if we can do that. We've got beautiful homes. Uh we also are practical or at least trying to be practical. There's some places where we have to admit we've lost the battle. The second war is unless I'm willing to take my checkbook out and fix it myself. We've lost the bat. Let's move on. Let's get the other properties on and get them taken care of. So, um, any questions? Sir, I think um, first of all, I didn't I didn't get your name. Robert Watts. Robert. There's the There's the wise brother thing.

Yes. I am the last wise that I know of in Callway County that is I'm sure you know. I'm sure you know David back. I run around with David. I'll see David for breakfast in the morning. Okay. So, your event is on April 15th at 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. at District Playhouse. And it's going to be very casual. Um just a reception type thing. We will do a presentation. We are going to give a certificate to the homeowners that arrive that show up stating they have a home that has been identified as a historic home and we will be giving them information of what would benefit them if they were to let us work with them to get them on the list.

So are these the ones you're inviting? Are they the ones that are registered already or the ones that are registered and the ones that have been identified? Okay. So in fact, aren't we sending to everybody in the historic district?

Okay. Okay, we're that's up in the air. We're we're we're there's been discussion, but I think it will end up be we currently have three historic districts with four actually. We've got Westminster Hill where the gymnasium the president's called me the church. We've got West 7th Street, East Fifth Street, and Court Street. And Court Street's really broken into two, the commercial and the residential. So, you know, it's and there's more districts that could be developed. There's other homes, other districts that would definitely qualify,

but we just need to get the active. We've got pretty good group of commissioners that are committed to working on this. And I think I've heard we're really making some progress. So, yeah, I think there'd be some up on um Market Street that would would fit that bill, too, because there's some older homes there. There's a Fred Bell house. There's a clone to the Fred Bell cottage on the corner of 9inth and Okay. And you know, so there there's historic homes all over. Sure. But you're not just looking at homes all either. You also look at other properties because you mentioned

all kinds of property. The state organization now considers a property as historic that's over 50 years old. So that opens it up a lot. Yeah. Not every 50-y old property is a historic property, right? You have to be able to show some kind of a a historic relevance and be able to document it, not just, oh, my great aunt's next door neighbor says such and such happened. I mean, that's important part of it, but you know, we get newspapers. We we get actual documentation of what it is that makes that property a historic property. Sure. Great. Thank you.

I would just add that our partnership with the historical society is so important and Bob, you represent that as the liaison. Uh you guys have a lot of tools and and research tactics at your disposal that really come in quite handy for the Historic Preservation Commission. So, thank you. I was really surprised at the fact that they jumped on board with this. I don't know how many of you know the museum's been closed since last August. We found mold in the building and we're doing mold remediation. It's it's a mad house in the research center and all the external stuff going on, but it was 100% in agreement to do this and commitment to attending the function. So,

and if I could, I wanted to recognize Mary Sheridan who's sitting up there quietly. She's another one of our She's I think our county. Yeah. So, like I say, if you know somebody, please encourage them to seek out the mayor and be nominated, put on. We appreciate. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we will now move on to council concerns. I'm first on the list here. Uh we do not have a public safety commission this month. Um there were no items for the docket. So, um, I have no concerns, but I do have I want to thank both our chiefs and the council persons for for a very successful working on our two ordinances that we'll be approving tonight. Thank you very much. And the next person on the list will be Councilman West.

Okay. Um, the Human Rights Commission has not met since our last meeting. I will remind the everyone that we're still accepting application for the Jane Beerman bike award. They help me with the date. Do you remember? June 1st, something like that, I think.

Okay. I also wanted to point out on um Sunday had the opportunity to attend the uh Folton Branch NAACP Black History Month celebration. It was very very nice. A lot of really good presentations. Um, a couple I'd like to point out in particular. Well, there were a couple young ladies I think they were probably in high school that gave some presentation. One read a speech by uh um Shirley Chisum and I don't remember the other one. And then uh Tyron Cooper did a presentation on the letter that uh Reverend King wrote from Birmingham jail to other and he gave the abbreviated version. I would have hated to hear the whole thing. It was it went it went on for a while and it he was very emotional very did a great great job. And then we had uh Mr. Kevin Smith uh from the Missouri State Parks Historic uh uh comm I don't know what they're what it is the he's the it's the government entity anyway Missouri State Parks and uh he gave a presentation on the Buffalo Soldiers which was very interesting and that they actually rode bicycles and if you've seen the Tournament of Roses parade in the last few years they actually show some of these gentlemen riding bicycles in front of the calvaryary horse the horsemen. So, it was a very very very interesting presentation. I had I had to leave after that. I didn't get to I wanted to go see and and try to touch the bike. He might not let me, but he he did have a bike on display with him too. But um I think I thought that was a very well done uh event and I look forward to attending those in the future and I have no concerns.

Thank you, Councilman West. Oh, wait a minute. I do want to address Mrs. Whitow's uh concern and I don't know if I've got all the details here, but um when we first started the recycling program, we got some grants from the from a couple of organizations to to buy the carts and that sort of thing. And as time has gone on, our costs have gone up on up and up and up. And we we take the recycling that we do collect down to Jefferson City to a contractor and we pay 125 $120 per ton for you

451 145. So it's even more per ton versus what we can take to the landfill approximately 43

43. So the cost was getting out of hand. So, we had to raise the rates for the rental in order to have the um the convenience of having it picked up at at the curb side. There are some other avenues in town. I know the Boy Scouts collect the aluminum cans two or three different places in town. We still have the glass collection at at the police station at the and the old Mosers parking lot. And we do have cardboard pickup or recycling at the uh police station as well. So there are some things and we are continue to explore other avenues. Part of the problem is there's not a lot of market for it. Um I guess it was precoid that we used to the United States used to export it to China. That's my understanding. I don't know that for a fact. And that kind of dried up around COVID time or or whatever. So it's really the challenge is to find the market for it. That's that's quite frankly why Kingdom Projects quit doing it because they couldn't couldn't find the market for it. So, and they would end up with a lot of trash, too. So, continue to explore and hopefully we can get those costs back down.

Thank you, Congressman West. Okay, then next person on the list will be council councilwoman Reclu on the public safety committee. they've not met for the last few weeks. So, we will be having a meeting as soon as possible. Uh, basically, I don't have anything else to say tonight except thank you for everyone who's here tonight and I really appreciate seeing people here and sharing with us what we need to work for. We're here for you and I do appreciate this and thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Recruit. Councilwoman Hansen. Yes. Um, Mr. Deputy mayor, thank you. Um, I am very grateful to to Bob for coming and and presenting about the historical um preservation commission. I've enjoyed sitting in on the meetings and I've learned a lot just on the few meetings that I've sat in so far. Um, so I'm looking forward to ourformational event, which I know that we're inviting those who are living in in those specific districts, but it is also open to the public and so others who are welcome to come and and learn more about the historic districts that we have. Um, and other than that, thank you for talking about the recycling. I know that that has been a concern for lots of people in town, and I'm glad that we still have the ability to take those things to the police station. um if we can't get them, you know, from our curb and I don't have any other concerns.

Thank you, Councilwoman H. Thank you, Councilwoman Luther is not here tonight. Counciloman Colmes. Yes, Deputy Mayor. Uh the Planning and Zoning Commission has not met since our last meeting. Um we will have a meeting uh next month, the 10th. Yep. On the 10th. Um and so Yep. and then I have no concerns tonight. Thank you, Councilman Colmes. Councilman Washington,

thank you. Um, to my knowledge, I think we didn't have enough for a quorum the last time and far as to my knowledge, I don't think we had a meeting at this at this time. Uh, I like to ditto everything that uh that Councilman West uh it was a very good program. uh uh had a great turnout and thank we uh are very appreciative of all the those that were able to attend the council, some of the council people and and uh deputy mayor, we thank you for what you had to say and the chief of police was there too as well. And in fact, I was going to have him say something, but anyway, but uh uh we really uh it was a great event and I think it was very well attended and I I think uh I think the community Thank you for the NAACP and the people in the community. Thank uh the city and we thank the I'm very thankful for the uh city administrator. She uh called me and let me know that she had other things, but she normally she would be there and I thank you for your call. Appreciate that. I have uh no other concerns other than uh we're looking forward to a great year for the city of Fton.

Thank you, Councilman Washington. Council Councilwoman Nelson.

Thank you. Um, I would also like to add on to a few things that uh, Councilman West said, um, regarding the recycling. I am, uh, the liaison for the utility board. Um, I appreciate you coming forward tonight and expressing your concerns. Um, the recycling program, uh, like Councilman West uh, stated, was started based off of grants that we had to help um, get that up and running. um since its inception between 10 and 15 years ago, the carts actually were only um $2 and we never really increased that fee um to our residents. And so as time went on and and cost increased um we actually were losing money on that program. So, as a utility board, we sat down and we decided, how can we keep this without um forcing everybody in the community to have to pay for it since it it's an elective service. And so, the fee that um we we placed on the carts was only to cover the costs so we can continue the program because it it was really important to me because I recycle. Um I don't like to pay the fee, but it's important so I do it. Um, and I know too that through all of this, um, there was concerns about where it went and we kind of cleared that up. Um, and whenever we were I know I mentioned it at least three council meetings because again it was it was something that was really important. There was a lot of discussion that went into it and we tried our hardest to make sure that it was a program that we could continue to do. And so we did put that on social media. Um, we also advertised in your utility bills as well as our web page. Um, and and I believe I mentioned it, like I said, at at least three council meetings. So, I'm so sorry that you didn't that you didn't get the the information, but I do really believe in the program and I hope that you start doing it um or keep doing it. But if you

can't and you can't afford the cart and you don't want to pay that fee, it is elective. You do have the option to give our trash department a call. Um Wendy obviously is great. um she'll take care of you and you just put your uh container on the curb and they'll pick it up for you. But you do have the ability um to take your recycling to the p the police department. Um we started that over Christmas and we decided that we wanted to continue it because we did know that the price increase um for residents was going to be a burden on some and that there were some that would like to keep doing it. And so we do have those containers still available um at the police department. But I do really appreciate you coming tonight and expressing your concerns.

Typically no um as part of the program, but I will leave that to the deputy mayor to make that determination.

You can come on up. I understand everything you said. I don't do anything with computers or that technology. So, I wouldn't have seen any of that anyway. But it was not very well. According to my husband, it was barely legible. It was small print. So you wouldn't notice it if you didn't look for it. So I think it should have been better publicized to people so that wouldn't it come as quite a surprise. The $14 hike is big. I understand it's been over years, but it's a lot at one time and it seems to me this isn't going to be able to continue if it keeps this way. It's going to keep going up and it'll become cost prohibitive and we won't be able to recycle. As far as taking the the recyclables to the police station, I recycle everything, not just glass, cardboard, and whatever the other thing was you mentioned. Oh, tin cans to the Boy Scouts. I recycle everything. Plastic, you name it. Paper. So, what am I supposed to do with that stuff? So, now I'm forced to throw things in the trash. which will double the landfill bill at some point because we're not going to separate things evidently. So anyway, not pleased with it, but I understand that's how things are. Thanks for your time.

Thank you, M. Mrs. Whitlow. Thank you for voicing your opinion,

Mrs. Whitow. Just so you know, I had my cart pulled. I couldn't stand it, so I had to go get it back. So, I mean, I was collecting all the plastic. I was taking to the cardboard and the stuff around and I just like I cannot throw this in the trash. So I I did get the card back. I had had it pulled. I was like but it is a very Right. Right. Right. And we're going to and we're going to continue to explore possibilities of what we can do. So unfortunately it was a a big jump all at once. So, but I do appreciate you coming and talking to us.

Ma'am,

thank you. And thank you, Councilwoman Nelson. Next on our agenda, we have uh no resolutions. So, we have uh next we have our ordinances for the second reading. Um, Councilman Combmes, please read bill number 1778. Uh, yes, Deputy Mayor. Bill number 1778, MODOT city limits sign E agreement number 2025-08-87983. an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the city of Fulton, Missouri to sign all necessary documents in relation to an agreement the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for participation in a sign program for the installation and maintenance of city limit signs with the city logo on US Highway 54 and authorizing execution thereof. I make a motion to place bill number 1778 for third reading at this council meeting.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? This is only for Highway 54. We are looking at those other entrances as well though. Okay. All in favor, please signify by saying I. All oppose. Nay. Councilman Combmes, would you read bill number 1778 for the third time, please?

Yes, Deputy Mayor. Uh, bill number 1778, MODOT city limits sign E agreement number 2025-08-87983, an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the city of Fulton, Missouri to sign all necessary documents in relation to an agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for participation in a sign program for the installation and maintenance of city limit signs with the city logo on US Highway 54 and authorization execution there. of I make a motion to uh put bill number 1778 for final passage at this meeting. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Nay. This bill has been passed. Oh. Oh yes. Madam clerk, would you please do a roll call? Mr. Deputy Miss Hansen. Mr. Hinchie, yes. Mr. Luther, Miss Nelson, yes. Mr. McLuh, yes. Mr. Washington, yes. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Combmes, yes. Seven council members, affirmative. Okay, now that has been approved.

Okay. The third readings. Council Councilwoman Reclu, would you please read bill number 1773?

Yes. Can I read the Thank you. That is Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Yes. Yeah. Bill number 1773 code amend curfew for personal persons under the 18 parental responsibility an ordinance repealing and reenacting section 78-84 of the code of ordinance of the city of Fulton Missouri relating to curfew and parental responsibility for persons under 18 to promote public safety prevent juvenile crime provide for the enforcement and penalties and establish an effective date. I make a motion uh for for bill number 1773 for approval at this council meeting.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I would like to say one thing. Yes, ma'am. Um I appreciate the meeting. I missed the meeting. They had problem at home. So anyhow, I didn't get into the session. We did. I appreciate the information. I've read everything that went through. Thank you everyone for being involved and for the decisions and things that are going to go forward to maybe make our community a little safer. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilwoman Reu. I just want to clarify um and just say thank you to the city council, to Chief Ladwig and uh Major Hedges as well for their input and guidance throughout this process which has has uh taken a a few months, couple months maybe to get through. Again, we want to make sure we get it correct. It's something that's really important here in our community. Um, so just to clarify after after those discussions and that guidance that was provided by city council, the uh section numbers have been clarified. Um, we did already have a minor curfew in place. So, that is not changing. It is just clarified. And then we also uh really clarified the police department's discretion, ability to use discretion, uh when to issue those citations to a responsible adult party. Uh, one thing that was clarified is if there is a felony offense that will result in a citation to the adult the responsible adult party as well. Um, but again, thank you all very very much. There was a lot of really thoughtful conversation and again we want to make sure we get this right for our community.

Can I add something real quick? just kind of piggybacking a little bit off what you said, but also um I know I was had a significant I shouldn't say significant had opposition to this bill initially. Um one I know at least a few of us had talked or I know we'd had conversations about other curfew ordinances already in place around driving and stuff like that. Um after the last meeting it was made more clear that we already had a curfew ordinance on our books as well. um knowing that was already in place, looking at that, I I have much more appreciated the new language over some of the old language. Um and so this the clarification we've done there, but also knowing that that one has been in existence and doesn't appear, as far as I'm ever concerned, to ever have been abused in any way. I know we don't I mean I don't feel like our our police staff has ever abused those sorts of um things in any way and I'm I very much appreciate the way our law enforcement handles the city of Fulton. Um, so I that eased my mind a lot knowing that it was already in place and it wasn't um as concerning especially with the clarification and language and then just having more conversations about the parental responsibility the clarification that that was there really helped. I know last time there was some mention of um opportunity for uh discrimination and that sort of thing and I don't think in the midst of that conversation I don't think anybody actually believed that our police department is doing any discrimination. I just want to clear that up like it was more like sometimes it's the accusation of discrimination coming from outside or future tense. Um, but I don't think anybody that I've talked to actually feels like our police department has any concerns of discrimination in any way at this point. Um, so I wanted to add those things because there has been a lot of conversation, a lot of things behind the

scenes. The work session is not televised like like like these meetings are. And so if somebody wasn't able to come for that, um, they they actually know that we did put the time and effort in talking through it and working through it together as a group and it's not just a changing and nobody's, you know, pushing back. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Combmes, especially on that discrimination piece. I really appreciate that clarification and uh again, I I appreciate each of you being available to walk through this with us.

Yes. And I I like uh uh I'm glad that we made some uh we had some clarification on this as well. And and what I like to keep an eye on this on this ordinance as we continue to uh process and let this go through and I think we need to continue to monitor make sure this is a good ordinance as we continue to go. Thank you. Madam UA, could you go a little bit? You said that the with a felony an adult will receive citation. What is that? But no, no jail.

You're putting a lot of pressure on me here, Deputy Mayor, but I do have a wonderful police chief that I'm certain would be excited to come up and talk a little bit about that that uh distinguished or distinguishment. Um, so as he's coming on up, um, again, we discussed with the city council and with staff that any juvenile offense that rises to the level of a felony offense will automatically result in that responsible adult or that parental party also receiving a municipal vi. So again, it's not a felony offense for the responsible adult. We do want to clarify that, but it is a ticket as defined um in this ordinance. So, if you want to clarify, which piece would you specifically like clarified on the felony?

Just just because I I didn't want people to think that the the adult would receive the same level the same level of citation of citation. No, in municipal court, you can only receive a ticket for a municipal ordinance violation, which is usually just an infraction. And there is no possibility of jail time for a parent unless they fail to ignore the report date and a judge would issue a warrant. Uh but that's a separate issue. That's that's a completely separate issue. Yeah. That's out of our hands. Okay.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Chief. Thank you for your hard work on this. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for your efforts. Okay, we will go on to voting now. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All oppose. Nay. Madame clerk, could you please give a role? Mr. Hinchie, yes. Mr. Luther, Miss Nelson, yes. Miss RClue, yes. Mr. Washington, yes. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Combmes, yes. Miss Hansen. Seven council members affirmative.

Bill number 1774 has been approved or 177, I'm sorry, 1773 has been approved. Um, Councilwoman Nelson, would you please read bill number 1774?

I would love to. Thank you. Bill number 1774, code amend open burning recreational fires and burn permits. an ordinance amending chapter 50 of the code of ordinances of the city of Fulton, Missouri, by adding article 4, open burning, recreational fires, and burn permits to establish a clear standard for outdoor fires, promote public safety, and establish an effective date. Make a motion we pass bill number 1774 at tonight's council meeting.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Similarly, uh we really appreciate the council's input in working through this with Chief Singh and uh there were some clarifications in regarding regarding what sort of recreational fire containers could be used associated requirements that come from the manufacturers and then that midnight deadline for extinguishment was uh discussed at length but does remain in this bill as presented.

Any further discussion? Not hearing any. All in favor, please signify by saying I. All oppose. Nay. Madam Madam clerk, would you please take role? Mr. L, Miss Nelson, Mr. Flu, Mr. Washington, yes. Mr. West, Mr. Combmes, sorry, Mr. Hans, Miss Hansen, my bad. Sorry. Mr. Heny, yes.

Thank you. Bill number 1774 has been approved. We will now move on to announcements. Our next city council meeting will jump a little bit from uh it'll be Tuesday, March 24th at 2026 at 6:30 p.m. And the reason for the jump is trying to remember the Kingdom Supper. Oh, that's right. The Kingdom Supper.

Uh which we do want to highlight. The Kingdom Supper is coming up on March 10th. Uh, additionally, I want to just mention that Westminster is having their 80th anniversary celebration coming up towards the end of next week. So, we encourage everybody to take a look at the lineup of events that they have scheduled. And then I was also asked to highlight the uh Fulton FFA community breakfast which is tomorrow morning at Fulton High School in the A shop and it is free entry. There's no fee for that. Uh, 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. So, if you would love to attend a breakfast for the FFA group, sure they would love to have you. Thank you, Madam Di. And um we have no executive session, Mr. Deputy Mayor.

Y another couple announcements. The United Church of Christ is I mean, we're in the season of Lent right now. Um or they're having uh their lunchons on Wednesdays at noon. And uh there's several uh fish fries around, including the Optimist on Good Friday. And uh St. Peters is having We don't have one this this Friday, but following Friday and there's several others. It's every other Friday. Yes. Yeah. So, welcome to attend. Yes, please. Always out for a good meal.

Okay. And we have no executive sessions. So, I Okay. I was just going to ask who's who's All right. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay.