City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, our next order of business is comments from visitors, invite you to come to the podium, state your name and address. And the council will not interact with you at this time. If the clerk will keep time for you have a three minute limit. See no one come forward. Well, okay, go ahead. I'm sorry.

Good evening. This is in regards to the rezoning statement. What's your name and address? Sorry.

Are you here with the rezoning hearing?

Yes. Okay. We're going to cover that next.

Should I come back then? That would probably be better. Yes, sir. Thank you. Sorry.

That's all right.

I should have asked. Don't go too far. Anyone else for comments from visitors? All right. That'll bring us to the public hearing. Okay. There will be a public hearing tonight for the purpose of to consider request to rezone attractive land located at 809 Southwest Minster Avenue including the structure addresses 805 Southwest Minster Avenue and the adjacent property to the south in Fulton, Missouri from M2 Plant Industrial to C2 Commercial. Would now be the time to talk about planning and zoning? Okay, planning and zoning had the hearing at 5.30 this evening and they recommended approval to the council. I'm sorry. Okay, so there will be three calls issued for anyone wishing to speak in opposition of the matter being considered. First call, is there anyone present who wish to speak in opposition of this matter? Second call, is there anyone present who wish to speak in opposition of this matter? Third and final call, is there anyone present who wish to speak in opposition of this matter? All right. There will now be three calls issued for anyone who wishes to speak in favor of the matter being considered. First call, is there anyone present who wish to speak in favor of this matter?

Yes, sir.

Now's the time. Yes, sir.

Your name and address, please.

My name is Shue Shuman. My address is 296 State Road, P.K. Good evening, members of the Planning Commission and fellow residents. My name is Drew Sheen, like I said. My brother and I have owned and operated Midlow Diesel for nearly the past 10 years. We specialize in selling pre-owned diesel pickups. And we've had the pleasure of doing business with many Calaway County residents, as well as Missouri residents and out-of-state residents. We plan to continue our business here, but we have outgrown our current space. We're working on obtaining the building at 809 South Westminster, which would provide the expansion we need. We would continue to use this as a dealership, which it has already been used for in the past for many years. Additionally, we also deal directly with other local businesses on a daily basis. I believe this would make a more positive impact on them as well. As a small business owner, I would not be able to consider moving to this location without ensuring my investment would be protected by the zoning regulations set forth by this council. I respectfully ask you to approve this zoning request.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Second call. Is there anyone present who wishes to speak in favor of this matter? Third and final call. Is there anyone present who wish to speak in favor of this matter? This public hearing is now closed and we return to our regular agenda. Alright. Catch up there, OK? So our first order or next order of business is recognition of Diamond Young upon his retirement.

Alright Mr Young, can you meet me at the podium please? No, none of that. All right, well, bear with me. Kathy wrote this, and she's very good with words, much better than I am. Whereas on the occasion of the retirement of Diamond Young from the employment of the City of Fulton, it is proper that the City records an expression of its appreciation for his commitment and faithful service to our community. And whereas Diamond has previously worked for the City as a temporary maintenance worker with the Buildings and Grounds Department in both 2020 and 2021, And on January 24th, 2022, he began his full time service as a maintenance worker one where he served through his retirement on September 11th, 2026. And whereas throughout his service, Diamond has been known as a reliable and dependable employee who took pride in maintaining the city's parks and public properties and could always be counted on to help wherever needed. And whereas his commitment extended beyond his regular duties, including assisting the street department when needed and helping keep the public safe during winter weather by plowing snow and clearing sidewalks. now therefore i steve f myers of the city of fulton adjacent um as courtney uh do hereby on behalf of the city council and the citizens of our community extend our sincere appreciation and heartfelt congratulations to diamond young for these many years of service to our community and i wish him only the best in his future endeavors congratulations

Good.

Diamond, you always have words of wisdom. Do you have any words you want to share with us tonight? Do you want to know?

No. Love work. Love work. I always have. I've worked ever since I was a kid.

Well, you don't have to go.

We could keep you. That's fair.

Thank you, sir. Absolutely. I just want to say Diamond has been a fantastic member of our city team for a long time. I know that Jeremy's going to miss him. I know that Sam is going to miss him as well. We are all going to miss you, Diamond, and I'm glad you're going to get to go.

I'll be around.

You'll be around. You might need to ask him to come back. Yeah, okay.

Very good. Thank you, sir.

First of all, I wish my mom had named me Diamond. That's a really cool name, first of all. And he shared with me that he actually worked for the power plant in 1968, and then the shoe factory, and then 35 years at AP Green in Mexico. So you enjoy your retirement. You've earned it, I think. All right. Our next proclamation is the Missouri Good Neighbor Week. Proclamation, Missouri Good Neighbor Week, September 28 through October 4, 2026. Whereas local and national research shows that many Americans consider a good neighbor to be someone who is quiet and leaves them alone. And whereas while peacefully minding your own business is certainly an admirable neighborly equality, Actually, knowing the people who live around you has its advantages too. And whereas research shows that knowing our neighbors helps create safer, friendlier neighborhoods and stronger communities. And whereas a good neighbor may be the person who waves from the driveway, brings in your trash can, keeps an eye on things while you are away, lends you a tool or someone or somehow knows your dog got loose before you do. And whereas getting to know our neighbors creates connections, reduces isolation, improves emergency preparedness, and reminds us that a community is more than streets, houses, and property lines. And whereas we recognize that to have good neighbors, we must first strive to be good neighbors ourselves. And whereas the state of Missouri has officially designated September 28th through October 4th and Missouri Good Neighbor Week. Now, therefore, I, Steve F. Myers, Mayor of the City of Fulton, Missouri, do hereby proclaim September 28th through October 4th, 2026 as Good Neighbor Week in the City of Fulton, Missouri, and encourage all residents to take time to connect with their neighbors, recognize those who go above and beyond, and help strengthen the bonds that make our community thrive. here here and i must say when i first moved to fulton 47 years ago that was one of the things i noticed people would wave to you as you drove by they didn't even know know me all right so we now have approval of the consent agenda the consent agenda has three items on it city council meeting minutes from our last meeting of august 25 2026 A special event request, Westminster College Homecoming 5K, which will be on October 3rd. And another special event request for the Fulton High School Homecoming Parade on October 16th.

I move that we approve the consent agenda. Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion of that item? Hearing none all those in favor, please say, yes, yes, I was opposed. All right, yes, let's have it no consent agenda for discussion. We have no unfinished business and no new business. Council concerns council members may discuss matters are concerned not on the agenda. Council liaisons to city boards and commissions may also provide a brief review of the most recent meeting. And we will begin, well, Councilman Combs is absent tonight.

Councilman Coward, Public Utility Board. No real concerns, just a comment that I was out of town last week and one of the things we always do is watch the weather. and seeing the heat, and we were in the mountains, which was pretty nice, but seeing the heat, I was glad our Ting app on the phone didn't go off, because when Ting goes off, that means there's an electrical outage somewhere in the town or in our house, and Darrell, kudos to your staff for keeping things running. Thank you.

Hear, hear. All right. Councilwoman Hanson, Historic Preservation Committee.

Yes, I have not been to a Historic Preservation Committee meeting for quite a while, or Commission meeting for quite a while, so I'm not sure what the update would be with that. And as far as concerns, I don't really have any, but congratulations on your retirement, Diamond.

Councilman Henshie, Public Safety Commission.

Yes, Deputy Mayor. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Diamond on his retirement. I would like to also say that there has been no Public Safety Commission meeting recently. And I also want to bring up in three days... It'll be 9-11, which will be 25 years since our great country has been attacked. And I just want everybody to remember that in a heartbeat, things can change, and to always keep yourselves vigilant on things that are going on, and for all the people who died in that. I would also like to give an accolade to our police force for running the hunting in deer in city limits. In fact, we have one of the people running it here right now, Lieutenant Barnes. I was wondering if you could come up and just give a little synopsis of what that's all about.

Good evening. I'm lieutenant Barnes with the police department and every year in the city host an annual bow hunting. In city, let us support him. And I put on a class and basically you got to attend this class. We go through the rules and regulations this year. We had the conservation here. They went over the conservation rules and regulations. And basically, it's a benefit to the city to try to reduce the deer population, deer accidents involving vehicles and stuff like that. And it's a very fun program, and I participate with it every year. And basically, in a nutshell, that's what it is. We're trying to reduce the deer population here in the city of Portland.

It's a wonderful program, and we really appreciate all the efforts that you and the whole police force works to put that together. Well, thank you.

Anything else? Thank you. Thank you. All righty. Councilwoman Rilton.

Things are calm and peaceful in my neck of the woods. I have no concerns.

Okay. Councilwoman Reclu.

I feel the same way. It's nice to see everyone here tonight, and congratulations on your retirement. Enjoy. I have no concern tonight either.

All right. Councilman Washington.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I don't believe we had a park board meeting at this time, but the other concerns are just if we can get an update on the Carver Park, not tonight, but just what some of the future things that are going to be happening. I'll be getting what you said a bit later on, Charlene. where I can pass that information on to some of the community people on the West End. Other than that, I have no other concerns.

Great, thank you. Okay, and my turn. So the Human Rights Commission did meet last Monday night. They discussed Juneteenth, how it went last year. They discussed the Celia event, which will be in December. And they also talked about some budget requests and one of the things they recommended was that we considered getting. Someone for they could do American sign language for city council meeting, so we'll take that up in in budget time. So, anyway, that's really it and from a. I have no concerns at this time either. Just ask everybody to, well, it's kind of dry, so you may not need to cut your grass right now, but keep an eye on it because I'm sure when we get some moisture, it'll grow again. All right.

i do have a couple quick things please do cut your grass still important please do that no i wouldn't say not to yeah your grass your trees all those good things uh i do want to just give a quick shout out um to chief hedges uh lieutenant barnes lieutenant kenny some of our other internal staff members and then some representatives from the faith community We had a very beneficial conversation last week regarding an increase in unhoused individuals that we've seen across the city limits. And I just really appreciated everyone's time and the dignity and respect that that conversation held. We always want to make sure that people are met with dignity and respect, but also that concerns from the community are addressed appropriately. So I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone that had a hand in making that meeting successful. And then just a quick shout out to the staff. It is very hot out there and they've been working very diligently. So we always appreciate park staff, utility staff, building and grounds. Everybody that has to be out in this heat who has been mowing grass, who has been taking down trees, making sure utilities are taken care of, paving, all those good things. So lots of projects going on right now and we really appreciate all of your guys' support.

And I think I'd like to also recommend or recognize, I think, do we have the junior leadership Callaway here tonight? Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, welcome. Thank you. All right, that should have gotten me some points somewhere. Anyway, yeah. All right, we're now down to ordinances. For first reading, Councilwoman Railton will be the presenter of bill number 1799.

Bill number 1799, rezoning 809 South Westminster Avenue. An ordinance reclassifying attractive land located at 809 South Westminster Avenue, including the structure addressed as 805 South Westminster Avenue and the adjacent property to the south in Fulton, Missouri, from M2, which is planned industrial, to C2, which is commercial. And I make a motion that we move this item to our second reading at our next meeting.

Okay, I have a motion and a second to place bill number 1799 for second reading at the next regularly scheduled council meeting. Is there any discussion on this motion?

Yes, it is. What property are we looking at? Is that the... I'm trying to get my... It's the Chrysler dealership. The Chrysler dealership.

And next door, I guess, is where Brown was.

The property there. Okay, I know there's property on the right side of that. It used to be the Cooks. Heavy equipment, I think, years ago. Okay, I just wanted to make sure which one it is.

Yeah, I guess it was Cook before the Chrysler dealership happened. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other discussion? All right. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Those opposed, please say no. Motion carries. Bill number 1799 will move to second reading at the next meeting. All right. We have for third reading, bill number 1797, and Councilman Coward will be the presenter.

Thank you. Bill 1797, conveyance of city-owned property, an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the city of Fulton, Missouri, to execute an agreement for the sale of real estate and all necessary documents for the conveyance of certain city-owned real property to the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission and establish an effective date. I make a motion to place bill 1797 for final passage at this council meeting.

Second.

Okay, I have a motion to place bill number 1797 for final passage tonight's meeting. Is there any discussion of this motion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, please say no. Motion carries. You have heard bill number 1797 presented three times. Now is the time for final consideration. Please answer yes or no as the clerk reads the roll call.

Mr. Calhoun?

Yes.

Ms. Hanson? Yes. Mr. Hinchy? Yes. Ms. Browton?

Yes.

Ms. McClew? Yes. Mr. Washington? Yes. Mr. West?

Yes.

And Mr. Combs? Seven council members are permitted.

Bill number 1797 has passed. All righty. That brings us to announcements. Bless you. The Fulton City Council will attend the Missouri Municipal League Conference. The city of Fulton, Legends, RecPlex, and the Solid Waste Department will be closed Monday, October 12th in observance of the Columbus Day holiday. The emergency service will remain in normal operation. The next City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 13th at 6.30 p.m. We do have a meeting for executive session, is that correct? I would entertain that motion.

I would also clarify that's for legal.

To discuss legal, sorry. I'll second. Call the roll.

Ms. Hanson? Yes. Mr. Hinchey? Yes. Ms. Railton? Yes. Ms. Recluse? Yes. Mr. Washington? Yes. Mr. West? Yes. Mr. Combs? Mr. Coward? Yes. Seven council members permanent.

Thank you.

Bob, you're like ready to go.